It was a sign . . .
with a simple message. And, it was a small sign, tucked over at the side of the road. One would think it would have been bigger or posted a few miles earlier, given the import of the message inscribed upon it. "Paved Road Ends" - not in 1,000 feet or 500 feet - right there, at the crest of a hill, and good luck to ya fellas.
It is really not the kind of thing you want to see when hauling up a country road. Smitty and I rolled onto the unpaved dirt and gravel road at about 75 miles an hour I would guess, having just passed a farm truck. We gradually slowed and the farm truck now passed us, kicking up a plume of dirt and gravel at us as it sped past. I would imagine that farmer had a good laugh on us. Not as good as the laugh that Sonny and Jaybo had on us later on.
We had stopped in New Underwood for gas on our way back to Sturgis from the Badlands. The map showed a county road heading north and connecting to another east-west road that would bring us in on the east side of Sturgis - allowing us to avoid the traffic jam of downtown Sturgis. Sonny was insistent that, even with the delay of getting through downtown, it would be faster to take the interstate than some county road on which we probably couldn't even go 70. So we split up, Jaybo and Sonny on the interstate, Smitty and I on the back roads, and the race was on.
For the first ten miles that we rolled up the road, it was wide, fairly straight and devoid of traffic. We rolled the miles quickly and my mind was back in sixth grade math. Sonny and Smitty leave point A for point B at the same time, by different routes. Sonny averages 75 miles per hour until he gets to the last 4.5 miles, where he averages 10 miles per hour. Smitty averages 65 miles per hour the whole way. Who gets there first?
The dirt and gravel seemed to moot that question. The going was as quick as 50 miles per hour at times when the road was hardpack and much, much slower through the downhill turns on slushy gravel - it was like surfing your bike. We had about 25 miles of that. Ugh. And we missed an unmarked turn on the map that cost us about 5 miles. We were grateful when we made it back to paved road and put the hammer down to try to get to the campground - we had thought all was lost.
However, when we arrived at Ironhorse, Sonny and Jaybo were nowehere to be seen. We couldn't believe our luck and celebrated - loudly. How could it be? My god, we had surfed through 25 miles of gravel and still beat them back to Sturgis, our bikes caked with mud and grime, our boots and rainsuits sodden.
The thrill of victory was short-lived.
Sonny and Jaybo emerged from the r.v. They had arrived 20 minutes earlier and parked their bikes in the trailer so we wouldn't see them. Bastards. I'd still like to think that, despite our loss, we had the better end of the adventure - having seen some back roads and cool sites. In reality, I'm just salving the pain of a loss.
At least Sonny and Jaybo got poured on going through Rapid City.
August 13, 2005
It is really not the kind of thing you want to see when hauling up a country road. Smitty and I rolled onto the unpaved dirt and gravel road at about 75 miles an hour I would guess, having just passed a farm truck. We gradually slowed and the farm truck now passed us, kicking up a plume of dirt and gravel at us as it sped past. I would imagine that farmer had a good laugh on us. Not as good as the laugh that Sonny and Jaybo had on us later on.
We had stopped in New Underwood for gas on our way back to Sturgis from the Badlands. The map showed a county road heading north and connecting to another east-west road that would bring us in on the east side of Sturgis - allowing us to avoid the traffic jam of downtown Sturgis. Sonny was insistent that, even with the delay of getting through downtown, it would be faster to take the interstate than some county road on which we probably couldn't even go 70. So we split up, Jaybo and Sonny on the interstate, Smitty and I on the back roads, and the race was on.
For the first ten miles that we rolled up the road, it was wide, fairly straight and devoid of traffic. We rolled the miles quickly and my mind was back in sixth grade math. Sonny and Smitty leave point A for point B at the same time, by different routes. Sonny averages 75 miles per hour until he gets to the last 4.5 miles, where he averages 10 miles per hour. Smitty averages 65 miles per hour the whole way. Who gets there first?
The dirt and gravel seemed to moot that question. The going was as quick as 50 miles per hour at times when the road was hardpack and much, much slower through the downhill turns on slushy gravel - it was like surfing your bike. We had about 25 miles of that. Ugh. And we missed an unmarked turn on the map that cost us about 5 miles. We were grateful when we made it back to paved road and put the hammer down to try to get to the campground - we had thought all was lost.
However, when we arrived at Ironhorse, Sonny and Jaybo were nowehere to be seen. We couldn't believe our luck and celebrated - loudly. How could it be? My god, we had surfed through 25 miles of gravel and still beat them back to Sturgis, our bikes caked with mud and grime, our boots and rainsuits sodden.
The thrill of victory was short-lived.
Sonny and Jaybo emerged from the r.v. They had arrived 20 minutes earlier and parked their bikes in the trailer so we wouldn't see them. Bastards. I'd still like to think that, despite our loss, we had the better end of the adventure - having seen some back roads and cool sites. In reality, I'm just salving the pain of a loss.
At least Sonny and Jaybo got poured on going through Rapid City.
August 13, 2005
posted at 6:00 AM
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