The First Annual NSFW Bike Ride Route Announcement.

Find out all the details by clicking here.

Omaha Cycling Weekend Starts Tomorrow

The Omaha Cycling Weekend returns to the Nebraska racing scene this weekend. This year the weekend will be a time trial, criterium and road race in two days. All the races are part of the Nebraska Rider of the Year series. Click here to learn more. Check out what Tim Hargrave is doing for kids while in Omaha by clicking here.

Cycle Works Grand Opening Party at 70th St. Location This Weekend Just off 70th St. Bike Trail

Check out the details on their site.

Oh Deer! You didn't say "on your left" when passing.

If you throw a leg over a bike you should know that it's common trail etiquette to either ring a bell or say "on your left" or "passing on left" or some variation of that when you go by anyone going the same direction as you on the trails.

Today I was shocked when a real live white tailed deer passed me near 32nd & Holdrege on the bike path and didn't even have the courtesy to say "on your left". You can see him (maybe) in the picture, near the window, on the right side of the maintenance building.

I'm not sure if I was more shocked to see a deer in town, or by how thoughtless he was not to say "on your left" or "good morning" or anything.

"On your left"...

I say it many times a day. But it's something I always struggle with. Namely proximity and volume. Do you have that problem too?

# 1. Tone:

When I'm approaching a walker (For those who don't know, it's like bike riding without a bike. Just slower and not as fun.) I always try to sound really positive and encouraging, at least as best as I can in three words. Ever heard that when your on the phone you should smile, because it comes across in your voice? I figure it holds true for warning pedestrians as well. So, unless the bugs are really bad I smile and say "On your left" then, just to put the icing on the positive vibe cake, I often say "good morning" or "Hello" (depending on the time of day) as I go by. Yes, I've caught my share of bugs in the teeth from smiling and biking but most of them can be spit out quickly.

# 2. Distance & Volume:

When approaching a pedestrian or slow cyclists I try to say "on your left" way before I get to them. I try really hard to say it loud enough that they can hear me over traffic, lawn mowers, or whatever other background noise there is. But on the other hand I don't want to be so loud that I startle them or sound like I'm PO'ed. To make this even harder, most walkers & joggers have ear buds or headphones, and if their anything like my kids, the volume is so loud your efforts are hopeless and you just pray that they stay the coarse and don't break into a dance and electric slide into the left lane the moment you go by.

# 3. Dogs:

The best dog walkers have them nearby and are either on the walkers right (dog walks in grass) or both the dog and walker are on the right side of the trail, leaving the left lane open to pass in. How many times have you seen walkers with Kujo on a mile long leash stretched across the trail like a clothesline put up to kill cyclists? Do cyclists make good dog food or why do they do that? By the time they get their dog back on their side of the trail... heck has froze over. The only time I get a kick out of this is when I (accidentally of course) say a little too loud and grouchy sounding "ON YOUR LEFT!" and make the walker jump out of their skin. The adrenalin causes them to make a swift jerk on the leash that often sends the dog sailing through the air with it's legs outstretched toward the ground. As the dog flies across the trail and continues through the air like a rocket until the poor pooch runs out of leash again (now on the right side of the trail - 40 feet up in the air) the dog walker looks more like a kid flying a kite. And the expression on the dogs face is to die for! Ha! And what's up with these people that take their dogs off the leash? I will not be held responsible for the damage I do to your dog if it even so much as nips my heal. I'm not mean, but I don't like dog bites, and would not hesitate to introduce my heavy bike lock to your biting dogs noggin. Please keep your pooch leashed for their safety as well as ours.

My favorite walkers are the one's that aren't wearing today's podcast of Howard Stern in their ears. And that give a bit of a wave with their left hand or a nod of the head to let me know they heard me. The best one's even say "thank you" as you go by.

So, always say "on your left" so they can hear you with enough notice to move out of your way without scarring them. Unless they've got a mutt stringing a clothesline across the trail in an effort to get a lycra chew toy, if that's what you ride up on, you have my endorsement to scare the crap out of them by yelling "ON YOUR LEFT" inches from their ear as you bunny hop over the leash and look over your shoulder to see the walker flying his dog like a kite.

And remember to keep an eye peeled for those thoughtless whitetails that think they own the trail.

Do I look as good as I feel?

Whoo. I juz got out ah the oral surguns offish. He got my bad toof out ligty splut. When he waz numing my moufh I told him "uz az mush az you want", well, he must ov lishend. Cuz I can't feel anything on the right side ov my faze. My whips tingwle and my zheek iz lumb, so iz the shide of my noze and my right ear. I feel like a fool. And can't move the right shide of my faze at all. My zheek is hanging down so low I'm wooeed it'll get caught in my shprocket while I'm peddeling.

Phil Keoghan coast to coast ride - Lincoln stop.

