M.I.A

Been missing in action as far as posting any blogs go but that's only because I've been outside in the great weather we've been having getting in some riding.

Been spending a lot of time in The Park (Wilderness Park) lately, trails are in premiere condition which makes them hard to resist. 

 

In addition to my usual solo riding I've been partaking in the Wednesday night group rides hosted by Cycle Works. It's great to get out and ride with a group of people who share a common interest and having someone to ride with isn't bad either, these guys are fast also which means I get to push myself much more than I would riding alone. 

 

 

 

In addition to the group rides I managed to get up to Tranquility Park  in Omaha for some riding as well, I have't ridden there in years... lots has changed. 

 

 

 

Of course even managed some solo paved ride with the trusty Monocog as well, best bike purchase ever! So far...

 

 As you can see it's been a busy spring, I'd like to apologize to my one reader and promise to try to post more often. The trip to NY state is coming up soon so there will be new places and new faces if nothing else. 

Riding, racing and a sort of DFL...

First race of the Psycowpath series was this last weekend and for all intents and purposes it went fairly well. Bike performed almost flawlessly, almost because the front brake is in some serious need of servicing. I am not sure what happened, air bubble in the hydro fluid or a leak or whatever but it soft and squishy and goes almost all the way to the handlebars before it gets any grip... not that I am going to blame that on my race results because if anything no brakes should have made me faster right. Actually though I am not all that surprised or disappointed in the results, first season stepping up to Cat 2 and it's a huge step in talent and speed, plus to be honest I don't train, I ride but I don't really train.



As it turns out I didn't actually finish DFL, I technically only finished DFL in the 40-49 subcategory. Sure that might be only semantics but I'll take it.



Amazingly for feeling like I was going to die on Sunday by Monday I was feeling almost normal and by Tuesday I even felt good enough for a spin through Wilderness Park. Everything is already green and starting to become overgrown and it's only the beginning of April!




With the new hubs and rims the Cog is riding sweeter than ever, it could just be my imagination but it just feels faster, lighter and more responsive in the corners. Warm weather, races in the future and smooth riding bikes... live is pretty good right about now.

St. Patty's weekend

Hope everyone had a great St. Patty's day weekend, it definitely was one of the nicest ones in recent memory weather wise. I hope everyone managed to get out at least for a little bit. Talked the kids into a ride on Friday evening, the male child acted like he had never seen a bike before... whose kid is this anyway. :)





We almost never made it out of the driveway, between his seeming lack of ability to figure out how to propel himself forward and my laughing hysterically at him.






Ash on the other hand didn't seem to have any of the same issues and was off like a flash.






Rode down to the lake to see how the other half were living, I don't know if they are any happier but the view sure is better.






Made it out for a ride on Saturday as well, since it was fairly windy I decided to take the Anthem through Wilderness Park... getting there wasn't a whole lot of fun as it was straight into the 20-25+ mph wind. As you can see 8 mph was about all I could muster for the most part and even that was a struggle when the gusts would hit.






Found some new urban art while out riding, this one seemed to fit the wind, both were beasts!






Next to the beast was one of those cats that are all over town, only this one had a very, very long and talented tail, it could spell "meow".





Next to the cat was a hummingbird with what looked to be a top hat, I like the look of these three but they are obviously stencils so they would have to have points deducted do to lack of difficulty to produce. Park was in great shape, as long as we don't get any significant amount of rain on Monday they should be in really good shape next week as well. It's almost crazy how dry they are already for it being only March.






Noticed a new sign in the park today, didn't realize they were doing the adopt a trail in Wilderness, makes sense if you think about it since the trail isn't any different than the other city trails except it's not paved and if it helps keep the trails free of litter it's a win/win. Hope everyone had a great weekend, weather wise it's supposed to cool down a bit for next week... if you consider mid 60s a cool down but in all actuality 80s in March is a little too early for that kind of heat as far as I'm concerned.

Chasing my own tail...

