Headed toward the weekend! Yea!

What a great day for a ride!

Going to work and back today totaled 19.71 miles.

Community CROPS & Sunset Community Farm Walk

Community CROPS & Sunset Community Farm 2009 Farm Walk Friday, September 11th 5:00-7:30pm Southwest 40th and West F Streets New this year: Soup Supper celebrating local food For just $8, you get all the food you can eat: West African Peanut Soup and Harvest Vegetable Soup provided by Thé Cup using CROPS vegetables Fresh local bread Cucumber lemonade from Pepe's Delicious desserts Kids 5 & Under eat free To reserve your meal ticket, call the CROPS office at 474.9802 or email crops@communitycrops.org Activities include: Farm tours Free raffle drawing for many great prizes including a gift certificate for 25% off the 2010 CROPS CSA, handpainted birdhouse, CROPS canvas bag, Ross Film Theater tickets and more! Kids activities including scarecrow-stuffing for kids, music making with Jim King and chicken petting Food samples by CROPS farmers, and plenty of new vegetables to try Live music Buy fresh vegetables, CROPS t-shirts, get a chair massage for just $8 and more Special raffle prizes for those that bicycle to the farm! Free admission to tour the farm and enjoy the activities. Sunset Community Farm gives an opportunity to a wide variety of people to grow food for themselves and for market. Managed by Community CROPS, there are farmers growing tomatoes, eggplant and okra in their beginnings of their farm business, an Italian heirloom vegetable grower, and the Community CROPS plot, where we grow crops for our CSA (vegetable subscription program). Others are gardening for their families and a communal plot has crops grown for farm income. Everyone is welcome, whether you want to see a working sustainable vegetable farm, or are interested in having a plot of your own next year. Bring your friends. Kids are welcome! The farm is at SW 40th and West F Streets. Take A Street west to SW 40th and turn right. Follow the road to F Street and turn left. You'll see a red building on your immediate right, which is the farm site. Signs will be posted. Map to the farm Note: Occasionally map sites recommend taking West O to SW 40th Street, but it has been closed from that side. You need to go out west A Street to get to the farm. Plans are being made for a group bike ride to the farm--let us know if you're interested. Printable flyer for posting

A sweet commute.

Today wasn't my most athletic ride. But the great weather made up for it. If your not spending some time on your bike during these cooler days your missing out. Now, go apologize to your bike and take it out for a ride! Today's miles = 19.90.

The 100 mile Nacho Ride!

Had the day off so I took the long route to Eagle for the Nacho Ride.

I made up some sandwiches and headed into a stiff S.E. wind across Holmes Lake and down the Antelope Creek Trail to Hwy. 2 then East to the Bennet exit.

I went South through Bennet, but needed some water.

Low and behold, about two miles outside of town this hydrant was ready to fill my water bottle and I was good to go.

I pulled into Panama feeling tired of the wind and ready to eat.

Their park was a good place to catch my breath and rest a little.

Downtown Panama.

Got to turn West and cruse into Holland with the wind, lots of nice new homes and acreages.

I needed water again, and sure enough a hydrant at the cemetery outside of Holland was at my beckon call.

I then continued North West into Hickman to find this bait shop on the South side of town.

I was surprised to find that Hickman had a really nice trail system.

I took some time to explore their trails. Their really neat and Hickman should be real proud of them.

An overgrown windmill along the road.

After Hickman I continued West till I got to the Homestead Trail and jumped on it going North back into Lincoln. I took it to the Jamaica North Trail then on the Rock Island Trail to the Zoo, then took the Billy Wolff East. By this point I had about 50 miles, the Nacho Ride from my house is almost 30, so I figured I'd ride a bit more and see if I could get a century in today.

I continued East down the Antelope Creek Trail to Hwy. 2 again, then turned around and took it back toward the house, I threw in a lap around Holmes Lake and then home for about a 1/2 hour break before leaving for the Nacho Ride.

On the Nacho Ride I saw lots of regulars and some 1st timers too. Even several Taco Ride regulars came out of Omaha to Nacho Ride tonight. I met up with my personal trainer / blog photographer as well as my pit crewman. By now, I knew that if I went strait home I'd be about 5 miles short of a century, so my personal trainer / blog photographer suggested we ride the Mopac another 2 1/2 miles East of Eagle after supper at the One Eye'd Dog Saloon to tack on the 5 miles I needed. My pit crewman offered to join us. Lucky for me! Because when we walked out of the OED my front tire was flat. We headed for the aircompress0r at Casey's, patched the tube and were good to go.

