Friday, September 18, 2015:
Custer to Edgemont, 46 miles:
Chilly at the start, but not really too bad. 40 degrees and only about a 10mph breeze from the west. Breakfast across from my motel, the lady that ran the motel had worked out a "special" with the restaurant. Two eggs, sausage or bacon, hash browns, toast or pancakes, all for $4.99 including tax. I liked the sausage and the pancakes were great. Very filling start to my day ...... and .... they opened at 6am. Had breakfast this morning with a very nice couple from Nebraska who told me I could start anytime I wanted, anywhere from 7am to 10am, this was their 6th Trail Trek. I got going about 7:40. The weather reports all said 80% chance of rain this morning. Luckily, it didn't happen, it all went a ways to the south of us.Which, by the way, was a really, really, good thing seeing as how I left my rain gear in my closet at home ......
There were a few riders that started about the same time as I did, and these would stay around me most of the day.
I keep seeing these old cars all over. Some hot-rodder's drooling.
Pringle rest stop. There are 600 riders on this ride .... see them?? The tall fellow in the red jacket is a Park Ranger. He rode the entire way with us, keeping us safe and in good hands.
The Pringle Bicycle Pile.
A lot of times on my ride, the trail was about this crowded. I rode many miles all by myself. This is considered to be the least scenic of the entire trail. I found beauty everywhere though.
The ruins of an old Lime plant.
I enjoyed these informative signs all along the trail at points of interest.
When the cloud cover started over us, the temperature dropped 5 degrees, down to around 36 or 37, and the wind picked up to 35-40mph from the WSW ...... there were several times when I was blown completely across the trail, thought I was going to be unsaddled by the fence rails. A big gust would hit, and it happened very quickly. Very cold wind, a smell of snow in the air for a bit. Fortunately, it didn't.
The heavy cloud cover broke up for a bit before filling back in again. Temperature stayed cold until we got all the way down into Edgemont.
Minnekahta Junction, at the junction of the trail and Hwy 18. Only had about 12 more miles to go at this point. Lunch provided was a choice of ham, beef, veggie, or turkey Subway's. Chips and a drink also. No beer today ..... suits me, too cold! You notice I didn't take my gloves off even to eat.
Cloud cover back with us again for a bit. Not warming. This is the Minnekahta Trailhead. I was lucky enough be one of the first ones there and got a seat at the table in the enclosed shelter off the photo to the left. Nailed it down with my water bottle. The sandwiches were good. Everything fresh and crisp. I had ham, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle on mine. No chips, but had tea. Could you imagine going into a Subway at 7am and saying ....."I want 600 sandwiches to go please, and make it snappy, I got hungry riders waiting" .....
Leaving Minnekahta, heading right into the wind for a while, very slow going. It was along this stretch when a rider came up alongside and was asking lots of questions about the Fatbike. He was on a Specialized carbon cross bike. I told him we could switch for a little bit and he could ride it if he wanted. He grabbed at the chance. So, I got on his, he got on mine ..... and he took off like a rifle shot. I had a hard time catching and keeping up on his light carbon bike. When we stopped about a mile later, he said he was amazed at how easy it pedaled and how well it rode. I could tell by the big grin on his face. His mouth dropped to his chest when I told him he was riding on tires with only 8 pounds of pressure in them. He thought that was impossible! After riding his, I agreed with the ride part, I thought his was a really rough and uncomfortable ride, was glad to get back on the fattie. I think I may be a bit spoiled! He was impressed, however, and I think Bikes Direct may have another Fatbike customer. That wonderful soft cushy ride is the reason I choose this bike for rides like this over my lighter gravel bike.
Lots of pretty side canyons coming down off the top. This was supposed to be mostly a downhill day, but with the heavy wind and cold temps, the weather conditions took most of that easy-peasy stuff away.
Coming down off the top, about halfway, the sky started clearing for good, the wind did not abate, however. They had a detour around Edgemont because of a bridge out, and we had to take the highway (which they thoughtfully coned off for us), around the town and back in from the west. I almost didn't think I was going to make it across the highway bridge directly into that strong wind .....killer!!
Made it into town and down to the park finally. The temperature finally warmed into the low 50's. Heat Wave!!! It felt wonderful! The detour added a little over a mile to today's ride. I got a nice young lady to take a picture of me riding across the covered bridge. This was a nice reproduction, and very authentic in detail. I thought it was pretty cool.
She was nice enough to take my picture, so I took hers.
The interior of the bridge, all the contributor's names and ranch brands on the overheads all the way across. Nicely constructed. We here in the west don't see too many covered bridges, so this was a treat.
