SMNDFBR - The Warm Up

60° and sunny yesterday, you could not have asked for better weather and it was certainly a welcomed change after the frigid temps of the last few weeks, a perfect setting for the Saturday Morning No Drop Fat Bike Ride. 

While it wasn't quite 60° at 9 a.m. when we left Cycle Works it was one of those temps that are hard to dress for, too little and you'll likely be cold for half the ride, too much and you're too hot. Because of this we only made it to the beginning of the MoPac trail before the layers started to get stripped off and stowed in pack or pocket.

Given all of the ride options that were available on Saturday morning, I saw at least 4-5 on Facebook alone, I was super excited that there was a group of nine of us for the SMBDFBR. The plan was to ride out on the MoPac to 120th and then hit the gravel for 40+ miles. 

Walton Nebraska Co-Op. I still remember when I first moved to Nebraska in 1994 and was just getting back into cycling, Walton seemed so very far away... still miss the now defunct Walton Trail Company, was always a welcomed oasis after a few miles of dusty, grasshopper covered, crushed limestone trail on the way out and also a nice place to stop if you had opted for some serious miles and were on the way back into Lincoln. It's hard to believe it's been gone almost 10 years now. 

Walton was also the site of the first mechanical on the day, Brent broke a spoke on his front wheel but luckily it was a quick fix, using a multi-tool a quick snip of the spoke so that it could be pulled out of the hub and we were pushing on once again.

The fat bikes only numbered 3 on this ride, as is likely to happen as the weather gets nicer, so the three of us got used to this view during the ride. Those with svleter tires and swifter speeds pulled away after the re-groups, in Fairy Tales slow and stead wins the race... on group rides slow and steady doesn't necessarily "win" but it does keep you out of the bigger dust clouds of the pebble peloton. 

Not to mention, what we lacked in speed we more than made up for in both comfort and style points. 

In an impromptu straw pole (get it, cows... hay, straw...) 99 out of 100 cows prefer seeing fat bikes on gravel over cross bikes or mountain bikes. If any barn yard animal understands what it's like being linked with the word fat it's the lowly bovine, kindred spirits man, kindred spirits. 

All was smooth sailing after the Walton spoke incident until we got to Bennett Road, when I was planning the route I had hoped the short MMR stretch would be dry and for the most part it actually was.

The first quarter mile was dry, good, solid Nebraska dirt but as good as it was the last 200 yards was equally bad, hike a bike time. 

Jamie was a little braver than most of the rest of us and tried to ride the entire distance, the mud won on this day. Having had a similar experience on a MMR a few months ago I could definitely relate to how difficult it is to get the clay like mud off the bike, sometimes you just have to ride it off. This would be our second and last mechanical issue, the mud kept derailing the chain until we got it clean enough that it wouldn't skip off the front chain ring.

Even 8+ miles later as we rolled into Roca a lot of the mud was still trying to hang on, luckily all of the moving parts were pretty much clear. 

Unfortunately we arrived at the Roca Tavern about 20 minutes before it opened dashing anyone's hopes of a frosty cold one, so it was just a brief rest stop and some water refilling before pushing on. If you haven't been out to Roca lately the tavern has an organized ride that goes out there on Wednesdays and there is almost always a water jug/cooler attached to the outside of the building if you need to refill your bottles.

The original plan on paper when rolling out of Roca was to take 25th St. to Bennett Road and then out to S.W. 1st but after the mud earlier on Bennett Road we opted to skip any more MMR fun and just ride up 25th to Satillo and stop at the Shoemaker's gas station for something a little more refreshing than water. We even made a new friend in the parking lot, sweet dog and didn't even seem too mind all that much that he was stuck wearing the cone of shame. 

In the age of cell phones you don't see many of these around any more...

While it seemed in pretty good shape it had a decent layer of dust and grime on it, if E.T. has been calling home lately, he sure hasn't been using this particular pay phone. 

As I mentioned earlier it was a beautiful day... how nice of a day was it really? It was such a nice day that you just wanted to drive your already spotless Camaro through the car wash a second time just for the heck of it. Looking at the forecast there are days and days of sun shine and warmer temps in store for us, I for one would be perfectly okay if we had seen the last of the white stuff for the season. 

SMNDFBR - Gruel(ing) Ride

What a difference a couple of weeks can make, the two pictures are the same trail but two weeks apart. The top being two weeks ago and the bottom was from yesterdays ride, bone dry and even dusty in this particular spot.


We were pretty optimistic that Wilderness would be ridable given the condition of the Jamaica North trail, the first section was perfect with just a little bit of ice.


As we progressed into the next section the trails started to deteriorate, by the time we got down to Old Cheney it was clear that today was not going to be the day for Wilderness Park.


