Since I first put together my route for this adventure, today was one of the days that I had prayed would be favorable for riding. As you bike west from the town of Valentine, there are few towns and most aren’t big enough (less than 100 people) for many services. The next town with a hotel (Gordon) is 95 miles away from Valentine.
God has blessed me today with great conditions to bike a lot of miles. The winds will be 10 to 15 miles from the east – a great tailwind. And the heat of the last two days has broke. The high temperature today is forecast for the low 80’s. And there is no rain in the forecast for today.
So, I woke up early to maximize the time spent riding today. I had a mini crisis this morning when I went to add some air to my rear tire. When I unscrewed the valve cap, the valve core unscrewed with it. I’ve never had that happen before. The result was all the air escaping from my tire. I was able to screw the valve core back in and get the tire inflated. It was more of a workout to pump up the tire from zero pressure with my small travel pump, but I got it done. I had no problems with the rear tire today.
I went down the street to Casey’s for breakfast and to resupply. I was biking before 6:00.
There wasn’t much wind in the morning and I had to do some climbing out of Valentine. But it was cool (70 degrees) and there was little traffic.
An hour and a half down the road I was surprised to change time zones to Mountain time. I didn’t know when I expected to enter Mountain time, but it wasn’t Nebraska. This sign made me feel like I was making progress in biking across the country. Plus, it gave me another hour to bike!
It was a clear day, and I was still biking through the Sandhills region. The wind also picked up during the morning and gave me a good push. Here are some scenery pictures.
About 11:00 I spotted a bikepacker traveling east. I pulled over and had a chance to meet him. His name was Jason and he was biking from Astoria Oregon to Norfolk Virginia. He was shooting for 6 weeks to complete the trip (which is about twice as fast as me). He also had about half the gear as me! We talked for a while about our routes and gear. Jason also told me that there were two bikepackers 10 miles ahead of me. So, I hoped to catch them in the next town.
When I got to the next town (Gordon), I saw two bikes outside of the local restaurant (The Antelope Cafe). As I pulled up and parked my bike next to theirs, they came out of the restaurant. Their names are Callie and Allen. They are part of the Warrior Expedition group that started their cross country adventure the same time as me in Washington DC. Their group is not biking together across the country, but have split up based on how fast/far they want to go. I had met one person in their group in Ohio. Anyway, we chatted for about 30 minutes outside the restaurant. Callie recommended the carmel cinnamon roll, and it was a great recommendation.
There were a couple of hotels in Gordon, but it was still early, I still had a tailwind, and I had to burn off that cinnamon roll. So, I kept going.
I felt good on the bike all day. In the town of Rushville (after 110 miles), I decided that I would go down the road one more town to Chadron.
From Rushville to Chadron the scenery changed from grassy prairies to more pine forests. It also got hillier. Here are a couple pictures from this part of the ride.
For the day, I biked 139 miles (which is a personal best) and climbed 3,600 feet.
I’m not sure what I’m doing tomorrow. It will depend on how my body feels when I wake up. Stay tuned! 😀
As always, great update. Looks like you’re heading Northwest into Wyoming?
Correct. I’m heading northwest to ride the George S. Mickelson Trail through the Black Hills of South Dakota. Then continuing northwest to the Devils Tower in Wyoming.
Fantastic, Jim! I seem to remember as a child (11 to 15) I did 100 miles once and hurt for a week. But of course, I was on an old one speed. Stay safe. You might think about some bear spray now that you are getting into their country. Love Dad.
Getting into the Mountain Time Zone had to make you feel ecstatic. Funny how your brain adjusts to what time is on the clock. Glad you had a good ride today – and love the way you meet up with people and having a conversation with each of them.
Love experiencing this journey with you. I love tge great connections and memories you are making. Keep it up….safely
Valentine is a beautiful area. There’s an Indian burial ground just south of the white river in hwy 63. Love this are. I could only imagine what it looked like when thousands of buffalo roamed this area.