We started out together from La Crosse, sad to leave our luxurious hotel and surroundings. Thankfully, we were fueled by excellent coffee and a delicious breakfast. The scrambled eggs were REAL eggs and cooked slightly soft – exactly how I like them. The bacon was crispy and thick – yum. We had fresh crusty sourdough bread for toast that was delicious even if it was too big to fit in the toaster. Finally, there was what appeared to be homemade granola and plain Greek yoghurt – again, yum!

One of the things I’ve had to remind people of when they ask me about this ride is that it’s a ride – not a race. I’m far from the strongest rider on the ride. But I’m also not the weakest rider. There are days when I feel I can ride a little harder and push a little more, but then I ask ‘why’? I am enjoying my little riding group tremendously not only because of the people – but because I wake up every day knowing that I have ridden the day before to do my best to ensure that I’ll be riding a decent ride that morning. We crossed the halfway mark today, but I am happy to report that I have felt the same way on every ride – good, capable, stronger every day, and able to get through the day. I had a few rough days early on, but those were less about the ride the day before and more about dialing in my four elements – rest, pacing, fuel and hydration. In those cases, I believe it was more about the fuel and hydration. I may have pushed a little hard earlier in the day on those rides, but I believe it was mostly the fueling. This isn’t to suggest that anyone who is pushing the pace is doing it ‘wrong’. Not by any stretch. Everyone here is riding their own ride. My goal from day one has been to ride every pedal stroke of the country from coast to coast, and if riding a little easier every day helps to ensure that I am able to do and in a way that is comfortable and enjoyable, I’m all in.

Today was a surprisingly easier day than yesterday, but also somewhat expected to be that way. The trend, I have found, has been that we tend to have a challenging day followed by an easier day. Nothing like a 112.5 mile ‘recovery day’. Oddly, that’s what today felt like. It didn’t have to be that way as we are still in South Dakota, and we discovered that South Dakota is exceptionally good at producing wind. We were blessed with an almost non-existent side-wind from the south making the ride manageable and, aside from the gently rolling hills, comfortable. The overall trend was a loss of elevation and while our legs gave us the odd groan at some of the longer or steeper rolling hills, we could feel the forgiving downhill trend on the back half of the day.

The theme of the day today was grit. Grit brought on by early climbs that left us struggling more than we should have been, and wind. More and more and more wind. For the most part, the wind was from the south, but it still battered us along the way […]