Ride like the Wind!

Temp: 67F
Miles today: 10
Total Miles this year: 310

Today looked like an excellent evening to ride, except for the 25-30 mph wind. The forecast had called for rain this afternoon, so I didn't ride to work. I should have. When I got home, I decided to do 10 miles on the MoPac, which is from the 84th St. Trailhead out to the paved crossroad (148th St. I think), then back again. The wind was 25-30 mph out of the south, which produced a very strong crosswind in both directions, but I still made pretty good time, averaging about 14 mph. Tomorrow looks cold, so I'm glad I went tonight.

Nice ride on the Jamaica Trail today

We had a nice ride on the Jamaica North Trail today with a total of 9 cyclists. Found out that Sherman Field parking is gated closed when no games are being played, so Sawyer Snell Park was open and made a nice rendevous point. Also found out that the Jamaica North Trail's north end is still south of Van Dorn, so we jogged over to the Salt Creek Levee Trail and took that down to where it connected to both the Jamaica North and Bison Trails. We had a slight south breeze blowing against us on the way South, but this turned into a good tailwind on the way back.

Jamaica North Trail ride Sunday afternoon

When: Sunday, March 29 at 3pm
Where: Park or meet at Sherman Field Park near 1st and South St.
Weather: High predicted near 58, no rain
Who: Anyone who wants to ride with us

We will ride south on the Jamaica Trail until someone wants to turn around. My estimate is at least the Trailhead at Saltillo.

Video from 2003 Tour de France

Lance avoided crashing in the 2003 Tour de France. Too bad his luck ran out this year.

Lance broke collarbone - likely out of Tour de France

Just saw this scrolling across the ESPN screen tonight. Lance fractured his collarbone during a tour in Spain. Reports are that he is very likely out of the Tour de France, which begins on July 4.

http://boulderreport.bicycling.com/2009/03/breaking-litera.html?cm_mmc=RSS-_-bicrsshome-_-NA-_-NA

NUMB website back up again!

The NUMB website has been down since lightning took out the wireless ISP link to the internet on Saturday, March 7. The wireless link to the ISP in Elkhorn has now been replaced by DSL, so hopefully this won't happen again. It came back online early Thursday morning, March 19.

Is Spring here?

Sunday's temp: 59 Sunday's miles: 11.2
Monday's temp: 79 !!!! Monday's miles: 8
Tuesday's temp: 71 Tuesday's miles: 8
Wednesday's temp: 60 Wednesday's miles: 8

This week has been great so far. Rain is predicted for tomorrow morning, so I hope I didn't speak too soon. On Sunday Gayle spotted a small Olympus camera for $69 at Office Max. I had been looking for a small camera that would fit in my cycling jersey pocket so I could take it on our tours this spring and summer. It was about 3:30 Sunday afternoon and I had to make a decision - should I go for a bike ride or drive to Office max and buy the camera. How about both! Office Max at 25th and O was only a few blocks from the west end of the MoPac Trail. I biked down there, bought the camera, and biked back with the shopping bag hanging from my right handlebar. I am now an "Official" bike commuter!

Monday's temp of 79 degrees didn't set any records but it was still wonderful weather to bike to work. I did have some words with a semi-tractor-trailer rig that pulled into the 66 gas station at 84th and Cornhusker from Cornhusker. I was getting ready to exit the gas station area onto Cornhusker Hwy shoulder for the last 2 blocks of my morning commute, when the semi decided to make a right turn into the same gas station, making a very wide turn in front of me to get into the lot. I needed to stop and back up about 15 feet in order for him to complete his turn.

Today (Tuesday), both Brad and I had to stop for a semi who decided that he wanted to pull onto 84th St. from the ADM plant directly in front of us. I guess that bikes going 17 mph on the sidewalk don't count.

Saturday's ride on the MoPac

Temperature: 55F
Mileage: 22.4

The weather looked GREAT for a ride on Saturday! Our group met at 2pm at the 84th St. Trailhead and we met up with other cyclists in Walton at 2:15pm. We should have been in Eagle about 3pm, but about 3 or 4 miles out of Walton we ran into a huge mud-hole. The first riders didn't know it was that bad until they were right in the middle of it. The trailing riders in the group stopped in time to carry their bike through the worst of it. Anyway, we reached Eagle about 3:20pm and joined Jim at the One-Eyed Dog Saloon. After a few drinks and watching the end of the Class A State Boys Basketball Tournament, we headed on back to Lincoln, this time on the shoulder of US34.

Cycle Works now at 70th and Pioneers

Rumor has it that Cycle Works has opened a new store near their Mooses Tooth location at 70th and Pioneers. Check it out!

Paris-Nice 2009 on VS Sunday

Check out the Paris-Nice 2009 race on VS this Sunday at 4pm and next Sunday, March 15, also at 4pm CT.


Check out the stage summaries and videos here:
http://www.versus.com/cyclysm

Time to replace my tires

Temperature yesterday: 76 F

Miles yesterday: 8

Temperature today: 59 F

Miles today: 16.2 Ave Speed 13.4

As you can see from the photo above, I have a big area without tread on my rear tire on the TREK 7.6FX. This is the original Bontrager Race Light Hardcase 700x32c tire that came with the bike in March 2007. It probably has around 3700 miles on it. Looks like it is time to replace it. I will also replace the front tire too, as it has around 2500 miles on it. I wonder if the tread came off as a result of the fall I had a few weeks ago, or did the lack of tread cause the fall. Hmmm. My guess is that I will never know which came first.

Yesterday I biked to work. The morning temp was around 47 F, but the afternoon temp was an amazing 76 F! This was a new record for March 5 in Lincoln. Today it was cooler, only 59 F, but still very nice. I took the day off to work some projects in the house and to ride this afternoon. My ride was from Holmes Lake to Densmore Park and back. Very enjoyable! Now, to get the tires changed .....

Iditarod Trail Invitational - 350 miles by bike!

Today was the beginning of the Iditarod Trail Invitational - Alaska Ultrasport. If you are a reader of Jill Homer's cycling blog "Up in Alaska", you are probably already following this. If not, here are some links:

http://www.alaskaultrasport.com/latest_news.html

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0W25MJOgjh2SRim8h06QMXNaRFSXFYFhk Find Jill's current location here

March 2 update: Apparently Jill scratched after arriving at the first checkpoint. It sounds like she has some minor frostbite on her toes.