You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own, you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go.
Last Saturday was the redo date for the 17th annual Wear Yellow Nebraska ride, pushed back from May. I managed to borrowed a titanium Bearclaw Bicycle Co,. Frank, fat bike for the ride, this bike is really a fat bike in name and tire size only. This beast might weigh pretty close to what the Giant Revolt weighs, it would give it a good run for it's money anyway. I still had to push those massive 27.5 x 4" tires for 56 miles but it was almost like cheating.
With the mass start being pulled for this year, we sort of milled around the vehicles in the parking lot waiting for the rest of our group to make an appearance.
Of course no Wear Yellow would be complete without a banana incident and 2020 was no exception. I'm not entirely sure how it all started but it dates back to 2017 and has continued every year since, we were short one Carlos so we had a stand in banana hand.
A tiny bit of pavement and we were out on the gravel and a few MMRs in no time, weather was almost perfect for August with low temps, low humidity and gentle breezes.
If there was one hit on the course, it would be the lack of towns or places to get water and food, there were no actual stops on the route at all and only two towns that we rolled through. I know that gravel is often touted as self supported and for the most part it is, we require little to no SAG support but 56 miles without a town is long haul. We veered off course in Elmwood and took advantage of the Co-Op for a little sustenance and happened upon this cool old Chevy to boot.
Closed bridges can only mean one thing, bridge beers, Busch Lattes to be exact, sipped from a silicone drinking receptacle, because COVID has made us classy AF.
Fear not, there were much better adult beverages consumed also, we aren't animals after all but the Co-Op in Elmwood was heavy on Busch and a little light on craft.
A few more miles down the road and the 2020 edition of WYR was in the books. Pics might make it look like we meandered along but I can tell you, that pace was plenty brisk. Ended up with about a 14.9 mph average for the ride which I was pretty surprised by considering that the Frank is a fat bike. For comparison, I finished the Solstice Quarantine race on the Revolt a few weeks back with a 15.1 mph average, so about 2/10 ths of a mph difference between 42mm and 4" tires. I'll take it! Frank was a great riding buddy, speedy, stable, rolled over anything and comfy to boot, not sure I have Ti money but if I did...
Normally this time of year we would have all made the pilgrimage to Seward for the annual Firecracker 50 ride but this is not a normal kind of year in any way, shape or form and as such, there wasn't a Firecracker 50 on the calendar.
While I missed the tradition, not having the usual event meant that we could do our own thing and for the Omaha people that meant a little less driving. As it turned out, it also meant a fairly flat route out of Mead Nebraska was on the menu for the day. I know a lot of folks like their hills but a flattish course isn't bad either once and again.
A new start location meant some new views and some new roads, some of them were familiar but most were new to me. Parts of the Groveler and Heatstroke 100 share some of the roads we were on, so those I recognized right away.
Stopped at the Casey's in Ashland to refuel and hang out by the fuel pumps huffing fumes. Don't knock it until you try it, pizza and unleaded go together like kittens and rocking chairs. As we were milling around, a group of road cyclist converged on the Casey's as well, it was like Bike-ageddon. Everywhere you looked, here a bike, there a bike, everywhere a bike bike... some might call it a mess but I think it was a lot like heaven or at least how I hope it to be when and if I get there.
To avoid a rumble with a "rival bike gang" we let out for more gravel goodness, not to mention the lot was getting a little full and automobile folks were starting to look at us funny; more than normal.
Speaking of rumbles, we also rode past the former Nebraska Ordinance Plant, that was operated by the US Army from 1942-1962. In it's day it spread out over 17,250 acres or roughly 27 square miles (that's a lotta dirt folks) and produced bombs for WWII, The Korean War and in the 60s before being decommissioned it even produced intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM or nuclear missiles) for Offut Air Force Base. Quite the history for a very unassuming piece of land in the middle of nowhere Nebraska and kind of fitting that we would ride by a place that produced things that went boom before we spent the night watching things that went boom in the night sky.
A few more miles and the main part of the ride was in the books and it was time for a cold adult beverage.
A few of us who had a little more time to kill headed on down to the Rusty Rooster in Yutan to get in 55 miles for the day in honor of Randy Gibson who was killed a few years back on his bike. He would have been 55 on July 3rd.
Hello, is there anybody out there, is there anybody there? Is this thing even still on?
