Week #31 Another solid week in the saddle

 

Week #31 - 571 miles

I got in another good week on the bike. Rode down to Marysville on Saturday thinking I was going to miss all of the storms. Well that didn't work out so well. I made it down to Marysville in pretty good time, but as I was getting into town the storm hit. I hung out at the bike shop for about 30 minutes before returning home. I got a few miles down the trail before I came across the first down tree. From there on, the trail was a mess. I was able to move a lot of the branches, but there were lots of big trees blown over by the storm. It was really slow going but I did get in 154 miles for the day. The last 3 weeks have been 571, 539, & 903. The Long Voyage is in a few weeks so a little recovery time is in order. This next week I am going to spend a little time in Lawrence and hopefully find some new roads.

Week #30 Bike packed to Sioux City

Week #30 - 539 miles

This week I rode up to Sioux City to visit Michelle who is doing RAGBRAI. I left on Friday and rode to Danish Alps Rec Area and camped. It was a nice campground about 15 miles outside of Sioux City. On Saturday I went into Sioux City and explored the trails a little bit and hung out at the expo. Still amazes me all of the people that do events like this. There were around 28,000 people signed up this year. Way too many people for me. It was great to see Michelle and her family before I rode back home with a total of 324 miles for the trip.

I also got over 1300 days during the ride streak this week along with 84,000+ miles. Fun keeping the streak alive but I know there will be the day that it ends. Be nice to get to 100,000 miles during it!

 

Week #29 Great Plains Gravel Route / Nebraska Edition - COMPLETED!

Week #29 - 902 miles

This week I covered 831 miles across Nebraska covering the Great Plains Gravel Route. We started at the Kansas border south of Beatrice and headed north. I had a few folks join in through Lincoln and then I headed west. Went through Seward and York, the a long stretch to get to Doniphan. On day #2 we rolled through Kearney and then looped up north for a bit before getting to Lexington. After a late lunch, I had to reroute a bit before we headed into Potter's Pasture for the night. Day #3 started with a little single track and then through the canyons before coming to North Platte. I took the canal system almost all the way to Lake McConaughy before heading south of the interstate again. Once we reached the Colorado border, we headed to Lewellen for the night and barley beating a storm. On day #4 we had lots of reroutes until we got over to Broadwater Road. Then it was into Alliance and finished up at Carhenge. Day #5 started out with some rain and mud along with some more reroutes. We rode by Fort Robinson and Crawford then north towards Toadstool Park and the Oglala National Grassland. After battling a headwind all day we finished up on the South Dakota border. Total of 831 miles with all of the reroutes and over 29,000 feet of climbing. An amazing ride and hopefully a very cool video to come out this fall.

 

Week #28 Great Plains Gravel Route - Nebraska Edition starts tomorrow!

 

Week #28 - 463 miles

We take off tomorrow morning to cross the state on the Great Plains Gravel Route. Covering over 800 miles in just 5 days. Should be fun, just some really big days of riding!

This week was pretty easy with only 1 longer ride on July 4th. Had a good group and got in 111 miles. Another good group ride on Saturday were we headed up north.

Week #27 Last Big Week!

 

Week #27 - 675 miles

June - 2070 miles

This is my last big week before I head off across Nebraska on the Great Plains Gravel Route. I ended up riding part of the Long Voyage course on Thursday and Friday. Got caught in a couple rain storms and camped out in Missouri Valley, IA on Thursday night. Riding with the bike loaded with all of my camping gear and food was a challenge. The route through Iowa is pretty tough with all the climbing but the gravel roads were in good shape. The gravel from Blair down to Wahoo is terrible. Super sandy, but not really that much climbing. Maybe after some more rain they will firm up a little bit. There will need to be some changes to the route but it still should be a good loop. This next week will be prepping to get everything ready and resting up. We are going to do a longer ride on the 4th but it should be easy down the trail and hit some gravel roads on the way home.