Dark Side of the Solstice

Saturday the crew headed down to Beatrice to ride the Solstice DIRTY Quarantine Ride which is meant to be a virtual race, as in no mass start; instead the idea is to go ride it when you can in the month that it's being tracked and see where you end up on the leader board. Yes, The Solstice has already done one of these but this one included all the MMRs that were deemed too moist to put in the last one, besides there isn't a lot of other gravel gigs going on right now so, what else you gonna do. And yes, the actual solstice was some weeks ago so we are technically on the down side of the longer days but whose counting all that. Since I was going to try to do this one a little quicker and because my time with the Giant Revolt is coming to an end soon, it got the nod for the ride. It really is a shame, I do think she would have made a great race rig... maybe next year's demo will be equally up to the speed task.


The forecast had said it was going to be very hot and very humid, heat indexes into the 105 degree range, with gentle breezes in the single digits for most of the ride so a few of us lost the sleeves in preparation for the heat. This of course was the opposite of what we actually got, the winds had to be at least 12-15 at the start and the temp was a somewhat chilly 74 degrees and never did get much above 85 degrees all day while we were on course.





The first 25ish miles of the course was going to be mainly into that stiff headwind, being a rider with a little bit of girth, steady head winds aren't my thing so I knew that I'd just need to bide my time until we rounded the corner and got that wind at our backs. Add that to the colder temps and the legs had a heck of a time warming up, I think I was at almost mile 20 before they started feeling good to go. Looking at the data, the first two hours of the ride, into the wind and the chilly temps, I was averaging about 3-4 mph slower than the following three hours once the heat came out and we weren't fighting a constant headwind. The dirt roads were primo though, so at least there was that.



Unless you're getting paid well to ride a bicycle really fast, when you are greeted by a friendly doggo on the course, you stop and pet said good boy. Charlie was super friendly and was just looking to make friends, I was happy to oblige.


Odell!!!! Sarah lit out with the Latino contingent of our group at a pace I wasn't comfortable doing that early in the game, especially with the legs being finicky and knowing there was nothing but headwind ahead for for the effort. I did manage to catch up to her just before Odell though, well... catch up as in she got tired of riding by herself and waited but we did ride into Odell together.






Odell meant the end of the relentless wind, my legs were finally waking up and the heat was starting to pick up too; the way back would be a new ride or at least I was hoping it would be. Sarah and I stopped for some refueling and bio breaks before getting passed by Doug who refused to hang out with us... or he didn't see us, you chose your own adventure.


We didn't stop at the ole Kross-Eyed Kricket but it does have a name that screams, stop here and experience all that is the small town bar and grill. Maybe on the next go when speed is not a factor.






Leaving out of Odell I felt great and so began the planned increase in speed and output now that the legs were alive and the winds weren't as much of an issue. The next 15 miles went pretty quick and Sarah and I were into and out of Diller in about an hour, since we'd stopped at Odell we blew through Diller and continued on down the road.




We caught up to Doug a little ways out of Diller, I think when I snuck up on him and gave him a "good game" he was actually surprised to see us behind him. So I suppose maybe he didn't snub us in Odell but did indeed not see us. Since he'd been carrying a ditch beer all day, it was only hospitable to stop and help him drink it on a dust and desolate dirt road.


After the ditch beer stop, this picture of a crop duster was the only picture I took in the last hour and a half or so of riding. I felt great, the bike was performing well and I wanted to try to make up for some of that headwind slog. The last two hours were 16.1 and 17.2 for mph average, that up from a disappointing 14.2 and 13.5 for the first two hours of the ride.



Rolling into Beatrice I spotted Carlos, Roy and Karla at Stone Hollow, the finish line for the race, and was very glad to be done pedaling. I took a few minutes to compose myself and then enjoyed a cold cider and slice of pie with the group while we waited for Sarah and Doug to roll in.


