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Black Hills/Custer SP/Mt. DUNKMORE Bike

May 31, 2009 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Bike

Weather: 60-high 70s, and sunny with rain patches

Comments:
Got up at 0645 to pack up for the ride. We were on the bikes just a shade after 8. The conditions were TERRIFIC: really warm for that early and that high up (mid-5000s). We rolled shorts and t-shirts for the first time, well...EVER!

The first 18 of the ride were AMAZING: great weather, a bit of a tail wind, and downhill. Not too much traffic as we approached 16A in the direction of DUNKMORE. Took a stop after a nice climb up 16A, and I felt TERRIFIC.

About 25 into the ride we got our first glimpse of DUNKMORE, from far away. This was really sweet. From there it was a HUGE CLIMB up to Norbeck lookout through several sweet tunnels with DUNKMORE views, then bombing down again through these "pig tail bridges". The last 2 miles to DUNKMORE was a BEAST of a climb: at least 10% grade, steady.

Spent quite a bit of time at DUNKMORE, snapping pics, refueling, etc. It rained really hard for about 5min while we were in the visitor center -- good to have missed that.

The rest of the bike to the Sylvan Junction was ho-hum: some climbs, some downhills, some traffic, but nothing too cool. Even though it was a bigger climb, I convinced Dan to take SD89 up to Sylvan, en route back to Fort We-Lik-It. He struggled a bit but we made it.

We did NOT run up Harney, although the weather was pretty good, because of my GD foot. Sucked. We refueled there, then bombed the last 5 or so to camp.

Had a nice shower and pre-cooked some food for dinner. RAIN spoiled an early meal plan, so we bailed for town for a couple Schell's Darks (!). We came back to eat later and the rain held off for the rest of the night.

GOOD DAY...even without the sweet trail run add-on.