I was a little late after finding a big piece of glass in my tire about 1/2 way there. I got it fixed only to flat again hours later when my tube went through a hole in the sidewall and popped. It's time for new tires.
Today was a lot of fun and I learned a few things that made the day well spent. Today's miles = 13.3
Patches and I met up at 8:30 this morning and turned toward downtown for the start of the Fall Fox Hole 100 2-day ride from Lincoln to the Fox Hole Tavern in Wilbur.
We began with breakfast at Bread And Cup then went South on the Salt Creek Levy Trail to the Jamaica North Trail then the Homestead trail to Cortland. We had lunch in Cortland then took gravel to Clatonia. Took another break and went West into Wilbur.
I got the flat today. We avoided the rain that was forecasted for today and lucked out with a good tailwind. It was pretty cool and the group was small. But we had a great ride and were treated to supper and goodies from the Fox Hole Tavern. We'll head back tomorrow. Today's miles = 49.5
Almost exactly 3 years ago we moved to Lincoln and started biking. We did the annual Kool-Aid Days ride that summer. Last year my whole family did the BBC Rolling To The River Ride. And this year we decided to ride the GPBC Heatstroke 100 together.
With me on my loaner Surley Cross Check from Bike Pedalers, the wife on her new Ruby, our oldest on his hardtail Marin MTB, our daughter on her Marin comfort bike and our youngest on his Felt MTB we set out along with my brother-in-law and hundreds of other cyclists on today's ride.
We decided to do loop #1, from SAC, through Ashland across the Gretna - I-80 exit, to the SAG stop at the LIED bridge and back to SAC.
I somehow got a flat just before the end. It's my 6th of the year. Otherwise it was a perfect ride. The kids weren't used to the hills or wind, and today was the longest ride any of them had done. But we took our time and really made it a great way to spend the morning. Today's miles = 24.5
Tonight was the Biklops Hustle held in conjunction with the Biklops art show as part of First Friday at Screen Ink in downtown Lincoln. The race started at Screen Ink and we could go to the first 4 checkpoints in any order. After completing the 4th checkpoint we were told where the 5th checkpoint was.
Each checkpoint had it's own color of ink for us to fingerprint ourselves on our spoke card. There were also challenges including riding a child's sized bike through a series of cones at Precision Skateboards, blowing up a balloon then poping it with our butts, eating what must have been the worlds largest saltine cracker without anything to drink, eating a red, white & blue popsicle, and finding Waldo and posing for a picture with him.
The race must have been around 13 miles long and the first few racers in did it in under an hour. I hit a frost heave in the sidewalk hard a block from the finish and got a pinch flat, but the tire held air long enough for me to finish. I was beat by about 5 minutes by Michael Bikel and came away with 2nd place. Matt followed me across the finish line by a quarter of a second. There were 18 racers in tonight's hustle. For 2nd place I got a bag of loot with goodies from Screen Ink, Bike Pedalers, Lincoln Ve-Low, and other local businesses.
Riding downtown, racing and riding home got me 21.9 miles, with today's commute I have a total of 41.5 miles today.
After riding to work & back today I met up with the BP crew (as in LBS, not oil) for a leisurely ride to Yia Yias pizza for supper.
We no more than got started and I got a flat, I told them to go on and kept Dan as my pit-crew and action photographer. This is only my 3rd flat this year and my first one in quite a while. We got the tube changed out in no time flat (sorry, I love puns) after a attempt to patch it failed. We kicked it in high gear and made good time. The food was great and it was fun to chill and BS about bikes and biking. Including the work commute I ended up with 37.8 miles today.
I took off late this morning on the demo MTB and rode to Bike Pedalers to regrettably return it and then rode my Felt to the office.
My self adhesive patch job finally gave way giving me my 3rd flat of the year. I switched out the tube and headed across town to the office.
I had a brush with fame on the Rock Island Trail when I passed Husker football coach Pelini as he was out for a mid-day run. Repairs have been made on the John Dietrich Trail in spots where frost has heaved the bike path.
I finally took the pick-up home from work after having sat there since Wednesday. I logged 6 miles on the Marin Mount Vision and 12.2 on my Felt for a total today of 18.2 miles.
Last night the forecast for today included a 70% chance of rain, heavy wind and temps 20' lower than Thursday... Well, this morning I woke to find a great morning and almost no rain in the forecast. We still had the wind, but, with the sun shining the cooler day seemed perfect.
On the way to work I got my 2nd flat so far this year. It happened near Casey's on 56th & Superior. They have free air, so I pumped up the tube and I made it the rest of the way to work. I later patched the hole and was good as new.
I did some other errands on the way home before running into this satin sweetie. The trails were full of bikes, but this mountain biking mama caught my eye as she chilled her crotch and allowed her thong to take some peeks from between her cheeks.
While there is nothing hotter than sexy panties, or chicks on bikes - somehow, this wasn't quite what I'd been dreaming of finding out on the trails.
Even though I'd been deflated in more ways than one on today's commute, I still had a great day on the bike. Tomorrow is the MTB TT in Jewel Park and the Chocolate Easter Bunny Ride with the GPBC. Hope you'll get some miles in this weekend. Today's miles = 21.2
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
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
I left the corner of 56th & Superior riding west on the sidewalk on the North side of Superior. Trafic was heavy. I finally got a quick break in the line of cars and shot across Superior street. Riding fast across the street I did a bunny hop over the curb, that probally looked really cool as I sailed over the curb and across the grass.
Then my cool stunt ended when I landed my rear wheel rather violently on the sharp edge of the Superior street trail. My tire was instantly flat. I took the wheel off to find a couple of big splits in the tube and one in the tire itself and it left a small ding in my rim.
I put a folded up dollar bill inside the tire and replaced the tube then headed to Bike Pedalers to order a new tire. They set me up with tire liners as well that'll offer even more protection against flats. I still think they are good tires and that anyothers would have flattened with an abusive blow like that too. We'll see if my dollar bill boot will hold up till my tire comes in on Tuesday.
Other than that, it was a great ride that yielded 20.43 miles.
For the record I had a spare tube and air pump on me. But I knew the wife was going by, so a quick phone call to her and she came to rescue me. Thanks again babe! We'd arranged to meet at the office on 56th & Cornhusker so after she gave me a lift I fixed the bike at the office and was ready to have a 'tubular' ride back home. "Yea, that was a shout out to my peeps from the 80's." You know, I'm still trying to get my kids to start rolling up the cuffs of their jeans real tight around their ankles and revive that trend. But their not cool like we were back in the day I guess.
Since I was as far west as 19th & P anyway I went on to MWC to pick up the latest copy of Lincoln Ve-low. I'm such a wanna-be huh? It's really a very cool little mag about the local bike scene. And it's only $2 a copy! Hey, it's also a good excuse to pop into MWC. If you've never gone in there, it's a really groovy bike shop on 12th & P. Shortly after leaving there I was deflated.
The ride home from the office was a sweet ride south from Havelock to the John Dietrich then east to the 84th St. trail and take that south to South St. Then across Holmes Lake's Dam. Had a nice tail wind. Thanks God, I appreciate it. Final score - 17.28 mi. this afternoon on the bike and 5 miles in the wife's SUV.
I'm teaching a Hunter Education class at the end of the month and it's posted on the game & parks site now. Sign up early. Class size is limited and it fills up fast. I'm looking forward to it.