Met Phil Keoghan at South Point Mall's GNC today. He was easy to talk to, and an all-around great guy. Very personable. The girl in the middle photo stood in line with her science fair project. She lives with her grandparents, and her grandmother has MS (Phil's ride benefits MS) she had a touching visit with him and had him autograph her presentation board. Check out his site (scroll down) you can even follow his daily video blog to hear about his ride each day. Very cool stuff. And a great way to promote cycling to the masses!

Cycling – Or as I like to call it “bike riding”. (Before Lincoln)

Now, for my momentarily favorite outdoor activity. Bike riding! I remember my first bike, do you? Click ‘comments' then 'post a comment’ on this posting and tell me about it or post a jumplink to your first bike story.

My first bike was resurrected from an iron pile by my great grandpa Gank. He fixed it up and painted it a bright orange with spray paint. I guess I was probably 4 years old. I remember him holding onto the seat while I pedaled. I don’t remember ever having training wheels. I rode it in their paved driveway, it was the biggest patch of concrete on the section outside of the floor of a building or grain bin.

The best thing about that old salvaged bike was it didn’t take any effort to pedal it! I wish I had a bike like that now. Infact, I don’t ever remember getting tired on that bike. I never said, like I do now, it’s too windy, or hot or cold to ride today. And the wrecks only hurt till I got a band-aid or a kiss from mom. Boy, that’s not the case anymore!

Years later I went with my dad to doze down the old sale barn pens on the corner of Webb Rd. and Old Hwy. 30 in Grand Island. He took a break in the middle of the day and we went to Wheelers and he bought me a new dirt bike. I rode that bike from our place to Cairo a zillion times to see my friends and swim at the pool. Highway 11 was so narrow, and corn trucks flying by would pelt me with corn kernels. But it never seemed to bother me. Back then, the Cairo grocery store had 6 packs of SureFine pop for $1 and I’d buy four of them in a shallow cardboard box and balance it on my handle bars on the 2 mile ride back home. Mom only allowed me 1 pop a day, so I’d hide cases of pop in my closet and drink room temperature SureFine cola on the sly. I’m glad my pallet has become more sophisticated since then! Now I thrive on cold Mountain Dew.

Back to bike riding. By the time I was 14 or so I parked the bike. Then when I was a freshman in college in Fremont my friend Cletus and I decided it’d be cool to have bikes. We drove to the new Wal-Mart and bought bikes and locks and rode them back to campus. We locked them up at the bike rack outside Gunderson and sure enough a couple of days later someone had broke our cable locks and stolen our bikes with less than 3 miles on them.

By 2000 we’re living in Palmer and we’ve got Wal-Mart bikes again. The kids’ kind of tool around on them in the driveway and on our quiet street. But no one rides much. We went to Dannebrog a few times to ride their trail. It’s really pretty and just the right length for amateurs or small kids. We also went to Grand Island once and rode on their trail.

During the 7 years we had bikes in Palmer I’m sure we didn’t put a total of 100 miles on any of our bikes. Really, no one hardly ever rode bikes in Palmer. Once in awhile we’d see a lycra clad road cyclist that had rode up from Grand Island, but that was a rarity and would surely cause parents to call their children indoors! If you were riding your bike in Palmer you’d more likely than not have a dozen good old boys in pick-ups stop and offer you a ride. You see if someone is riding a bike in Palmer it must be for one of two reasons: 1. Your car is broke down. 2. You’ve got yourself another DUI.

Well, I can’t say that I ever really had the urge to ride my bike while living there. And truth be told I’d have probably been the first good ol boy to pull up and offer a cyclist a ride. But, that was before we moved to Lincoln. Are you keeping score so far? That’s less than 100 miles of bike riding from age 14 to 31.

Cycling – Or as I like to call it “bike riding”. (Lincoln)

We moved to Lincoln in August 2007. And Rex promptly took us out to the Mopac Trailhead off 84th St. we probably went about 1.5 miles toward Walton and back. The wind I felt in my face that day rekindled a bright orange flame and a freedom I hadn’t felt since outgrowing that bright orange bike from my childhood.

As the sun shown through the branches of the tree lined Mopac it flashed in my eyes, bright – dark, bright – dark, the same way the rising sun would flash in the eyes of that freckled faced little redhead boy that I’d seen in the mirror growing up as he would ride North down the gravel road on a cool fall morning on his way to Dist. 37 the sun shown through mature cornrows bright – dark, bright – dark in rhythm with the bumps of that old washboard road.

How could I deny the child in me? Where had he been since then? As a parent I have the duty to provide the same experience to my offspring, don’t I? So, as a good parent (And a guy who wanted a cool bike) I sold the plan to the wife and we got new bikes.

Throughout my blog you’ll hear me preach the truth about how you don’t need anything fancy to enjoy the outdoors. And that is true for bikes as well. The main thing is that you get out there and ride. But, with that said, I felt the need to upgrade from the 10 year old Wal-Mart mountain bike I had. But, I’m not advocating that you should. Riding any bike is better than not riding at all.

