Why You At The Bar If You Ain't Poppin The Bottles

It's crazy to think that we've already had a few days pushing the mercury into the triple digits and we are still 11 days away from the official start of summer. With no relief in sight it might be November before we see another cool day.




Despite the heat and humidity, we had good group show up for the SMNDFBR so as long as y'all keep coming, I'll keep scheduling them when we can. Gravel race season is about to get into full swing so the rides is going to be a little bit hit and miss for the next few months.



Speaking of gravel, we've been knows to mosey on down a dirt road a time or two and Saturday was no exception.





The plan was to shoot out on A St. to Elmwood and grab something to eat before heading back on the MoPac. If you're out on the gravel make sure to pay extra attention right now, seems like our rainy March and April have the farmers a bit behind and there is a ton of farm equipment roaming the gravel rollers right now.


Changed things up and stopped for a Silo beer this week, a tasty Nut Brown Ale from Nebraska Brewing Company. The beer is not pictured here, these are just your ordinary, run of the mill, gravel biking nuts but I swear there was a barley pop consumed in this very spot. I know, pictures or it didn't happen... well maybe it didn't then.






Even though it might have been hotter than a blister bug in a pepper patch, you couldn't tell it from the pace the pointy end of the group was setting. I think I recorded at least one PR myself and might have had more if there were any segments out where we were riding.


The AC at the Quonset felt fantastic although I'm sure we didn't smell none to purdy. Food was good as it always is and the beer was ice cold.


While the food might be good and the beer cold, flushing the toilet is still a manual job fellas so let's remember to do our part... ladies, perhaps it's optional for you.



All good things come to an end and so too did our time enjoying the climate controlled mid way stop but before we headed out of town I got a message from Kevin saying he was on his way. We decided to wait for him at the Co-Op and grab some cold beverages for the road and refill out water bottles while we waited.


Not sure why all of a sudden on Saturday I kept noticing odd signs in Elmwood but I did, this one here is just an apostrophe catastrophe. Either that or they left out whatever it was that Drive Off was possessing in the sentence, a real head scratcher for sure.




I've said it once and I'll say it again, no ride on the MoPac is complete without a stop at The Hut and so it was that we found ourselves enjoying a cold one and a little shade there on Saturday.


With only a few miles to Lincoln, that pretty much wrapped up the SMNDFBR for this week; no ride next week due to the Loess Hills Enduro but we will be back shortly. Speaking of wrap, this was Wouter's first time on the SMNDFBR and he did really well and we hope he comes back for more. If you see Wouter or Outer as we are now calling him, ask him about his theory on wraps (he pronounces them wa-raps or at least says they should be pronounced the way). See you all soon, stay hydrated and hope to see you this weekend at the Loess Hills or next week at the Solstice 100 or the Solstice 50; good gravel fun either way you go.

We Always Hang in a Buffalo Stance

The Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust was formed in 1978 as a result of a $7.5 million dollar out of court settlement with the Grayrocks Damn project owners who were doing some nefarious things in Wyoming, as a result of that settlement the Crane Trust has been protecting the habitat of the Whooping Crane and other migratory water fowl in the Big Bend Region of the Platte River Valley for the last 40 years. As a way of celebrating four decades of preservation they had their first ever Buffalo Stampede Bike Ride to help support the cause on Saturday and it look like the ride will be an annual, non-competitive, social bicycle ride.



I have yet to make it out to watch the cranes migrating through the sand hills but it is something on my bucket list, so supporting the ride made a lot of sense to me so that future generations can enjoy nature outside of a zoo setting. The plan was to sign up for the official ride, ride part of the Buffalo Stampede ride and then break off and get in a few gravel miles down to Blue Hill to make the ride portion of the even a bit longer than the 2 hour drive to get there. Even though I wasn't riding much of the Buffalo Stampede ride or stopping at any of the designated SAG stops, I still felt like I needed to register for that ride and contribute anyway. Originally the ride was supposed to be a group of us coming down from Lincoln and Omaha but as the date got nearer, the participants started dropping like flies until there was just me.


Well, just me for the ride but I did manage to talk my partner in crime into coming down and we snagged a hotel for the evening to see what Hastings had to offer and so that she had a place to hang out for the time I was riding.

Love the t-shirt that you got for registering, I especially like that it's just plain old, ordinary cotton rather than the current trend of making everything dri-fit or a cotton poly blend. Cotton was good enough for grandpa Adelbert and dang it, it's good enough for me. 


The official ride was a 100% paved routes in the 45, 35 and 11 mile distances but since I was adding a little bit of gravel to the ride I decided to bring the Fargo down with me as it would be at home on both the pavement and the gravel. There really isn't much that this bike can't handle.


