Riding Through South Dakota

It seems that once again the weather in the Princeton metropolitan area has skipped over spring.

March and April were cold and wet. Even early May was more of the same. Then all of the sudden, summer arrived.

It's been in the 80s and even 90s around here for the last seven days or so. This seems to how it's been the last few years. 

TigerBlog remembers back to when he was a kid, and it seemed like March came in like a lion and went out a lamb every year. April had its usual showers that led to May flowers, but mostly it was a series of sunny days with temps in the 60s and 70s. 

If you want that weather around here these days, you need to come back in September and October. 

Because it's been so hot in the afternoons, TigerBlog has taken to riding his bike early in the morning. The other day he noticed that there were almost no cars on the road and in fact he started keeping track of whether he went by more cars or people walking dogs. For awhile, the dogs were ahead, until cars went on a 3-0 run to go up one. Then TB saw another car coming by, which would have made it a two-car edge, except there was a dog who was hanging out the window. He counted that as one each.

Eventually, cars, well, pulled away to win easily.

TB estimates that he's ridden his bike around 550 or so miles since April 10. That would put him a little less than a third of the way to Mount Rushmore if he'd gone in a straight line, rather than 11- or 12-mile loops.

Princeton basketball players Maddie Plank and Charlie Bagin left New Jersey on their bicycles on April 10. Plank posted something on Twitter Friday from Mount Rushmore, their latest location on their way across the country.

80 degrees to 30 degrees in one day, flats, National parks, bike piles, 45 mile per hour rides, and the Needles Highway. Week 6 was the best yet. @BaginCharlie ♥️ pic.twitter.com/o9UuXi1Z3s

— Maddie Plank (@mplank14) May 22, 2021

TB has never been to South Dakota, so he's obviously never seen Mount Rushmore. He'd like to do so at one point. He's also never driven across the country. There's something appealing about that too. 

What he can't do is ride his bike across the country. As was the case when men's swimmer Matthew Marquardt rode his bike from San Diego to Jacksonville in January, TB is awed by what Plank and Bagin are doing. 

It's an adventure, certainly, and it's also for a good cause. If you recall, the two are raising awareness for mental health issues. You can read more about their ride HERE.

Ah, to be young, right? What they're doing is extraordinary. It's certainly something they'll remember forever.

TB was interested in their trip, so he emailed them. He's never met either, and for that matter, he wasn't sure if they were checking email along the way. 

He did ask them four questions:

1) what has been the highlight so far?
2) what has been the toughest stretch of riding?
3) what is something you might not have anticipated?
4) how is it going in general?

He also explained that he rides too, and he is really wondering how they deal with the massive hills they must have encountered along the way. 

As he said, he had no idea if they were checking email. As it turns out, they were. 

He heard back from Bagin a few hours later. His answers were awesome, and so TB is going to share them with you in their entirety tomorrow.

In the meantime, it's great to see that they're making progress toward their end point in Washington state, a little less than a month from today. 

And it's great to see that they're social media post suggests things are good. As TB said, it's great to be young, right?