GPBC New Years Day Breakfast.

Some drove, some rode, but one way or the other a good sized group of us met up at the Village Inn for breakfast and a chance to visit about the rides we are looking forward to during 2011. Today's miles = 2.48

Photo Credit: Mary Poe

2010 was a great year spent outdoors!

2010 was another great year to spend time outdoors! The NOA blog had 362 posts. Now has 27 followers and 13,785 unique hits during 2010. And I have 771 facebook friends. 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 that year. During 2009 I racked up an additional 4,681.78 miles on the bike. This year brought 6,270.43 more miles giving me a total of 12,952.21 for my first 3 years as a cyclist. During 2010 blog readers have followed me on the following outdoor adventures:

129 round trip commutes to work and back (aprox 20 miles)

18 one way work commutes (aprox 10 miles)

We attended the Big Buck Classic in Omaha.

I rode in 6 of Lincoln's Critical Mass rides.

Tried my luck at the KC Sprints.

16 Hustle alley cat style races.

You saw me try and fail at riding an indoor trainer.

Couch sledding with our oldest.

Participated in the following GPBC events: Holiday Dinner, Easter Candy Ride, Spring Fling Ride, Full Moon Ride, Just Do It Ride, Lied Bridge Ride, Ride Of Silence, Wabash Trace Ride, and the Heatstroke 100 Ride.

Riding to Pepe's for the Sunday 'Biker Special'.

The purchase of Trusty Rusty.

Riding gravel with the Adventure Racers to Branched Oak and Beatrice.

Riding gravel in Kansas.

The opening of the Antelope Valley Trail.

18 Tuesday Night Nacho Rides.

Biking to church 7 times.

You saw me Demo the Bike Pedalers Marin Mount Vision 5.9 and Pivot Mach 4 mountain bikes.

I put together and hosted the 1st annual NSFW ride.

Attended the LPD bike auction.

The Cycle Works Tomac open house event.

I was a spectator at the following races: ACA 12 hour MTB race at Wagontrain. Xterra Bolt Branched Oak race. Flatwater cyclocross races at Van Dorn Park. Lincoln Cyclocross races at Pioneers park. And the Capital City Criterium.

You saw me get road rash in the shape of a heart from a tight turn on a downhill section of bike trail during a wet work commute.

We attended the Joyride Specialized demo event.

Spring and fall turkey hunting with our youngest.

Camping, air boating, and catching monster catfish on the Loup River.

I spent 9 nights in a tent and 5 nights in campers during 2010.

I rode single track at: Wagon Train, Branched Oak, Wilderness Park and Bike Pedalers' secret MTB area.

I rode with the BP crew on the Bread & Cup ride and the Yia Yias ride.

Two Fox Hole 100 rides.

Did my 2nd Tour De Nebraska 5-day bike tour.

We did the Taco Ride in Iowa.

Took Gravel to Parkers Smokehouse in Ashland.

Rode day-1 of RAGBRAI and attended the Expo the day before.

Canoed at Holmes Lake a couple of times with the family.

Met Tom Snyders the bicycling comedian on RAGBRAI, saw his show in Omaha and rode to Pepe's with him in Lincoln.

Checked out the Cycle Works Giant ladies bike demo.

Rode in the 2010 GLGA Gravel World Championship.

Bought the wife a Specialized Ruby.

You saw the Felt Z70 frame become fatigued and separated.

I rode a loaner Surly Cross Check from Bike Pedalers.

Then got a new Felt ZA frameset from Felt free on warrantee.

Attended the Monkey Wrench Cycles grand opening.

Found the Austro-Daimler & a cruiser for $30 at the Bicycle Swap Meet.

Rode the Flint Hills Nature Trail in Kansas.

Rode a century going to Nebraska City and back.

I had 6 flat tires during 2010.

We attended the 2010 Ducks Unlimited banquet and the 2010 Quail Forever Banquet.

And, we deer hunted again on the Loup this year.

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 again in 2010.