It's been a few since I've posted any new content but there is a reason for that, the last few weeks have been Solstice 100 Gravel Grinder stuff almost all day, everyday when not working or sleeping.
It's been so crazy this spring with rain, flooding and road closures that we didn't even finalize the routes until the Monday before the race and that was only after a few of us split the two routes and we rode both the 100 and the 50 on the Saturday before the race. Last year we were riding the course in March and finalizing the routes shortly there after, crazy what a little liquid sunshine will do to throw a wrench into your best laid plans. Hell, rained on us a little bit while we were doing the pre-ride, so nothing was cut in stone even then.
We did make some new friends while scoping out the route, I gave them a quick run down on what we were doing out there on an overcast Saturday, gave them the deets on the Solstice and even offered them all a free entry if they wanted to come ride. First guy said he was way too slow and didn't have the time or energy for 50 to 100 miles in one day, the others... well, they had the speed and the energy but in the end they were just too chicken. I think the first guy could have sewn up that DFL trophy had he decided to ride, cool guy really, super laid back.
With the routes mostly hammered out on Monday it was time to get busy on the labor intensive cue sheets. Believe me folks, they seem like the simplest things in the world, and I'd garner to bet most people don't even use them, but each line has to be manipulated. Not rocket science but it's a ton of hours in the making. I thought I was actually ahead of the game and had them almost done by Wednesday, usually we don't release them until the day before or two days before so I was golden. Then the files got corrupted, all three of them and the only three files on the drive that wouldn't open... holy shit balls! Several attempts to use recovery tools were used, a slew of curse words were said before giving in and accepting fate. Then it was back to the grind stone starting all over, it was such a desperate time that I had to take a day off of work to make sure they would be ready in time but in the end I think they came out pretty good. I can't really complain too much, the time I spend on the Solstice pales in comparison to what Joe puts in over the course of a year. If Joe is the face of the Solstice, I guess that makes me the ass.
Check In on Friday at Cycle Works is always a good time, all of the stress from the planning and preparing stages are done for the most part and you get to let your hair down and greet all of the riders. A lot of time it's like a big reunion as you might only see some folks once a year when they ride the event.
It was also Joe's birthday and we got a surprise from the Gibson family in the form of a birthday cake with a pooping caterpillar on it.
I'm pretty sure it was not intended to be a pooping caterpillar but one misplaced dollop of brown frosting, a few gravel cyclists and some adult beverages and you get a pooping caterpillar cake for your birthday. We sang a rendition of Happy Birthday that probably had dogs in the neighborhood diving under beds but it was a heart felt rendition.
After Check In a few of us headed out to grab a bite to eat at Cactus before retiring for the evening. I'd never been to Cactus before but I'd definitely go back, good locally sourced Mexican food and way better than the former Chevy's that used to occupy the space.
In the wee hours of the morning on Saturday we descended on Malcolm and began to setup, unload and separate supplies for SAG stops and get things organized for day of registration. I kid you not when I say it takes a small army of volunteers to make these events what they are, I might be biased but I think we have the best volunteers there are and Jamie does an excellent job recruiting and organizing her small army.
About an hour or so later folks started showing up in earnest and were met with an overcast morning sky devoid of sun or blue, seems like it was a repeat of last year as far as weather the pattern went. I believe we delayed the start last year by 30 minutes, we would double that this year due to weather.
As if on cue, the rain started shortly before we were supposed to start. It wasn't a down pour as much as a heavy drizzle but it was accompanied by lightening and that meant we would need to delay the start of the race, riding in the rain is part of the gravel life but lightening is a whole other beast. To their credit all of the racers took it in stride and understood why we had to delay things as they scrambled to find any dry spot to hide and wait it out.
As I mentioned previously, we ended up delaying the start for an hour so just a few minutes before 8 am we got everyone lined up, Joe grabbed his Red Solo Megaphone for some last minute words and then Kevin gave a blessing for the ride. We were ready to go!
A little pre-start joviality to help ease the jitters, yep racers aren't the only people that get that feeling before a big event. Michael McColgan was one of the three photographers on course and is pretty handy with the camera, as are Tracy Murray Hoffman and Virgil Horne Jr. the other two great photographers on course. Don't let Jamie fool you either, she's takes a mean photo on that iPhone too.
