Day 1: Sioux Falls to Mitchell

Day 1 will be a day not soon forgotten. The day started off questionably with wet pavememnt from heavey overnight down pours, and intermintent sprinkles during the first hour or so, but nothing heavy. We stopped in Hartford for a quick breakfast and were back on the road in good time. After a few more sprinkles, we passed through Humboldt, shortly thereafter things took a turn...

About 2 miles west of Humboldt, after a modest incline, which had Wags ahead of me a little bit, I had a rear tire blowout. Not to worry, right? I carry all the tools I need to fix flat tires. So I went to work. Just as I had the rear tire fixed and was in the process of putting the wheel back on my bike, I noticed the front tire was flat too! Not to worry, right? I went to work again. After putting in the new tube in the front tire, I had problems getting the tire to stay on the rim. My tire was absolutely worn out. Not to worry, right? Spoke-N-Spoke, the local bike shop supporting the ride would surely have 20" tires for sale. Nope. After waiting for over an hour for Spoke-N-Sport to save the day, a sag wagon pulled up and phoned them, only to find out they didn't bring any 20" tires along.

In the meantime, Wags came back to check on me. He had made it to Montrose, and began hearing reports of a stranded recumbent rider back by Humboldt. What a friend to double-back up hill to come check on me! Thanks Wags!!! We decided to work with my paper-thin tire and try to get it to stay on the rim. Success! I was a little leary because I did not want to have a front tire blow out while flying down a big hill somewhere.

After Montrose came a nice lunch stop in Salem. After eating my favorite bike ride delicassy (a walking taco) and some nice fruit, we found ourselves underway yet again. After passing Spencer and the Farmer corner, my front tire went flat again! Since I had already used my spare front tube, we managed to patch the tube, and somehow get the tire back on the rim again!

After losing a total of an hour and half due to flats, we arrived safely in Mitchell around 3:30. I was able to find a tire downtown, had Spoke-N-Sport install it, and purchased all the supplies I went through today fixing the flats.

The ride is turning out to be great fun, believe it or not. The people are great, there are bigger numbers of riders than I expected. The weather actually provided us a great riding day. We are looking forward to tomorrow's leg to Chamberlain after a sound night's rest.

We'll check back in tomorrow!!