Just completed my first 100(+) mile ride, on the Mickelson trail from Deadwood to Edgemont. Went opposite direction from the last day of a big 650-ish person ride, so got to say hi to people going by around 650 times in the early morning. 🙂 I have done several 60-80 mile gravel rides out here around Kansas City where I live to get ready, plus hard 20-30 mile gravel pushes, but those were much more elevation gain and steeper grade hills… this trail was definitely different mentally where the grades were never bad, just long… but so were the downhills too, which was a ton of fun to zoom down for long stretches.
Beautiful ride, especially the first half in the frosty morning coming out of Deadwood, but even the long "boring" stretches on the last 1/2ish to Edgemont were enjoyable, with a beautiful sunset coming through Sheep's Canyon near the end to cap it off. Definitely recommended, and certainly doable in one day even for this 44-year old relatively-newish cyclist (with my 68-year old uncle who lives in that area and does this stuff all the time)! 9ish hours of moving time with 5-6 water fill ups/leg stretches along the way. And I've never eaten so many Cliff Bloks/Gu packets/Honey Stinger waffles/bananas in one day. 😋
by CreditMinimum4120
1 Comment
Gravel looks great, as do the scenery!