Mystic Road

Early this morning we woke to light frost on the Jeep but it warmed up quickly. We were on our bikes on the Mickelson Trail by 9:30 AM. We rode the 2.5 miles into Hill City then as we registered to ride, John noticed that one of our lock cables had fallen off of my bike. Being a 'little' frustrated with me, he took off back up the hill towards camp to find the cable. Luckily it was only about a mile back.

We rode thru town then exited near the road to Mystic, SD which we paralleled most of the day. The bad part is that this part of the trail is all UP hill. The good part is its a really pretty ride thru lush fields, pine forests and past streams and ponds. The weather is a little on the cool side but the sun is shining and the wind is at our backs. We stopped a couple of times to take pictures or to rest but that did not help me much. My thighs were still tired from our 26 mile ride two days ago. I started walking more than I was riding and then I couldn't even do that. At about 8 miles from town we stopped for lunch and I turned around and rode home -- down hill!

We had visited with a couple riding recumbent tricycles and they told us that the top of the hill was just about a mile more from where we were and that the down side was really pretty and it went thru two tunnels. So John rode on but it was more like two miles to the top of the hill and as he rode down the hill he kept thinking about the ride back UP so only went another mile and a half before turning around.

I got back about an hour before he did. I had ridden 18 miles, John rode 26 miles. After naps and showers we drove into Hill City and cruised the two block business district before stopping in the Bumpin' Buffalo Bar and Grill for a Moose Drool brew.

We met another couple from the Newmar group this evening and had a nice visit with them and a couple from Canada.