Day 6 Nothing But Nets ride to Rapid City!

Well, this is it. The last day. Neener neener rain. Neener neener wind. We beat you. We made it.

The first let of our 62 mile ride from Wall to Rapid City was incredible. Tail wind, sun and really nice down hills. The views were spectacular. You've all seen them because we rode straight down I-90. Byron had a rear flat tire just as we pulled into the Wasta rest area, which we promptly fixed.

If you're familiar with the drive, then you'll know that immediately following the Wasta rest area is the Wasta hill. I didn't take note of the actual mileage of the hill, but I haven't ridden an incline that long since the early 90s in Spearfish Canyon, Aztec Hill to be exact. It was an arduous climb to say the least.

Once atop the Wasta hill, things flattened out, but by then the wind had switched and was quite a strong crosswind. I had a rear flat tire somewhere along the way, which was promptly fixed. We arrived at New Underwood short 3 riders and when they finally showed up we found out that Terry had a flat front tire. We enjoyed a lunch of sandwiches made by the women of 1st Lutheran Church of Wall.

After lunch we rode old highway 14/16 to Box Elder. I was out in front and trying to beat the rain and lightning but shelter was scarce so I waited for the other riders along a service road. They finally showed up and I found out that Byron had a flat front tire. For those of you keeping track, that is four flat tires in one day, after going the whole week without any! There is a lot of junk on the shoulder of I-90!

We made it into Rapid City and Woyatan Lutheran Church without any further trouble.

The trip is done. We will soon find out if we met our goal of raising $10,000 for Nothing But Nets. We had a great week and made great new friends. We will all sleep tonight.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for entries from RAGBRAI during the last week of July.

Kyle.