Saturday, July 9th
I crashed my bike today. I’m ok, the bike is mostly ok, one of the clips which attaches the pannier is broken. The plastic sheared off. This all happened in the last 30 seconds of my ride, an 86 mile day which took me in to a new state, and to the base of one of it’s most famous landmarks – the Devil’s Tower. The good news is, it’s fixed, or at least repaired, and i’ve met three guys cycling in (roughly) my direction who left Brooklyn just a few days before me.
I began the day at dawn, waking at sunrise to try and get through Spearfish Canyon in the fresh, early hours of the day. The camp was cold, the trees held it in shadows about 7. I delayed starting after being invited to warm up at the fire of Bill and Joe – two brothers who were driving cross country back from Oregon to Illinois. The soft, simple conversation was a nice way to welcome the day.
A mile or two from the campsite in Hanna I reached Cheyenne Crossing, and began the descent into the canyon. The road was as beautiful as promised, not that i’d researched it a great deal as like more or less any other decision i’ve made on this trip my enjoyment of it could well be put down to my lack of expectations. I descended the 20 or so miles in what felt like 15 minutes, and found myself in the town of Spearfish, drinking coffee outside in the sun.
The heat was dry and inescapable and I had the best part of 60 miles to cover to Devil’s Tower. Picking up some snacks on the edge of town I joined the Route 14 which would carry me into Wyoming. It was an old highway which wan parallel to the I90, the first 10 miles were freshly surfaced and it felt like my tyres sank into the sticky black tar as I pedalled. From the dense forest i’d spent yesterday in, and slept surrounded by, the landscape surrounding me now was open, dry, orange hills and cliffs which jutted out like those in a Wiley Coyote cartoon. The clouds were the kind which were both fluffy and precisely shaped.
Soon after the state line I pulled in at a gas station to restock on water, and since there was a Post Office there, drop off a couple of cards i’d been meaning to send. Outside I spoke to a Canadian couple driving to Vancouver, they would, of course, beat me to it.
I reached Sundance at two and grab lunch at Subway. It’s the kind of town where place like Pizza Hut and Subway exist but are clad in wood and decked out in this ye olde america way to make them blend in with the perceived aesthetic of the city. But it smelt and tasted like a Subway.
Bikers had been flying past me most of day, and it seemed they were all meeting here, in the centre of Sundance. Often they’d give me a subtle wave or nod. There seemed to be some respect or understanding on there part at least, which was harder to find in drivers of cars or trucks.
Out of Sundance and back into slightly greener territory I began the last 30 mile stretch to Devil’s Tower. The first 15 passed quickly downhill. Then the wind hit. It was amazing how quickly your mind and attitude could switch with a subtle change in the wind or a small percentage increase in grade, what suddenly seemed so close, can often feel unreachable.
That was especially the case today. The exact place I was aiming for was a B&B right at the base of the Devil’s Tower. It was run by a guy called Frank who i’d been told, though word of mouth online, would allow cyclists to camp on his lawn for free.
This all sounded great, though finding it was a challenge. But Devil’s Tower itself was unmissable. It stood out on the horizon, cutting a distinctive volcano like shape on an otherwise unspectacular vista. Close up the scratches or channels which run down from the top of the rock came to light. I’d been told the folklore of the rock from one of the old guys at the fish fry I went to in Minnesota. I can’t recall the exact details but these groves in the rock were meant to be caused by fingers clinging and scratching down the rock. Whatever the story, it was a unique lump of rock.
Just a few miles from my eventual stop I pulled in at a restaurant / gift shop at the top of the hill, filled my water and bought a Dr Pepper, and a beer for later.
As I approach the Tower the scale of it finally becomes clear. At the base of it is a collection of shops and things which I ignore and head straight on to the road which makes circles the rock.
I’m checking on my phone to see where the B&B is. It’s not until I open the satellite view I can pinpoint a collection of small buildings and figure out a route there using a combination gravel roads at the edge of the park. As I do this I also check Instagram and realise through some comments that a guy i’ve been following, Dakota, is already at Frank’s. I’d been following his photos for a while, and figured I must be pretty close behind now.
Having felt a little isolated in South Dakota, the promise of actually meeting some other cyclists, and perhaps sharing some riding with them pushes me through the last two miles, and the excitement is perhaps the cause of my crash. I’m coming down the last section of gravel road, the houses are just a couple of hundred metres away, i’m going quite fast and probably a little less focused since I know it’s the end of the day. Then I notice a huge pothole, this, combined with the cattle grate a few metres ahead, causes me to lose control. My stuff goes flying, and I manage to jump off to the side.
I immediately see the pannier clip is broken and that my camera is lying in the dirt, a broken strap and a dent to the bottom.
I pick up the bike and lean it against a tree, and go back and forth picking up my possessions from the scene. I feel more embarrassed than angry and turn my attention to trying to understand how to fix it.
Note: This is all I wrote that day. I didn’t finish the post. After my pannier broke I just wanted a break. But I met Dakota, Jesse, and Gio. They are riding to raise money for a womens empowerment charity in Ethiopia under the team name ‘Ride for Korah’.
Jesse has the idea of cable tying my pannier back on. It works and I relax. We meet some of the other guests inside and camp on the grass with a view of the tower and later in the evening try and figure out if our routes are compatible.
Map