Truck, Tuck, and GO

          Since my last blog I was able to reach the Highest point in Iowa, Hawkeye Point.  This summit was probably the easiest one to reach the summit of thus far but, it still was able to provide a nice view of the surrounding landscape.  One cool thing that the summit did have was a sign to each of the other 49 highpoints and showing how far away they were.

            The summit day held true to the last couple days in that it was a decent headwind most f the day.  Due to this I was not able to make it all the way to Sioux Falls, SD as I had planned but was able to find a nice place to stay in rock Rapids, IA for the night.  This left only about 35 miles to Sioux Falls the next day where I had another appointment with a couch surfer.  This ride to Sioux Falls is where I concluded that I have to get a new pair of cycling shoes for the colder months.  It was another very cold day, which at this point I can only expect to become more frequent and get even colder.  But my current shoes were to tight for me to put on one pair of thick wool socks let alone two pairs of socks to keep my feet warm.  I did have the shoe covers but even with them I could feel my feet freezing from the bottom up which just did not make for a comfortable ride. 

Well I made it to Sioux Falls and had a great evening with my host as he showed me around the city.  The next morning I decided to go to a local bike shop before continuing my trip west across South Dakota since there was not much in the way of bike shops for almost 400 miles.  I stopped at Harlan’s Bike and Tour where the guys were incredibly helpful.  Not only did I get some new shoes there but I also got a new chain and a quick tune up on the bike.  They also gave me good directions for getting out of the city on some pretty decent biking roads. 

After fixing the first flat of the day.

As I left the bike shop and hit the road for another relatively short ride I was in a great mood and the weather was just beautiful compared to what the last week or two had been.  This lasted until I had about 4 miles left to my destination.  This is where I got my second flat of the trip in my rear tire.  O well a flats a flat so I took everything off the bike and fixed it.  Or so I thought.  As I was reloading the bike and put by backpack on the back my new tube blew.  I just kind of had to chuckle to myself in disbelief.  After looking at the tube I must have pinched it or something when putting it on as there was a hole in it but no corresponding damage to the tire itself.  At this point my host for the night was actually with me since he rode out to meet and ride in with me.  We were so close to his house that he just offered to ride back and get his car to pick me up so that I could just fix it at home and make sure I did it right this time.  Still a great day even with those two setbacks though.

The next two days were quite an experience for me.  I had consistent wind ranging from 20 to 35 mph with gusts well over 40 mph coming from the SSE.  At least it was slightly towards my back but the brunt of it was definitely coming from my side.  One day I rode on a two-lane highway with little traffic but it did have a good number of trucks that drove by.  As trucks drove by in my direction I had to fight off getting sucked in to them more than ever since there was also no shoulder most of the time and I was already leaning in to the wind which also meant leaning into traffic.  While this made for interesting riding it was the oncoming trucks that made it really interesting.  It actually gave me a sensation of being in the ocean and jumping into the waves.  You see it coming, brace yourself, hold your breath, and dive right into it.  The Truck, Tuck and Go method.  This I found usually worked out pretty well for me.  You got the wobbles a little bit as it passed but as long as you were ready and there was no traffic coming your direction it worked out well. 

On the other side of things I rode on the interstate the next day so I did not have to deal with oncoming traffic but I had a much more frequent flow of trucks traveling in the same direction as me.  This allowed me to embrace the wind the trucks created and get a little speed boost from each one that went by.  The more awkward looking the cargo trailer the better the boost you can get too.

The view from the house I stayed at in Chamberlain, SD.

I have been hearing about how beautiful the western part of South Dakota is since I got in the state.  I got my first taste of that as I made it to Chamberlain and had a great view of the valley below.  I’m definitely looking forward to riding through the badlands and making it to the Black Hills in a couple days.  Until then . . .

- Michael