My Fat Bike Brings All The Folks To The Park

One could argue that the Fat has mostly gone out of the Saturday Morning No Drop Fat Bike Ride but throw in some single track and those tires balloon up bigger than my gut after the up coming Fall and Winter holidays. Granted it seems like most of the crew are as addicted to the "Need for Speed" as Goose and Maverick were back in 1986 so the tires were put on a bit of a diet over the last year or two but the ride is coming up on it's 5 year anniversary. I'm not messing with the name until after that, maybe a more meaningful name is in the cards, maybe something with a few less consonants than a bowl of alphabet soup... but then again, maybe not.





While Wilderness will never be mistaken for a technical trail, with a little speed those twists and turns become a cross country riders wet dream. I've always loved the flow of the trails in the Park and we managed to get a little speed in there on Saturday. Even the camera had a hard time keeping up sometimes, riding at the speed of blur is a thing.  



Things were surprisingly lush and green in Wilderness on Saturday considering how dry it's been lately, in fact it was so dry in there that the entire west side was mud free and that almost never happens. The last time I remember not encountering some moist sections on the west side of the Park was back in 2012 when we had a few years of drought in the state. Despite the summer like heat there were plenty of signs that fall is just around the corner, leaves were littered all over the trails. I'm looking forward to reacquainting myself with the Park over the next few months as fall is my favorite season for mountain biking. Provided we get a fall that is as it's not unheard of to go straight from summer into winter around these parts. All you have to do is go outside today to get a glimpse of that. 


Lots of shorts grabbers out there too, maybe grease up before venturing into Wilderness if you don't want to spend hours picking these things off of your clothes.



Bridge stops in the Park are also a must and another great thing about fall is the reintroduction of Pumpkin Spice everything, this one is a pretty good offering from Omaha based Infusion Brewing Company. I know, I know, believe me I know... before you start in on the great pumpkin spice debate maybe just let a person enjoy something they like a little bit. Seems like everyone is so quick to crap on everything these days, have we really become so jaded and cynical as a society that our first reaction to anything someone else is enjoying is one of detest and rancor? I mean a butt load of you all drink IPAs so maybe your opinion on what tastes good in a beer is a bit off to begin with. In my opinion the most apt statement I've ever seen for what an IPA tastes like is "If pine-cones were alcohol" so maybe stay in your own lane when it comes to what constitutes a good beer.




Hit up a few trails that we hadn't been on in years and one that wasn't even there anymore. As a gravel rider it's not uncommon to look at a road or bridge closed sign and see it as more of an opinion than a fact but this sign meant business on Saturday. A few yards from the sign the trail vanished into the creek.




We jumped on the Jamaican trail on the way back and got to check out the progress of the bridge spanning the railroad tracks, pavement has been mostly laid on the ramp and it looks like it's only a matter of time until the thing is open. Hoping it'll be this year yet but with us heading into Nebraska's crazy, anything can happen fall weather we will have to wait and see on that one.



That was the ride for Saturday, did hit up Banhwich after for a little sustenance. Well most of us, there were those that preferred McDonald's and no we didn't make him sit all by himself or at least that's the story we are sticking with.