Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter Weekend

Due to work schedule at the shop, I had to spend the weekend by myself. When I wasn't at work I filled the time with riding.
On Friday, my family headed to Central Iowa. As they headed East, they dropped me and J-mac off in Malvern. The Wabash Trace runs through there and that meant a trail back to CB. Did you know part of the Wabash is paved? I have to be honest, I think the Wabash loses part of its charm without the crushed limestone. As we got back to CB, J-mac got back in his car and I headed towards the South Omaha Bridge to get back home. So far, the weekend plan was coming together.


On Saturday I had to work at the shop. The only riding would be the commute to the shop and back home. Still, a short ride is better than no ride.
On Sunday I got two rides in. I didn't go to church until 11:30, so I put an AM ride in on the road. Didn't think that on Easter Weekend I would have to wear my winter clothes. Oh well, the ride was great. In the afternoon I headed to Tranquility. I have heard all about the new section they added North of Fort street and I wanted to ride it. I will say this about Dale and the THOR crew in charge of Tranquility, they do an incredible job with the land they have access to. I think that Swanson, L & C, Jewell, and Platte all have better terrain. But THOR really gets everything it can out of Tranquility. The new re-route is great, even if it does nothing more than make a loop longer.
Thanks THOR!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Triple Rush

I've only seen one episode of this, but it was pretty entertaining.... A little cheesy, but entertaining.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Nice Shot

Weekend Surprise

I forgot to document the event, BUT J-mac came out of his self-imposed exile on Sunday night. Goathead nation is probably not going to believe me, but he really was at Swanson last night and wants to make riding regular event. To make sure he was telling the truth I made him do two laps. On a side note, it looks like a re-route is in the works for the beginning. Anybody have info? Also, a little over a month until the 12 hour race at Wagon Train. Whether or not everybody races - all Goatheads should attend the event. Lumpy has a tent we can all share.

New trail, new bike

Some pictures of a trail I found while on a business trip to Dubuque, IA.
Ran into some super nice people while on the trail. The first day, a young couple were out riding with their dogs, and let me tag along as they showed me around a little bit. I would've been lost without that. The next day, I ran into a guy who was out making a new segment of trail. He informed me that my next business trip (Decorah, IA) will have a lot more great trails in store for me.
As for this trail, there is a gravel "road" that leads from the parking area down to a creek at the bottom of a valley, and then back up the other side. All of the singletrack branches off from and eventually returns to this road. There are tons of options. Everywhere you look, there is singletrack weaving in and around and up and down. A lot of it reminded me of Platte River SP, but with a lot more rocks, and some 100' deep mineshafts thrown in the mix. (There used to be lead mines there, I guess) Most of the time, I climbed up the road and then took the singletrack back down. I made about 8-10 runs each day, riding until I was totally exhausted. If you're ever around Dubuque, the trail is behind the Children's Zoo.
The "fat front" is very fun to ride. Once I got used to it, I was looking for rocks to hit. It's strange how you see a rock about the size of your fist as you ride over it, but you don't feel it until it hits the back tire. The front completely swallows it. I still have a lot of experimenting to do with pressures, as a little variance totally changes the ride. Can't wait to hit some Omaha singletrack!





Monday, April 04, 2011