Where did March go?

WOW! Been a long time since an update, let's see, work, work & work. Bike riding miles, I've broke down & got the skinny tires out to actually get some real base miles in & it's working, been awhile since I rode on the pavement, not my favorite form of riding but certain aspects are fun.

We got through Prom 2010, up for 23 hours as sponsors again & I'm getting WAY to old for THAT! Also got through the first track meet of the season last Saturday, howling wind from the north, typical track weather for this time of year.

Another long night was last Tuesday down at the Windy Gap when the Lucas Cates Band rolled into town to play a gig, if you've never heard of this band, trust me, YOU WILL! They're playing a western US tour & will be back through here to play on a Sunday night, April 18, that will be another long night I'm sure, it's great that these guys take the time to stop & play in our one-horse town, they've become almost like family to us.

Also 5 Trails Winery will have an act on April 6 I believe from Ireland, don't know how we get all this culture to show up here anyways but it's COOL! Also have the spring Potter's Pasture blowout coming up the weekend of 17-18th of April, man, could anything else be going on? OH YEAH, my oldest son's back to chasing turkies AND his graduation from high school is in May, ok, THAT'S ENOUGH!

Dreams do come true!

Soon, I'll be able to "go far"!

Thanks to my good buddy MG for hooking me up

Daily dose of Vitamin G...gravel goodness!

with temps hitting 50 what's a person to do? go for a bike ride of course!

I almost feel guilty posting a pic of pristine gravel like this knowing that just a few hours east of here the folks are still riding in crap.

apparently we even have palm trees growing around here now it's so balmy!

very little ice left in the North Platte river

these old buildings always remind me of the Kansas song "Dust in the Wind"

the coolest sighting today besides racing & losing to a few mule deer running alongside me in the road ditch were these Trumpeter Swans, they took me by surprise in a little spring running along the road ditch & by the time I got the camera out they took flight, luckily they made a pass back by me & I snapped this while riding, these are really cool birds to watch & listen too & they're usually found a little further north on the Sandhills lakes so they really surprised me at first, their wingspan can spread to 6'-7' & the sound they make is almost eery, very cool to see this close to home. I'm also spotting my fair share of Bald Eagles which is always neat to see, get out for a bike ride & see what's out there waiting for YOU!

Big damn ADVENTURE!

It started out innocent enough riding some canal gravel with my son Lane, but I got to reflecting on last years two-wheeled miles or a lack of miles for me & part of my thinking on that was I get tired of the same old routes so about 5 miles into this humdrum gravel grind I asked Lane if he was up for an adventure, well, what 16 year old wouldn't be up for an adventure on a bike, I just hope this old goat could hold up my end of the deal for this EPIC day! (can I even say the word epic anymore or will I get sued by a certain bike company?)

we eventually reached the south platte river which is flowing fast this time of year, a little ice

this is where the cyclocross back in November paid off getting over this "barrier"!

singletrack sidewalk across the river

father & son karate monkey's, one gear & rigid!

I never heard the horn OR saw the gates move, DANGIT!

climbing, climbing, climbing, this is where the adventure started on a private drive just off highway 30

it was a lot of wide open once we got to our halfway point, it was all uphill to this point, & this hill is the highest point in Keith county marked by this geological survey marker, I know of this place from visiting it many times in the past by horseback, this was probably a first for this lookout to have mtb's up there.

it's STRAIGHT down right in front of Lane, about 100' & right smack dab behind his head is where we were headed, north platte river valley

man, I needed this break!

looking back east, now that light colored square in the center of the pic on the horizon is the Gerald Gentleman power plant south of Sutherland, probably 25 miles away from us

over Lane's shoulder to the west & barely visible today was Kingsley Dam at Lake McConaughy

BREAK TIME! The wind was really whipping up here & we cooled off in a hurry

AHHH!

descending...

...& more descending, it was mostly downhill from up on top & some sweet cowtrail singletrack

Lane's good to the old man & waits in the trail with a trackstand when I get to far behind

we found some slick, somewhat muddy spots where the sun had been shining & kicked up a herd of twenty mule deer, SWEEET! They were to quick for me with the camera though

a few obstacles where we had to dab our feet

there's some of that mud we found clinging to the Exiwolf's

Ahhh, "the Old Country" as my kids call it, my wife & I lived here for several years when we moved out here, was a great location, unfortunately it was a typical old house, cold in the winter, hot in the summer & the worst part of it was, we weren't even into biking when we lived here, prime location. The ditch there is a small canal that they use to drain the large canal every few years & we used to hit paydirt gathering crawdads when they did, made us a little nervous raising small children here though with the canal this close!

this is the check on canal where they can drain it to the north platte river via that ditch in the previous pic

my old legs felt like this old building by this point!

some cool finds today on top of that big hill, appears to be some pottery or old china pieces & a small piece of chipped flint, doesn't surprise me that folks in the past spent some time sitting on this hill watching both river valleys as you can see a looong way both ways, I love sitting on that hill trying to imagine what it looked like over 100 years ago myself.

I believe rides like these will help me up my miles in 2010, just have to get creative close to home. I know for sure that a damn fine memory was made today for Lane & I & anyone's welcome to come out some weekend & join us, who knows what kind of adventure we'll find!

Here's to 2010!

May your beer be cold, your bourbon smooth, your flats few, your dirt, gravel & pavement be sweet & your two-wheeled miles be filled with smiles!

Tate's Christmas

Oh man...I hope it's a wabbit, I LOOOVE wabbits!

HOT DAMN! It's a WAAABBIT!

I LOOOVE WAAABBITS...I even dream about them when I sleep!

Local legend

I've heard stories of this giant old blowout near where I live for years & finally paid it a visit. A blowout is formed in the Sandhills of Nebraska from years of wind blowing unstable, sandy soil & perhaps a few too many cows grazing & tromping the grass,think of a giant cereal bowl of sand getting an air compressor hose blown in it, this one has been taken care of over the years & the grass is now flourishing in it again

this former blowout is large enough it's easily visible on google earth, if you know where to look

this is on the south end looking back north from on top of the big dirt pillar in the next photo

this dirt pillar kind of reminded me of a miniature Chimney Rock, near Scottsbluff, NE

still rockin' the bikepacking set-up & it's working GREAT!

Dirt iceberg?

how do you like your singletrack? "I'll take mine poached, thank you very much"

now part of the local legend is that there was an old cave dug into a dirt bank in this area back in the days of prohibition hiding a working still, I don't think this would be unheard of from the stories I've heard about some of the more colorful characters in this area in those days (heck, could even happen around here today) after all, this IS the WILD WEST!

evidence perhaps?

prairie moonrise, not gonna lie folks, that line of car headlights is westbound I-80 traffic Sunday night after Thanksgiving, this place is THAT close, hard to believe that because once you're down inside the middle of it, it's peaceful & quiet, another trivial fact is that this thing is smack dab on the edge of the original Pony Express Trail according to more local legend, DANG, just when I thought I was running out of new places to explore, what's next?