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 2011 another unforgettable year of outdoor adventures.

My big cycling/blog goals for this year were:

10,000 unique hits on the NOA blog during 2010. *CHECK*

25 NOA followers and 500 facebook friends by the end of 2010. *CHECK, CHECK*

Another year with no serious wrecks. *CHECK*

6,000 miles on the bike during 2010. *CHECK*

5 Centuries during 2010. *NOPE, JUST 2*

125 round trip work commutes during 2010. *CHECK*

And another tour during 2010. *CHECK*

I'm not setting any specific goals for 2011 other than to finish Gravel Worlds and maybe get a MTB. Otherwise I just hope to keep doing what I have been.

Hope to see you spending time with friends and family outdoors in the year to come!!!

Have a Happy New Year!!!

Signing up for my 3rd TDN.

June seems like it's a world away, but it's time now to register, and TDN fills up fast.

It's not for a lack of interest.

And it's not even the weather that's keeping me off the bike. The family and work are keeping me hopping and stuck behind the wheel. Yesterday was great biking weather and I had to make an emergency trip to Columbus for work :( This afternoon is the bike derby and I didn't even have a chance to find a bike for it. Maybe I can get done working today in time to go watch it at least.

November ended up with 177.0 miles on the bike.

The Goodbye (but not for long) Shindig.

A family of cyclists is moving out of Lincoln with plans to return. I rode the Felt to the party to wish them well and returned home with 6.8 miles for the day.

This is huge! Holdrege St overpass is open.

After the cyclocross races I rode to the office and discovered that the new Holdrege St overpass is open! This connects the John Dietrich Trail to the Antelope Valley Trail. Taking it will eliminate over 8 blocks of riding on the streets during my work commute because the trails didn't connect until now.

Riding to the races and the office gave me 18.88 miles today on the Austro-Diamler.

Lincoln Cyclocross Weekend day 2.

More fun from hooligan hill.

Lincoln Cyclocross Weekend day 1

Today and tomorrow are the annual CX races at Pioneers Park. Races begin at 10am tomorrow, come out to check out the action. It's free to watch the athletes and witnesses the shenanigans first hand. I rode out there and back logging 14.77 miles today.

The Hustle World Championship.

Tonight was the Hustle World Championship race. We met up at Recycled for the beginning of the race. The first stop was in the 900 block of Twin Ridge. Many of us began by going the wrong way, but I took it to another level! In case your wondering, the first stop wasn't anywhere near 9th and Washington where I ended up before calling home to have it looked up and realizing it was North of A st, between 56th and 70th. Oops! I arrived at the first check point 15th out of 15. There we were told to write a hyco poem. I didn't even know what a hyco was. I was failing miserably.

After that was refreshments at the Holmes Lake dam. The next stop was back at Recycled to ride a minibike. We then rode a lap on the tractor track before ending on S. 11th.

I ended up 9th out of 15 and won a seat cover and tire lever. Sydney took first. (she is FAST, plus she knew where Twin Ridge was) With my bad wrong turn I raced 19.4 miles and got home with a total for the day of 26.8

Leaving the river with only memories to hang on the wall.

This morning I was in the 180 blind before shooting time and stayed till noon. I only saw a few small deer.

Only a true conservationist can appreciate the resource enough to only harvest mature game that are past their prime reproductive stage... That's what guys like me say when we get skunked.

I loaded everything up and went back to Lincoln this afternoon, then took our youngest to check his deer in. I was planning to go watch the cyclocross races in Lincoln this weekend, but now I'm considering going back to the river to try again before the season ends on Sunday. We'll see.

Even though I didn't get a big buck to hang on the wall, or even a fat old doe for the freezer, it's been a great deer season. I love that place, I started hunting deer there when I was 14 with my dad and grandpa, and look forward to deer season all year. It's nice to get out of the city and back to where my oldest deer hunting memories were made. This year I harvested record breaking memories. No taxidermist can make a trophy that would compare.