Lots of homemade pies of various flavors. This is one time it pays to get an early start. I ate dinner that night with a couple who started around 9am, and by the time they got here, everything was gone.
And these wonderful ladies stuffing us full of ice cream .... This is why it pays to get in early .... The later riders missed out!
I saw this old abandoned homestead on the drive down the afternoon before, but didn't have my camera with me in the car. I left it on the bike at my room because the car was staying at Edgemont for the night.
Now, came the nice part. No waiting. When I was ready to leave, my car was sitting there waiting for me, so I put the bike on the carrier and high tailed it back to Custer. After a short rest, I did a walkabout town, then went to dinner. I sat at the community table .... one big long table where they sat anyone who wanted to join in with others. If you weren't friends when you sat down, you were at the end of the meal. I had a Buffalo Burger (huge) potato salad, lots of veggies on the burger, and a Heffeweitzen, (wheat beer) ... Very light, mild almost sweet beer, not bitter with overdone hops. I liked it enough I had another. I had this when I was in Germany, but had no idea you could get it here. Tasted the same. This was on tap where I ate, The Black Hills Bun and Burger Company. They had great burgers, and the potato salad was to die for!!! This dinner was on the State Parks, they had included a $10 Mickelson Bucks check. This was what I used it for. So ..... first day on the trail, down. Not the big crowded conditions I had feared, a pleasant bunch of riders all along the trail and the SAG people were just great. I'm beginning to realize I had made several right choices here. The Fatbike was another good choice as well. There are many constantly changing trail conditions, from loose to soft, to hard pack like pavement, and back again, some places were just plain rough, and some were as smooth as pavement. Several of the bridge approaches were a sharp jump up, a bunny-hop with cross, hybrid and lesser bikes ..... with the fattie .... just plow on straight ahead and roll right over it all. Into the wind, I just tucked down into a wind cheating aero position by grabbing the front loop on the Jones bars and resting my wrists on the rear cross bar, slide my butt back on the saddle a ways and tuck down, it worked just fine. Maybe not as comfy as a real aero bar, but better than straight bars ten times to Sunday. The majority of the bikes on the trail were mountain bikes, with hybrids bringing in a close second. I did see one or two road bikes, but this trail really isn't particularly well suited for a roadie. That said, the roadies that were there made it to the end, so if that's what you want to ride .... go for it! I'm just not really experienced enough to feel confident riding those skinny tires on this type of trail, so like most newbies, I choose on the side of caution. I'm still in one piece too ....
September 16, 2015
Traveling Day:
This was to be a traveling and sight seeing day with a bit of bike riding at the end, and the next morning which I lumped together all in one post. there are lots of photos, and only a small amount of narrative, hope you enjoy.
Panhandling Jackasses. Keep your windows up, they are not bashful about sticking their heads in and rummaging for food, or whatever. They'll steal what they find interesting.
Prairie Dogs are cute little critters to watch
I'm sure that this big old fellow is on the State Park's payroll to stand there and be photogenic. He did a good job. I noticed several others on our ride later that had the same pictures.
Typical of the roads through the park. If anyone is thinking of riding through here, the roads are narrow, heavily traveled, no shoulders, and full of gawking tourists. Very steep grades and sharp curves as well. That said, there was a bike expedition service at Sylvan Lake that rented bikes or you could ride your own and for a fee they would pick you back up from the bottom and bring you back ...... all downhill from there except for a few short steep uphills. I saw lots of bikes zooming down, most were faster than the cars.
Needles Eye Tunnel, tight squeeze.
The Needle's Eye.
Sylvan Lake
This is the end of my driving, just down the hill to Hill City from here, the rest of the time was on the bike. Hill City has the "1880 Train", It's not really from 1880, but that was when the gold rush began here, so they called it that. Very nice train display and museum though, and I like trains. I posted a video on my own page, but not able to post one here of the train pulling the loaded cars up the hill. This below is a good example of an early Ten Wheeler style locomotive on static display.
I had ridden my bike through here because the parking lot was full, and it was easier to get around with the bike. I also left here, and rode up the "Old Hill City/Keystone Road" to a vantage point for my video. Very hard pull coming out of Hill City on a bike. I was puffing as hard as the train when I got to where I wanted to take my video. So glad I didn't have luggage.
A Ten Wheeler Tank Engine. Normally used as a switcher or for short local deliveries, it didn't need a tender as it had a large fuel tank behind the cab and carried it's water in the tank above the boiler where it was pre-heated. These little engines were very powerful, and this one did a fine job. These were nicely restored period passenger cars.
