Frosty Bike Ride

The ride was scheduled for two weeks ago but then mother nature stepped in and dropped a few inches of snow and ice on the ground postponing the ride until today. In the days leading up to the ride thanks to the ever constantly changing Nebraska weather it was a bit of a touch and go... might snow again, might rain on the day of the ride... nope now sunny and almost 50... oh wait, now sunny but only in the mid to upper thirties but chance of rain/snow the Thursday before. When it was all said and done there was no additional precipitation at all but it was cold enough that the snow stuck around from two weeks earlier but it was the FROSTY bike ride so the show must go on as they say. 

The skies were sunny, the paths were clear and even though it was a chilly morning it was a great day for a ride. There were 150+ registered riders so I opted to ride to The Fox rather than add to the parking lot congestion, even though the temps when I left were in the mid teens the sun and lack of significant wind made it feel a bit warmer.

Almost 11 miles later, the "start" of the Frosty Bike Ride... The Fox and the promised crowd.

 

That's my, it's super chilly lets go already, face; after riding and getting warmed up sitting in the parking lot cooling down was not ideal. 

My partner in crime for the ride, with that jacket I'm sure not to lose him. 

And were off once again and getting warm, ear to ear smiles! Actually it felt colder heading this direction than it did heading to the ride. Not sure what it is about this section of the trail but it always seems to be 5/10 degrees colder. 

While there was plenty of snow on the ground still the trails were mostly clear with just a few icy patches that were already starting to melt and turn back into water at this point. 

At the halfway point we were treated to some very warm, very delicious hot chocolate. Never has a paper cup of hot chocolate hit the spot quite like it did today. 

Felt kind of wrong laying the bikes down on the cold cement while we enjoyed our hot chocolate. 

Back at The Fox post ride it was beer, as the hat implies, and free burger and fries time!

All in all The Fox put on a good spread, it was a great ride put on by Spearman Adventures and best of all it was a great chance to get out for a casual ride with out the worry or prep time of a race. Guess we will have to get ready and do it again next year. 

This used to be my way home...

There used to be a time not to long ago when both of these bridges were open, there used to be a time when it also used to be my way home when I rode to work. A lot has changed in the years since I often traveled this route, it's funny how quickly things can change. I used to think I was happy riding this route, starting and ending in the house I knew as home, with the people I thought were in it with me for the long run. Gone is the house, gone are the people, gone is this route as "my" route... the bike I still have, bikes are ours to get rid of not the other way around. Time has a way of opening your eyes, bringing the perspective to our life's that we once could not or chose not to see at the time we were personally invested in the situation, when you are too close to be objective. Years have gone by since and many things have changed, heartaches have healed, tears long since dried and betrayals no longer as sharp; there was a time when it felt like the best times of life were slipping away. Fast forward a few years and I realize that those times and that place were not where I belonged and that in a weird way even the betrayals, in the long run, were blessing in disguise. Human emotions can and often do blur our perspective on reality. Today I might not have the same house, or the same way home or the same group of people but I think I am in a better place than I was back then. I have a new home, a new route and I have a new group of people surrounding me, that's not to say that I don't miss some of the people from my old life but over all I am in a better place... a happier place. I haven't been back there as it holds no place in my life or talked to that person as they no longer hold a place in my heart but I hope that who ever occupies that space can find more happiness in it than I could and that whatever she is doing now she too made the right decisions.

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs
That just because he may not answer doesn't mean he don't care
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

SNOW!!

Well it had been a pretty mild and snow free winter, that ended last night when it sounded like we might try to get our entire annual snowfall average in one weekend. As it turns out it wasn't quite as bad as they were saying it was going to be, we did end up with a very wet and heavy 10.5 inches of snow last I heard but the advantage of wet snow is that we didn't get the blowing, blizzard like conditions like they thought because the snow was too heavy to blow anywhere for the most part. I was supposed to be riding in the Frosty Bike Ride today but they wisely postponed it for another weekend due to safety reasons so that left me with a free Saturday. The snow seemed a little deep for biking and a little slick and deep for driving even so I decided to bundle up and walk around and see just how bad it really was out there.

Snow was a little deep in the neighborhood but I've seen worse, the snow in the road could only be described as deep slush. 

Breaking new trails in the snow. 

