Tour de Nebraska Pics

I just got back from TdN, so I thought I would upload my pics and do a quick ride report. Daily stats:

Day 1 - Clay Center to Minden - 61 miles, 16.2 mph avg.
Day 2 - Minden to Cambridge - 80 miles, 18.1 mph avg.
Day 3 - Cambridge to Alma - 61 miles, 17.6 mph avg.
Day 4 - Alma to Red Cloud - 60 miles, 17.5 mph avg.
Day 5 - Red Cloud to Clay Center - 55 miles, 16.0 avg.

On days 1 and 2 I rode primarily with Bruce and Alisa S. and Jordan and Angie M., which made it easy to form an echelon and fight the crosswinds. Day 1 was a pretty brisk cross/headwind. We were fortunate on day 2 as it was the longest day and we had a slightly helping crosswind. Days 3 and 4 had light crosswinds and very hot temperatures (it reached 100 degrees each day). On day 3 we had a nice rotating paceline going with the same people as days 1 and 2, with the addition of David R. On days 4 and 5, we had a light crosswind until we turned north, and then had to fight a pretty good headwind for the last 20 or so miles. Those last two days I rode with Jordan and Angie, the tandem towing company, as David either rode with Martha or took off into Kansas to get in a century.

Here are the pics, starting with Rich's opening instructions:


Once on the road we formed up our line to fight the wind - it was a pleasure to ride with such good cyclists.


Day 4 was supposed to be a short day (48 miles), so we took a detour and did a nice 6 mile climb out to the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie - which also put us right on the Kansas state line.


It is interesting what you can see on the road. Here the base for one of those big windmills gets stuck as it tries to make a turn and can't clear the RR crossing sign.

The community lunch stops are usually either hosted by some organization or the town bar opens up for us. It is always a welcome time to refuel, get off of the bike for a minute and stretch, and meet some new folks.



It can also be fun to check out the different towns as we pass through them. We found this sign in Oxford:


As a musician, I enjoyed this one in Funk (sounds like a good band name from the '70s, I think):


My only mechanical incident happened in Oxford when I somehow lost two screws from my cleat and I couldn't clip out. I had to take my foot out of my shoe and wait for the Bike Rack truck to come help.


After showering, post ride activities include finding a good spot for the tent:


The search for a bar with lots of unhealthy fried appetizers:



Exploring town and looking at all of the shops and buildings:


We couldn't figure out if this sculpture was a bike rack, an ad for a dentist office, or an ad for a proctologist. Bruce helped us visualize the possibilities:


In Alma we walked down to the Harlan County Reservoir - it was nice to see that it has filled back up.


Once back at the campground, there is always good conversation at the tents:


Or maybe a nap:


Or a card game:


Several of us on the tour are friends with a Lincoln musician who also has a nice little house in Cambridge. We gave her a call and she invited us up to have a drink on her deck:


I'm tired, sore, and happy to be home, but it was a great time.

Packing

Today I will spend packing for the Tour de Nebraska - tomorrow morning I will leave about 5 a.m. to head out to our starting point at Clay Center.  Hopefully we are done with the rain and will get nothing but sunshine and tailwinds.  

Thanks to everybody (Julie, Nicol, Jordan, Jen, Kevin, Janna, Megan, Conrad, and Rachel) for the nice ride and the post ride birthday festivities last night.  That was a blast!

I'll post pics here as soon as I get back.

A Good Week

The week really started off last Friday with the FAC at Yia Yia's.  It was great to see everybody again. On Saturday I went on a short ride to Roca - I was going to go do the rollers to Bennett, but I felt lousy (not related to the FAC, I'm sure) and decided to cut the ride short.  On Monday, a nice sized group rode out from the Bike Rack to Pioneers Park - finishing with KimC, da Term, JenDeluxe, Nicol, KellyB, Loup Garou, and I heading to Las Margaritas afterwards for some more good storytelling and laughter.

