The Platte River Posse -- Looks like we weren't the only "bikers" looking for a bite to eat at the Platte River State Park buffet Sunday morning...
The scenery sure is beautiful this time of year in Nebraska...
JP, Fob and DK head east down the Mopac with dreams of sweet bacon on their minds... It won't be long before they've got what they're after.
The new control center on my Fargo, consisting of an On One Mary bar, upside-down and a 100mm, zero-rise Salsa CroMoto SUL stem. Note the 'new' 8-speed rear end the bike is sportin' (indicated by the 8-speed thumb shifter), along with the mountain bike control center. For technical riding, it's definitely much better.
Lookin' down the trail...
At rest...
The view from the cockpit...
See ya' next time...
The Bacon Ride happens pretty much every Sunday during the cycling season. There's a different cast of characters each week, but that's just part of the fun. The pace varies from super mellow to a little bit hard, depending on who shows up. It takes off at roughly 6am (or 6:25am, as it was this past Sunday) from the Novartis Trailhead at 84th Street and Hazelwood Drive.
In this shot, race leader Matt Lee is already off the screen, past Helena, MT and Salsa Cycles' Joe Meiser is rockin' it in THIRD PLACE on his drop bar Fargo! He's riding alone, but in close viscinity to two other riders -- Kurt Refsnider and Chris Plesko. I think this is the race for the podium that's shaping up and it's gonna' be a good one.
Jon Taylor's El Mariachi-- it got ruined yesterday in Wilderness Park, apparently the victim of another head-on collision -- It was a great bike whose end came too soon, but ultimately, I'm just glad Jon is OK... I wonder who it was that he hit???
So I went out to Facebook today and almost immediately saw this picture of Jon Taylor's wadded-up El Mariachi -- the victim of a Wilderness Park incident yesterday, apparently. It made me wonder if that weird message that came through last night on the THOR board had something to do with it... Perhaps somehow I'm getting blamed for Jon's accident, or they think that I was the "other party" in the accident.
First off, let me say that I was in no way involved in the accident and that I'm very sorry this happened to Jon and whoever he hit. Based on the looks of Jon's bike, I can't imagine the other person is feeling too spry today...
Second, it's not the fault of Jon or the person he hit that the park is not maintained, directional or effectively marked with signeage. It's not my fault, or the fault of any other recreationalist who rides their bicycle at Wilderness Park. The volunteer work I do clearing overgrowth at the park makes the trail safer, not less safe, for myself and for ungrateful folks like the person who wrote into the THOR I Power Forum last night.
Maybe it's time to start looking at houses in Omaha... What do they have, like five great places to ride mountain bikes within the metro area? If Lincoln isn't careful, they could pretty easily lose the one trail they currently have. I don't know that for certain, but what I do know is that the park's primary bicycle trail maintenance guy is about to quit volunteering his time due the ungratefulness of both fellow riders and the city... That's all I know.
Yep, Omaha's starting to look pretty darn good... Jewell Park was a real hoot a couple of weeks ago. Swanson's an e-ticket fun ride. L&C is all that and a bucket of Gummy Worms and you've got Tranquility right there and Platte River State Park just a hop, skip and a jump away.
Earlier today I got an email while we were at the Saltdogs game... it was from the THOR 'I Power' trail work forum. Since I'm the 'trail leader' at Wilderness, I get the trail work reports when someone logs one through the THOR Website. Well, today someone sent one in through the site. It was somewhat humorous and I thought I'd share it...
Here's the text:
We received a report regarding Wilderness
Where work is needed Safety Issue Matt Grisub needs to slow down, stop the ride-by lop-and-drop.
Considering they couldn't even spell my last name right, obviously it wasn't someone that knows me well. Furthermore, I wasn't even in Wilderness Park today... I rode the Mopac.
But if they're speaking to the overall situation at Wilderness, and the fact that I'm actually one of perhaps three people maintaining the corners on the bike trail, so that there's a line of sight in them, I'm not going to apologize for that. If somebody else wants to take up the mantle and do some trail work out there, please do so. I invite the assistance.
And if you've got an ax to grind with me, my phone number is 402-314-2150. If you're too much of a coward to leave your name in an email, or a real email address to respond to (yes, I did try to send an email to the email address provided -- it didn't work), I don't really have anything further to say about this.
