Recumbent Ron

Breakfast this morning in Cozad was Pancakes and sausage, hosted by the men’s group of the church.  Rode 45 miles today from Cozad to Broken Bow.  Not a lot exciting today, just long stretches.  Camping at the local high school.   Broken Bow has a population of around 3,000 people, but is overshadowed by the number of livestock.  Located a couple miles south of town is the  Adams Land and Cattle south lot, with a capacity of 85,000 head.

This was a hard ride day and because of the sustained 24 mph headwinds and hills, they shortened the ride (Thank you, thank you, thank you!).

Dinner tonight in Cozad was sloppy Joes (what else to you expect in beef country), chips and carrots, dessert was ice cream sundaes.  Yum, yum!

Hard to see it here, but this was one long steep hill. Note the milled surface which also slowed me down

But it was very scenic

Dinner in the church, typical of each night.

Group Photo! I’m in there somewhere.

Although it sometimes gets me off to a late start, I always partake of the great breakfasts on the ride.  Usually eggs, sausage, and pancakes.   I try to be the first in line as sometimes they run out of food and we have to wait for them to prepare more.  As one of the slower riders, I can’t afford to wait and need to get out on the road as early as possible.

Today we left Holdrege, traveled west to Elwood, then north up around Johnson Lake Reservoir, then zigzagged our way up to Cozad, population ~4,000.  A total of 60 miles today.  Camping and showers at the East Elementary School, supper tonight was spaghetti or Cavatini, salads and deserts at the Cozad United Methodist church.  Some riders took the free shuttle bus to Camp Comeca, a local Methodist church camp, where they had horseback riding (if your rump was not sore enough from 60 miles on a bike seat…who’s bright idea was this??), indoor swimming and hiking.

What the ???? First turn out of town I saw this and had to take a picture. Actually it is on a roads department area paralleling the highway.

There was rain, there was lightening, there was more rain. We had to wade through the water to get to the SAG table

Barn rooftop I thought was interesting

I was quite excited to find this vineyard until I discovered there was no adjacent winery

Today is the meet up day for the NUMB Ride, which starts in Holdrege, NE.  There is an optional additional day ride today for those who want to do it, but as they have not provided any information about it (mileage, SAG’s, etc), I’m a  hesitant to do it.  Tonight we camp out out in the yard of a really nice YMCA.  On our own for dinner, just need to be at the 8:00 information meeting at the local Methodist church.

Speaking of the Methodist church, this ride  has been directed by a Methodist minister, Rev. Bill Ritter.  He’s the co-founder of the ride.  This is a United Methodist church mission project to alleviate hunger in the world, but one does not have to be Methodist to participate.

I was thinking how nice it would be to go see a movie at the air conditioned local theater in the afternoon, but they have only one showtime, one movie each day, starting at 7:30.

Above is the camping area behind the YMCA, where I unloaded my Rabbit.

Church where we had our riders orientation meeting.

Example of the beautiful houses in the neighborhood around the church

NUMB is a fundraising event aimed at alleviating hunger all around the world through donations for riders who participate in the event.   Since it started 19 years ago it has distributed over $650,000 for the hungry of the world.  I’ve wanted to do this ride for years but too many obstacles got in my way.  Two years ago I was not ready physically, so supported the ride as a SAG driver.   This year we start in Holdege, spend the first night in Cozad, second night in Broken Bow, third night in Gibbon (wife and I broke down there nearly 30 years ago) and then back to Holdredge.  I love these loop rides as I can drive myself to the starting point and my car is waiting for me when I get back. The NUMB ride is a fundraising event to help with hunger relief.

This will be a challenging trip for me as each and every day is more miles than any one day I have done so far this year or with my trike.  Day one is 60 miles, day two is 67, day three is 73 and day four is 47.  Thankfully they have great SAG support crew with lots of fruit and water at every stop.

Below is a close approximation of our trip route.

Day five was a wash.  Literately!!!  It was rainy when we woke up, rainy when we tore down or tents, rainy most of the first half of the ride for those who completed it.  I stoped at mile 7 of the 52 and hitched a ride with the owner of Cycle Works out of Lincoln, our trip bike support crew.  He had a trailer for repairs and equipment, so it was big enough to fit my trike in.  I did kind of feel bad about not riding the entire trip, but I’ve been strugglint with the hills on this trip and today was nothing but hills.  Figure it would have taken me 10 hours to finish, be one of the last ones in and as it was my 35th wedding anniversary, I thought I’d best just head on home and enjoy the rest of my day.

Sorry, no pictures today.

Stay tuned for more of my adventures this weekend, though, as I join others on a 245 mile round trip ride in central Nebraska on the NUMB ride.

Today is my kind of mileage day, 50 miles from Verdigre to Pierce.  Pierce is our largest city so far with a population of around 1700.  Pierce gained some international notoriety last summer due to the Lambrecht auto auction, at which nearly 500 classic cars were put up for sale.  Many had less than 10 miles on them.

