1/2 a commute and a ride after work.

I rode to work and got my first flat of the year on the way. More like a slow leak actually. I aired it up a couple times and made it in without having to change the tube out.

I already had my pick-up at the office, I drove it to Columbus for a meeting and stopped off at Nebraska Cycling and Fitness (great bike shop! Stop in sometime) and picked up a few things. After I got back to the office this afternoon I switched out the tube, but wanted to join a ride at 6pm and didn't have time to ride home, so I drove.

I then rode from home to Cycle Works on 70th & Pioneers and met up with about a dozen others and we headed out for an 'urban assault' riding down the Billy Wolff to the Rock Island, then around the South Point loop and back on the Hwy. 2 trail, I broke off to go back to the house at the end. We had a great time, I got to meet several cyclist I hadn't rode with before. And it felt great to burn the cobs out tonight. We rode 18.8 miles. Including the 7 mile commute into work I got 25.8 miles in today.

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!!!

Columbus Antique Tractor Show This Weekend.

Find all the details here.

Columbus' Bob Lake & Two Lakes Trails

Had a meeting yesterday in Columbus Ne. Afterword I took a few minutes to explore some of their trails.

Check out the C.A.R.T. site for a map and info.

It was a very quiet and peaceful trail around some lakes. With nice parks and campgrounds managed by Loup Power.

I rode 9.35 miles. And plan to explore more of Columbus' trails next chance I get.

One cool thing - they had a 'prayer walk' on the trail yesterday in recognition of National Day of Prayer.

But yesterday I was pretty miserable. My face continued to swell and I looked like Quasimodo. Every hole, bump, rock, stick, etc. I ran over would make my toothache reverberate through my whole body.

Once I got back to Lincoln I walked into the Oral Surgeon and he almost squeezed me in to get it pulled. But scheduled me for an extraction on Monday.

I'm worried now that I won't recover fast enough to Nacho Ride next week. Is it bad when the first thing you think of when you have a medical emergency is the impact it'll have on your riding regimen?

I went to bed at 5:00 last night and didn't get up till 5:00 this morning.