Day 25 – When the Extraordinary Becomes Ordinary

July 12, 2018

Day 25 – Kadoka to Chamberlain, SD – 115 miles, 3,320 feet vertical, and passing the HALFWAY mark!

From now on, we have more miles behind us than we have in front of us.  Even we can’t believe it.  

Dear friends, when I signed up for this journey, I had my doubts.  I’m pretty sure we all did.  Seriously?  Riding our bikes across the entire country?  Why, that would be extraordinary.  

In the musical, Pippin, we hear the story of Pippin, a young prince on his search for meaning and significance in life.  Pippin has special significance for me since I played keyboards in the orchestra pit when my son’s high school performed this back in 2000.  [Shout out to Roger Ames, Laura Stern, Neil Saggerson, Jeff Gilden and Susan Babkes for the wonderful drama department.]  It was a magnificent play back then, as it was during the Broadway revival in 2013.

The boy prince is searching for existential fulfillment and he embarks on an ambitious quest for an extraordinary life.

Well, Pippin should have signed up for this ride.  It is extraordinary. 

But, each day is ordinary.  We wake up. We have coffee and breakfast. We pack our bags and pump our tires.  And we go for a bike ride.  When we get to our next city, we get cleaned up, meet for dinner, listen to the Rap update for the next day, have a lot of laughs and go to sleep.   Rinse – Ride – Repeat.  That’s it.  Very ordinary. 

String fifty of them together, though, and you have something extraordinary.  

Our ordinary 115-mile day started out at sunrise and with a strong headwind.  Arghhhh.   I started out with my paceline buddies because when there’s a headwind, “it’s a good day to have friends.”  Unfortunately, with a long day ahead of us, I chose to break up with them early, lest I blow out my legs before even getting started.  

The early highlight came at the 20.5 mile mark, where ABB staff had painted the spot on Hwy 248 that marked the precise halfway point of our journey.  We had covered 1,850 miles, with 1,850 left to ride.  It was an emotional moment for everyone and we all lined up for our ceremonial photos.  

Compared to the amazing vistas we’ve covered, this stretch was starkly boring – just a straight shot due east over rolling hills and farmland as far as the eye could see.  Oh, and did I mention the headwind?  And yet, this is why we’re here:  to see the country.  To see all of it.  The amber waves of grain.  The purple mountains majesties.  From sea to shining sea.  And if that includes 115 miles of farmland in South Dakota, well, sobeit. 

Not only did we cross the mileage halfway point, but we also crossed into our third time zone, and so lost another hour when we entered Central Time.  We had three SAG stops, and because of the heat, we also stopped several times at various service stations to hydrate.  (I was drinking iced cappuccinos across this stretch.  Don’t even ask me how much sugar was in there.)

To keep us amused, ABB staff called for a poker game today.  Two dollars bought us one card at load-and-go, an additional card at each of three SAG stops and a final “community” card at Rap.  My cards just got worse as the day went on, and although I pulled out a pair of fours (pathetic), it was no match for the winning hand – a straight.  

Once the early chit chat portion of the ride was over, I spent most of the day riding solo and reading (listening to) Trevor Noah’s wonderful book, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood.  Mr. Noah kept me wonderful company for most of the day. 

As the sun began to set in the west and the sky darkened and my Garmin was running low on fumes, I pulled into the hotel parking lot in Chamberlain.  It had been over 11 hours since I started (12, if you count the hour we lost.)

Maybe today wasn’t so ordinary after all. 

Please enjoy these photos of the day (although, be warned, there was a whole lotta nuthin’ for many miles.).  And check out the updated map at Where’s Jeff at jeffblye.com  Look at all that GREEN!!!