By the time I got home it was dark and we were using our lights, but by golly, I did it. This is my 3rd (and FINAL!) century this year. It was a fun, albeit tiring, day.

Today's miles = 100.23

"Fall" in love with the Nacho Ride all over again!

Couldn't stand it huh? Me either! We need More Nachos!!! And I'm not talking about the race horse More Nachos. I'm referring to the fact that the Nacho Ride will continue as the Fall Nacho Ride. Come out Tuesday evenings to the Mopac Trailhead for a fun ride to Eagle for Nachos and 75 cent tacos. Click here or here to find out more. And be sure to mark your calendar for Tuesday (9/15/09) for the Nacho Appreciation Ride, there will be prizes and more fun that you can stand!

Spending Some of Sunday Spinning.

Our youngest and I had a bit of time before supper, so we rode around Holmes Lake then East to check out what was going on at the dog run.

On the way back we spotted more graffiti by "Dush" (pronounced 'douche' as in: "Graffiti vandals are douche bags!") at least he admits he has "no life". I agree. This is the same guy who has painted his street name on anything that'll hold still long enough on the trail near the zoo.

Today's miles: a leisurely 5.14

A relaxing day messing around outdoors.

I met up with another cyclist at the Mopac Trailhead on 84th early this morning for a spin to Eagle & back.

Then late this afternoon the wife & I took a walk around Holmes Lake. Afterwards the kids set up empty pop cans filled with water in the driveway in a obstacle course pattern and we tried to weave our bikes through them without hitting any... It eventually turned into a waterfight, followed by a fire on the patio, grilled burgers, and back yard volleyball with our daughter.

Today's miles = 30.11.

Critical Mass - Daisy Duke Theme!

A good crowd gathered in front of the Capital for August's Critical Mass tonight in Lincoln. We cruised the streets of downtown for a little over an hour.

Drivers and those walking the streets or eating outside haymarket restaurants were all smiles and waves, and had that look of envy in their eyes. We tad techno to ride and dance to, and the Daisy Duke outfits were a hoot! It was such a fun crowd, hollering "happy Friday!" and "hello!" to everyone we passed. A super fun group, raising awareness and having a great time doing it on the last Friday of each month. Join the Lincoln Critical Mass Facebook group to keep up on the monthly ride.

Today's ride to work and back, then downtown for the Critical Mass ride and home again added up to 36.44 miles.

Riding & window shopping.

I had the day off, so I took a morning spin across town and got my pick-up from the office. I then went to Cycle Works on 27th to test ride a Giant cyclecross bike they've been advertising. It was a cool bike... But, ehh...

I also tried a Giant hybrid for about the same money and wasn't impressed.

Later this afternoon I set out for another ride going South down the Rock Island then took the Tierra Williamsburg to the "Man Sale" near Super Target on 40th St. On the way back I paused to watch some BMX'ers doing their thing at the skate park. I then stopped off at the Bike Rack on 33rd & Pioneers and fell in love!

I've always dreamed about a bike that really fit. Even on my bike, that I've thus far preferred over anything else I've test rode, (besides the fixie - fun, but not practical for the riding I do) I've always felt like I was 'riding' it. But, I've always wished for something that was lighter, more responsive, quicker and yet comfortable. Well, the Trek 7.6 was everything I 'd hoped to find. They make a 7.7 that should even be a step up, but didn't have one in stock. Riding it I didn't feel like I was teetering on top of a bike trying to force it where I want it to go. It seemed like I was just floating. It was so nimble, yet predictable!

Climbing, braking, wheelies, bunnie hops, power stands, and speed like I've never seen while feeling so well balanced and in control. It was remarkable how much more I love this bike over anything I've been on before.

As I continue to feed my new can I'll continue to try other bikes, but I really, really love the Trek 7.6! The one I rode was a 2009, the 2010 comes in a color I like better than the blue 2009. This one is discounted since its the end of the season. But it'll be well into next year, at best, before the can is full enough to get a new bike. Hey, at least it'll be a cool color.

Sorry to ramble, but it was so amazing how great this bike is! And I'm thrilled to have found something that I really love. Today I logged exactly 26 miles on my bike, I can't count how far I rode on the Trek, because that wouldn't really be fair, it was too easy to ride.

I went for a little bike ride tonight.

Drove into work and had meetings in Omaha. But I did haul the bike, so afterword I was able to ride home from the office. Today's miles = 9.88.