Light and stiff, but not jarring. I've traditionally shied away from 31.8mm handlebars due to their massive stiffness and the resulting wrist wrenching harshness they imparted on the ride. Well, the ProMoto Carbon 17 degree handlebar has the stiffness for which the big diameter bars are renowned, but definitely doesn't have the harshness. It's a nice combination.
The ProMoto Ti SUL stem is quite a piece of work in itself. This is a brand new product for Salsa, and is only offered in a 31.8mm diameter bar clamp, so those wanting to use it with a 25.4 or 26.0mm handlebar will need to invest in a set of shims (I actually own shims in both diameters already).
Cold forged alloy construction +-5 degree rise, sub-150g weight (depending on length of course), good looking graphics and a jet black finish with swanky titanium bolts all around make it a nice piece to look at. It's easily the nicest stem Salsa's ever produced. The stiff, box section design makes it a pleasure to ride too. Confidence inspiring is the term that immediately comes to mind. It's a control center I feel absolutely confident about pointing at the roughest section of the trail, with full knowledge that it can take it.
Learn more about Salsa's new ProMoto bars and stems at www.salsacycles.com and click on 'Components' in the upper menu bar.
Ben enjoys some water and a quick bite at the first checkpoint of the 2008 Good Life Gravel Adventure, the 135-mile race that Ben finished -- and finished strong at -- Read his account of the journey here. I'm sure we'll see him again this year and I'm looking forward to it. Photo: Cornbread
Lincoln's Ben Dinger, the original "Chubby Super Biker" was featured by Cindy Lange-Kubick in the June 4 edition of the Lincoln Journal Star. You can check out the online edition of the story here, but be sure to pick a newsstand copy of it up as well. The Journal Star is a strong supporter of cycling in Lincoln and many of the staff (including our own good buddy, Jesse Petersen, Lange-Kubick, Joe Duggan and publisher, John Maher, to name a few) are cyclists themselves. I'm a subscriber and hope you either are, or will consider becoming one today. Click here to subscribe to the Lincoln Journal Star.
Congratulations on the awesome story, Ben, and thanks to Cindy Lange-Kubick and the Lincoln Journal-Star!
Sunday... Despite being sore from my run-in with Joel and kinda' hung over from JP and Frankie's excellent wedding, I worked 'til dark at Wilderness Park, trimming back branches to improve the line of sight in corners. I don't like head-ons in the park and I'm not going to stop riding out there...
It's been a long time since I've run head-on into anyone in Wilderness Park, so when Joel Smith and I came face-to-face this past Saturday it was almost surreal how quickly everything happened. I just happened to be the first person in the group I was riding with. I don't think either Joel or I was going too fast. I actually went out yesterday (Sunday) and spent the entire afternoon and evening pruning back branches in corners, and I paid particularly close attention to the area where Joel and I hit. It needed to be trimmed back.
So you might be wondering -- did we get hurt? Well, believe it or not (if you know us both), Joel got hurt worse than I did. He and my bike got tangled up pretty bad, and it resulted in a broken left wrist and some stitches for him, and a broken shifter, fork guard and wrecked rear rim on my bike. I just have some bad bruises and a swollen left knee and forearm, but am otherwise OK. I got really lucky. When I saw Joel, I got my weight started going right, so when we hit, I kind of glanced off of him and flew into a cedar tree on the right side of the trail. When I landed, I was on my back and I looked up and was at the base of the tree... like a big cradle. Joel was untangling himself from the bikes yelling that he'd re-broken his arm (at the front of plates he had installed in his left forearm from a prior injury). Sadly, because I too have plates in my arm, I knew exactly what he was talking about. All I could say was "I'm sorry Joel," because I knew it sucked and there was nothing I could do to make it better.
You know, I sat in a meeting with Lincoln Parks and Recreation managers four years ago, and then again last year and asked them to make Wilderness Park a one-way marked trail, so that we could avoid conflicts like this, but they refused. I wonder what it's going to take to get them to consider that option?
Parents reading this -- would you want to take your kid out to Wilderness Park for a mountain bike ride, knowing Joel Smith - a former professional-level racer - just got his arm broken in a head-on collision at non-racing level speeds?
