Day 38

Bikeability Assessment

Our group experienced some of its best biking conditions today as we biked from Faith, SD to Newell, SD. We covered approximately 75 miles in four and a half hours with a 15-20 mph tailwind! We most certainly enjoy the rare occasion of an east to west wind especially if it’s as strong as this one. Averaging close to 18 mph the entire trip, many of our riders bicycled without iPods to soak up the beautiful South Dakota landscape of prairies, rolling hills, and cows. With several ominous clouds hanging over us much of the day, most of the riders arrived to town with little more than a damp shirt and pannier covers; however, two of our less enthusiastic bikers for the day (Aidan and Rourke) were caught in the frenzy and resorted to Bear Grylls’ tactics of doing multiple pushups at the pinnacle of our hills to keep warm.

Most of our route was fairly similar all day as you can tell from the below rankings (please observe earlier posts from the trip if you are unaware of the rankings for the various listed numbers). We typically had a low amount of traffic, good road/shoulder conditions, poor proximity to vehicles, and great sightlines. The following photographs of our day on U.S. Highway 212 clearly exemplify the previous description.

U.S. Highway 212 Westbound (2 miles west of Faith, SD) 7:45 AM

1. 4
2. 4
3. 2
4. 5
5. 2 foot shoulder present

U.S. Highway 212 (17 miles west of Faith, SD) 8:45 AM


1. 5
2. 4
3. 2
4. 5
5. 2 foot wide shoulder present

U.S. Highway 212 (34 miles west of Faith, SD) 10:10 AM

1. 5
2. 4
3. 3
4. 4
5. 3 foot wide shoulder present

U.S. Highway 212 (50 miles west of Faith, SD) 11:15 AM

1. 5
2. 4
3. 3
4. 5
5. 3 foot wide shoulder present

U.S. Highway 212 (9 miles east of Newell, SD) 12:15 PM

1. 4
2. 3
3. 2
4. 5
5. 1 foot shoulder present