I rode through South Dakota as part of Ride America South to North, my 9-day ride from the Mexican border to the Canadian border.
The entire RASN route.
I've been wanting to ride in the Rapid City area for a while now, and part of the reason I chose to ride from El Paso to North Dakota instead of starting in California or Arizona was because this route took me through the Black Hills. That turned out to be a good decision! Day 7 was the most important day for this post and the most scenic day of the whole ride.
The route itself was pretty good, though there were a few minor adjustments that I would have made. If you want, you can easily ride on the Mickelson Trail for 100 miles. I don't know about the whole trail, but the section I rode had great scenery and was doable on a road bike with 25c tires. 28s would be better if you have them.
You could easily spend a week or more here just riding around and exploring. There are so many different roads and they all look awesome on Google Maps. Also, get on Strava to "Segment Explore" and you'll see what I'm talking about.
As you can see in the video, I loved the scenery in this portion of Nebraska, but there was definitely a battle against the elements going on for this particular ride. I won't hold that against you, Nebraska. The plains wouldn't be the plains without the wind. In a way (after the fact, at least), I'm glad it was a windy day. That's part of the experience.
As far as the route goes, it was a solid one. Roads were quiet and there were wide open spaces all around. If I had just been going to NE for a ride, it would probably make sense to start in Scottsbluff and do a loop from there. That way you could start off with the bluff scenery, ride your way out to the plains, then return back to the bluffs. It would make for a fun day and I doubt any of the roads would be much busier than what I saw today, but I can't say for sure.
I know I'm a broken record, but Nebraska is another example that there are states out there that you wouldn't think of as cycling destinations, but nevertheless have their own areas with great riding. The fun thing about riding across the country or even just having a goal to ride in every state is that it forces you to go through some areas that you might not go through otherwise. Sure, I've gone through some bad areas, but more often than not I end up pleasantly surprised by what certain areas have to offer. This ride was a pleasant surprise and I would encourage you to come check out western NE if you have a goal to ride in all 50 states.
I rode through Colorado as part of Ride America South to North, my 9-day ride from the Mexican border to the Canadian border.
When you think Colorado, you probably think Rocky Mountains. However, my ride took me through the plains in the eastern portion of the state. I hope to return to Colorado in the future and ride some of the big climbs there. For now, this will have to do.
The whole RASN route
Entering CO
My first CO century
My second CO century
I also made videos along the way. Here are the relevant days:
As a whole, I was happy with the route. I'll be honest, the CO drivers don't have the best reputation for being friendly to cyclists, but I didn't have any problems. I spent most of my time on 71, which ended up being better than I expected. Traffic was mostly light.
If the Rocky Mountains didn't exist, I would give the route a high rating. However, Colorado has so many huge climbs and I'm sure there are hundreds of better rides to do if you're traveling to Colorado. Generally when I'm planning on riding a new state I try to pick the best part of the state to ride. Obviously that's always going to be up for debate and I'm sure I've done better jobs in some states than others, but I failed big time with CO. I hope to be back later to ride some of those better routes, then I'll add to this post.
I'm Adam, a cyclist from New Mexico. I've ridden more than 130,000 miles, including 500 centuries and 5 Everests. I've done a century in 29 of the 50 states and have ridden across the country both west to east and north to south.