Anyway, we just went to look. And you know how that goes…

We looked at Cycle Works, Scheels, Wal-Mart and Target before going to Bike Pedalers. Bike Pedalers had the Marin Comfort Series bikes. They ride like a creampuff. Really comfortable and easy to ride. I mean truly, it was like going from a Pinto to a Cadillac when I first tried one. They are upright bikes. Like a mountain bike. The handle bars are pretty flat, not like a road bike that you’d ride in an aggressive ‘bent down’ position. They have suspension in the seat and front fork. They have wide tires like a mountain bike (MTB) but they are smooth. By now it’s late in September and we haggled them into a sweet deal for 3 comfort series bikes and a MTB for our oldest. Our youngest had just got a bike a year before and it still fit him good. In the spring of 2008 he he got a MTB from Scheels.

And that’s where it all began. I added things to mine as time went on. Bike Pedalers threw in water bottles, bottle cages, and kick stands (usually sold separate) when we bought them. Over time I’ve added a speedometer / odometer, rear rack and bag, air pump, U-lock, front & rear light, pepper spray in a Velcro holder, and clipless pedals.

Far more than a beginner needs. But far, far less than the bikes that are $2000 - $10,000 that a lot of people are riding. And don't forget all the fancy gear and clothes those cyclist are buying.

My hat is off to these athletes on other local blogs that’ll grind out a century (hundred mile ride) on gravel on a Saturday and follow it with another on Sunday. A big part of the reason I’m writing this blog is to encourage others to get out and ride casually and not to feel like riding is only for kids and killer athletes. I want this blog to have a flavor somewhere between - The Streamers on the handlebars, Rainbows and Fairy Dust Cyclist and the Velo Hells Angles.

At first 3 or 4 miles was an exhaustive ride for us. But before long we were riding twice as far without any trouble. If your just starting to ride you’ll notice your rear hurting, you can buy a softer seat or one of those gel pads, but I promise you, that if you’ll ride a little every day or so for a couple of weeks it wont bother you anymore. I’ve also found that it’s really hard to get out and ride when I haven’t for awhile. But, on the same note, when riding consistently day after day you’ll find that it really doesn’t feel right to go a day or two without riding.

I commuted from around 40th & Old Cheney to work at 56th & Cornhusker. A 24.5 mi. round trip most of the summer last year. I’m not one of these die-hard tree huggers that think cars are ruining our planet. But everyday I rode I saved a little over $5 in gas and that was nice. A lot of cyclist you’ll find on other websites and blogs will commute year-round, and I admire them for that. But I’m not even close to one of them. I yield to cold, strong wind, rain & blistering heat. Now that I’ve put on less than 100 miles in the last 4 months I’m finding it tough to get back into it. My heart is into it, and it’s a lot of fun, but my body hasn’t got the memo quite yet.

Last year we took a lot of casual rides with the kids on the bike trails around the neighborhood. On the ‘single track’ dirt MTB trails at Wilderness Park and on the Mopac going east of 84th. But I was the one that got too carried away with this new hobby. Besides commuting to work on the Tierra Williamsburg trail to the Rock Island then down to UNL then onto the John Dietrich trail and then to the office. I also rode all the other trails in Lincoln. Did the Nacho Ride down the Mopac to the One Eyed Dog Saloon in Eagle. I highly recommend that ride to new cyclist. I also loved to ride downtown about 7am on a Sunday morning and ride on the streets, it’s dead down there and it’s pretty cool to feel like you own the streets. I'd also take the Jamaica North to the Homestead Trail and went south to Cortland. I did that a couple of times on Sunday mornings and had breakfast at the café there. And once went on to Beatrice and back. That ride about killed me toward the end, but I was proud of myself for doing it. The whole family went to Hastings for the Annual Kool-Aid Ride, we got about 10 miles into it before a monsoon rained us out and we got sagged back. Besides riding with the wife and kids I rode with Bobbie, Rex, Jim, Steve, Lance and Dennis as well as several of the kids’ friends during last year.

If your new to riding, I recommend picking up a $20 speedometer. Use low gears, pedeling too hard will wear you out fast. Ride on the right side of the trail, and say "on your left" when passing someone. Wear a helmet. Ride often and encourage other new cyclist.

The picture of me holding my bike above me was when I hit my first 1000 miles. I planned it just right so I'd be at 1000 right when I got to the capital and had the wife meet me there with the camera. All in all I put 2000 miles on it last year. This year as my valentines gift, the wife got me entered into the Tour De Nebraska. It’s coming up in June and I need to get serious about riding so I don’t die out there on the tour. I’m really excited and hope to blog about riding as I get ready and while I’m on the tour. Check back often. I’ll be more encouraged if I think others will know if I get lazy.

My final thought is, again, get out and ride, take your family and friends if they’ll go. And whether it’s a mile or a century (stay tuned, maybe I’ll get my first century this year!) be proud of the riding you can get in.