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.
Took the trike out for it’s first real ride since building it and after 24 miles over 2 1/2 hours I can say I’m pretty pleased. Although it still needs some tweaking, it performed without any adjustments or breakdowns. Below is a picture at one of my stops, Seymour Smith park near 68th and Harrison. They’ve installed a really cool free water park and it was a nice break watching the kids (and parents) play in the water. Unlike my recumbent bike where you have to just about lift yourself out of the seat to put your foot down at stops, with the trike I simply set the parking brake I installed, sit back and enjoy the few.
Below’s a map of my route today, around the Omaha trail system. The orange dot on the trail is where the above picture was taken.
The last day of RAGBRAI 2013. I’m certainly saddened to see this wonderful week end, but on the other hand I cannot wait to get home and sleep in my own bed. Today we was 63 miles and 2427 feet of hilly hills. Even though I skipped the first 33 miles, it was a tough day for me with long miles, hills, sore muscles, body aches. Mainly because one of my front brake pads was slightly rubbing!
Would I do it again? You bet!
Here are the pictures from today.
I only stopped for the pie, no kissing pigs for me.
City built this cool thing where riders could climb and take pictures or be photographed.
Yes, yes, another food picture. A combo smoothly. Soooo good.
Let us not forget all those who gave their lives to protect our freedom. Things like Ragbrai might not exist with out such freedom
Ouch! That’s gotta hurt!
The end of the line….
Wait a minute, a fire truck with a fire pit in it? What’s wrong with this picture?
The mighty Mississippi river where riders dip their front tire in.
While waiting to be loaded on the truck my tire suddenly blew loudly. I think it was protesting, telling everyone it was done
Our high today, chilly and windy. Last year they had most days around 100 degrees.
And you thought I was a bit wacky for putting a troll on my bike!
Wooohooo, today was the least hilliest ride of the week with only 1,222 feet of vertical climb. We rode from Oskaloosa to Fairfield, total of 52 miles. Was a much easier day.
In one of the towns I ran across this cheery band of super heroes.
Sadly, I exposed more than I realized when I flipped the bike to fix the flat.
This is what is called a velomobile. It’s actually and ICE brand trike with an outer fairing which was made in the UK. The fellow in the orange shirt is the owner, a doctor in Ft. Wayne, Indiana (where I was born). Further conversation, he did his residency in Omaha where I live and we exchanged many names of physicians we both know.
Here is the inner view. Not much ventilation.
Near the end of this hot day we came across a huge water slide, maybe 200 feet, in a country yard that went down into their pond. A giant pump was keeping the water flowing. Riders would run and dive, shooting out at the end into the pond.
Even Super Heroes like to have fun (but I was worried about him cutting the plastic).
Here is pond they all come out into.
Enjoying a “Fire House” root-beer float.
This is in the town of Fairfield. Some vendor must have been giving away free plastic mustaches and someone climbed up and put on on the stature.
Today we rode 52 miles from Knoxville (Wyatt Earp’s childhood home) to Oskaloosa. Third hilliest day of the week, but my second hilliest since I took off riding on Monday. The old recumbent is performing almost flawlessly and no flats yet.
Another beautiful sunrise in Iowa. I woke up at 3:50, took my time packing up and was on the road by 5:30, still dark then so this sunrise was about 20 minutes out of town.
Above is Lake Red Rock outside of Pella, Iowa. Below are pictures of the very picturesque Pella, Iowa. A lovely Dutch themed community well worth the visit.
Visitors center (photo op)
Every street I saw was this quaint and beautiful.
The old opera house.
A mill, I think mainly for visitors but I did not have time to tour it to find out.
Some more of the beautiful views in Iowa (no, I did not mean the riders….look further!)
My next VW?
Unicycle rider and was he good. Went flying by me and had amazing control.
Typical gather of riders in our group after the ride. We get our tents up, shower, wash our bike clothes and go searching for places to eat.