Another Day on the TdK

After Sunday's wet ride, the Tour de Kota experienced two days of glorious weather with plenty of sunshine while I worked. Today, I got to make my return to the ride from Garretson to Volga of about 67 miles. The forecast called for warm temps, slight wind from the east (we were headed mostly north) and a "chance of storms." The forecast held up for about the first 30 miles which went by very quickly, but then "chance of storms" became "certainty of torrential rain and gusting headwinds with a chance of getting struck by lightning." This doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easy, so "chance of storms" had to suffice.

We were a few miles from Colman when the wind shifted from about 10 mph out of the east (a crosswind) to gusting at 30 mph from the north (right in our faces). It slowed everybody's pace and a lot of riders began seeking a place to try to wait it out. Most people found a good place to wait in Colman at the park as there was plentiful shelter there.

I wheeled up to a few state troopers at our next turn there and said, "Looks like today finally got interesting."

One of the troopers replied, "You may not want to head north yet. It's raining up there and most seem to waiting it out at the park."

I looked north, looked back at the park and said, "We'll have to see what I run into." as I turned the corner and pushed onward.

I turned the next corner about a mile from there and was headed north again. The wind was still strong, but began to shift back to the east a bit as the first drops of rain fell. About that time, I saw a cyclist waiting it out under a tree in the front yard of a farmhouse who would be the last rider I'd see for about 15 miles.

Now, I am not someone who is the least bit afraid to ride in the rain or the wind. As far as I'm concerned, it's the elements that sometimes separate the casual touring cyclist from the die-hards. It was definitely a day for the old adage, "You don't have to be insane, but it helps" to be proven true where I was concerned. The wind continued to shift until it was firmly out of the east again and I was able to pick up a bit more speed. As the rain began to fall with a bit more malice, I saw something that did give me cause for concern. Lightning. A fair amount of lightning actually, most of which was either directly in front of me or in the system of clouds that I would be riding directly through when I got a little farther north.

About a mile after thinking, "If I had a cell phone, I would be calling Amy now to have her come meet me so I could wait it out in the van," Amy met me with the van and I was able to take shelter for about 10-15 minutes while the lightning blew past. She's great as a support driver!

While the lightning had blown over, the rain had not and I set off again in the biggest downpour I've ridden in for quite some time. It was a sharp, pelting rain that just made me more determined to turn the pedals a bit harder and faster in the hopes of riding out of it. Finally, at about 52 miles, I rode out of the rain and saw my second cyclist in 15 miles.

I met Amy again in Brookings where I sat, soaking, in the back seat of the van while I ate the last of the food we'd packed and drank the last of Amy's capuccino. I took the opportunity to call Hal and the Elusive Moose Radio crew who were recording at Bob's (a Sioux Falls diner style restaurant) and recorded a call-in segment of the podcast before heading back out.

Down to just the last 8 miles, I rode through downtown Brookings passing a few bikes parked outside a food stop and headed west out of town. With the wind fully at my back, I made short work of the road between Brookings and Volga. In the distance, I could see another storm system coming, so I wanted to make sure to get in before it hit. Not a problem. I rode sections at 27 mph without much effort and was in Volga before I knew it.

I found Amy, grabbed my stuff and hit the showers at the pool to clean off the road grime and warm up a bit. Amy and I then grabbed lunch from the Volga Fire Dept consisting of burgers and brats and headed back to the van.

Amy had run into (not literally of course) one of the guys from last year's Tour that we had hung out with named Tim while in Brookings. He said that he had been looking for me during the week to which Amy replied that this year was different because of the inconvenience of a job. I knew that he was holed up in doors in Brookings when I went through, so we watched for him to come in while we ate in the van. He showed up about half way through my burger and I called him over to say "Hey." It was good to see him, but we could tell that he was on a mission to get his stuff set up before the next storm blew through.

With that, we hit the road back to Sioux Falls for a nap before meeting Jim and Marilyn to pick up the kids. We had dinner together in Beresford and got the kids home a little before 8pm.

Unfortunately, that's all the Tour de Kota for me this year as I have to work the next two days while the riders make their way to Milbank. I was glad to get to do a bit of it though and hope to continue to make it an annual event. Hope they have good weather with lots of wind at their backs.