Surprisingly quite a few places were closed and traffic was pretty light. 

Red, Yellow or Green... kind of hard to tell. 

Snow was still coming down pretty good even though it didn't look like it up close.

Is this Huffy's new snow bike?

One of the great things about wet snow is the way it sticks to the tree branches, makes it look like a true winter wonderland. Just a few pictures... 

Couple of college kids decided to play a little snow football, brings back some memories of days gone by. 

Of course it didn't take long for the football game to turn into a full fledged snowball fight. 

As I decided to make my way back home wouldn't you guess I flatted... not really sure how it happened other than to say that the glue must have decided it had held long enough. I can't really remember how long I've had these boots but I can say with certainty that it has been more than 12 years, I guess one could say I got my moneys worth, first the front tread went and then the heel followed suit shortly there after. Walking home the last 1.5 miles with no tread on one boot was not what I would call the most comfortable walk I have ever taken but there wasn't really anything else I could do. 

When I left both boots had soles that looked just like this one...

The left one looked like this however by the time I got home, walking without tread was a bit interesting. Other than the blow tread it was a pretty good day and a pretty good walk. 

Urban 500

A few weeks back I submitted a post about my Light & Motion Stella 120 that I was having issues with, it would only run on high for about 25 minutes before it started to flash and turn itself to the lower setting. Since we were (and still are) in the season of shorter days and mandatory night rides it was a little unsettling to be having issues with a light that was about one season old. After reading up on probable causes of the issue I started to realize that perhaps the light wasn't to blame as much as the user was. Although to be fair the procedures and processes to keep the NiMH battery working optimally would give an anal retentive person a run for their money, I'm usually lucky to get home in time to ride, take a shower and scarf down some food before it's time to call it a night and start all over again in the morning. Coddling a battery just isn't in the schedule, anyway I contacted Light and Motion's support figuring that they would tell me that it might be my fault that the battery went dead so quickly and I was S.O.L, truthfully it would be hard to argue with them after actually reading the user manual so I prepared myself for the worst while hoping for the best. As it turned out the best is what I got, rather than place blame or explain that there wasn't anything they could do because of my lack of attention to details when it came to care of the battery, they instead offered to either let me ship the light in and they would evaluate it and fix it at a nominal charge or I could upgrade to a newer light at a substantially discounted rate. Since I had been eyeballing some of their newer commuter lights and I wasn't really too keen on my ability to keep the replaced battery healthy I jumped at the chance to exchange the Stella 120 for the new Urban 500!
















I have only had the light for a few weeks now and have only had to use it on a handful of rides but even with that small sampling I can tell that it is everything that the Stella wasn't and not surprisingly more my type of light. It's one piece design with no separate battery to mount to the bike somewhere and the use of a much more slacker friendly Li-ion battery are right up my alley and lets face it with the gray aluminum on black casing it's just dead sexy to boot.
















Looks aren't everything but when it comes to cycling we buy, use or wear a lot of stuff because of what it looks like or how it fits our own sense of style, sometimes despite the lack of functionality. In addition to great looks and a convenient form factor, this light is also crammed with innovative and useful features. I have always been a big fan of the mounting system that Light and Motion uses, it's simple, effective and best of all easy to remove if and when you need to lock your bike somewhere for a few minutes and take the light with you. I have never done any serious trail riding with the mount but I have taken it on a few rides through Wilderness Park and never had it move or come lose on me and as a bonus if you're looking for a second helmet mounted light the Urban 500 also comes with a helmet mount.
































Being a light intended for commuting in an urban (i.e. traffic) environment; Light and Motion also added two amber side facing lights for additional visibility when you are traveling alongside vehicles. It makes a lot of sense from a safety standpoint but to be honest I really don't have an opinion either way but safety is always a good thing and they aren't bothersome in any way that I have noticed, they aren't over powering and do add a nice amber glow to the cockpit.















