Walnut Creek

T.H.O.R. had their second trail day at Walnut Creek this morning, didn't have anything more pressing going on so I decided to head out and lend a hand again. Didn't quite get the turn out like we had last time but there were still plenty of able bodies out there helping.


Trail building time!


Barely visible is the entrance to the east section of the trees.


A little while later with the help of a weed eater and we have single track, sweet, sweet single track.


Because there is a creek that occasionally runs through the trail there will be a few bridges in this section, this one is just a temporary bridge until we can get the permanent one built and put into place.

This section is also going to have it's share of log crossings.


This bad boy is pretty monstrous and allowed us to actually make two routes over it, one easy route and one that requires a little more skill.


This is the front side of the big log crossing after dirt was added, to the left is the easy route which will be smooth up this side and down the backside, the right side involves a few little drops or if someone wanted could probably be used to catch some air. The hump in the middle makes a natural divider between the two sides.

The backside of the big log crossing with the easy rout mostly filled in with dirt.


Mostly filled in on the difficult side, I think the idea is for it not to be made too smooth so that like I said, you have a few little drops or could even possibly clear the whole down section with speed.


View from the top of the log crossing, as you can see the left side is pretty much a smooth ride up and over the log with a slight turn to it which should be ridable by anyone choosing not to take the other route.

This bridge will eventually be a table top type bridge giving you two options, either build speed and try to clear it in one hop or hop up and ride over it. In the background is one of the log crossings in the section, we were able to get the fully loaded wheel barrow over them with just one person so a bike should have no problem.


Glad we found this guy before someone found it the hard way, must have been livestock here once upon a time.


Once all the work was done it was time to eat, drink and stand up wind from each other. I think when the first parts of the trail are done it's supposed to be just under three miles of new single track, I'm pretty excited as it's definitely within riding distance for me but even if it's not for you it should still be a fun trail to ride. Plus it's new dirt and dirt is always good. 

Dirt Coaster

Group ride was out at Lewis & Clark this week, I hadn't ever been out there so I wasn't sure what to expect. The views from atop the monument are pretty spectacular even on a hazy, overcast day. 
Pretty good turn out considering that L&C is a good 20 minutes or better from Omaha and the warmer temps from earlier in the day were fading fast. I think Feagan is telling fish stories here or giving flamenco dance lessons... could go either way.


Not knowing what to really expect from this trail I was nowhere near prepared for it, the camera never does justice to just how steep or twisty the trails are but this trail is literally a roller coaster from start to finish, at no point in the entire trail can you just sit and coast. The down hills beg you to just let go of the brakes and fly...  the tight, tree lined corners that seem to crop up out of everywhere quickly put an end to that exuberance.

I am sure once you ride this trail a few dozen times and learn the flow of it, it would be a blast to ride but riding it for the first time it was a complete suffer-fest. Dug into the sides of the bluffs for most of it, you are never more than a few inches away from potential disaster but not to worry, all those cushy trees would surely slow you down before you made it all the way to the bottom, and the hills; some are short and steep, some are long and steep and then others you think are going to be short and steep only to find out it's a false peak and it's really long and steep. There are those who say that breathing is overrated, I'm not one of those and truly enjoy every breath, this trail makes you take lots of them, mostly wheezy, shallow ones but it's all about quantity and not quality right? 
This was my view for the entire ride, Feagan would let me get just close enough and then take off again like a sadistic leprechaun on a mountain bike, I swear a couple of times I even heard him say "you'll never get me gold" as he seemed to effortlessly fly over the trail. Super leprechauny powers of forest flight is the only explanation I can come up with as to how he made it look so easy.  At the top of the trail was a pretty cool memorial to one of the founders of T.H.O.R., never met the guy myself but he sounded like he'd been a really cool guy to ride with. 

Officially met Randleman for the first time... on a singlespeed... seemed like a good enough guy or at least when you're not in his way, more on that in a bit. As I sat there trying not to cough up a lung the two of them chatted as if they'd just ran into each other in the grocery store, I suspect our levels of fitness and endurance were not quite the same.  We took off just a bit before Randleman as he was waiting for someone else, which is the only way I was ahead of him because it didn't take him long to catch us, I pulled to the side to let him pass... and then he proceeded to sneak out an elbow and knock me over on his way past. Nah, not really, somehow I thought it'd be a good idea to pull over to the side and do some sort of track stand on the side of the trail while he passed, the side was much softer than I had anticipated and I lost all momentum and over I went. First day riding bikes, new shoes, just a gomer, whatever you want to call it I ended up not getting clipped out in time took the rookie tip of shame. I guess you don't really break in a new pair of kicks until you get them all muddy anyway so I guess I did that.  On that note, shoes actually felt really good and performed awesomely even if they don't release as easily as my former shoes. As for L&C, I think it's a keeper, I'll need to visit it way more often to get to the point where I can use the downhills to my advantage for the uphills but even if it makes you pay for the slightest mistake it really is a fun trail. 

Where The Bike May Take Me

Got tired of always needing to put the bike on the rack and driving it somewhere in order to ride, so I decided to get out this morning and see what I could find for routes from my house.


Challenge accepted... almost got there, truth be told on the first ride past I was at 25 mph but the second shot at it with only one hand and a camera I came up just a bit short.


