Knee high by the Fourth of July - Not exactly

A lot of the corn in Southeast Nebraska is already over six foot tall.

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Holiday weekend.

Ponca Ride

Ponca Ride 2009! from Cornbread on Vimeo.

My first love in life - Baseball

North Bend Baseball Team - circa ? (probably 1930's or 1940's)

I've been laid up with a rather nasty stomach bug and haven't been able to ride much over the last week. I'm not exactly sure what the deal is, but I lost quite a bit of weight over the weekend and wasn't vertical much at all on Saturday. Needless to say, it's been a pain in the ass. Things are getting better by the day, but my Firecracker 50 plans have gotten scrapped. Oh well, next year.

Since I haven't been able to ride much, I've been watching a lot of baseball. HDTV is addicting. Especially sports on Hi Def. After dinner on most nights of the week I find myself settling into a ball game. It's a great way to relax.

I gave up on baseball in the late 90's. The player strikes and the canceled World Series coupled with the obvious steroid abuse was too much. Hopefully the game is cleaning up as well as wising up.

MMR at the end of the rainbow

Ponca Ride 2009

The weekend has left me a bit haggard, so the post is gonna be short for now. The Cliff's Notes version of the Ponca Ride....Friday 4 AM start postponed to 7 AM due to rain/thunderstorms. Seven of us took off from D Street and rode soft gravel for less than 10 miles before deciding to hit the shoulder of the Hwy 79. Made it to North Bend for a late breakfast and continued on highways for the majority of the day. We got hit by rain and had soagy chamois for several hours of the day. We were fortunate to hit 15 to 20 miles of the best gravel sections while barely escaping another rain storm. Four of us made it to Ponca.

No one rode back this year due to incessant rain. Maybe we'll give it another shot later this year.

Ponca Ride 2009 - Forecast = Craptastic

Departure time of 4 AM has been pushed back to 5 and now 6 AM due to inclement weather. The forecast really looks bad, but is improving. During our wait we watched Iran's Supreme Leader call for "Death to America", drank a few pots of coffee, and chatted about the meaning of life. We've also discussed our options for the Ponca ride. There's been talk of abandoning the ride completely and moving it back to a later date, starting late around 8 or 9 AM, heading South to Indian Caves, or continuing to just watch bad infomercials and drink coffee all day. I think we're just gonna give it a go around 6 AM and hope for the best.

Wow, I really want to do this event someday

The Tour Divide started a couple of days ago and is already shaping up to be epic. 2,745 miles of self-supported mountain biking across the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. And yes, it is a race.

Riders will cross some of the most beautiful back country trails on the continent. If they're able to finish (most finishers take 21 plus days), they'll have climbed close to 200,000 vertical feet! Un-frickin'-real! This event is for some real salty dawgs.

Joe Meiser of Salsa and Trans Iowa V5 winner is among the competitors. Riders are carrying a Spot Tracker which allows folks at home to keep tabs on their favorite rider. Joe is currently in second place! Go Joe go!