Cycling Advocates Ride to Pro Walk Pro Bike 2006 |
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| Daily Trip Log | Jack |
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Picture of Vancouver, BC  |
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| from Chamberlain to Mitchell, SD | |||
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| Date: 2006-08-25 Distance: 114 Kilometres Cycling Time: 5.34 Hours Average Speed: 21.41 kph |
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| Trip Distance since Leaving Vancouver - 2,949 Kilometres | |||
Thoughts for the Day
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Not much to say about today. It is the prairies in its truest form. The scenery is just the same kilometre after kilometre, flat, mundane. Without any variation one forgets to even look beyond the road. | ||
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The landscape changed from semi-arid fields to lush green fields about 20 kilometres west of Mitchell. Also, the rangelands were left behind to be replaced by corn fields. | ||
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Apparently, this area did not have any rain until a couple of weeks ago, so the corn kernels did not form properly and the crop has been lost. So, said a local. | ||
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The day started cool with cloud s covering the sun. The wind was favourable except for a couple of hours when it blew into our faces. So, John was generally happy. With a head wind our cycling productivity and attitude took a dive. Not until noon did I really feel like cycling. | ||
| On entering Mitchell, John heard someone call out to him. Paula, whom we met in the bike shop in Deadwood, called to him. As a result of the discussion we have been invited for a home cooked meal tonight at Paula’s and Bill’s place. A pleasant meal was had. Bill has one of those bikes that can be lifted with one finger. Must be fun to ride it. | |||
| Mitchell | |||
| Did not see much of this town except where the big boxes were. Such a waste of land use. Each development was surrounded with green landscaped fields and lots of parking. Walking to the stores was another venture. Your choice, walk on the road without sidewalks or walk through fields for a kilometre or so. No high density developments here. | |||
| There was an outdoor store, large and interesting. It was filled with a multitude of stuffed animals so that you will be able to identify them when you are out with your gun. Maybe Cheney should have come here to learn what a duck looks like before he shoots. | |||
| Tomorrow, Mitchell will be holding the Tour de Corn, a series of various length cycling trips (15, 35, and 62 miles). We will be missing it as we need to continue our ride towards Madison. We are out of spare days and in fact one day behind where we would like to be. | |||
| No cycling facilities were observed in this city. | |||
| Cycling Facilities | |||
| I-90 - South Dakota | |||
| Today, the paved shoulders were reasonably clean for most of the way. |
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| I-90 Off-Ramp – SD | |||
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Some of the off-ramp lanes had a set of two lines on the right side separated by the width of a bike lane. If the intend is to encourage cyclists to go through an intersection using the off-ramps, it is a good way to do it. | ||
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