Probably the feature that I love the most, aside from the blazing 500 lumens, is the LED indicator on the back of the light that changes from green to amber to red so that you never have to guess what state the battery is in. I realized in retrospect that I probably over charged the Stella 120 on several occasions because I never knew if it needed to be charged or not, this led to me charging it for a few hours every time I thought I was going to use it. My logic was always that I would hate to be out on the trail and have the light go dead but in reality I was doing more harm to the NiHM battery than good and am probably responsible for premature battery-cide. With the addition of one tiny LED light, Light and Motion has taken the guess work out of it, simply turn the light on and the indicator lets you know if it's good to go or not. Throw in the fact that the charging time is half that of the Stella, 5 hrs vs. 10, and that it is achieved via a micro USB port under the lamp, you can charge it from either a computer USB port or a wall outlet. The latter of course is dependent on if you have a cell/iPad/iPod type wall charger with a removable USB cord because for some reason even at $159 retail Light and Motion doesn't provide you with the wall plug piece but only provides you with the micro USB cord. That might be the one hit I would give the light so far but since most cell phones, iPods and iPads now come with a wall plug with removable USB cord it's a minor annoyance more than an actual problem with the light. I have seen people posting online that the earlier versions of the Urban 500 would get extremely hot after running them for awhile, I have used mine for up to 2.5 hours at a time and the case never seemed overly warm to the touch even with non-gloved hands. Of course being winter in Nebraska it hasn't gotten much above 40 on most night rides but I would say they fixed the problem of the early versions.




























Light and Motion claims that the light will last 1.5 hours on high, whether it does or not I am unsure of at this point since I have only used the high setting a few times in instances where there wasn't any ambient light at all from a street light or other sources, I generally run the light in the medium setting to increase battery life.  I would guess that the medium setting is somewhere around 200 lumens, guess being the optimal word since I don't have any way of actually reading lumen output,  it's more of a comparison to the lights of my ridding buddies and lights I have had in the past. Medium has been more than adequate for most of my riding situations and it keeps those coming toward you from shielding their eyes and spraying expletives about how blinding the light is. I do know that with using it on a combination of medium and high I have ran the Urban 500 for more than 2.5 hours without the light dying or losing any brightness. I have even on one occasion ran the light into the red and it was still lighting the way 30 mins later when I finally arrived at home, I wouldn't recommend living on the edge and counting on that amount of battery being left every time but it is comforting to know that the light isn't going to just quit on you once the LED turns red.

Overall I would recommend this light to anyone looking for a lighting system for commuting or even light trail riding, it really is a vast improvement over the Stella 120 I purchased just a year and a half ago and I am a big fan of Light and Motions lighting pattern they use on their lights. 

Voluntary Homeless

Managed to get out for another chilly, slightly snowy ride today. The temps weren't terrible, said it felt like 9-7 degrees with the wind but with the sun out off and on it actually didn't feel too bad.




The paved paths were nice and clear at least.




Rode by the Occupy Lincoln, the supposed 99%... to me it looks a lot like camping without paying for a park pass or a nightly site rate.




I know that they are trying to make a point but only in America would those with homes become voluntarily homeless to prove a point, if they really wanted to make a statement they would have turned over their house keys to an actual homeless person while they decided to "live on the streets" the middle class way with the helps of tents, warm sleeping bags and food.




But I digress, all you need is love, love, love... love is all you need.




There was still a little snow left to be had on the Jamaican Trail or parts of it any way.




There be traces that fat bikes this way traveled, Pugsleys, Moonlanders, Mukluks and perhaps even Neck Romancers have passed this way.



Tomorrows looking like a miserable wet/icy/snowy day but after that it seems the 40s might be back in the forecast.

It's a 60/30 split

60s today and 30s tomorrow, I guess while that might not make mathematical sense it does fit with the fact that winter has only been 90% involved this year. I am pretty sure the missing 10% was used up a couple of winters ago when it was giving us at least a 110% effort. But in the tradition of living in the present, tonight was a great night!




Riding on the fringe.



Clear skies and artificial amber waves of grain.



ZOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!! The Haymarket was a little crazy tonight.

Chilly ride...

Riding has been pretty good this year since winter has seemed to decide that it was going to play nice if not take a hiatus all together. More pics, less words.



Had a little company despite the chilly temps, probably the most people I've see on one ride in months.



All layered up, iPod in and rolling out the miles.



Roca Berry Farm sitting idle, waiting for next November.



The sun did attempt to make an appearance but never really came out, well not until after I was done riding. I guess that is one of the hazards of early-ish morning riding. Still with temps above freezing at 10 a.m. in January you can't really complain too much.