On Tuesday, the weather was perfect, so I took Sprague road to Crete and then took the Denton Alps past Denton to W. Van Dorn before heading home.  I felt great, and was really happy to be able to do a 50 miler with no pain or fatigue - especially with TdN coming up next week.  Wednesday I drove up to Omaha to play golf with a musician buddy of mine and then stuck around to pick up my oldest son who was flying in from Denver - of course since he was on the last flight of the night, his flight was delayed and we didn't get back to Lincoln until 1:30 a.m.

Tonight, I went out with Jace and Adrian for a ride on the Jamaica trail out to the Roca tavern.  I was feeling lousy in the afternoon and thought of not showing (the late night, the heat, Tuesday's riding and the golf all hit me at once), but as usual, once I got out I was glad I went.  Bonus - we beat the weather home.

(photo courtesy of Adrian)

I won't get to ride much this weekend because of some family activities that are going on, so I'm glad this week was a full one.  Next Wednesday I'll head out for TdN - I'll try to post a pic or two on Facebook during the trip, and then I'll put up the rest of the pics here.  

Have a good weekend!

Two Questions

1)  Where do you all want to meet Friday for FAC?  Shall we keep it simple and just make it Yia Yia's at 5 pm again?  

2) It's coming up on duathlon time  - this year it will be the morning of July 4.  Peter B. and I are registering today as a team.  Who else is in?  More info is here:  http://www.teamnebraska.org/

FYI:

Rode to Sprague with Jen and Janna last night on Jen's first ride of the year - we ended up at Las Margaritas and talked about having the same destination next Monday rather than next Wednesday - this would work better for both Jen and me since she works later on Wednesday, and I have to pick up my son at the airport in Omaha that night at 10:50 pm.  We will join the Bike Rack 6 p.m. ride and finish with some Mexican food and cerveza.  See you there!

Making Plans

I've had some nice rides in the past couple of weeks, so I thought I'd update even though I'm not sure anybody visits this blog anymore.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have been occasionally attending the Bike Pedalers 6 pm ride.  This is a no drop ride - so far the ones I've been on have started out quite easy, with a destination in mind like the Bridges or Pioneers Park.  Once at our destination, everybody does some laps at whatever pace - the racers take off, guys like me try to hang as long as possible, and then we all regroup at the end to ride back to town at a nice easy pace again.  This structure makes a lot of sense, as it lets everybody get some work in, but still feels like a no drop group ride.

I've tried to hit some of the Wednesday rides when my schedule allows.  There has been a disappointingly low turnout from teamFIRE members - this has basically turned into a Great Plains ride.  One night a couple of weeks ago, however Jace, Greg, Dennis, Kelly and I were all there to ride - that was fun.  Kelly and I are usually the only teamFIRE members there, though - I have enjoyed riding more with Kelly as he has also come to some of the Bike Pedalers rides.

On Memorial Day, I rode with a large group that left from the bench - they wanted to stop to take off some layers (the morning was a bit chilly), and Kim C. was on a schedule, so along with Chris H., the three of us took off to do the Cortland and the Hallam loop on a beautiful day.

Wednesday, Kelly B. and I were the only teamFIRE members to show again, and the GPBC group wanted to go to Sprague (with a northwest wind) we decided to wait and see if anybody else showed.  When nobody did, we took off with the intent of going out to Emerald.  When we got to Pioneers park, we ran into Janna, who was waiting for Conrad.  The four of us took off - eventually heading out to Pawnee Lake, with a stop at Merle's in Emerald on the way back for a burger and a brew - don't do this if you're in a hurry to get home, because they're not in a hurry to serve you.  We almost got home before dark - but not quite.

Discussions with Kim, Chris, Janna, Kelly and Conrad during the last two rides produced the following plans (hence the Making Plans title to this post)

1) We need to start up the 8 am Saturday morning ride from the old Wilderness Perk strip mall again.  I won't be there this Saturday because of a funeral - but promise to show after that if others will.

2) Next Friday (June 11) we need to do an FAC.  More details to follow - email notifications will be forthcoming.

3) In two weeks, on Wednesday June 16, we agreed to meet at the bridge at 6 pm for a ride which will end at Las Margaritas.

Hope some of you cycling recluses will join us.