Somewhere along the way I seem to have lost the ability to ride a bike, more to the point I am able to mimic the motions necessary to physically keep the bike upright and pointed in the desired direction but I have lost the ability to just "ride". It seems that no matter where I am going or what my original intentions are I always end up trying to get there as fast as I can. Which poses an even more interesting question, since I generally ride from my house in a loop back to my house... if I am in such a big hurry to get to where I already am, why leave in the first place! I always seem to be racing something whether it be the clock, the sun or the guy on the trail just ahead of me I subconsciously push myself to pedal faster so that I can pass the guy, decrease the time it took last time or increase the average... I used to be able to ride, hell I used to have to ride if I wanted to get anywhere. Did the end of the bike as my only form of transportation suddenly turn it into some sort of sadistic, self imposed, torturous training device that must not under any circumstances be ridden at any speed less than it's maximum? I thought the singlespeed would help since it's basically a one and done bike but it actually might have helped to make the problem worse.The problem with a singlespeed as it turns out is that it's all about maintaining momentum, maintaining momentum is much easier to do at a higher cadence, higher cadence means faster speeds... you see singlespeeds have a maximum attainable speed, you pedal as fast as you can until you can't pedal any faster, that's pretty much as fast as they will go without switching gears which on a singlespeed isn't possible without tools. The fact that they have but one gear really makes them fairly inefficient bikes, they are more difficult to start from a stop, they top out relatively quickly leaving you pumping your legs like hyperactive kid on a Pogo-stick, they suck on down hills because you run out of gear before you run out of hill, they suck climbing hills because you have to mash the pedals in an all out effort to keep moving, about the only thing they are good for is a flat surface with a tail wind or a slight decline. Why ride a singlespeed... well that's a topic for another blog. Maybe the key to relearning how to just ride and not always have to pin it is to find a group ride... unless of course they are all psychotically obsessed with seeing how fast they can push themselves. Maybe instead of just one gear I need to digress further into bikes of the past and go with training wheels, surely those things would cause you to slow down... they can't possibly corner very well at speed!

March(ing) through the park

Got out for a great little spin in the dirt at Wilderness Park, hard to believe that it's almost entirely dry out there this early in the season.





I understand it's graffiti but seriously some of these guys have some real talent.





Nothing but dry goodness!






A few downed branches, all the wind is taking it's toll on some of the trees.





Even the low lying trails were dry, the only wet spots I saw were ones that often stay moist all year round.






Decided to take the paved route back home to get in a few extra miles and ended up getting stopped by a train, go figure. Supposed to rain tomorrow so I'm glad I managed to get out while the getting was good.

Just another Saturday...

Temps are starting to warm up again after a few weeks of colder temps, unfortunately the mornings are still as chilly as they have been but it won't be long now and warmer day will be here to stay.





Work on the new Pinnacle Arena is coming along, it's almost starting to look like something more than a pile of dirt.





Here's what it looked like back in July, tracks moved and dirt groomed.





Here it is in September, not much progress still just a pile of dirt pretty much.





Lots of work was done by December, it's almost distinguishable as what it will be. It's come along way in the last 8 months, aside from the insane traffic that it's going to create it will be nice to not have to go all the way to Omaha to see a decent concert. The arena isn't the new construction going on in the Haymarket, a new motel is going up as well but at a much faster rate. Lots of construction cranes in the downtown area for sure, the face of Lincoln's skyline is changing.





After breezing through the Haymarket I decided because of the wind to stay on the north side of town, heading east/west to try to avoid heading due north into the teeth of the beast. I have to say I remember them closing Holdrege rd. bridge in 2008 shortly after the massive bridge collapse in Minneapolis but I didn't remember seeing anything else on the bridge... apparently they decided to tear it down in 2009 and build a pedestrian bridge in 2010. I guess that shows how long it's been since I traveled the bike routes on the north side. The fairly new Holdrege rd. pedestrian bridge in all it's rusted glory.









I decided to take the John Dietrich Bikeway, which winds through northern Lincoln following the train tracks along Cornhusker Hwy for the most part.









It's a nice trail, almost as nice as any of the trails in town even those on the south side of town but one thing I have always noticed about the Dietrich is how devoid of traffic it seems to be every time I am on it. On the bright side it does mean less people dodging and nothing but the blissful hiss of tires on pavement, leaving you alone to clear your mind and hit the proverbial reset button.

On a side note, I picked up some new winter shoes and some Woolie Boolie socks from Adventure Monkey when they were practically giving them away. Between the shoes and the socks my cold feet problems are a thing of the past, I have to say cold weather riding is a lot more enjoyable when you can feel your feet.





Great pair of shoes for keeping your feet warm on the colder days.





Feed your Monkey!

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.