Ride in peace Dave Blumenthal

I've been a Tour Divide fan now for around 4 years or more & it's crazy how one becomes a huge fan of a person I've never met in my life through their personal blog & other sites like bikepacking.net Well that's what happened when I started following Dave Blumenthal from Vermont, he's the type of guy I would of loved to met face to face & maybe pedal a few miles with, unfortunately Dave's life was cut short last Thurs following a tragic accident while racing the Tour Divide.

This type of news really hits hard for all the fans & especially the racers I'm sure, Dave leaves behind a wife & young daughter who need all your prayers right now to get through this. Puts that race in perspective & what the riders face out there on their journey to try to complete this thing, be careful out there folks & ride in peace Dave.

Long-haul truckers!

Meet Marcus & Dirk from Orlando, FL who my wife met at our local grocery store Fri. pm & invited them to hang out with us for the evening as the temps for cycling were nearly unbearable. They took us up on it & checked out the local swimming pool then we showed them some good ol' Nebraska hospitality by grilling them some steaks & bar-hopping with them in our bustling little town (we hit all 3 bars in an hour!)

Anyways, did I mention they were cycling? Yeah they sure are, from Florida to Alaska! They started mid May & are well over 2000 miles, follow their journey at www.iloveadventuring.com we kept them out a little late but they were early risers as they were gone this morning when we got up to start breakfast, sorry we missed you guys, best of luck in your journey & if you're ever back through stop & see us. Hope you made Bridgeport today like you planned, truly inspiring!

Game time!

High noon today, June 11, Banff Alberta, Canada was the start of my Super Bowl, the only "sporting event" I care to follow every year the 2010 Tour Divide. Totally self-supported bicycle race from Banff, Canada to Antelope Wells, N.M.

I totally admire anyone who even lines up for this event yet alone finishes it, this is no Tour de France with team cars, feed bags, domestiques & masseuses, this is the real deal, the heart & soul of extreme endurance bicycle racing, what these folks will have will be snowy passes, grizzly bears, mud, sleeping in a bivvy bag alone at night, convenience store food & thunderstorms in the middle of nowhere for 2745 miles if they complete the entire route.

Forty-eight brave souls signed up this year & the adventure will be worth following on the blog at www.tourdivide.org including call-in podcasts, spot leader board & pics. Now go ride your bike this weekend & keep these folks in your thoughts & prayers!

Safety in numbers!

sunday some friends of ours were coming through on a self-contained 4 day bike tour up to follow the BRAN(Bicycle Ride Across Nebraska) ride for one day so after lunch at the Windy Gap with them we joined them for a nice ride to Lake McConaughy where they were going to camp for night before heading north on monday to Hyannis where BRAN was stopping for the night

re-group

this was the reward once we arrived at the lake, REAL malts, MMM!

this was the establishment that had those malts & may be a new bike riding destination on the east side of Martin Bay

this shot would have been mostly sand this time of year last year but Martin Bay is filled back up, highest water levels in 10 years

this is when it got crazy, Lane & I decided we were up for an adventure again & I think those crazy Lincolnites inspired this. Road bikes on gravel, yes folks, very skinny, smooth, high-pressure tires on loose gravel for 14 miles & an approaching storm behind us!

focus Lane, focus!

ride & smile!

this was the cyclocross, sandtrap hazard & Lane handled it well. That is the canal flowing overhead back there across that canyon, yep, a bridge FOR water!

Ridin' the storm out!

eight miles to go & we just started getting wet the last couple miles, the gravel on skinny tires was crazy & we could feel the workout of keeping it upright in our arms & shoulders, good time though with 50 miles in round trip. Come join us sometime for a cycling adventure, you never know what we've got up our sleeve!