SMNDFBR - Wilderness Park

Yesterday was a beautiful day for the SMNDFBR, temps were in the 70s with just a minimal wind, couldn't have asked for a nicer day really. With lots of other activities going on, Spring Fling, Battle Royal at Platte River State Park. UNL Graduation and the Guardians of Freedoms Air Show, the numbers for the ride were a bit smaller than normal but still a respectable 6 riders.




With the Farmers Market in full swing and UNL's graduation ceremonies going on at Pinnacle Bank Arena, it was determined that the best route would be down the Rock Island trail to Old Cheney and into Wilderness Park there.





Other than one wet spot we had to circumnavigate, the trail was in really good shape. It would have been nice if everyone would have gone around the wet spots when they found them, instead there were plenty of ruts and torn up areas that indicated several people had been riding well before the trail was dry enough.


Not a sign that you see very often while riding in Wilderness but as we approached the 14th Street parking lot, this was posted none the less.



As it turns out Urgent Care was filming a commercial with zombies!




The zombies were very cool and even posed for a few pictures with us, they looked like the undead and we smelled like it so we were a match made in heaven so to speak.


After escaping without being bitten by a zombie, we popped across 14th street and continued on the other side. Seems like that side gets a lot less love, trail was in decent shape but you could tell it isn't ridden/walked as much and it definitely was in worse need of a haircut than the trails west of 14th. On the plus side there weren't a ton of mosquitoes out yet, so our luck of not getting bitten in Wilderness was holding strong.


Decided to take a bit more of the Jamaican trail back to skip the one wet spot... sure will be nice when they can get to repairing this section, I know other sections have been or are in the process of being repaired. Not sure what is taking the city so long to get started but it is what it is I suppose.


Ducked back into the trees on the dry section and made short work of it back to civilization.


Met a roving bike gang on 4th street, pretty cool to see kids outside, even better when they are on bikes!



We were hoping that the farmers market would be done by the time we rolled through the Haymarket but we didn't time it quite right, luckily we were still able to roll through without too much trouble.

Thanks to all who made it out, hopefully warmer days with less rain are on the horizon. No SMNDFBR next week due to the Wear Yellow Ride but join us on the 21st, we've got some good gravel in the works.

ThNNDRR - Waverly

Yesterday was the first of our Thursday Night No Drop Road Ride of the season and it was about as close to a perfect night for it as you could hope for. Meetup as usual was at the shop, 6 of us total for the ride as we set off for Waverly.


Spring has definitely sprung, the warmth of the sun and the smell of lilac in the air are always a welcome occurrence after the winter snows have gone.


Pictures never do hills justice, the 27th Street Overpass is always a challenge and even more so on the first ride of the year.


Weaving our way through Lincoln using the trail system we made our way out to hwy 77 and ran into another sure sign of spring in Nebraska, the dreaded orange barrels that pop up like weeds in the roadways all over town. If you frequent hwy 77 while riding, be careful heading north just before the interstate as the road narrows to just one lane without a shoulder.



Safely through the danger zone it was up the big hill heading out of Lincoln to Waverly road for a quick regroup and then the speedy part of the ride.


So speedy it often requires the full tuck!


We even flew by this house so fast that it blew the windows out, the paint off and removed shingles.



Even though Waverly road is a roller coaster of hills it always seems like you can maintain a fairly quick pace through that section, which we did yesterday regrouping at 134th for the final push into Waverly.




The ride into Waverly always seems to slow a bit as people catch their breath and let the legs recuperate after the roller coaster sprints.

Because we had burned like a bazillion calories getting to Wavely, we decided that ice cream was in order... this was the "small" chocolate dipped cone. I don't even want to imagine what the large looks like.




Hopped up on frozen dairy we made quick work of hwy 6.


Always loved trains, so powerful, so big and noisy and almost downright majestic...