It was a good ride, weather a tad bit cooler and I made sure I was well fueled and hydrated.  One of our first stops was a town called Winnetoon, full of these old 1800 style buildings.

Our lunch stop for the day (great pulled pork sandwiches in the city park) was Plainview, where they filmed the recent movie Nebraska.  I thought they just wanted to be artsy and film it in black and white, but NO, the town really is all black and white.  😉  One of our riders was from Plainview, so chatting with him I got to hear his experiences with the film crew and the filming process.  Fascinating!

Day 3 of our ride takes us from Crofton to Verdigre, 42 miles or 62 miles (via Santee) for those who want to.  I opted for the 42.  Verdigre is the smallest town so far with a population under 600.  it’s also home of Kolach Days celebration.  Okay, I had to look that up on their website: Kolaches, a favorite Czech and Slovak dessert originating from Eastern Europe, are baked pastries of yeast dough with delicious fruit filling. Some fillings include prune, poppy seed, apricot, cherry, & cottage cheese.

This was not my best day.  I’m pretty sure I forgot my daily meds, got overheated, dehydrated and let my blood sugar drop too low.  This was our hotest day, in the mid 90’s, and no shade trees to be found anywhere along the last part of the ride.  When I got to town I ate some snacks, drank 48 ounces of water, parked my trike under the shade of a building and after an hour nap in the breeze, I awoke refreshed and ready to go.

Here we are loading our bags into the truck as we do each morning. The truck then hauls and unloads our bags at the next town’s camping area.

Cycle Works out of Lincoln, NE, was our official bike shop support and were always available for tire pumps, tubes, tune ups and repairs. Their staff were super friendly and always eager to help with anything.

Pretty view of the marshy areas along the Niobrara river today.

My view of the road from the reclined position on my recumbent trike. Rarely do we have such a nice shoulder to ride on, often we are out in the street.

Designated lunch spot outside of Niobrara. I was hot and tired, not hungry, but in retrospect should have eaten something other than a granola bar. Did grab some ice cold water though.

Just like 150 years ago, the bikes are attached to the hitch-in post.

Just as I was calling it a night and crawling in my tent (only 9:00, but I was ready), I noticed these beautiful clouds up above.

Riding from Ponca to Crofton, this is our longest day at 74 miles (but an option to do less than 50 which I took).  Crofton is a town of about 700 residents, but is very close to the boating/fishing vacation area of Gavins Point Dam, so I’m sure they see a rise in temporary population during the summer.  For most of the day today we followed the Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway.

In the morning before we left we were warned that we needed to be past the Hwy 15 exit by 10:00 as they were going to reroute I-29 along our route because of flooding of the Missouri River.  I made it with less than an hour to spare.

One of our stops was a church in Maskell, NE (Pop. 67). Some great sweets and treats inside.

Saw this at the entrance of a property as we entered Maskell, NE.

Saw this as I entered Obert, NE, just a few miles down the road. Hmmm, I’m sensing a theme here….

Just thought this was a beautiful example of a country church, many of which we saw along the way.

Gorgeous views today.

My only criticism of the entire trip were the first three days roads. Every 15 feet was a crack in the road like this. Bikes could probably dodge them, but with the trike I hit every single one. It made going fast impossible and the ride very uncomfortable.

Today’s ride is our shortest day, 47 miles from Pender to Ponca, Nebraska.  Ponca is Nebraska’s fourth oldest town and was established in 1856.  It is named for the Ponca Indian tribe.  Population is around 900.  Ponca State Park, just two miles north of the city, is where we will be camping for the night.

One of our first towns of the day, Emerson, NE. Always great the way the locals come out and provide food, water and big smiles.

The storm path and debris after Pilger was hit.  And this is dozens of miles north of Pilger.

As I rode up I thought this was a boy with his dog. No! It was a one month old calf. Cutest thing, real curious, actually reminded me of a puppy.

In Ponca State Park, our overnight town, we were awakened by massive thunder and lightening, none of which was hitting the ground but made for a spectacular display of light and color.

Today is our meet up day in Pender, Nebraska, with our ride start tomorrow.  Pender is 100 miles north of Omaha and is a beautiful small town of around 1,000 residents (it has consistently averaged that population for the last century).  The local paper has done a wonderful little video of the town, much better than I can show here.

As we have to be all packed up and ready to go by the 6:30 meeting tomorrow morning, I decided to arrive the day before and take advantage of the optional nights sleep in the city school.  Should be interesting, dozens of folks all sprawled out sleeping and snoring.  My only fear with using earplugs is I won’t wake up in time.

My camping spot inside one of the gyms. They even let me bring my bike in so it would not be cold and lonely outside.

You can really see the school pride in these small towns. They had a dozen of these benches outside the school.

The outdoor campers tonight in the very nice city park at Pender.