New signs have gone in on the new Antelope Valley Trails on the east side of the downtown area showing that the park is closed from 11pm to 5am. Will this drive the sleeping bums out from under the bridges? The few that regularly spend the night down there have never bothered me and one even makes a point of smiling and telling me 'good morning' as I ride by going to work. Late this afternoon we went for a lap around Holmes Lake too.
Today's miles = 23.3
Tomorrow is the annual "Hawaiian Nacho Ride" come as you are, or swing by a thrift shop to pick up a Hawaiian shirt or lei. Last years Hawaiian Nacho Ride was the biggest ever and this one promises to bring out another fun crowd.
A group of us will leave the trailhead on 84th just South of O St. at 5:30, otherwise there are bikers leaving throughout the afternoon/evening on the 10 mile ride to Eagle. There will be Nachos, 75 cent tacos or anything else off the menu at the OED. Click here or here to find out more about the Nacho Ride - hope to see you there!
Tonight Michael Bikel hosted a party and parking lot sprint races. There were door prizes and prizes for top finishers in the sprints. I came away with 4th after pushing Aaron off his line when he made a break at the finish. He's a gentleman and wouldn't allow me to trade him places in the final standings to make up for it.
It was a fun night and fun change from the usual hustle races. Today going to Branched Oak Lake and tonight's hustle I ended up with 66.0 miles.
I began this morning like I do every single morning, by stumbling to the fridge for a Mountain Dew. I drank a little, took a shower, then sat on the bed to watch the News and CMT. I reached over for another swig, bumped the cup and DUMPED a bunch of pop onto my cell phone on my night stand.
I dried it out, but the phone was shot. I rode to Verizon from work for a new one then went home.
By midafternoon I started feeling crappy. We've had this crud working it's way through the house, and I'm afraid I'm coming down with it now. I hope to kick it so my plans for tomorrow aren't spoiled. I intend to ride to Branched Oak Lake to cheer on friends in the xterra bolt races.
Cutting across residential areas like I did on the way home from work is shorter but takes longer. Today's miles on the work commute and trip to get a phone came to 18.5
GRAVEL WORLDS 2010 from nocoastfilms on Vimeo.
It's just a week and a half away! Yeah!!! Lis's sweet new video is making the rounds on the web. Find out all the race details on PCL's blog.
Saturday I was up at 4:30am, I picked up Patches and Craig and we left Lincoln for the Wabash Trace trailhead in Council Bluffs (same trail the Taco Ride is held on) for the GPBC's "Blanchard And Back" ride. We met up with a few others from Lincoln who rode and a special thanks to Jon for sagging us all day! Great job!
Pat races past the signs at the start of the ride. He was our leader and this ride wouldn't have been possable without him.
The 63 mile long trail is almost completely covered in a canopy of trees. It helped keep it cool and block the strong south wind. But it still was a very hot and humid day. Also the trail was a little mushy robbing us of some energy.
Silver City had booths set up in the park. We took a quick break and I picked up a homemade cookie from the 'friends of the library'.
Jon met us at each stop to make sure we were hanging in there, we'd have been toast without him.
Yeah, you've got to be a pretty serious cyclist to get in here. Funny though, they didn't unlock the door for me. Someone must have made a mistake.
We came across a couple of spots like this where recent storms had dropped trees across the trail. We ("they" really, I took pics, lol) did what we could to clear them off.
We crossed about a zillion bridges on the ride. The trail runs through the loess hills making for some beautiful views and scenic valleys.
We ate at The Depot in Shenandoah. Talk about atmosphere! I loved it! This is where Pat had to turn back, and where we should have.
Cool views! I wanted to jump... in more ways than one. lol!
The next stop was Coin Ia. We met up in the park and I laid down, this is the last thing I saw before falling asleep on the grass under the trees. My core body temp was way more than it should have been, and several others were spent too. Patches and Scott continued to the very end another 7 miles farther in Blanchard Mo.
It was then that we realized it'd be late into the night before we were done riding back to Council Bluffs (like 11pm!) so I hitched a ride with Jon while Patches and Craig rode back to Imogene. I got my pick-up from the trailhead and met them there. We were all really disapointed. It was supposed to be a 126 mile day, no one even broke a century. We had a lot of fun, and it was beautiful. But boy, I just couldn't get the lead out. And everyone else seemed to be in the same boat. Sometimes everything just clicks, and sometimes it's a day like today. But hey, any day on a bike is a good day! :)
