Michelle Pfeiffer, That White Gold

"It’s too hot, called a police and a fireman; it’s too hot, make a dragon wanna retire man."

That Bruno Mars hit the nail on the head when describing Saturday's weather, although technically that's a paraphrase and not a direct quote but the general gist is still there.   

To say that it was hot on Saturday would be an understatement, it was very hot and very humid on Saturday, even at 9 in the morning. That, however, did not stop the hearty souls who regularly ride the SMNDFBRs from coming out in good numbers, 13 was our total on this day. 

While it was hot and some might consider us crazy for riding in the heat, at least we kept the tires on the bikes and didn't run around wearing them. 

See, even the roadies know where the tires go. 

The plan was to head out to Valparaiso for a little hill climbing, a saving grace from the full force of the heat was that there was a decent cloud cover hiding the sun. I wouldn't say it was keeping things cool but it did at least keep us from baking in the sun on top of everything else. 

Because it was hot, the need to stop and regroup was somewhat more frequent than it would have been on a day that wasn't quite as hot, at one point my Garmin reported a temperature of 102.7 out there on Saturday with the added heat coming back off the ground. The unfortunate side effect of this was that it was taking longer than anticipated so Kipp and Brent turned back shortly after this regroup to get back to Lincoln quicker than we were going to make it. 

In addition to regroups there was this... whatever this is? My grandfather always used to get me with the pull my finger gag; I'm not sure what pull my leg results in and I'm not sure I want to know. 

Despite the heat and the humidity everyone was plugging along at a pretty good pace, the downside of not having any sun is that things like gloves and socks didn't dry out quick enough and both stayed fairly moist. I got home and took off the socks and my poor feet looked like early onset of trench foot they were so pruned, by the time the sun did make an appearance the moisture was already too set in to completely evaporate. 

Two things happened before we got to Valparaiso, the hills got steeper and the clouds burned off, leaving us in the full heat of the sun. This was taking it's toll on Gary and he pulled the plug at Valpo and called for a ride. In this kind of heat it's always good to know your limits and to not risk it by not making that call.  

Once we knew Gary was squared away with a ride, we said our goodbyes, promised to write and call as often as we could and then set off down the Oak Creek Trail out of Valpo.


Which was a nice, albeit, brief reprieve from these monsters that lurk around Valparaiso and parts north.





That also brought us to the MMRs of the route and this crop duster that was doing it's aeronautical acrobatics to help keep the creepy crawlies off the corn. For once the word crop dusting could be used in it's most accurate form on this ride, we've been crop dusted before but by a much lower flying plane with what sounded like a bad engine.


Things got hotter from there and caused Sarah to decide that it would probably be best for her if she got a ride from Raymond. As I said knowing when to pull the plug is a good thing and the fact that two really strong riders made that call on Saturday just shows how the heat and humidity can get to the best of us.




Not wanting to just point Sarah in the right direction and hope for the best, Roy, Karla, Todd and I decided to break off from the group and make sure that she got to The Ding ok. As a reward for our good deed there was cold beer and colder water waiting for us.


Acceptable bar hopping transportation in Raymond.


Once Sarah was safely rescued the rest of us beat feet towards Lincoln, not much more for pictures as we were out of the hills and NW 27th is flat like pancake so we were making good time back to town. So ends another Saturday Morning No Drop Fat Bike Ride, no ride next week due to the Cornhusker State Games gravel races that many of us are participating in but never fear the ride will be back. Thanks to every one who came out, as always it was a pleasure to ride with all of you.