2009 Wrap-up and 2010 Goals & Aspirations.

Pic lifted from My Kind of Country

What a great year to spend time outdoors! The NOA blog had 500 posts in just over 9 months! And 7,095 unique hits since the end of March. I've had a great time sharing my adventures with you and hope you've made an effort to spend more time outdoors.

You've seen our family have a ton of fun outside and watched me mature as a cyclist. I started riding in 2008 and put on 2,000 miles. During 2009 I racked up an additional 4,681.78 miles on the bike and blog readers have followed me on the following outdoor adventures:

91 round trip commutes to work and back (aprox 20 miles)

10 one way work commutes (aprox 10 miles)

Our 11 yr olds purchase of a new Felt MTB from Bike Pedalers

My first endo at Wilderness Park

Shooting at Lincoln's Izzak Walton

Bike riding on York's trail

Phil Keoghan's Coast to Coast book signing

4-wheeler riding with our 17 yr old at Halsey Forest

My Hunter Education Class

Bike riding on Columbus' trail system

The Ride of Silence

Fishing trips

Airboating on the Loup River

Camping

Biking to Southpoint's Friday Nights Live Concert

Biketacular & the return of the Capital City Criterium cycling races

Riding to Beatrice

The Haymarket Farmers Market

The GPBC Slow & Go ride

The 5-day Tour De Nebraska

Seward's Firecracker Ride

Larry the Cable Guy's 4th of July Show at Memorial Stadium

Riding to the Uncle Sam Jam fireworks show

Riding the Prairie Spirit Trail in KS once from Ottawa to Richmond and once Garnett to Iola

Two rides to Bennet

My first fixie ride

The Cairo Cornstalk Festival

Many canoe rides at Holmes Lake

The Cornhusker State Games Century Tour and Opening Ceremonies

The Wilbur Czech Festival ride

The BBC Rollin' To The River ride

3 Taco Rides in Iowa

The GPTN Discovery Ride

The Heatstroke 100 ride

My first century followed by two more later in the summer

Bass Fishing in North Central KS

The State Fair

The Bike Swap

CROPS walk bike ride

LPD bike auction

Several bike rides to Cortland

23 Tuesday night Nacho Rides

Our 11 yr old's 2 turkeys in one shot

Biking to my first Husker football game and 1st Stars hockey game

The purchase of my new Felt Z-70 road bike from Bike Pedalers

Bike Pedalers grand-opening party and Race Across the Sky after party

Loup Valley's annual Ducks Unlimited Banquet

The 350.org ride

3 Critical Mass rides

A ride to Raymond

2 rides to Ceresco

Riding to church

Riding on Grand Island's trails

Our 11 yr olds first buck and my buck during this year's rifle season

2 of Pepe's Free Bike Commuter Breakfasts

2 Tuesday night rides with the hipsters to Pepe's

3 alley cat races

Snowmobiling and sledding on Christmas-eve.

I'm not bragging, just wanted to see a tally, but it's not about the numbers, it's about the fun I've had. And I'm so thankful for all the great people I've met and spent time and miles with during 2009.

I'm healthier, happier, greener, more responsible, fun and social than I've ever been. I'm looking forward to building on the time we've spent outdoors and making 2010 the best year yet.

My big cycling/blog goals for next year:

10,000 unique hits on the NOA blog during 2010.

25 NOA followers and 500 facebook friends by the end of 2010.

Another year with no serious wrecks.

6,000 miles on the bike during 2010.

5 Centuries during 2010.

125 round trip work commutes during 2010.

And another tour during 2010.

Hope to see you spending time with friends and family outdoors in the year to come!!!

Have a Happy New Year!!!

Christmas was s(n)o(w) fun!

We loaded up the 4-wheeler and headed out to visit family in Central Ne on Christmas-eve. We did some sledding behind my brother-in-law's snowmobiles. On the drive home the heavy snow and wind set in and covered Lincoln in a deep snow.

The Bagaboo Snow Hustle.

Race was 13.3 miles. I came in 4th out of 12 at just under an hour and 45 minutes. Didn't wreck or have any mechanical problems. Others didn't fair as well, but all finished.

It was a great race with crazy challenges! I dug out my Marin comfort bike and put our oldest son's MTB wheels and tires on. It seemed heavy and slow, but did good in the snow and ice. Today's total miles = 17.76

Been driving this week.

Winter weather is here in full force. :(

A afternoon spin on the South Point loop.

I took the Billy Wolff to the Rock Island to the Tierra Williamsburg then back on the South Point to Rock Island and the Billy Wolff back home.

The trail has been painted by either an anti-government zealot or a rearend love promoter, I'm unclear what their point was. I also spotted this group of mallards taking advantage of the last spot of open water on the pond in the Willamsburg neighborhood.

It was in the upper 30's with a 10 plus mph wind out of the south, none-the-less the trail had a bunch of bikes on it. I think everyone knows the serious snow and cold are around the corner and took advantage to get some miles in before the white stuff ruins the ride opportunities.

Today's miles = 18.0

Art wasn't the only cool thing on the trail this morning.

The North Lincoln Art Crawl isn't until Friday night, but I spotted this art laying beside the trail on this morning's cold windy ride to work. The North wind was harsh and windchills were at 18'F.

I felt like I should have earned my bicycle commuting merrit badge today. Going home was much easier and faster.

Today's miles = 19.6

December starts out with sweet cycling weather.

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I rode to work this morning under a big bright moon. After work I rode along the banks of Salt Creek toward UNL to meet up with the local hipsters to ride to Pepe's for some amazing mexican. I opted for the sweet potato casedia, yum!

