8 Over 7 — One Rider’s Journey – Stone Bicycle Coalition

I rolled out of Cheyenne Crossing on May 15 with a loaded bike, a Garmin inReach pinging home, and a route Jason had redrawn — denser, higher, more honest. Three days later I came off Terry Peak with everything I rode in on, seven summits in my legs, and a lot of new respect for He Sapa.

“It’s becoming a classic annual Black Hills dirt tour to iconic peaks and high points. It’s special to me because of the routes and places it takes you. The time invested in perfecting the route. Also the camaraderie of taking on the challenges with like minded riders.”

— Perry Jewett, founder of 8 Over 7

Day	Distance	Climbing	Moving	Max Speed	Start Temp
Day 1 — Spearfish → Hill City	80.11 mi	7,431 ft	9:01:19	38.3 mph	75 °F
Day 2 — High rim → Custer	60.28 mi	5,371 ft	6:21:34	34.9 mph	64 °F
Day 3 — Spine → Terry Peak	33.04 mi	2,448 ft	3:35:52	29.8 mph	43 °F
Total	173.4 mi	15,250 ft	18:58	—	—

~11,300 calories. 8,276 kJ of work. About 19 hours of pedaling spread across three days. Honest climbing came in at 15,250 ft — roughly 2,000 more than the “around 13,000” we’d been quoting. Jason’s denser line was, as advertised, more honest about elevation.

The crew

Perry J., Zach, Garick, Joel, Bryce, Jason, Leif H., Phil J., Logan, Jake R., Chris G., Aaron D., Pat A., Ryan H., Rory S., Jeff B.

Sixteen riders. One route. The camaraderie Perry talks about above is not abstract — it’s what gets you over the next climb when the legs say no.

The ride

Day 1 dropped south through Rochford and Mystic to Sylvan — smooth gravel until it isn’t. Day 2 was the high rim: Bear, Grand View, Odakota, Green, hours above 7,000 feet where the horizon turns from spruce-dark to plains-tan. Day 3 ran the spine north past Crows Nest and Crooks Tower to finish at Terry Peak. Honest, not euphoric — the kind of finish where you know exactly which parts you’d come back for.

Top efforts

Day 1 PR — Lachstring to Cheyenne Crossing — 28:43 (5.14 mi, 10.7 mph, 183 W avg)
Day 2 climb — Reno Gulch — 1:13:53 (6.51 mi @ 3.5%, VAM 299)
Day 3 closer — Terry Peak Summit Rd. — 38:38 (3.14 mi @ 4.8%, VAM 379)

The full per-day breakdown — every effort, every climb, the Garmin and Strava traces — lives at 8over7.com.

Per-day activity data:

Why this matters to the Coalition

Stone Bicycle Coalition exists to make this kind of riding — or any kind of riding — accessible to anyone in Rapid City who wants it. The 8 Over 7 is one end of that spectrum; a kid picking out their first earn-a-bike at the Quarry is the other. Both ride the same roads home.