On the 20th of August we crossed over into our fifth state, South Dakota, amid rolling countryside and the occasional red, rock mesa which gave way to the larger, forested hills around the town of Spearfish. We made for Rimrock Lodge in the idyllic Spearfish Canyon, where we were met up with Jesse Ziebart who runs the lodge, and her friend, Andi. They whipped us up a tasty, home-cooked dinner of stuff peppers. We spent the rest of day preparing for the pancake breakfast fundraiser at thelodge the next morning. That night we drove the nearby historic town of Deadwood where we handed out flyers for the fundraiser, collected some money and even sampled the local nightlife!

The next morning we were up early to drop the cyclists into town. We headed to the park and met John from the Spearfish Bicycle co-op and a large group of local cyclists who had come for our charity bike ride from Spearfish City Park out to Rimrock Lodge. So, we cycled with the group out to the lodge and got stuck into the pancake and bacon breakfast prepared by Laurie and her husband Richard, along with Jessie and Andi. We chatted to the friendly locals who had come to the breakfast, and local reporter Kaija Swisher who was covering the Cycle for the Black Hills Pioneer paper.

After the breakfast the first official premiere of the Cycle of America movie was shown on a projector, to the hopefully fascinated audience! We answered questions from the audience, then said our goodbyes as the event wound down. We’d like to thank all the local businesses who donated goods or money to this event, it would not have been possible without their support. I can’t emphasize enough how grateful we are to Jesse Ziebart for the huge amount of work she put into organising this event for us. Thank you Jesse!
The hard work done, we relaxed at Spearfish Water Park to escape from the 40 degree heat!

Thanks again to Jesse, Andi, Laurie, Richard and everyone else who helped out.

We haven’t got the final tally of money raise yet, but it’s definitely over $500! Woohoo!