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Friday, May 16th, 2008

Phase One of today's ride consisted of riding from Custer, SD down to Pringle, SDSD and back, a relatively short 20 mile ride. Prior to hitting the trail, I had a decent breakfast at The Wrangler Restaurant consiting of eggs, buffalo sausage, toast, coffee. After eating, I hit the trail towards Pringle.

The weather was awesome. Mildly warm with plenty of sunshine. The ride started out with a short climb outside of Custer and then proceeded with a mild descent all the way to Pringle. There were plenty of birds and great South Dakota countryside during this leg. The trail had plenty of creeks and ponds which provided great habitat for birds and wildlife. Nearing Pringle, there was a small horse farm or ranch. Two mares and their foals were in their corrals. The horses appeared to be a bit spooked with me stopping above them on the trail, but I managed to get a few photographs and some video.

After returning to Custer around noon, I was ready for a quick lunch to fuel up for the afternoon leg of the ride. Coming into Custer from the previous day, I say restaurant called The Purple Pie Place. Now, to my way of thinking, what better way to eat than to get a slice or two of homemade pie and something cool to drink. And I did. I tried their strawberry-rhubarb pie with maple nut ice cream and a big glass of lemonade. All I can say is that I was in heaven. In fact, I wound up ordering two more pies for pick-up later that day to take back to Colorado. I highly recommend this place!

I spent a few minutes in my motel room before heading out for my final leg. The weather was still comfortably warm but the winds had started to pickup. But, what's a little wind when you're having a blast?! I headed out towards the Crooked Creek Resort just outside of Hill City, SD where I stayed last October when riding my first legs of the Mickelson Trail. Just outside of Custer I apparently broke a rear wheel spoke. I heard a high-strung "ping" sound but didn't realize what had happened until a week or so later. In any case, I proceeded to continue my journey without any other undo mishaps.

It was a gentle, winding climb out of Custer towards the Crazy Horse Memorial. Near the top of the climb the winds did become strong enough to make the climb a bit of a chore. All I could do was to gear-down and keep on pedaling. Once I crested the climb near the main entrance way to the Crazy Horse Memorial, the rest of the ride towards Hill City was all downhill. Along the way I came across some beaver dams and also spotted a small smooth green snake on the trail near some beaver dams (although I couldn't get a photograph of it).

After reaching the Crooked Creek Resort area and taking a few requisite photographs, I turned around for the ride back to Custer. This was another climb back towards the Crazy Horse Memorial, but a slow-and-steady pace made the long climb doable. Shortly after cresting the climb and starting the descent back into Custer, I made a seven minute video of the ride down the trail. Also, while trying to photograph a blue heron standing in a field, I spotted another big flock of turkeys working their way downhill following the tree line along the hills and an open field.

Once I reached Custer and my motel room, it was time for a celebratory beer and cigar. Afterwards, I had a decent prime rib dinner at the Dark Horse Food & Brew along with a few more pints of beer. Then it was a relatively early night to bed and an early departure in the morning for the return trip to Colorado Springs.

All in all, it felt great to have completed riding the entire length of the Mickelson Trail (twice actually, since I had to ride back-and-forth due to being a solo rider) over the period from last October's riding segment and this Spring's segment. I would recommend riding any or all of this trail to anyone if you ever want to get a sweet taste of what the Black Hills has to offer. Great scenery, good people, and just plain fantastic country!

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