Today we eased back into our march across America (I think this qualifies as "March Madness"). Leaving the Super 8 Motel (clearly a misnomer- "Below Average 8" would have been a better fit) at around 7:00AM, we eased onto one of the busiest roads in SD, went a mile and then merged onto a pretty nifty bike path
that I believe goes most of the way around Sioux Falls. 
We were on it for 8-10 miles and at it's end got a look at Sioux Falls- the falls. Gotta say it- wasn't impressed- not a bit. If it was in somebody's back yard- hell yeah, really cool. As a somewhat major city's namesake- c'mon guys-you can do better than this. Niagara's gonna crush you- won't even get to the sweet sixteens with this falls. Even Twin Falls, which was really "Solo Falls" had more going for it.Shortly after the falls, we were dumped onto city streets and soon enough were on the outskirts of SF, heading east. The weather was poifect- 70's, clear skies, a bit humid, but very little wind. This pattern hung over us all morning and by lunch time, with one hideous detour(more to follow), we were in Worthington, MN.
We actually hit construction once or twice and just strapped on our big boy shoes on and rode through it. Our roads were at times painful (those freeze cracks or whatever they call them will be the death of me), and at other times sinfully smooth- almost made you feel guilty riding on them. In fact, it was a bit like sneaking into the living room and jumping on Ma's good furniture- Suh-weet!!! So unlike South Dakota's Highway Department, which only showed us its nasty side, Minnesota
(we crossed into MN at about mile 25) flirted with us all day. First she'd pretend to like us, then she'd toss her hair back and slap us in the face. That is, until she went totally mental.At mile 53, as we were about to enter the cuddly little town of Adrian, there was a sag van and a crowd of riders gathered on the roadside. Ever the curious ones, we pulled in and learned that we'd be facing a detour
with details to follow (progressive disclosure is a hallmark of the ABB experience). After an ice cream break and a happy birthday song for the store's owner-Keith-we motored up the road. We soon learned that we had a choice (the answer to many questions out here is "it depends"- and that's a tightly controlled inside joke-right Mike?). We could ride pavement and add 10-12 miles to the day's total or we could take what was billed as a "dirt road" for 5-6 miles and maybe add 4 miles. We made the wrong choice.The dirt road started out just fine and about the time we were out of shouting range of the staffer who gave us our choices, it turned to, pardon me, shit. The packed dirt turned to very loose, fine gravel. Now for my readers who've never ridden a lightweight road bike, here's the problem. I have tires with 120 pounds of air pressure (hard as a rock) that are less than an inch in diameter. When those hard, skinny tires hit 4-5 inches of soft gravel, they go just about wherever they want to go. Oh sure, I could make suggestions to the bike, but it was pretty much free to do about as it pleased.
Now, to this troublesome situation, let's add copious amounts of dust so we really can't see very well and periodic semi's hauling the foulest smelling matter in the known universe. Oh yeah, we're also gonna throw in washboards on the road, so that your head is shaking hard enough to qualify under The Shaken Baby Protection Act. If we ride this way at 6 MPH and have to travel 6 miles, how long will we be punished? That's right, my little SAT Testers- about an hour. Well, we hung in there, nobody crashed in our group- though I know others did.We did stop long enough to see some of the corn people coming out for some daylight- though as soon as they spotted us, they flung their tassles up and vanished.
