We may not have mountains, but we have wind...

Brave souls venturing out for a "character building session"

Twenty five mph sustained winds with gusts in the 30's, no problem. Chalk it up as a great Nebraska training ride. Just imagine you're climbing a large mountain.

Finding reprieve in the Jamaica and Homestead Trail corridor

Destination was Cortland for Sunday's ride. Twenty miles to the south directly into the wind. A few of us decided to leave the shelter of the Homestead Trail and hit gravel for the last four miles into Cortland. Wicked, wicked, wicked wind. While exposed to the full force of the wind we found ourselves struggling to keep speed even on the downhills. Going up wasn't much better.

Ash Road

The reward for the trip to Cortland was a can of Coke at the convenience store and a trip down the MMR goodness of Ash Road. The cross wind was just as challenging. Almost ended up on the ground a few times.

Derby!

The afternoon was spent watching the Shit Bike Derby. Basically crash up derby with bikes. A lot of shitty bikes got even shittier. It was quite a spectacle.

CVO on the best bike of the day

Most bikes ended up with a taco'd rear wheel which rendered them useless. CVO's bike came out unscathed despite taking and dishing out a lot of punishment. Take note folks.

Holiday weekend gravel action

Love the Alf mug!

Friday morning's ride started off with some amazing coffee served in an Alf "Life's a beach" mug and a fresh chewy brownie from Cultiva Cafe. Breakfast of champions!

Monsignor Tucker fixin' a flat

Friday's ride ventured West into the wind and eventually on to Milford. Second Milford ride in as many weeks. That doesn't happen too often. FYI, there are some wicked rollers to the west of Lincoln. West A Street, Pioneers and Van Dorn are all challenging routes. If you're looking for some good "interval gravel" look no further. Just attack every hill and you'll be pretty much red lined the whole time.

The crew moving out

The Saturday morning ride left Cultiva a little after 8 AM this morning. Several Trans Iowa veterans (Wills, Emily, and myself) and a few Trans Iowa noobies (Scott, Bruce and Janna) were in attendance. In order to be "ready" for something as big as TI V7, you gotta put some long hours in the saddle. Even though it's five months away it's never too early to get those base miles in.

Jim contemplating life and the universe

The ride this morning went South to Cortland via the Homestead Trail and a bit of gravel. Refuel in Cortland and off for more gravel. Some headed back to town, but Bruce, Janna, Emily, Malcolm and I continued on for Wilber in hopes of scoring some Kolaces.

That deer is smiling. Creepy.

Kolaces in sight, but "No soup for you!"

When we got to Wilber the bakery was closed, but as a result we did get to see this rad muscle car at the Casey's in town.

Nice park job.

Rollin' back home and roasting along the way

The temp slowly climbed all day. By the time we turned North towards Lincoln it was near 50. I soaked through one pair of gloves and nearly through my lighter pair too. It's that time of year you gotta carry a couple pair of gloves.

Interesting lawn ornaments in Saline County Nebraska

More gravel on the docket for tomorrow morning. Same bat time, same bat channel...Cultiva Cafe at 8 AM. Wind is gonna wicked out of the South! Probably just head to Cortland and back.

Lincoln cross weekend

What a fun and painful weekend. The legs still feel a bit dead from the balls to the wall efforts, but the memories of Hooligan's Hill make it worth the Monday morning sluggishness. Saturday's race ended up being a battle with James Blake and Chris Hansen. Both rode great and put me in the pain cave for the full hour. Sunday was more of the same except Chris wasn't there, but Matt Gersib and Jim Winklepleck took his place in dishing out some punishment. My only regret during the weekend was sitting up on our last lap on Sunday to allow Mark to lap us and end our race early. Unfortunately we spoiled his moment at the line. Yeah, that was a stupid move. Sorry Mark. We were fried and you were our savior.

Huge thanks goes out to DK (pictured above getting the ghetto drum kit ready), Bill, and Brian for playing on top of the Hill. I was so stoked to roll by Hooligan's Hill every lap. This is what makes Lincoln a great cycling scene. I'm proud to say I'm a Lincolnite.


The new bike felt great, but I'm still getting it dialed in. It's a lot lighter and a bit snappier than the steel IF. It'll probably be transformed into a SS for Winter gravel rides. Ah...Winter gravel. I can't wait. The 2010 race season is over for me and now it's time for some long gravel adventures!

Gravel goodness on the horizon

I got signed up for another Trans Iowa. This will be my fifth crack at it. The new bike is ready for a ton of winter miles in order to be ready for 300+ miles of Iowa gravel and dirt roads Easter weekend. Historically bad weather Trans Iowa years (V2 and V4) are followed up by dry and ideal weather conditions the following year. Let's hope that holds true for V7.

I'm proud to say that Lincoln will be very well represented for V7. At last count we had 10+ Lincolnites committing to the challenge. Skip, Emily and Butch will be back this year! Scott, Bruce and Janna have also thrown down the gauntlet for the first time. Also returning again for more are Troy, mg, Wills, Aaron, and Omaha representative Eric. Am I forgetting anyone?

So this means there will be a lot of gravel ridden this Winter by a lot of Lincolnites and that's a super awesome good thing. Rides will begin next weekend at 8 AM from D street on Saturdays and Sundays unless otherwise stated.

Random pics of the past week

Sunset gravel....I love it

Saturday!

Jesse, Kim, Janna (on gears!!!), and Msgr Tucker

10:30 meet up at Cultiva on 11th and G per Aaron's recommendation. Amazing coffee and lots of great eats too. If you haven't checked it out, well, yet check it out!

Lots of experience along for the ride

Great crew along for the ride. I'm guessing 15 to 20 folks at launch time. Fully caffeinated and ready to go!

Coach getting the old standby at the Cortland refuel...Coca Cola.

Sorry, no ride pix. This is all camera phone action. I'll summarize the ride to Cortland with one phrase....almost knock you down windy. Good times.

Lycra clad cyclists invade the convenience store in Cortland

The tailwind home sure was wicked. More of the same today. Meet at Cultiva at 10:30. Might hafta mix in some Wilderness Park action too.