Mickelson Trail Day 3

 Beautiful Climbs and Descents, Day 3 Mickelson Trail

Woke up this morning to lots of moisture and fog. Jon checked the weather app and just like every day that we have been riding, it said rain and thunderstorms. So far, the only rain we received was last night; a good, quick storm but we were in our van, no problem! Before 7:00am, we had hotel reservations in Deadwood/Lead. 
So off the bike came all the camping equipment (sleeping bags and tent) this makes for a lighter load and less to worry about everything getting wet. The news says severe thunderstorm warning right now but we are showered and laying around.
Another really nice day on the bikes. This trail has exceeded our expectations. The trail is very well maintained, really clean, well marked and has nice trailheads rest stations with and tool stations. Today we saw more cyclists than the other days. At one trailhead, we were just chatting with a group of cyclists and the man said, “is your name Jon?” His whole group started laughing and said, “you can’t take him anywhere, he knows someone.” Jon knew him from F & G from MT, a counterpart from his working days. (I think I have heard that before…). We had two climbs today. On the first downhill, we had three old railroad tunnels. They were the old wooden frames for the interior with the rocks all chipped away on the exterior in order to make them. The Aspen trees and forests were so pretty; you can tell they have had a nice spring because everything is very green. There were rambling streams and little waterfalls to entertain us along the way. Not really any towns in between Hill City and Lead/Deadwood. We quickly went to the grocery store and got a quick lunch as we rolled into town.
As I sign off, because we are hungry, a few thoughts about our adventure. We always look forward to the ride and try to prepare physically but there is no way to truly prepare without going and doing it. We did many rides and a shake down overnight trip in April. The weather always plays into the equation, even the humidity is a big deal when you aren’t used to it. The surface and load you are carrying makes a big difference also. We are tired and sore but can work through it. When we are done tomorrow, we will be sad to be done with a great trail. We will just be getting used to the way of the road when it is done. A couple more days and we would be over the hump and really in the zone. Still worth the hard work but over too soon. Hope we can keep going on adventures!!!!