When the Furnace Man comes to town...

"A man must carry on"

Bikes, beer & bourbon on a canal cruise!

Lincoln Cyclocross-day 2

day 2 brought out ALL the hooligans on Hooligan Hill, including this 3 piece band!

every time the riders came buy these guys cranked it out loud & proud adding sooo much to the entire race, this was a really sweet addition!

the PCL undies were out to help the riders out

the crowds were lining the hill cheering the riders on

jet pack guy on a bike showed up, uhhh, not really but it looked cool as he rode away, just another way to transport home brew!

Cornbread getting a boost from the band & the boy briefs

YEEEHAWWW!

Lane kept his cool & ran a good race...

...AGAIN!

he used his cool & form to go on & win day 2 making him the Nebraska State Jr Cyclocross Champion! I think he's stoked on this sport, I know I am stoked going to these races & watching him & others race & I think we'll keep this up for awhile, in fact I think Lane will be on the lookout for a nicer bike in the 2011 season, anyone got a sweet, lightly used carbon cross bike for sale?

Lincoln Wheelmasters Cyclocross

the venue

give this guy some stylin' points!

Lane lining up with the Cat 4's sizing up the competition, perhaps wondering what he just got into.

this is wrong in soooo many ways but DAMN FUNNY just the same!

a sweet bike with a controversial past

Nate Woodman getting it done!

Corey "Cornbread" Godfrey, a legendary Lincoln pirate

the legendary Steve Tilford

Nate again using his skillz to pay the billz, watching his maneuvers on Hooligan Hill on Saturday was worth the trip to Lincoln all in itself, he's the only one that tries this AND pulls it off!

Corey on his sweet new ti Indy Fab cross bike showing how a pirate rides

HUP HUP HUP LANE!

Get back on & ride hard...

...to a strong finish!

Grandpa & Grandma even showed up to brave the cold to see Grandson race & ...

...pull off another WIN!

what a day of GREAT cyclocross action & just hanging around a lot of folks who LOVE bikes, Lincoln has a GREAT cycling scene with some great shops, trails & riding & we had an awesome time, stay tuned for day 2 & the State Championship race day recap

MORE COWBELL!

I love cyclocross races!

The perfect windmill shot?

I don't claim to be a a professional photographer but it's something that I enjoy & if time & money were no issue I would dive into it a little deeper, but until then I'll keep clicking with my Olympus Stylus 850 SW & one of my favorite subjects have always been windmills.

with modern technology these days it seems even windmills in this part of the country are getting scarcer, people are replacing them with submersible wells & solar panels & such

kind of reminds me of 35 mm cameras getting replaced with digital, when my wife & I got married we bought a Canon Photura 35 mm camera & I eventually figured it out & took some bitchin' pictures with it over the years, now along comes new technology & this ol' coyote has to try & learn new tricks!

so maybe someday I'll learn this new camera & actually take some decent pics with it, then I suppose they'll come out with something else & I'll have to start over again!

until then I'll keep on exploring the backroads with my bike, looking west into the sunsets & trying to track down one last windmill for the "perfect windmill shot"

I'd like to dedicate this post to my daughter Dakota who is in Sweden for a year, living, learning & hopefully laughing plenty. Before she left we took some GREAT father/daughter bike rides & watched the sunsets over our prairie home, some days while riding all I can think about are those rides & how much I miss her but so glad she's having this opportunity & hoping she's enjoying the sunsets over in Sweden.

We will have more sunset rides when you return Dakota, I PROMISE! I love you & miss you!

Another memorable Potter's trip!

with the weather not being very typical for this time of year & a few folks wanting to pull another overnighter at Potter's pasture the only logical thing to do was to gather the camping gear & load the bike & "head east"!

what was to follow was an abbreviated tour of Ireland with a little Germany thrown in along with a seasonal tour through a pumpkin patch then back to Ireland for "Irish Car Bombs", thanks again to Gordon the "tour guide extraordinaire"!

no need for a tent this trip as my friend Paul "the Furnaceman" Siebert had plenty of room in his pyramid tent complete with wood stove for a cozy night when we finally did turn in around 2 am AFTER a little Canjo jamming (a banjo made from a tin can!) & some saltine crackers with kippered herring snacks, a long standing tradition in this tent!

besides providing lodging for the night Paul provided evening & morning entertainment as this is what he does for a living when not camping & cycling, here he is on Sat morn with his hammer dulcimer treating the breakfast club to some music

Paul has a HUGE library of songs floating around in his head along with a bunch of original tunes, chances are you can name a song & he can play it, especially some of the good ol' country tunes & hippy music, he also plays some classical music, Irish ballads & such on that hammer dulcimer that goes over well at some of the weddings he plays

special guest rider this time was my oldest son Delley who came out for night from college after work & he joined in on the Sat morning ride on my old TREK I brought out for him. He used to tear it up out here on a bike but it's been about 4 years since he's rode so I was glad to see him back on 2 wheels, notice the smile on his face, bicycle induced again!

another great night of camping & a morning ride followed by some corned beef hash & fresh elk steaks for lunch & it was back to "the real world"!

Day 2-Lincoln Cyclocross

day two of our cyclocross weekend found us in Lincoln for the Flatwater Classic Cyclocross race at Van Dorn park, a very well run race I thought

MG's backup steed the sweet Salsa Vaya

a shortcut through the woods left me looking like I had a run in with a porcupine, not sure what these were but they were everywhere on my socks, shoes & pants

I also had to be careful for the Yeti lurking in the woods, as did the racers

a bell ringing Yeti at that, obviously a HUGE cyclocross fan!

Cornbread was back at it for day two

for another Cat 1,2,3 men's 4th place finish

these ladies kind of reminded me of the Interbike hotties in their full kits, except these gals knew how to ride & race a bike!

just some casual observers watching the awards

Lane dashing through the woods, good thing he gets some practice time in at Potter's Pasture, minus the Yeti of course

more hurdle jumping

crankin' it out at the finish line...

for another 1st place finish in the jr. division, WAY TO GO LANE! Next up is another 2 day roadtrip back to Lincoln on Nov. 20-21, Pioneer Park for MORE COWBELL!