League of American Bicyclists Traffic Skills 101 class.

Today a group of us took the LAB's Traffic Skills 101 class with intentions of eventually becoming certified instructors ourselves. It was a great class with time in the classroom followed by skill development in the parking lot with cones. Finally we put what we'd learned into practice as we rode the streets and trails. We made a pit stop at MWC during their 'Spring Cleaning Party' before riding back to finish the 1-day class.

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

Ah, Spring!

Warmer temps, drivers who have forgotten to look for cyclists and dealing with a serious lack of fitness. It's that time of year again. I spent 11 hours at the office today and went home quite a bit later than normal. The smell of burgers on backyard grills as I pedaled home was overwhelming. I'll be in Columbus, West Point, Columbus again and Fremont working the next few days, but hopefully I'll be back on the bike soon.

Today's miles to work and back = 20.44

The 2nd Annual NSFW Ride Announcement.

Date: Wednesday 4/20/11

Location: Intersection of the Billy Wolff Trail & Rock Island Trail on the North end of the Zoo.

Time: 9am

Not Sorry (for) Forgetting Work

Put in now to take April 20 off as a vacation day. Celebrate spring on a ride around Lincoln with like-minded friends. Spend the workday riding while your co-workers toil away. Meet at 9am, ride is held on city trails. 40 miles long, ride for part of the day or the whole thing. 12-14 mph average speed. Last year's NSFW Ride was a ball!

Here is the map for this year's ride.

Ride starts and ends at the intersection of the Rock Island Trail and Billy Wolfe Trail on the North Side of the Zoo at 27th & Capital Parkway.

Several Lincoln bike shops will have free refreshments, giveaways, discounts and prizes for NSFW riders! Including Joyride, Bike Pedalers, The Bike Rack, Cycle Works, & Monkey Wrench Cycles.

The route will feature stops at these shops giving riders a chance to refuel, visit, shop, register for prizes, and use bathrooms or have mechanics make adjustments.

The NSFW Ride will be a fun chance to meet other cyclist, check out new bikes and biking gear, as well as a great way to get in some miles while everyone else is stuck at work. No fee to ride, but bring lunch money, lunch will be at your choice of Havelock restaurants.

The 2nd Annual Scrabble Hustle.

Tonight's Hustle started at the closed bridge on the Bison Trail with our first check point on North 22nd street where we dropped off a T-shirt to be screen printed and got our spoke card listing 6 other stops and the finish location.

Racers could go to as many check points as they wanted. We picked a scrabble letter at each stop. Once you had a word you could report to the finish. Extra points were awarded to the top finishers.

I ended with 6 scrabble tiles and raced around 16 miles. Including the ride there and back I logged 23.2 miles tonight.

A body at rest...

Wow, it's been too long! I've been working on the road a lot lately and unable to ride to work. I've also been dealing with a serious case of laziness. I've never been busier at work than I have this winter. And all this time spent behind the wheel has taken a toll on my fitness and motivation. I need to get back into riding for my health and sanity. Anyway, I was able to spend a day in the office today and took advantage of it by biking to work and back. On the way home I stopped in to Monkey Wrench Cycles to secure our last stop on the 2011 NSFW Ride. Full details about this year's NSFW ride will be posted next week. It'll be on 4/20/11, so tell your boss now you'll need that day off.

I'm hoping work will settle down in the weeks to come, but I'm glad I got today's ride in totaling 20.8 miles.

I don't need your rockin' chair.

After playing possum all winter it's great to be back out on the trails riding to work. This fat ol boy was walking off some calories on the John Dietrich Bike Path till I spooked him into the trees. I'll spend the next couple of days working on the road, but these warm temps will have me biking to work as much as possible from now on. Today's miles = 21.01

Riding like we did back in the day.

Before moving to Lincoln and discovering bikes, we used to ride ATVs all the time. Today our oldest and I met up with Thad and went for a ride at Headworks. It was a great day for it and it was fun to get the 4-wheelers out again. It'd been too long.

Ya gotta start somewhere.

Lincoln cyclists were invited to join Mayor Beutler this morning for a presentation by Andy Clarke the President of the League of American Bicyclists. He shared what communities are doing to encourage drivers to bike, walk and use public transportation. I rode the Austro-Diamler to the meeting, then continued on to work. After a long hiatus, this is my first work commute of 2011.

The presentation was well attended with around 75 bikers and community leaders in attendance. Other than a few icy spots the ride was great, I've really missed it and the forecast calls for more good biking weather! Today's miles = 19.71

One man's trash is another man's rat bike.

This afternoon I finally made it on my first Rat Bike Ride. The Near South Community Bike Kitchen is hosting monthly Rat Rides on the first Sunday of each month.

It's crazy how many different subcultures there are in the Lincoln cycling scene. I took Trusty Rusty and she felt right at home on the leisurely ride downtown where the 10 of us feasted on dozens of flavors of chili at O'Rourke's chili cook off. Today's miles = 3.0

Cycle Works Movie Night & Greensprints At Bricktop.

Tonight Cycle Works hosted movie night featuring Life Cycles with refreshments and discounts for attendees. Afterward we went downtown to the Bricktop for Green Street Cycles Greensprints. It was put together by the PCL with help from Screen Ink. They were both fun events giving cyclists a chance to hang out and see each other.