Today's report from my Ride
Started at 9:30 am and finished at 3:00 pm.
Started at 9:30 am and finished at 3:00 pm.
Covered 62 miles, ave speed of 13.0 mph. Max speed - 23.6 (that says it all!)
Riding time - 4 hours and 44 minutes.
Feet of elevation climbed - 1929'.
Wind - out of the WSW. On the "Hurt/Help" Wind scale, today was a -2.0.
The "Hurt/Help" Wind Scale is my way of saying "this is how much the wind hurt/helped me over the course of the day". It can Hurt me up to a -5, or help me up to a +5.
The "Hurt/Help" Wind Scale is my way of saying "this is how much the wind hurt/helped me over the course of the day". It can Hurt me up to a -5, or help me up to a +5.
About today:
Today went ok. Thankfully it was short because the wind was not very helpful. It was not a killer, but just a constant drain on my energy. I'm heading west and it's out of the W and SW from 10-20 mph. My average/max speeds tell the whole story. It was pretty countryside though.
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| some beautiful birds on a pond |
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| hills with cows and a windmill |
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| Captures it all - water, cattle, hills, grass and railroad tracks! |
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| Looking east at the sandhills which end abruptly about 8 miles east of Alliance Country side flattens out and farmground starts just like that. Kindof cool. |
One thing you will see a LOT of along HWY 2 are coal trains, full ones going east and empty ones going west back out to Wyoming to be filled up again. I saw at least 12 today. Locomotives are SOOO cool, the way they just throb with power! One cannot help but ride a little faster when a train is passing you. And I always wave at the engineers. All but one today honked his horn to return the greeting. I know, a 52 year old guy probably ought not enjoy that so much, but I still think it's cool. (-:) The following two pics are from the overpass on the east side of Alliance. These trains were sitting still waiting the green light to go I guess. It was a new perspective to look down into/onto the top of the cars filled with coal. THAT is a lot of coal!
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| from the overpass going into Alliance. I had never looked down into cars just sitting there. |
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| These two were really long!! |
Thank-yous for today:
Today, they go to my new sag driver (for today and tomorrow), Tim Wegenast, a friend from Peace Lutheran Church in Grand Island. Alliaa-nce is his hometown (basically) and where he took lessons to earn his pilot's license. We're staying at his sisters house, so thanks also goes out to Greg and Lisa Carter. They are not home at the moment and still entrusted the house!
I want to thank Mark from the Alliance Newspaper for coming out and interviewing me this afternoon.
AND I want to thank Kiley Thiele (from the MAW office in Omaha) for her on-going support during this ride. She is always very upbeat and encouraging which is so helpful, especially that first week when I was wondering if I was going to simply die somewhere along the road! She called again today just to check and see how I was doing. She is also sending me information on the third child I'm going to be riding for. All I know at this point is that this child is a little girl. I'm very excited to learn more about her. When I receive the information, I'll post it.
And finally, thank you for your continued prayers, your generosity, and your interest in my journey and blog about it. It makes it more exciting to do the updates when I know someone is reading (and enjoying) them! (-:) Please keep telling others about my blog, this ride and especially about the work of Make-A-Wish Foundation of Nebraska! Thanks
I want to thank Mark from the Alliance Newspaper for coming out and interviewing me this afternoon.
AND I want to thank Kiley Thiele (from the MAW office in Omaha) for her on-going support during this ride. She is always very upbeat and encouraging which is so helpful, especially that first week when I was wondering if I was going to simply die somewhere along the road! She called again today just to check and see how I was doing. She is also sending me information on the third child I'm going to be riding for. All I know at this point is that this child is a little girl. I'm very excited to learn more about her. When I receive the information, I'll post it.
And finally, thank you for your continued prayers, your generosity, and your interest in my journey and blog about it. It makes it more exciting to do the updates when I know someone is reading (and enjoying) them! (-:) Please keep telling others about my blog, this ride and especially about the work of Make-A-Wish Foundation of Nebraska! Thanks
Bible verses dealing with Jesus and “wishes”. A WISH…
Healing for a friend – Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 5:17-26
Quote of the Day:
“The secret to mountain biking is pretty simple. The slower you go the more likely it is you’ll crash.” - Julie Furtado
“When you ride hard on a mountain bike, sometimes you fall, otherwise you’re not riding hard.” - Former President George W. Bush
I'm gonna show you a hill that would choke a mule. - Former President George W. Bush (On his mountain bike, moments before losing his front-wheel traction and flying over his bars down a steep drop-off.)
New Spin Home Wisdom story: Part two on dogs: "Caution - Cujo Wannabe Ahead!" It's one of my favorites!!
NOW I have to write more SHW stories. Today's is the last one I wrote before the ride. I'll work on that tonight and see if I can come up with a couple more. I hope you like reading them because I sure like writing them! (-:)
Forecast for the next day:
NOW I have to write more SHW stories. Today's is the last one I wrote before the ride. I'll work on that tonight and see if I can come up with a couple more. I hope you like reading them because I sure like writing them! (-:)
Forecast for the next day:
NNE wind at 9 mph with gusts up to 19. (I'm heading north, north east and then north west). There is also a 41% (not 40% but 41%!) chance of thundershowers. I think I'll keep Tim close by tomorrow....
Route/Towns for the next day:
June 16 - Alliance to Hay Springs to Rushville to Hays Springs to Chadron
