There was a time, many years ago as a young lad, that I lived in Seattle and I learned to dislike the rain as only a person who has experienced every kind of rain imaginable for months out of every year can learn to dislike rain. I thought once I left the soggy Pacific Northwest that I put this type of rain, cloud, repeat weather behind but it's found me and it's been on spin cycle for the last month it seems. Friday was no different and the rains came back and soaked everything just in time for the Saturday ride.
Despite trying, once again, to rain on our parade; everyone showed up with smiles on their faces ready to ride.
We scooted on down the Jamaican trail on route to meet up with David in Hickman and of course a bridge beer stop before we got there.
Surprisingly, both the MoPac and the Jamaican trails have been in really good shape in spite of all of the rain fall we've gotten on Fridays recently. Being relatively flat and with the 14ish MPH wind at our backs, the Jamaican out to Roca was a quick spin.
The pavement was even more dry and fast than the Jamaican which was a good thing as the bridge beer put us a little bit behind schedule for meeting Dave out in Hickman so we had to really get on it if we were going to get out there around the time we were supposed to be there.
We only really had one 2.5 mile chunk of gravel on this ride but since we rode it twice we ended up with 5 miles of gravel but the majority of it was limestone trail. David must have gotten tired of waiting for us as we met him on the gravel just outside of Hickman, which turned out to be a good thing since we decided when we were having our bridge beer that we were skipping the usual Hickman lunch stop and hitting Yia Yia's Pizza back in Lincoln for lunch.
With David now assimilated into the group it was back the way we had come and into the wind instead of with it.
Roca Tavern wasn't really on the agenda but the wind had a bit of a bite to it and a few of us needed a nature break so we opted to put it on the agenda. The Tavern technically wasn't quite open yet but they opened their doors a tad early and invited us in anyway and the Kinkaider Devil's Gap and tomato juice was just what the Dr. ordered for warming us up. Pay attention people, these are the kinds of establishments that you as a cyclist should be giving your money to when you can; there are those that claim to be cycling friendly and then there are those that go above and beyond to show that they are cycling friendly.
It's a good thing we stopped though, we got to talking to the owners and might just have a ride to plan for later this summer when it's warm and dry.
Once properly warmed and fueled it was time to get back at it and face the wind head on again, drafting wasn't so much a feat of maintaining speed as much as it was a chance to get out of the coldest part of the wind which seemed to have increased since we left Lincoln.
Old Glory sticking straight out confirmed my suspicions that we weren't dealing with your average, run of the mill, gentle breeze on Saturday.
As promised those who wanted to and remained, ended up at Yia Yia's. It was good to see it back open after being closed for a few weeks for some sprucing up, pizza was outstanding as it always is. A true Lincoln icon and not so hidden gem of downtown.
I'm hoping that nicer weather is on the way and this might have been our last crappy weather ride until next winter rolls around. Some people think we are crazy to ride year round, we don't necessarily enjoy it as much as we do in the warmer months but not riding would drive me bonkers and as the saying goes; obsessed is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated.
Thanks to all that came out and to those who continue to come out, rain, wind, cold temps, snow and all.
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