Reunited and it feels so good. Great group of friends to ride with on Saturday, even if we all had our own pace. All in all in ended up being a great ride for all of us and for me personally, I am sure it will change (or maybe not too much since there is only one more weekend of the virtual race) but as of Saturday we were all sitting in the top 10 on the leader board. Can't ask for much more than that I suppose. Next week is the Wear Yellow Ride out of the Strategic Air Command, if you haven't already, get signed up and come join us for some gravel and to support those that fight cancer.

 

Broken Bridges, Abandoned Mills and Lots of Trains

Saturday was a fantastic day, weather wise, to be out on a bicycle in Nebraska and so that is exactly where I found myself. The plan was to head out to Milford and back for a short 53 mile spin. 


The bike of choice for Saturday was the super speedy Giant Revolt with new Revelate Designs Shrew holing down the carrying duties.


If you're a Lincolnite or have ridden in Lincoln, you're probably familiar with the old Park Blvd bridge that has been closed to vehicle traffics for some years now. Painted on that bridge are lines and signs asking folks to stay inside those lines (not pictured here), ever wonder why those lines and signs are there?


Could have something to do with the fact that the bridge is slowly crumbling, this rail detachment is fairly new or at least I hadn't noticed it before. Might be time to rethink heading out to the edges and jumping up and down, especially after eating a big meal.




Safely on solid ground, we began our push westward on W. Claire and into a bit of a head wind.




Not really sure why but we had never ventured out to Milford before so there were new roads, or new parts of old roads to explore a bit more. Found a perfect bridge over the railroad tracks for bridge beers (in pandemic times, if you want beer you must bring your COVID cup) and train watching, these are very busy tracks and we probably saw 3-4 trains in the short time we were there.






By the time the back end of the group rolled into Milford, the quicker end was nowhere to be seen... it happens more often than you think.



One of the reasons, for me, to head to Milford was to attempt to locate the abandoned William Reed/J.D. Davidson grist mill for which the town got it's name. A grist mill is used to turn cereal type grains into flour and this particular one was built is 1866 and as near as I can find continued operations until 1934. Since I had researched it and had a decent idea of where to look it didn't take me too long to find the exact spot of the old mill, don't ask because I won't tell you where it's at, liability and all that... do the work yourself if you want to know. I didn't venture down to the mill this time but opted to stay back and take a few photos from my vantage point from above the old mill. I can see why there is a robust and permanent NO TRESPASSING sign as it did look like it could be a bit precarious heading down the steep embankment. While the mill was cool and all, my research led me to find out a few other notable things about Milford. Milford is the birthplace to Bill Rumier a journeyman baseball player that managed a 19 year career in professional baseball making it all the way to the majors but only played 3 years (non concurrent) for the St. Louis Browns. Eventually he sort of found his niche in the outlaw leagues after a brief and controversial year in the minors playing for the Salt Lake City Bees; where he earned a 5 year suspension for being accused of throwing games. In 1932 he returned to Nebraska as player-manager of the Lincoln Links where he ended his career after only 17 games. Rumler returned to Milford and worked and lived on his parents farm until his death in Lincoln in 1966; he is buried in the Blue Mound Cemetery in Milford.

Also of note and far less "notorious" Milford born resident was Victor Mills, a long time chemical engineer for Proctor and Gamble from 1925 to 1961 with a break in employment during WWI to serve in the Navy. Victor was no slouch, he created disposable diapers, Pampers specifically, made improvements to Ivory soap, Duncan Hines cake mixes and the was in charge of the concept and development behind Pringles. If that wasn't enough he lived to the ripe old age of 100 years, 5 months and a handful of days; just imagine what he saw and experienced in a rapidly changing world between 1897 and 1997.


We eventually found the other half of the ride wandering about and got back on route and the task of getting back to riding bicycles.




The ride home was pretty uneventful until we got split by a train, it was day for trains. After waiting for those stuck on the wrong side of the tracks, as it were, we rolled back into Lincoln and the end of another great Saturday ride. Temps this week have continued to be almost fall like but Saturday is supposed to be back up to 95° when we set off to Beatrice and the Solstice Quarantine ride (dirty version). Should be a most excellent time.