This year the neutral start headed south and west of Malcolm, the pointy end of the Solstice 100 was filled with most of the whose who of Nebraska gravel right now and they looked eager to get this thing going.
15 minutes later it was time to line them up and do it all over gain for the Solar Fiddy racers, the intensity on their faces was no less evident and with only 50 miles to ride the start might have been a little bit quicker than the 100. At one time I thought some of them were going to end up sitting in the tuck bed if they didn't pull up a bit.
With both races off into the Nebraska countryside, Joe and I had exactly 2.5 minutes to relax before we had to get moving to setup the SAG stops in Garland and Brainard; it's a good thing all that college partying finally paid off and we were able to gulp down a Lazy Horse's Watermelon Radler in no time at all.
With Garland and Brainard successfully unloaded and set up it was off to the optional oasis at mile 91 or 45, depending on which race you were doing, at Branched Oak Farm. The view from this spot was breathtaking, on a clear day like Saturday you could even see the Capitol Building in downtown Lincoln. A person could get used to that kind of view over their morning coffee.
We were snapped back to reality when one of the volunteers said that the fast Fiddy racers had just gone by and didn't stop, well poop! We hopped in the Sprinter van and raced to get back to the finish before they did, actually passed them up on our way back, these guys were flying. Top three in the 50 finished in just under 4 hours and were all within a minute of each other, this was a much closer race than the 100 ended up being. Ian Kiddo took the win and created a power shift in the family I think when the old man, Scott Kidoo, came in fourth. The student has become the master!
While the 100 wasn't nearly as close of a race, they were still flying. Ashton took the top spot, finishing 100 miles in 5 hours and 17 minutes, Robb was 11 minutes behind to take second and Josh rounded up the podium about 20 minutes after that.
Women's Fiddy podium was Sydney, Abby and Kat, they were flying as well coming in about 20 minutes after the men's podium finishers.
Lynnly, Kari and Kimberlee took top honors in the women's Solstice 100, all way faster than I can do 100 miles. Lynnly crushed it in 6 hours and 46 minutes, Kari 40 minutes after that and Kimberlee an hour after that.
The coveted DFL trophy this year came down to a photo finish, all three guys dismounted and walked their bikes across the line but the camera was able to deduce which one crossed as the last rider in.
There are a ton of photos that I took and those can be found HERE if you're so inclined to browse through them.
So, a little back story on our newest award we handed out this year. We have a friend, Doug, and his wife has been battling cancer for a little over a year now; A battle I am sad to say she is not winning this time around. Amy is in hospice care currently and they are making her as comfortable as possible for the time that she has left, cancer really can suck big fat bag of donkey balls. About a week before the race I pitched an idea to the group about coming up with an Amy Schmitt Courage Award that we would give out to the rider that we felt showed the most courage either getting to the race or while out on course. They all thought it was a good idea so we ran it past Doug and Amy and they gave us the green light as well. Joe fashioned this plaque and the award was born.
Doug was on board with the award being presented but what he didn't know is that we had all already decided that he would also be the first recipient of the award. I am pretty sure he was not expecting or prepared for it when we handed it to him. I can't imagine the amount of pain and tears that have been shed this year in the Schmitt household, I can't think of anything more difficult than deciding that fighting is no longer the best option. We were all pretty amazed when Doug and Amy decided that Doug should go ahead and race in the Solar Fiddy. Riding time hasn't been a whole lot this year, saddle time has been replaced with Dr. office chairs; bike rides with chemo sessions. Not exactly the recipe for getting ready for 50 miles of gravel but there he was at the start and there he was at the finish, while not the fastest time turned in that Saturday; it was a huge victory. We love you and Amy, Doug, you guys are always in our thoughts during this difficult time.
This is an award we will continue to give out each year, next years recipient will probably be more difficult to determine most likely. But maybe not, unbeknown to us at the time of the race there was another racer and his family also battling cancer. You can read his story HERE. It's a great story and Eric has a great writing style, he composes while I butcher the words. Give it a read and all the other posts, you won't be disappointed. If you know of someone deserving of the award, drop us a line on our Facebook page and we will try our best to pick the most deserving recipient next year.
I'm going to close this out with a little video taken by Kevin's daughter on an iPhone, those first roads were a bit rough and Joe's driving has always been stomp and brake but she did a great job keeping everyone in frame.
