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Norbeck Scenic Byway + Wildlife Loop + Needles Scenic Byway

September 5, 2008 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Bike

Weather: 50s, variable

Comments:
We got into Custer after dark so after getting food, we set up camp in the dark at "Fort Welikit".

I was up just after dawn in prep for this ride. Dan was up a bit later, but we both got all our biking stuff together and, by 0800, we were off for our first ride of the trip.

Like with Keith, the first section was downhill to US 16A, then some rollers. Before long, we had taken the turn to head toward the Wildlife loop, which is an additional 25 or so miles, we believe.

We met our first big climb shortly thereafter. Dan struggled a bit; I felt pretty damn good. We stopped at a nice lookout on top, then hammered down.

The Wildlife loop was pretty cool, but we got there a bit too late in the morning to see significant wildlife. We did see some bison, and a bunch of "wild mules", which was crazy!

We had a nice stop at the end of the loop, which was surprisingly tiring, at the Peter Norbeck Visitor Center. After stopping there for water and a snack, I noticed I had a flat in my front tire, so we spent another 20+ minutes fixing that, but once we got it, it held.

The "last leg" of the trip was the bike up Needles Highway. Dan struggled mightily -- similarly to Keith -- but we eventually prevailed, in similar biking conditions, to boot! Like this spring, it was a great feeling to reach "The Needle's Eye" and fly down to Sylvan Lake.

Once at Sylvan, we had a long break over some coffee and snacks at the General Store. I decided against running up to Harney, as it was pretty late by then, and the additional 20+ miles (compared to last spring's loop) tired me out, so we both headed back to camp on that nice, bombing downhill.

After cleaning up we headed into town to this sweet bar for some awesome microbrews to celebrate the first ride.

Good lessons were learned today, namely that the 91-miler planned for day 1 in Yellowstone was definitely too long!