Over the next few days, I'd like to show how a one-way trail saved mountain bike access at the Betasso Preserve in Boulder, Colorado and how one-way mountain bike trails may be the key to making mountain biking at Wilderness Park safer, more appealing for residents and people coming into town from the outside and ultimately, more fun for everybody. Watch for that to-come in upcoming posts in the next couple of days.
We need to do something...
Here are some pictures from JP and Frankie's Wedding... Congratulations to two of my very best friends on their marriage and thanks for letting Laura and I celebrate with you Saturday night. We had a blast!! The ride from the wedding to the reception was something I'll never forget. Talk about a Bike Fest!! We had it goin' on!!!
Finally, here are a couple shots of my El Mariachi, post accident... Notice the missing fork guard, and the sheared-off left side shift lever. What you can't see is the potato chip rear wheel, which will roll on for a little bit in a very band-aid fashion, but will need to be replaced soon. Have a great week! MG
MG in "Yunto" during lap 5 of 6 at the Platte River Battle Royale. Photo by T. Nelson. See more of Troy's Platte images here.
It's been a bit of a whirlwind past month... Let's see, in four consecutive weekends, here's the score:
JP's bachelor party in Moab -- mountain biking nirvana, everybody wins -- 4 weeks ago
TransIowa v.5 -- 314 miles of gravel roads in Iowa, 8th place overall -- 3 weeks ago
Platte River/Psycowpath Battle Royale -- 2nd place in the 'marathon' division to a very strong and determined Corey Godfrey -- 2 weeks ago
Branched Oak 12-hour MTB -- 2nd place solo to the impressively fast youngster, Lucas Marshall -- this past weekend
Lumpy from the MTB Goatheads blog posted this cool video from the Branched Oak 12-hour:
In the video, that's race promoter Jim Craig and I shaking hands at the front of the pack as we roll-out, just before the neutral roll-out ends and the true racing begins. Good stuff... Thanks again for the video, Lumpy!
It's been a fun past month of riding and racing. Though I don't have a firm total, I estimate that I was able to get close to a thousand miles in on the bike during the past month between riding and racing, and that's a pretty good month for me... perhaps one of the best ever. For that I'm extremely thankful.
I could not have done any of this without the support of my beautiful wife Laura, or my sponsors, Salsa Cycles, Monkey Wrench Cycles and Oakley. Whether it was my Salsa Big Mama saving my tender behind out at Branched Oak, my Oakley Flak Jackets repeling sweat from the lenses so I could continue to see for 31 hours straight during TransIowa without a single lens cleaning, or any of the parts and service I get from the guys down at Monkey Wrench on a daily basis, the companies I'm working with now are as good as it gets and I recommend their products from first-hand experience. My lovely wife Laura, on the other hand, is one-of-a-kind... top of the line. If it wasn't for her, it would be a lot harder for me to be me. I realize that makes me very fortunate and so once again, I'm especially thankful.
Looking forward... Memorial Day weekend:
It seems like forever since I've had a weekend spend with Laura and just ride and catch up on things around the house. I guess it's pretty typical for this time of year... You go all winter with just about every weekend free, but now it's just slammed to the hilt until about October.
Well, this Memorial Day weekend, we're doing something different -- we're staying in Nebraska and playing it low-key. We've just been "on" for too many consecutive weeks and it's time to rest, recharge and focus on getting some projects done at home. Yep, it'll be perfect.
The Bacon Ride will be starting up Sunday @ 6am from the Mopac trailhead at 84th Street in Lincoln. This is a good one... Ride out to Platte River State Park for the brunch buffet, then back to Lincoln. It's an 80-ish mile round trip with good times all around. Don't miss it.
The Platte River Posse -- Looks like we weren't the only "bikers" looking for a bite to eat at the Platte River State Park buffet Sunday morning...
The scenery sure is beautiful this time of year in Nebraska...
JP, Fob and DK head east down the Mopac with dreams of sweet bacon on their minds... It won't be long before they've got what they're after.
The new control center on my Fargo, consisting of an On One Mary bar, upside-down and a 100mm, zero-rise Salsa CroMoto SUL stem. Note the 'new' 8-speed rear end the bike is sportin' (indicated by the 8-speed thumb shifter), along with the mountain bike control center. For technical riding, it's definitely much better.
Lookin' down the trail...
At rest...
The view from the cockpit...
See ya' next time...