I did run into Brent and Brian (not pictured) but both of them had the official road routes in mind so I didn't see them for much of the day and only at the beginning of the ride but it was still good to see them both, if even only or a bit.



The wind swept prairies of central Nebraska were living up to their name on Saturday and the wind was whipping out of the NNW at about 20-25 mph putting the wind at our backs to start and making our exit from the Crane Trust center a bit brisk of pace.


About 5.5 miles into the ride and the group zigged west and I stayed the course for about another 2 mile before skirting off of the pavement and onto the gravel of Osage Road.



Not sure who owns these cars but it's kind of a shame to see them sitting in the weeds, especially when they still look like they are in good shape currently.





When planning the route I had envisioned a fast route with the terrain around Hastings being fairly flat but what I didn't know during the preparation phase was that rains would sweep through the night before making the already thick gravel even more supple. The gravel isn't quite as sandy as it is further west around Gothenburg but it's definitely sandier than what we are used to in the east, so while things were flat the plush gravel helped to make things more arduous than I originally thought it was going to be. So, when the opportunity presented itself for a lake beer I jumped at the chance to take a little respite.



Shortly after leaving the lake I came upon these two guys, one second I was pedaling along and the next, I had two companions. Moments after that I could hear the hum of a four wheeler and the dogs owner in hot pursuit. From my perspective it was kind of a comical scene, try as he might the two dogs just didn't want to follow him home and it took the better part of 15 minutes for him to get them distracted enough that they wouldn't keep following me or turn around and stop following him. To my credit, I did stop several times to allow him to regain the attention  of the pups but all they had in mind that day was running. He finally did convince them to follow at the next crossroads by heading west rather than north and back home, it's like they were willing to follow him as long as it wasn't straight back home. I parted ways with them at that intersection, hopefully he was eventually able to convince them that there was no place like home.



Notwithstanding the softer gravel, the wind was in my favor and I still made it to Blue Hill in about 2.5 hours of moving time and cruising along at a decent 14.6 mph. Little known fact, I used to have in-laws that lived in Blue Hill so I had been there several times before but not since the late 90's so it had been awhile and to be honest I don't remember being downtown more than once or twice before. The former in-laws that lived in Blue Hill have since passed but I do believe that there are still other former in-laws in the area but I haven't been in contact with them in years so it's possible that they may have moved on from the area as well.



The downtown area was a little more sleepy than I had expected and it seemed like most things were closed, this was not playing well into the plan as we had initially planned to eat at the Blue Hill Tavern but it would not be open for another two and a half hours. Not really wanting to stick around that long it was time for plan B and the local grocery store to see what we could find in way of food.




While not an ideal substitute for a hot meal, I did manage to find a deli sandwich, some really good watermelon and a huge pickle as a substitute. The company was better than the food for sure.


After lunch it was time to bid adieu to Blue Hill and to start the 24 mile ride back to Hastings into the blustery headwind which felt like it was gaining in intensity if anything.



While the winds were not smile inducing, the skies were pretty darn amazing for the trip back, deep blue with a few fluffy clouds that seemed impervious to the wind as they stood their ground in the sky. Temps were really mild as well in comparison to the heat we had been having lately and the wind did a good job of keeping me cool, so that was one bonus of the whole situation.





Despite the wonderful views that the rolling countryside had to offer, I was more than a little delighted to see Hastings starting to appear on the horizon. The wind was a struggle and the 24 miles seemed a lot farther than it was in actuality, I was glad to be nearing the end.




I called the other half and had her meet me at First Street Brewery in downtown Hastings for a post ride libation rather than trying to figure out how to get to the hotel. Plus the brewery was on the original planned route so Garmin was leading me right towards it and because I'm not a horse, you can lead me to beer and I will drink. When researching places to stop on the way back in Hastings, I discovered that the brewery has only been open about 2 years so relatively new in beer year; the beer really hit the spot also so there was no complaining on that end either.



After a few barley pops, it was time to find some food but first a quick shower was in order so to the hotel we flew and then retraced our steps to Sanchez Plaza for some Molcajete and some really good homemade corn tortillas before retiring to the hotel again for the evening. Despite the rest of the group not making it down for the ride, it ended up being a good time and a nice getaway for just the two of us. Something we don't get all the much it seems these days so that was perhaps better than the original plan had been. Will I be back next year, probably but if it will include another gravel ride in conjunction with the Buffalo Stampede ride? Of that I am not sure but I would guess the odds would be pretty good on that front also. Maybe next year I'll try to push the route a little farther south into the Red Cloud or Guide Rock area turning the ride into a nice century ride. Let's just hope the wind isn't a repeat from this year.