June 16, 2011

Today's report from my Ride

Started at 6:30 am and finished at 1:00 pm.

Covered 82 miles, ave speed of 14.9 mph (estimate). Max speed - 29.0

Riding time - don't know for sure, I didn't stop very much though, so I'd say probably 5 hours and 15 minutes.

Feet of elevation climbed - 1700' (estimate).

Wind - out of the S, then the W. On the "Hurt/Help" Wind scale, today was a 0.0.
NOTE: the batteries on my odometer started failing today, so I don't have exact figures (arggg!).  I stopped at the Radio Shack here in Chadron and they put a new one in both my sender and my receiver.  Pics of two very helpful folks further down!  (-:)

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 started out with a very moving, deeply spiritual experience, a stop at Carhenge, a place that evokes reverent behavior and hushed whispers.  It is NOT to be confused with the cheap mockup somewhere in England!  While walking among this hallowed area, one can almost hear Druid priests chanting...well..., whatever Druid priests chant.  It is truly hallowed ground. 

     Ok, seriously, you can NOT stop at this place without busting out laughing!  It is American humor at its absolute best.  To think that some group would take the time to create a site like this is hilarious.  Thank you to whomever collaborated to make this place happen!  It was a great way to start my day.  (-:)

      You can see this historical site for yourself about 3 miles north of Alliance on Hwy 87.

north of Alliance on Hwy 87

I headed north on Hwy 87 up to Hay Springs.  It's all fairly flat farm ground with a LOT of wheat.  It doesn't make for a real exciting picture, but hey, I snapped it so you just as well see it.



Bordeaux Trading Post



Museum of the Fur Trade

     Tim stopped in at the Museum of the Fur Trade about 3 miles east of Chadron.  He said it was a really neat place.  You can enlarge the marker and read more about the fur trade and James Bordeaux.



The Blaine Hotel, a cool building in Chadron.

Check out the link below about the horse race from Chadron to Chicago in June of 1893.

http://www.thefencepost.com/article/20100306/NEWS/100309931

 

And finally, here are two folks who were real life-savers to me!  As I mentioned earlier, the batteries in my odometer and the part on the front fork that sends information to the odometer were slowly dying today.  So, I stopped in the Petersen Drug Store/Radio Shack in hopes that they would have these specialized little batteries.  Well, they did and their customer service was outstanding!  Thank you again for your help!!  

Amee Diers and Travis Hencey









 

 

 

 

 

Thank-yous for today:

Thank yous also go to my sag driver and friend from GI, Tim Wegenast! 



Tim Wegenast, from Grand Island



Thank you Father Tim Stoner (of St. Patrick Catholic Church here in Chadron).  He was very gracious to put me up at his house this evening.  AND he is from Grand Island originally!  Another small world thing. (-:) 



Father Tim Stoner



Bible verses dealing with Jesus and “wishes”.  A WISH…

     For the ability to love even our enemies – Luke 6:27-36

Quote of the Day: 

“Newspapers are unable, seemingly to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization.” - George Bernard Shaw

 

Forecast for the next day:

Winds start out from the NNW and NW (10 mph at 5 am, 25 mph by 9 am) starting early and getting VERY strong as the day goes on.  I'm going to leave very early.  Once I reach Harrison and turn south I'll have a decent tailwind from the WNW (low 30's with gusts over 50 mph), which will help as it's gonna be a long day...

Route/Towns for the next day:

June 17 - Chadron to Crawford to Fort Robinson to Harrison to Mitchell to Scottsbluff

                   to Gering

June 15, 2011

Today's report from my Ride

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.

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. 

some beautiful birds on a pond



hills with cows and a windmill



Captures it all - water, cattle, hills, grass and railroad tracks!





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!

 

from the overpass going into Alliance. 
I had never looked down into cars just sitting there.



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

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:

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

June 14, 2011

Today's report from my Ride

Started at 6:30 am and finished at 4:00 pm.

Covered 110 miles, ave speed of 15.0 mph. Max speed - 49.6 mph (SWEET!)

Riding time - 7 hours and 15 minutes.

Feet of elevation climbed - 4760'.

Wind - out of the SSE. On the "Hurt/Help" Wind scale, today was a +1.5.

I had really no wind for first 40 miles, then went into a 25mph wind for 20 miles (averaged 10 mph, ugh!), then my sag driver drove me to the end point so I could ride back with the wind for the final 50 miles.  That was SO much fun!!!

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.

FROM YESTERDAY - Kirk and I went to eat at the Rustic Tavern after I posted last night.  While there we learned that the owners are Gary and Rhonda Reiser.  Gary is a cousin to our own Ron Reiser!  We had a nice time visiting with them, especially Rhonda.  She said that she hadn't seen "cousin Ronnie" for a long time.  (-:)  One of those cool small world kind of connections. 

ok, about today:

When you see a tower, you know there will be a hill there!

