No Rest for the Weary

As I sit here on Sunday pounding away on the keyboard, my legs are blissfully dead this afternoon. Most folks, as I did, had a four day weekend this week but it was a weekend packed with riding for some of us.




Thursday started off with the annual Turkey Day Ride, this ride is always a fun ride that starts early in the morning to get the motor going before the gluttony begins. The ride will be in it's 10th year next year and I've managed to make it to 6 of them dating back to 2012, missed it in 2016 because of freezing drizzle but not many folks made it that year.





The ride itself was about 17 miles or so but it was just too nice of a day to head in for the after ride food just quite then, so Sarah and I headed to a very deserted down town for a few extra miles.Used to always ride down town on the holidays when we were in Lincoln, it's a very odd feeling seeing it absolutely free of people.




I, of course, did eventually get back for the food and beverage portion of the festivities, always delicious and bacon themed. After the Turkey Day Ride the rest of the day was filled with food and family but it was good to get out for a short ride and get ahead of the curve as far as intake vs. output goes.




Friday we scooted on down to Firth for our second annual Black Friday Ride, it's a much more worth while endeavor than fighting the crowds to save a few bucks if you as me. The ride is a 55+ mile route from Firth to Beatrice and back so that we can support one of ours stuck working those crazy Black Friday days.




Temperatures were fairly decent on Friday but the wind speeds were up considerably from Thursday, making it seem a tad colder than Turkey Day.





The folks who feed the country don't take Black Friday off, they were out working hard all day.





We didn't see really see any sun to speak of during the ride but we also didn't see any of the rain that was still looming in the forecast, we will call that a push. We made it down to Leo's and grabbed Joe before heading over to the always good Playa Azul for some Mexican food.


Joe, seller of jewelry, man of council and luber of friends since 1934 or there about.




There are some great roads and sights to see down around the Firth/Beatrice area, if you haven't ridden down there much you should. Legs were a bit tired after the ride but we still had one more to go so there really was no rest for the weary.


Saturday looked to be the worst day of the three if  you looked at the forecast but in reality it ended up being the nicest of them all. Temps at the start of the ride were already in the mid 40 degree range and the sun was up and shining.





Plan for Saturday was a quick spin out to Traditions Pub in Sprague and then a quick spin back for a nice 40ish mile route on a beautiful Saturday before the weather turned to snow overnight.


Weather ended up turning so nice that we had a little Chippendale action going on at one of the regroups, no full monty but I think we were all thankful for that.


We did down a little pecan whiskey to help us forget what we might have seen that day on the lonely gravel road.




A quick stop in Sprague for some fuel and refreshment and we were back to pounding the gravel.




It wouldn't be a proper SMNDFBR without a ditch beer and since nobody remembered one on the way out we picked up a hipster approved PBR for the way back. We are a craft loving bunch for the most part but for cheap beer PBR isn't too bad, hope they can work out their dispute with MillerCoors so that the watery concoction can keep flowing for years to come.



Legs were beat for this one so I spent a lot of time with a nice view from the back but at least we made it through and I was glad that there wasn't a scheduled ride on Sunday, 120 miles in three days was plenty for this guy. Great group for the ride given that most folks were busy doing the Thanksgiving thing with family.



Global Fat Bike Day is next Saturday so Patrick will have it off for sure but it sure has been a great bike this past week, just got a tad over 153 miles on the Journeyman since picking it up a week ago. Can't say enough good things about the bike, Salsa really got things right on this one; stability and capability on gravel and that colorway. Spot on!