2019 Tours - Where and when?

[BikeliciousBabe]

I rode most of the trail in one long day on July 2 of this year, as part of a 3,200+ mile tour. The trail surface was in good condition then.

Here's a link to that day in my journal: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/noflats/day-twenty-three-spearfish-south-dakota-to-edgemont-south-dakota/

Spearfish to Edgemont in one day? Zoinks. In 2015 I did the same route you did and was dead by the time I made it to Hill City. That climb up from Cheyenne Crossing is evil. Did you visit the fish hatchery museum in Spearfish? I camped in the municipal park, which is right next to it. Nicest municipal park campground I ever stayed in.

[jwaynelee]

I didn't go in the museum - I remember passing it, but I was in a hurry. I do remember that the park looked very nice as I rode through it at dawn, but I was in motel mode for most of this tour, and stayed at one of them in Spearfish.

By the time I got to South Dakota I was in very good shape from lots of climbing, especially in Oregon and Idaho, and the climb from Cheyenne Crossing doesn't stand out as one of the hardest ones... I guess I was jaded by then, haha.

[BikeliciousBabe]

Yet not exactly easy. In your words:

"I turned left at Cheyenne Crossing and the road got MUCH steeper. I was now out of the canyon. I slowly pedaled up at 3.5 mph before I turned right after four miles."

I think part of it is that riding up the canyon and to the Cheyenne Crossing didn't feature anything too steep. Then this thing slaps you in the face. Also, I got a late start because I trashed my camera and had to wait for K Mart to open up. After a stop for food in Savoy (the fancy restaurant) and a side trip to Rough Lock Falls, I ended up climbing that steep hill at a time when the sun was beating directly down on me.

[jwaynelee]

Yet not exactly easy. In your words:

"I turned left at Cheyenne Crossing and the road got MUCH steeper. I was now out of the canyon. I slowly pedaled up at 3.5 mph before I turned right after four miles."

I think part of it is that riding up the canyon and to the Cheyenne Crossing didn't feature anything too steep. Then this thing slaps you in the face. Also, I got a late start because I trashed my camera and had to wait for K Mart to open up. After a stop for food in Savoy (the fancy restaurant) and a side trip to Rough Lock Falls, I ended up climbing that steep hill at a time when the sun was beating directly down on me.

Definitely not easy, and I agree that the time of day makes a big difference. Probably the hardest single climb of my tour was from Ten Sleep, Wyoming to Powder River Pass. Ten Sleep is at 4,426 feet, and the pass is 9,666 feet, and I didn't start that until around noon in the hot sun, after already riding forty miles. According to Strava, I had 8,511 feet of climbing that day total (https://www.strava.com/activities/2488553937.

I think riding the other direction, from Buffalo up to the pass, might actually be harder... The ride down from the last "brake check area" down to Buffalo was a very memorable descent (https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/noflats/day-nineteen-basin-wyoming-to-buffalo-wyoming/)