Discovered that I could link up enough neighborhoods and then bike path to make it down 96th St. to Walnut Creek, once that trail gets up and running this will be a common route I think.


Since it was only about 6 miles to Walnut Creek and I wasn't done riding I decided to keep on trucking down 96th to see where it might lead. It ended so I turned onto 99th... and it ended also, about 750 feet from this sign to be exact.


Looked like a nice enough place, some little lake just before the Platte River...




You would have thought that living in the country like that would have made them friendlier but they appeared not to welcome guests and made darn sure you knew it. So much for country hospitality.


Not feeling welcomed at all I decided it was time to turn around and start heading back and that's when I stumbled upon this old dilapidated farmhouse. I just love these places all weathered and in disrepair, at first I thought maybe it hadn't been lived in for years... then I noticed the satellite dish on the roof, hope it's in better shape on the inside.

The barn was equally as interesting and also still in use as there were cows in the barn and yard.


While I was busy gawking at the house and barn, I apparently was being gawked at myself as the cows started to gather at the edge of the fence line wondering what was going on. Had there not been more no trespassing signs about I probably would have wandered over and said hi. It's always good making new friends, even if they are distant ones.

Getting There By Bike

I always thought it would be cool to tour Europe or even the US of A via bike but I probably should have done something like that right after I graduated high school as it is now I'll probably have to wait until I retire and hope the old faculties still all work well enough to remain rubber side down and remember who I am and where I was going... or win the Powerball, that's always an option. More realistic though is the short one to two day mini-tour so I was pretty excited when I saw that Cycle Works was going to have a Self Supported Touring/Sub24 Clinic.


There was this guy, a ton of knowledge on bike packing and self supported touring... not to mention one of the sweetest bike grease chain ring tattoos I've ever seen.


Salsa Vaya setup with front and rear commuter type panniers, it looks like you could carry a ton of stuff in those bags.


Damon's personal bike setup mostly with handmade bags from Relevate Designs, they make some long lasting quality equipment.


One of the things discussed in the class that I really liked was that you didn't need to necessarily buy any sort of specific type of bike to get out and do a self supported sub 24 hour tour, you just needed to figure out how to adapt what you have and make it work.


No braze-ons, no problem, this little trailer will hold all the gear you'd need and even let your valuables ride in cushy comfort via it's own shock.


This is the part of the night where I kinda forgot all about the "you don't need a specific bike" part of the clinic, that ECR from Surly had me day dreaming and drooling all at the same time. It's a look you really have to be careful with, people tend to see someone drooling and staring off into space and they like to call the police about the escaped mental patient so you have to be aware of your surroundings to pull off such a look effectively. Learned more than a few things at the clinic and think I might just have to see about giving this bike packing thing a try, to me it really does seem like it might be a good time. Bikes, beer, fire... lots of nylon and polyester, what could possibly go wrong?!?

Always In The Wrong Gear

It's often said that a singlespeed is always in the wrong gear, which is pretty spot on unless you happen to be riding on a flat trail with a tail wind. Today that sentiment was probably more true than usual, took the singlespeed out to Swanson Park, not having been out on it much lately the 32X15 gearing was just a tad steep for the trail. I'm not sure what it is about this bike, it's certainly not made out of the sexiest material being made out of plain old steel, it's definitely not the lightest and certainly not the most expensive but it just rides like a dream, something about that heavy ass steel frame just seems to smooth out the bumps. Despite not being ideally geared had a great ride out there, trails are near perfect and the weather actually stayed pretty good despite the clouds and threats of rain.

Gravel, Dirt And Some Old Stuff

Haven't been doing nearly enough riding lately, been making one excuse or another why I couldn't ride, definitely need to change that. On the upside I have been making more group rides, heck that's about all I've been making lately. Saturday was no different, a gravel ride was on the agenda.


Three might not have been much of a group but what we lacked in numbers some of us made up for in technicolor.


The gravel went on for miles, nothing but rollers everywhere. I'm not going to lie they kinda kicked my butt, cardio is not where it needs to be had I not managed to make it to the gym regularly the last few weeks it probably would have really sucked. Some how managed to get in a good solid 30 without dying and then had to boogie...



T.H.O.R. was having a trail day at Walnut Creek, breaking ground on a new trail.



I've never made it to any of the trail days before but it seemed like a pretty good turn out.

From a pile of leaves and sticks to the beginnings of something that will some day be a trail.


If that wasn't enough for one day, I had plans to head out to the Durham Museum, always a cool place to go.

They had a temporary exhibit "1968", it was actually pretty cool... I actually had a set of these guns as a kid, I remember my brothers and I shooting each other with those little discs, man they hurt. Where are the toys like this nowadays, what's a few more one eyed kids in world? Oh yeah, if anyone asks you never saw this picture, photography in this exhibit was strictly prohibited, if not strictly enforced.



Thought this old as truck was pretty cool with it's chain driven rear wheels, lubing that thing would be a bitch.

Even managed to make a new friend today, she wasn't much of a conversationalist but man did she have a hard body... no really, I swear she felt like she was made out of wood. It's amazing the kind of people you can meet in an old train station turned museum.