Knowing that there was a chance that Wilderness would be too wet to ride, I had come up with a plan B ride out to Hickman and back. Unfortunately due to time restraints, we dwindled down to three at Old Cheney Road. Switching to the limestone trail didn't solve our moisture problem though, most sections that were shaded from the sun were still wet or snow covered resembling a bowl of gruel in both color and consistency.


Wasn't much need for ice water on this day, temps just kept dropping and winds kept increasing but it's good to know it's there if you needed it.


Boo! Did I scare you? Never noticed this sign before, I'm thinking it must be a fairly new edition and a bit of a name change as I always thought it was Roca Berry Farm for all but a month out of the year. The berry business must not be as good as the scary business.

We also parted ways with our third at Roca as he had another route he wanted to ride that would take him back closer to home. Given the dark skies and stiff breeze it was probably the smart move but I never claimed to be all that bright so we continued on to Hickman.


Downtown Roca, not exactly a hot bed of activity but they have a pretty cool Co-Op.


Pushing on toward Hickman we were glad to switch over to gravel, it was in primo condition and much cleaner/dryer riding than the Jamaica North.


Once we go to Hickman we stopped at the U-Stop for a little humble pie (the actual name of the pizza), a Monster drink and a little something extra for the ride home in the way of Simply Caramel Bites. Probably not the ideal cyclist refuel but I very rarely get confused for an actual cyclist so it's all good... any way you slice it (pun definitely intended).

The ride back into Lincoln was straight into the wind and sloppy but in mid February I guess that is to be expected. As much fun as the fat bike has been this winter, I'll be glad when the weather starts warming up on a consistent basis; plus it'll be nice to not have to clean the bike after every ride.

SMNDFBR - Snowball Express

Yesterday was another Saturday Morning No Drop Fat Bike Ride and if you missed it, you missed a good one as the weather was almost perfect.


While the weather was perfect, anyone who was out and about early on Saturday morning can attest, the roads were less than ideal being better suited for ice skating than they were for driving. Who would have thought that the most treacherous part of the ride would be the pavement.


The sun and warmer temps on Friday managed to melt enough snow that the trails were ridable but with the snow being at optimal consistency for making snowmen it was a slog-fest the entire way, there was no easy biking today.


I told you it was perfect for building snowmen, someone built up this guy and left him beside the trail to wave hi to everyone passing by.


Even though the sun did all that it could to make sure the trails were nice and ridable, there were still plenty of deep drifts that even the wide tires of a fat bike couldn't tackle. Involuntary snow angels were plentiful.


Gary saves himself and only manages a half snow angel.


Jamie was a bit more committed in her attempt.


Just look at that form and bonus points for not leaving any footprints inside the angel.

Because the going took so much more effort than normal riding, the breaks were plentiful and a welcome part of the ride. As a bonus during the breaks we were able to enjoy the beauty of the park, weren't many opportunities for viewing the park with your head down and eyes focused on the ground ahead, attempting not to wander out of the path made by the person in front of you.


Some of the breaks even came complete with facilities, they had hand sanitizer in the outhouse  for that fresh feeling after taking care of business. Sure would be nice if they would leave a few of these out in Wilderness when there wasn't a new bridge going in.


Although the trails were still covered in 6-8 inches of snow, as the day went on and the sun became higher in the sky the snow started to become difficult to ride in as it softened. We decided to take the Homestead trail back into Lincoln... figured it would be easier but as you can see other than rabbits and the occasional person the Homestead was covered in several inches of snow as well and we had to break trail all the way back. There would be no easy route on this day.


As I said before being outside was the best place to be even if it was a struggle, the park was very picturesque.

In addition to deep snow, there were several downed trees across the Homestead trail that had to be navigated around, some you could ride around but most of them you had to dismount and walk around them. Hopefully the city can get someone out there to take care of them as it looks like all next week is going to be great for getting outside.


Since we were all pretty much spent after almost 2 hours in Wilderness fighting the heavy snow we opted to take advantage of Lincoln's extensive paved trails for the ride back... but even that was not without it's challenges, dang trains.


Never been so happy to see a convenience store in my life... well maybe it wasn't quite that good but it felt like it at that time. Burned through most of the water I was carrying so a refuel was just what we all needed.


Thankfully, as is usually the case, Lincoln had the cement trails in perfect shape. Finally some smooth riding.

Didn't take us too long to get back to Cycle Works once we hit the cement, to my surprise Jake had stopped by and dropped some beer off for me in exchange for some Pearl Izumi shoe covers I had given him earlier in the day. Wasn't expecting the beer but man did it hit the spot, nothing makes a beer taste as good as a hard ride.


Doesn't really have anything to do with the SMNDFBR but Cycle Works has some pretty sweet new stickers right now, this guy is my personal favorite. You should pop on down and pick up some before they are all gone, because who couldn't use a few more stickers in their life?