Until you get stopped by one, then all those nice things go out the window and you come up with a few not so nice words to express your feelings towards them. We waited for a bit hoping it wouldn't take too long but once it came to a complete stop it was time to find a new route. Not a whole lot more picture worthy happened on the remainder of the ride but it was a great night for a ride and I'm looking forward to many more this summer, now if Mother Nature would just bring on the heat we'd be set.

Thanks to everyone who came out, hope to see all of you next week and bring friends; bikes with friends is always more fun.

Dancing in the Park

Skipped out on work on Tuesday and headed down to Wilderness Park to help out with another Salsa Demo Day. Weather was absolutely perfect for it and the park was in pretty good shape considering all the rain we had gotten just a few days prior... seems like rain right before the Salsa Demo Days is getting to be a trend.



Being a mid day, weekday demo ride the setup went really smooth and we were done in plenty of time before the bulk of the riders would show up. Workday demo rides might not be ideal but I know that all the manufacturers and busy, busy, busy with demo rides and sometimes you draw the short straw as they make their way across their territories.


One plus about a workday demo is that once the bikes, tents, etc. are all setup there is usually a little bit of time to take a spin on the demos yourself. Knowing it would probably be a popular choice since it was brand new, I opted to take the Redpoint out for an early spin. This is Salsa's new trail bike sporting 27.5" tires, 150 mm or front and rear squish and Boost hub spacing. While 150 mm, or 6" if you prefer, of travel sounds like way too much for Nebraska, I see this bike being snatched up by those people out there who want or can afford only one bike and they want that bike to be able to do almost anything. Sure you're never going to use 6" of travel in Wilderness Park or any other trail around here but it also isn't going to hinder you either, I've never heard anyone say that they wished their bike had less travel. On the plus side though, if you frequent places outside the confines of the Nebraska border, places like Colorado, Montana, Oregon or Utah that 6" of travel would probably be very appreciated.  It rode really nice and as you can imagine smoothed out the earthen imperfections of the park like nobody's business... it's like the suddenly paved over the singletrack.


Bill grabbed himself a Bucksaw and joined me for a few mile romp through the trees, that Redpoint absolutely carved up the trail for having that much travel.


Of course preferring my bikes with a little bit more girth around the middle, I didn't pass up the opportunity to take the Bucksaw for a spin myself. This bike is by far my favorite mountain bike I have ever ridden... yes, I typed that right, while it is also a bike with fat tires it is a mountain bike. Fat Bikes have come a long way since their heavy, lumbering and often sluggish days to what you see here in this beautiful 100 mm travel, 4" tire, carbon beauty. If I had the coin to get me one of these it would already be a done deal and I'd happily give up a slight weight penalty over a traditional anorexic mountain bike for a ton more smiles per miles.


It wasn't all riding bikes for me though and by the time I got back people were starting to show up at a pretty good pace. I might have only gotten to ride two bikes but I'm not complaining, I got to take the new Redpoint out and see what it was all about and then ride my girl again.

Not much more for story from here on out, just some pictures of people riding bikes and having a great time and that's better than any yarn I could weave anyway.



















And just like that it was a wrap, 5 hours of bikes, dirt, smiles and laughter and another successful demo day was in the books leaving nothing left but the tear down and of course beer-thirty.

Thanks to everyone who came out, it was a blast.


Parting thought, while not part of QBP or the demo at all, if you're into fat biking, bike packing or gravel/adventure racing; check out the folks at BarYak. They make some pretty light weight and innovative handlebar mounting systems for attaching all sorts of equipment and devices to while providing additional hand placement options. More options for hand placement is always good when piling up the miles on the bike to help prevent hand, arm, shoulder issues from being in the same riding position for hours and who can't use more attachment points when hauling some gear. These bars belong to fellow Rasta Rider and BarYak sponsored superwoman Jamie, so if you want to see them close up and personal just ask her and I'm sure she'd let you have a look. Plus they are made right here in the good ole US of A in South Dakota by the Stillers, who not only manufacture the products but do their fare share of riding themselves so they know what works and what doesn't.