Well fall is here, not the warm days, colorful leaves and cool nights kind of fall we all seem to dream about when we thing fall weather, instead it is the wet, cold and miserable fall that is more of what we actually get here in Nebraska and it's not making for the greatest riding so far. With drizzle and overcast skies in the forecast, the numbers for the SMNDFBR were fairly low but we did still manage a pretty good group leaving the shop, 6 of us in total.
We even managed to get a new rider this week, Dennis came out for his first ever ride with us. Hopefully the bad weather doesn't turn him off from coming back, they aren't all this miserable.
The route this week was limestone and then gravel out to Eagle and then back on the limestone into town. The problem was that the drizzle increased the farther out of town we got until it was a good old fashion rain by the time we had gotten to 162nd, with the stiff head wind and colder temps; warmth was a difficult thing to maintain there for awhile and staying dry just wasn't possible.
We lost our first rider at 84th before we really got out of town and by 162nd Dennis decided that he had had enough as well and turned north at 162nd to hook up with the MoPac a half mile up the road and take that back into Lincoln and places dry and warm. That left just the four of us to push onward toward Eagle and hope that the rains would subside soon.
This isn't the first ride that we've been caught in the rain but it ranks right up there with one of, if not the coldest ride where we've been caught in the rain. By the time we hit Eagle it was still coming down at a decent rate so we hit up Casey's number two in Eagle for a little pie and a place to warm up. Yes, there are two Casey's in Eagle, one right on the corner or Hwy 34 and Hwy 43 and a second spot just a block east on Hwy 34. The second location has Casey's famous pizza while the first place does not... don't ask me why but it is what it is, so it was on this rainy day that we ventured over to Casey's number two.
By the time we left Casey's the rain had stopped and things were looking up, not by much but every little bit helped. Amazingly once we got moving again I felt some what warm and actually started to dry out without any additional moisture adding to my soaked clothes. By the time we hit the hut I was mostly dry if not quite as warm as I would have liked.
Joy Power at the hut, fits in well with the other decor.
We weren't the only weary traveler using the hut for a little break that day, being cold blooded this guy was probably having a worse day than we were.
The Hut is also an excellent spot to indulge in a barley pop, this offering from Blue Blood is really good with just enough spice and pineapple flavors to make it tasty without being over powering. Limited series run though so if you want to try it out you should do so soon.
One of the drawbacks of taking the limestone when it is wet out is that it splatters a lot more than gravel roads do, follow too close to the person in front of you and you end up looking like this. Which is also why there weren't too many pictures from this ride, water, mud and cameras aren't the best of friends and should be kept separated as much as possible so the camera stayed in the waterproof bag most of the time.
A quick 10.5 miles from the Hut and we were back at the shop and the end of another fantastic Saturday ride. It's always interesting to look at the numbers at the end of a ride and compare it to previous rides and if you're so inclined, set goals based off those numbers. However if you're not a numbers person necessarily it is sometimes difficult to relate ride numbers to the real world, Garmin has a pretty unique IQ app that will take those numbers and show you how many beverages you would earn per ride. This one was written by folks who enjoy beer obviously but you could figure out how many calories are in your favorite food or beverage and then relate that back to this app fairly easily, the visual of watching the glass fill up as you're pedaling is more relate-able IMO than just watching numbers on a screen but maybe that's just me. As with most things, your mileage may vary.
No ride next week as I'll be in Jamesport Missouri for a weekend of friends and bikes in Amish country but keep your eyes peeled for info about the next SMNDFBR.
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