2009 Tour de Kota Day 3 – Wagner to Gregory

After the tent fiasco of Day 2, I was pretty drained. I woke up somewhat early, but heard light rain outside. I rolled over and went back to sleep with the family in our new (Wow I’m not wet!) tent. Then when I finally did arise, my motivation to move quickly and get on the road just wasn’t there.

I was beginning the thought process of getting on the road when Laura said she would like me to help take the tent down the first time to make sure she could do it on her own after that. That process is a long one when you have to get the kids up and motivated to help pack the van. By the time the van was packed and ready to roll, I was the last one out of camp…by a long ways. It was 9:20.

It wasn’t until the Ft. Randall Dam that I finally even caught of a glimpse of another bicyclist and I was hammering along pretty good to catch up too. A couple tough climbs started bringing a few people back to me so I didn’t feel deserted. Sometimes solo days are good days to have as I just did my own thing most of the day. I did catch up with the world famous Dr. Spiderman and his wife and rode with them a bit. It wasn’t an easy catch either. Once I had them in my sights, it was a good five mile catch at 20+ mph to run them down. They are good strong riders and it was fun to share a little road time with them. I probably would have rode into Gregory with them, but I stopped off at Burke for a piece of Strawberry Rhubarb pie, my personal favorite.

Gregory was another stop that the whole town seemed to show up to greet us. Food everywhere, a plethora of local entertainment, and people who seemed fascinated by the variety of bikes that they got to see. Triple G – Gregg Drube – provided the local kids entertainment as he let them set in his recumbent trike and he pushed them up and down the street.