South Dakota - Saving the Wind to the End

Watertown, SD. Today I completed 100 miles among the lakes and byways of northeastern South Dakota. It was a pleasant day for most of the ride: light winds, no hills, and good roads. But the fun was not to last. The final 20 miles were northbound into an uncharacteristic headwind. (Winds in these parts blow normally from the southwest.) I was on track to have made this one of my fastest centuries, but a quirky breeze held me back. I watched my average speed bleed slowly down to just normal.

The lakes that give Watertown its name were really quite pretty. As I traveled, numerous birds would launch themselves from the shoreline.The mirrored surface reflected the billowing clouds from the sky, which seemed to move along the lake surface as I ride.

The local club, the Watertown Bike Club, did a great job setting up the ride. The road markings were pretty easy to follow, and the SAG stops seemed to appear just as I needed them. Plus, the volunteers were friendly and cheerful, and all of us enjoyed the 70-degree sunshine. They had designed a route that would normally get a tailwind at the end, but Mother Nature decided not to cooperate.

I'll add more pictures and narrative in the days ahead, but right now I need my post-century beauty sleep!

Alaska - This Is Why We Bike

Valdez, AK. Today I completed 100 miles of bicycling in the Alaskan wilderness. I started in Copper Center, along the Copper River in central southern Alaska, and finished in the port of Valdez. It was a wet, windy ride, and we were swarmed by mosquitoes when we stopped. But, the scenery was amazing (along Alaska route 4, following the route of the Alaska pipeline). I'm in Alaska as a guest of a Backroads tour company bicycling trip. This is the "century day" on the trip.

Alaska was every inch as stunning as its reputation. Today's route began on a bluff overlooking the Copper River, with four massive volcanoes in the distance: Mts. Sanford, Drum, Wrangell and Blackburn. We crossed the green, glacier-fed Tiekel River twice, and moved up the valley of the Tsaina river. We had lunch at Mt. Billy Mitchell, which is an imposing, Matterhorn-like peak over route 4 that you can see for miles. The Worthington Glacier sat off to our right as we climbed Thompson Pass.

The day finished with a rainy 2300-foot descent to the coastal plain along the 'braided' Lowe River, which gushes into Prince William Sound. But, on the way down we see the magnificent Bridal Veil Falls and Horsetail Falls. I pulled into Valdez drenched but triumphant.

I posted many of my pictures to Webshots. The link will show you the whole album. We've had five days of bicycling in the Alaskan wilderness. This is not normally a part of Alaska that tourists see: the loop between Palmer and Valdez, connecting via ferry back to Whittier and Girdwood, and finally back to Anchorage.

Along the way there were points where cars could not pull over -- there was only a half-shoulder behind rumble strips. It was perfect, however, for a cyclist to stand and take a picture. Thus, many of the pictures in the Webshots album could only have been taken by bicycle.

As you may imagine, my century time was much delayed by the climbing, the headwind, the rain, and the large number of photo stops. I don't really treat a century as a race, however. This has been one of the most memorable -- both challenging and rewarding. This is why we bike!