Sunday, April 21, 2019

Blessing's Easter Gravel Extravaganza

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Oddly enough, I found myself in Lincoln on Saturday for a gravel ride. I know what you're thinking, I am almost never in Lincoln on a Saturday; that's so odd.

Photo Apr 20, 8 44 48 AM

But this one was different from the ordinary Saturday ride, this was a super secret, highly professional ride... complete with cue sheets and the route was not released until you showed up at the start/finish.

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The plan was to take the gravel out Eagle and then head back different gravel roads, with the warmer, drier and windier weather lately, the roads are currently really good; fast and dry and rolling super smooth. This time of the year, before they dump the pea gravel and rock on the roads, is some of my favorite riding. The temps were a bit chilly to start, it was actually in the mid 50° range but without the humidity yet it felt much cooler, but things warmed up quickly and it turned out to be a top 10 day so far this spring. This warming trend looks to be extending into the 10 day forecast so far so maybe, just maybe we are finally done with the chilly weather and the white stuff.

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As we were sitting at the Casey's Blessing rolled up to let us know that his sister had setup an awesome SAG stop in the park with cookies, water, pickles, bananas, oranges and PB&J so we all rolled over there to partake in the goodies. Funny story, she had crafted a text to let Blessing know that she was in the park and that we should head over, but then forgot to send it. It all worked out in the end however and the SAG was a welcomed oasis.

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Of course no ride out to Eagle or back from Eagle that involves the MoPac would be complete without a beer stop at The Hut. We weren't actually supposed to head back on the MoPac but time was becoming a bit of a concern and more gravel meant more time on course, so the relatively flat and faster limestone got the nod. I don't think anyone was disappointed either, we were sort of flying down the gravel on the way out and I think most people were feeling it in the early spring legs.

Photo Apr 20, 12 51 44 PM

Photo Apr 20, 2 24 49 PM

Back at Blessing's it was time for pizza and socializing, my favorite kind of rides. It was a great ride with awesome folks, plus it was nice to have a good social ride that I didn't have to plan.

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Photo Apr 20, 2 22 59 PM

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Photo Apr 20, 2 34 25 PM

After copious amounts of pizza were consumed a few of us scooted on down to check out the BikeLNK bike share's one year celebration. Such an awesome addition to the Lincoln community run but some super rad folks and there was cake! Cake makes everything better.

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All the official riding done, Sarah mentioned the new Starry Night crosswalk that we just needed to check out on the way back. So we did and she was right, it is very cool; would be nice to see more of this around the city. I think it definitely would draw attention to crosswalks and make the city a little more colorful at the same time. Saturday was a ton of fun and just what I needed on the holiday weekend, especially with May being chocked full of races.

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