Today was another awesome day!  Mullen is in Mountain Time Zone, so the day brightened up much earlier.  I started the day riding south on Hwy 97.  Folks, you HAVE to drive this road sometime!  It is beautiful!  Lots of pictures to show you.

The excitement really started when Kirk noticed the road/sign to the VERY elite private golf course south of Mullen.  The entrance is about one mile north of the Dismal River.  He was VERY impressed by the course and the hospitality of the folks he visited with there.  They were very glad to let him poke around and take pictures.  So, I'll try to get captions correct if I add any. 

entrance to Sand Hills Golf Club

private cabins along the Dismal River

paved path out to the course

part of the course as seen from porch of club house

the porch of the clubhouse, overlooking the course about as far as he could see Kirk said.

There are no trees on this course, which makes it similar to the hallowed courses in Scotland.  Often professional players will come to the course to practice for playing in Scotland.

Donna, Mary Jane and Lauren

      These three ladies were very friendly and helpful to "the tourist" as they called Kirk.  Notice Kirk in the window of the door taking the picture.  (-:)


      While Kirk was checking out the golf course, I "discovered" the Dismal River valley.  Man was it beautiful!  Here are some pics.

looking across Dismal River valley from north

looking from the south

The river sounded like a stream out in Colorado.  Really neat!

Dismal River looking west

Dismal looking east

finally open!

     Well, once we headed west at Tryon, we had to cross a part of highway that had been closed for several days due to high ground water.  They were adding crushed rock onto the asphalt. While still officially closed, we were able to drive across it. 




In Arthur, we found the Pilgrim Holiness Church, also known as the Baled Hay Church.  It is the

      oldest known church made of straw bales in the U.S.   

The Pilgrim Holiness Church

hay bales covered with stucco

          
      It was built in 1928 and used for
      about 40 years.  It is listed in the
      National Register of Historic
      Places. 



About the last really cool thing of the ride was going down a HUGE hill about 18 miles north of Arthur!  It climbed up over a big ridge and heading down the south side I hit 49.6 mph (just coasting!).  It went around the bend so I couldn't see how big it was starting down.  If I had known, I would of popped into my big ring on the front, done some cranking and easily made it into the low 50's!!  We stopped at the top and yelled down to a guy from Utah who was climbing up the side of this hill.  You can clearly see that it's pretty steep on that side. 

Joe from Utah climbing the hill south of Hyannis

Thank-yous for today:

Thank you again to Kirk Shuck for sagging me the last two days!  You did a great job of helping and encouraging me.  Thank you my friend!  Another friend, Tim Wegenest, will be sagging me the next couple of days.  See you tomorrow!

Thanks also go to my host family, Andy and Johanna Safarik here in Hyannis.  Great supper tonight!!

Bible verses dealing with Jesus and “wishes”.  A WISH…

     For relief from worry – Luke 12:22-34

Quote of the Day:
"Since the bicycle makes little demand on material or energy resources, contributes little to pollution, makes a positive contribution to health and causes little death or injury, it can be regarded as the most benevolent of machines." - Stuart S. Wilson (Oxford University)

New Spin Home Wisdom story: Part one of a two part story on dogs: "Caution - Cujo Wannabe Ahead!"

Closing thoughts for the day: 

Tomorrow is only about 60 miles.  I look at it as a "half rest day".  Should be there by noonish and have a relaxing, restful rest of the day.  Talk with you tomorrow!  Sorry for the lateness of this post.  I always try for before 10 pm.  It's only 9:41 pm here...

Forecast for the next day:

Relatively mild wind out of the SW.  I'm heading west, so into it from the angle, but still shouldn't be bad. 


Route/Towns for the next day:

      June 15 is very simple: Hyannis to Alliance!

June 13, 2011

Today's report from my Ride

Started at 6:00 am and finished at 2:30 pm.     

Covered 104 miles, ave speed of 14.8 mph.  Max speed - 30.7 mph

Riding time - 7 hours and 2 minutes.  

Feet of elevation climbed - 2381'. 

Wind - out of the SSE.  On the "Hurt/Help" Wind scale, today was a +1.0. 

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.

About today:

Today was AWESOME!!  I'd have to say, it was the best day of the ride so far!  However, I definitely did not know that starting out.  When I left my host home at 6am it was misting quite heavily.  (FYI - You know it's misting when water is dripping off the front of your helmet.  It's raining if it's dripping off your helmet and the end of your nose.  It's raining hard if it's squishing out of your shoes.  And you know it's pouring when your attitude shifts from "This rain is a nuisance" to "Hey, this is kind of fun.  I can not get any wetter, so I'm just gonna have a good time!!")