We ended up at Earls for wood flavored pop corn and pool. I then shot strait home down 48th with a stiff tailwind. The high was 60', but tomorrow's is only 38' with really strong winds and things aren't looking much better the rest of the week. Today's miles = 28.5

Steal a city tree and your holidays will stink.

I finally got the Felt out again after a couple of Thanksgiving weekends and deer season kept me mostly off it during the last couple of weeks.

It was great to get out again! KOLN/KGIN was reporting 18' this morning, but I was bundled up and there was no wind making it a sweet ride in.

This afternoon the wind was strong from the West but temps climbed up above 60'! I spotted these signs up in the parks warning would be pine snatchers that they've been sprayed and will stink up your home if you cut one down for the holidays.

Today's miles = 19.5

It's da second week of deer camp...

Our youngest and I made our way back up to the river friday afternoon. At 4:40 I had this big bodied 3X4 in my sites. We were out again Saturday morning and evening to try to fill his doe tag, but will have to try again later during black powder or the late rifle seasons. He wasn't dissapointed a bit about the idea of spending more time at the river.

The "Gallon Challenge" on the Thursday Night Hustle

An awesome race was set up last night, thanks Ryan for your card after I lost mine. Considering my early detour to O'Rourkes and a flat, my time wasn't great... but I had a great time! The Gallon Challenge was too much fun and craziness. I won't be able to look at a glass of milk again for a long time! Race was aprox 16 miles. Yesterday's total miles = 27.4

Riding G.I. with an old friend.

An old friend bought a bike this year and started riding, I was out west this week and met up with her for a spin around Grand Island. She's a photographer and snapped a few pictures of us.

Tuesday's miles = 4.3

Opening weekend of rifle deer season.

Our 12 yr old and I went down to the Loup River and stayed in my parents camper. Saturday morning found us sitting in the trailer blind. We saw some smaller bucks and fawns before this bruser came out of the trees just after 8:20 am.

He saw the buck and wispered "Dad! There's a buck, should I get it?" I leaned up to look out and saw him and said "YES!"

We spent the better part of the day checking it in and taking it to the taxidermist. Sunday morning we took time out to eat and visit with the guys from ec&m outdoors at the Dannebrog Fire Dept Hunters Breakfast before going out to hunt again.

He went home for school Monday and I stayed, trying a tree stand but still came away empty handed. We'll try again this weekend.

A warm and windy commute.

Lincoln had a strong South wind today. On the way to work I was passing everything, I'm still not sure if the guys in the F-16 fighter jets heard me say "On your left" as I sped past them.

On the way home it was 67' with wind gusts over 35 mph. I was being passed by turtles and snales. Today's miles = 19.5

May the bird of paradise fly up your nose...

...my thoughts when I see this, a broken beer bottle with glass all over the trail. I stopped to kick the glass off the path, but there is still some shards I couldn't get. Karma will come back to haunt the jerk that did this.

Today's miles to work and back = 19.5

Pepe's for supper after riding to work.

I rode to work today and after work I met up with a group of some of Lincoln's coolest cyclist to ride to Pepe's for some great mexican followed by a few laps.

I loved how one of the group had made his own bike light out of an old Altoids (mints) tin. It worked great and looked even better. That was so cool!

Today's miles = 35.5

Blowout

Today's commute to work was nice, and as the day warmed up I really got excited about getting out of the office and riding home.

Not far from the office I hit a big rock (I think it was a rock) hard and gave my rear tire a pinch flat. I switched the tube out and just patched the bad one when I got home.

Today's miles = 19.7

Father, Son & Holy Felts

Our youngest and I rode our Felts to church. We walked out to find a sticker had made a big hole in his tube, I rode home to get a new one and we were good to go again in a flash. We then continued across town to the office for a couple of hours of work.

Today's miles = 24.5

Rode across town then to Ceresco.

Yesterday I took a great ride on a great day! The trails were busy as I rode North across Lincoln.

In Lincoln the trees were in full color.

I then got on Hwy. 77 and went toward Ceresco. To make it more of a challenge I rode a old fashioned penny farthing. (just kidding)

Who doesn't love old barns?

On Main St. in Ceresco you'll find this restored steam engine.

Can you believe it? 73' on November 7th! I love it!

They won't tell anyone how much money you have. (they'll keep Mumm. Ha!)

Cool, huh?

This was too funny not to take a picture of.

Scenes from the firehall.

Veterans Day is just days away. Flag is a half staff for the Ft. Hood shooting.

This is what I want to be when I grow up! A bicycle bum! I ran into this old back homeless man on his Free Spirit bike in Ceresco. He asked to borrow a wrench to tighten his front break, but my modern bike multi-tool only has screwdrivers and allenwrenches. He said he was going to Lincoln, then continuing South.

He had two big fabric bags slung over his shoulders. I can't imagine how he could ride like that. But he didn't think I was too smart either, noting that my solid leather Brooks saddle looked a lot harder than his big wide seat that he'd covered with a homemade knitted cozy.

And sure enough, I saw him riding in Lincoln Sunday afternoon. Meeting him was the highlight of my day. To me, biking is 10% bikes, 10% being outside and seeing sights and 80% spending time with like minded people.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ceresco. (cool picture, considering I use a cell phone camera for all my pictures, if I say so myself)

By the time I got back on the trails in Lincoln I decided to detour over to Memorial Stadium to see some of the Husker pre-game fun and add another mile or two onto my ride so I'd hit 50 miles for the day. I made it home with 50.3 miles for the day.