A fellow could get a nice cold shower walking by here.
Rabbit Bicycle in Hill City. Stopped in for a bit and met the owner and chatted a bit. Very nice shop and pleasant people. Many rental bikes, sales and service.
Rode downtown and saw the sights. It's a very "artsy" town.
Look closely at the horse (click on it to bring it full size) and you will see it's made up entirely of junk. There are old wrenches, nuts and bolts, tractor hitch parts, shock absorbers .....you name it. After this, it was time for dinner, a shower and bed.
I met a nice local rider the next morning and we rode up the trail together. I went up 10 miles, and turned around. He was going to make a day of it and turn around at Rochford. I wanted to ride up the grade all the way just to see how well the Fattie would handle a long grade like that. It did just fine. The young man I was riding with was a bit stronger and faster than I, and kept me chugging along at 10-11 mph all the way up. A 20mph breeze against the backside helped here. I was still winded at the top, Phew ...
8 1/2 miles of some of the steepest grade on the trail here. Steady 3 1/2% to 4% grade to the top at Redfern.
The trail follows the highway off and on, here you can see the grade quite well.
One of many pretty little lakes
There are 109 bridges so one of the trail engineers told me. I was lucky enough to meet him at Edgemont and chat with him a bit. Very interesting fellow.
Hmmm ..... Who's the guy with the red coat? I gave the rider I was with my camera, and he rode off with it, zooming well ahead of me. I was beginning to wonder if I had made a mistake and lost my camera, but he stopped and turned around and took several of me coming up the trail, then returned my camera. And he took nice pictures as well.
Do it yourself water bottle refill, cold fresh water.
Redfern Trailhead. There was a concrete plant here at one time and you can still see the old foundations back behind here. There was drinking water, table and a pit toilet here.
This old rail car used to be the offices of the concrete business.
Trail up on top, heading down from Redfern.
Hiding wayyyy in the back is a Fatbike.
Met a fellow and his wife doing the trail together on loaded bikes. When they got to Deadwood, they will turn around and ride back ro Edgemont.
Parts of the old concrete plant.
Local color.
Perfect little lakes abound for fishing
This is certainly a trail of much beauty, every inch of the way.
Really? Fly-speck Billy??
That afternoon, I drove down to Custer where I needed to be for my registration Thursday afternoon. I wanted to ride the short Mickelson Spur trail out to Custer State Park and Stockade Lake. Two pretty good hills on this all paved trail.
The Stockade at Stockade Lake. Dating from the General Custer's Seventh Cavalry days, it was nicely restored.
I was intrigued by the roof construction on these cabins, I had never seen this type of roof before. Interesting.
Stockade Lake in Custer State Park
You could have your own private island here. This one is a bit small, however ..... but it's green!
Trail bridge in the background
You didn't really think you'd get by without having to see a picture of horses, now ...... did you?
Saw several of these along this trail, along with a couple of deer that sprang up from the trailside just as I rode by them ....exciting for a moment. It happened wayyy to fast to grab my camera. Just a short 9 mile loop including the lake shore portion which is not part of the trail, but just a graveled county road.
From here, I needed to head back into town as it was just about time to pick up my packet. I had some misgivings when I signed up for this ride because of all the car shuttling and bus riding going on. As it turned out, it was a perfect way of handling 600 bike riders, gear, and bikes. I also had some trepidation about the sheer number of riders. I didn't need to be, as I never really saw more than 50 or 60 riders all day, and usually the same ones every day. Starting times were whenever you wanted to leave, some started at 7am some later all the way up to around 10am. They were scattered all over the trail. It turned out to be a really pleasant experience. I checked in, got my packet, made sure everything I needed was in my room, and drove down to Edgemont, left my car parked on Main Street, along with the others and caught the first bus back. Got back in time to enjoy some of the hors d'oveurs and draft Fat Tire they had there. If you do this one ...... the two little red tickets they give you in your packet ..... the ones that look like they should be for a drawing ...... are for the beer and wine. Mine was back at my room. Hoofed it back (car at Edgemont, bike in room) got my tickets and rode the bike back. The lady at the beer table was so surprised I would walk all the way to my motel and ride back just for a beer, she gave me two. I found a pretty lass to share the second one with. Stood around a blazing fire and ate their treats, drank their beer and made some new friends. A fun time was had by all. It got a little late before I realized I had to ride back in the dark with no lights on the bike. Made it back, and was looking forward to tomorrow.