Anyway, I started from Lake Maloney, south of North Platte.  I didn't even get to NP before I had a flat tire from a "sticky rock".  It's much easier to get have a puncture when it's raining as tiny shards of rock stick to the tire because it's wet.  If they hit point first, sometimes they "work through the tire" (being driven in a bit further each time the tire goes around) until they puncture the tube.  Then you're sitting in the ditch putting on a new tube.  That's where I found myself just 6 miles after I started, quite "damp" from the heavy mist, sitting on wet grass, surrounded by a swarm of little phlebotomist wannabes, putting a new tube in my back tire.  This was NOT a good way to start a long day.  But, then it occurred to me, "Hey!  This is probably the worst thing that's going to happen to me today.  That means you've got the "rotten thing of the day" out of the way before it's even 7am!"  And that is indeed what happened!!!

The day really turned around at the 30 mile mark.  I had an average of 12.6 mph and was still pretty wet from the mist earlier.  But just south of Stapleton is where my sag driver caught up with me, Kirk Shuck.  And the rest of the day was fantastic!  He always had a smile and a word of encouragement for me.  Thanks Kirk!!!!

Just look at that smiling face of encouragement!!!!

Here's a pic of me when he arrived.  

Mike and Bike covered in a coat of glorious grime!

         














 Well, after Kirk arrived, the wind seemed to actually help me a bit, the mist went away, and I just felt strong, and I mean STRONG for the rest of the day!  Over the next 74 miles, I rode fast enough to raise the 12.6 mph (for the first 30) up to 14.8 mph for the entire 104 miles!  Wow!  My hands did not really hurt.  My "undercarriage" was not as tender.  My ankles didn't really bother me (beyond being stiff for a bit when I got off the bike).  Ten miles east of Mullen we "gained" an hour by entering Mountain Time Zone, and then when I thought, "This can NOT get any better!", the sun came out about 6 miles east of Mullen!!  Now, it's a sunny, hot Sandhills afternoon and I feel great!  Marvelous day!

the Dismal River

      Here are some other pics from the day.  The Dismal River valley area is beautiful!!!!  There is a scenic loop (about a mile perhaps) which crosses over the Dismal just east of the main bridge.  It's part of old Hwy 83.  That's where we took this picture, looking east.  Take this loop!  It leaves Hwy 83 before the bridge and then rejoins Hwy 83 on the other side of the bridge.  Neat!

The Dismal River area

The Dismal River area

The Dismal River valley

 When we arrived at Mullen, we were met by Gerri Peterson.  This friendly young lady is the owner of the Hooker County Tribune.  She interviewed me and snapped a couple of pics.  Kirk took this picture while she was also taking one for the paper.

Glidden Sandhills Motel

It's by the sign for the Glidden Sandhills Motel here in Mullen.  Owner, Patty Glidden, gave Kirk and me two rooms for free as her way of supporting Make-A-Wish Foundation of Nebraska.  Then she gave us $20 to help pay for our supper tonight!  Thank you for your generosity!!  If ANY of you ever have a chance to stay overnight in Mullen, please check in at the Glidden Sandhills Motel.  They are great folks!!!!  They also have canoe rentals besides the motel if you want some outdoor adventure on your trip.  Check out their Facebook page and an information page on them listed below.  

 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sandhills-Motel-Glidden-Canoe-Rental/103342909701882
 http://sandhills-motel.mullen.nebraska-hotels.tel/

Bible verses dealing with Jesus and “wishes”.  A WISH…

    To thank Jesus for His forgiveness – Luke 7:36-50

Quote of the Day: 

I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it's not going to be satisfying. - Greg LeMond

New Spin Home Wisdom story: “Don’t just ride into the wind.  Tear the wind apart!"  Tomorrow and Wednesday are the long awaited Spin Home Wisdom on dogs entitled, "Caution - Cujo Wannabe Ahead!"

Closing thoughts for the day: 

I have put the original route in below for tomorrow.  We were told that the road between Tryon going west to Arthur was closed due to flooding.  Not really flooding so much as high ground water that's over the highway.  Wow!  So, I'm going to bike south to Tryon and if the road is open, I'll head west to Arthur.  If it's still closed, we'll drive back to Mullen, then I'll bike west to Hyannis, and then south to Arthur.  It'll all work out. 

Thank you for your continued support and prayers.  Please keep telling others about this journey.  As more and more people know, I believe the donations will continue to rise.  They've been a little slow starting, but bottom line is I'll be happy with whatever amount we end up with.  Having said that, I WOULD like to top $100,000 though...(-:).


Forecast for the next day:

30% chance of rain.  Wind out of the NW at 13 mph.  In the 80's for the high. 

Route/Towns for the next day:

June 14 - Mullen to Tryon (maybe) to Arthur to Hyannis