Twice as nice

Woke up before the sun this morning so that I could get in a few miles, it's been a while since I've had a single ride over about 20 miles so figured it was time. By the time I hit the road the sun was up just enough to not need lights and it was chilly, 50 degrees with a decent breeze. The shadows were down right cold, signs that the seasons are changing are in full effect. 

 

Been seeing more Blue Herring around here lately, beautiful birds. 

Fields of green have turned to fields of brown, only a matter of time before the leaves start falling and all the color fades for another year. 

Decided to head out to Cortland riding into the wind on the way out, with the wind at my back on the way back. Yo-yo'd back and forth with these guys on the way out, actually they would pass me and then stop at which time I would pass them. They seemed much more serious about the ride than I felt however, I wasn't really in the mood or shape to burn it out and back. 

Should have gotten out sooner for the second ride of the day definitely wanted to check out Streets Alive but by the time I made it out most of the booths were cleaning up and getting ready to call it a day. It was still nice to see all the people out wandering on the closed roads and there were still plenty of interesting booths open. 

Love the work these guys do, Lincoln has an awesome network of trails. 

Not sure who this band was but it looks like Abe approves and that's good enough for me. 

They were not lying this year

Second year riding the Heat Stroke 100 put on by the Great Plains Bicycling Club, last year was almost perfect, temps were in the upper 70's to low 80's, overcast and just a gentle breeze. This year was the polar opposite, temps at the start already had heat indices in the upper 80s to low 90s with a stiff 16 mph wind both the temps and the winds just continued to increase over the day.


Started out a little after 7am, the official start is 7:30 am but remembering from last year I decided to just take off after registering as there really isn't any sort of lineup and start so nothing to wait for. Ashland was still asleep by the time I rolled through, the plan going into the ride was to try to do all 108 miles this year but as they say everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. The wind, the heat and the fact that I couldn't get the bike to down shift out of the big ring was a quick one, two, three combo that would change that plan as the day went on.


Sunrise over the Platte River.


Not sure if they are just re-siding the lighthouse at Linoma or taking it down, never really made it out here so I don't have a clue. It'd be kind of sad to see it go as it is a bit unique.


Saw this lady from a ways away just running down the middle of the lane going against the direction of traffic, I suppose this far out from a large population with no shoulders it might not be a bad idea, just had never seen it before.

Dude was rocking a Surly Big Dummy and he was killing it, seemed physically impossible to get that thing moving fast but he was doing it.


Missed the signs pointing toward the limestone trail for the Lied bridge last year at the end of loop one so this was the first time I've ever gone over it, the limestone around the bridge was super thick, lots of the pure road bike riders walking this section.

A wake of vultures was just off the bridge on a sandbar, maybe they were waiting for one of the riders to drop, a little creepy of you ask me.


Corn... fuel, food and bike rack all rolled into one.

Managed to get in solid 59 miles, which was not the intended 108 but after being battered by the wind and heat along with the inability to shift out of the big ring, which made climbing the steeper hills against the wind a real treat, it just wasn't going to happen today but since it was a ride and not a race bowing out a bit early is totally acceptable and much preferred to being found on the side of the road face down, drooling on yourself.

One word for the shirts this year... BRIGHT! This thing can be seen from an orbiting satellite, at night.


Post ride recovery beverage...

...which is probably what I was thinking about when this pic was snapped because it certainly wasn't a smile for the heat or the wind. 

Rollin skinny - ThNNDRR

Today was Thursday and that meant it was time for the... ThNNDRR (Thursday Night No Drop Road Ride) hosted by Cycle Works, the same people who bring you the TNNDDR. That's right decided to partake in the road version of the group ride this week to see what it was all about.
Whoa, some people take these road rides serious, my wheels probably weigh as much as that entire bike.

Rolling out promptly at 5:30, headed out through town eventually picking up Folsom St then SW 12th to Satillo Rd out to Hwy 77 and eventually Sprague before turning back. Good to see I wasn't the only one not fully clad all in spandex, there are just certain size people that should never go near anything tight and stretchy.


Pretty decent view of Lincoln off in the distance from this vantage point, it's a bit hard to see in this picture but from the seat of your bike it's a whole other matter.

Ran into, not literally, the Joy Ride group on Denton road, looked like they were heading out to Denton on the temporarily closed road... those law breakers. Wind was a bit brutal on the way out coming out of the south/southwest at about 15-20 mph. For some reason we lost all the young guys at Satillo and Hwy 77, they all went straight across Hwy 77 instead of turning right back into the wind, not sure if they had places to go, had burned themselves out already or just had had enough of the wind. Either way our group was now down to 3 more "seasoned" riders.

We continued on to Sprague and looped back to Hwy 77, once we turned the corner so we were now riding north it was nice to have the wind at our backs finally. The cruise home was nice and easy, more than once or twice I ran out of gear coming back and had to just coast, I personally would rather struggle out and cruise back when I'm a bit more tired so this was ideal for my riding style.

Pulled into the gas station at Satillo and Hwy 77 for something a little cold and refreshing before cruising back to Lincoln via 14th St. I really need to look into a geared bike if I'm going to continue trying to get some rides in on the road, singlespeeds really show their weakness out on the open road where there aren't turns, obstacles and other things to slow you down and level the playing field a little bit like on a mountain bike. I've been looking around and this might be the year, been waiting for the cyclocross bikes to start coming with disc brakes and from the looks of the line ups that have been released it looks like most manufactures are equipping the 2014s with discs. Although there are a few 2013s that were also equipped with discs and if I could find one of those with discs I could save some bucks... or I could just put on my big boy pants, suck it up and just ride what I have and quit whining.