June 24, 2011

Today's report from my Ride for Make-A-Wish Foundation of Nebraska

Started at 7:00 am in Arapahoe and finished at 4:00 pm in Kearney.

Covered 97 miles, 14.4 mph ave speed, 28.5 - max speed

Riding time - 6 hrs, 43 minutes

Wind - Helped at the end of the day which is ideal 
"Hurt/Help" Wind scale - +0.5.

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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GREAT NEWS!  Based on donations I know are "coming in" but not yet recorded, I have surpassed the $15,000 mark!  Thank you for your generosity.  This means that I am now riding for my third Make-A-Wish child.  So, I'd like to give you information on her. 

Izabella is a darling 4 year old girl who has Medullablastoma.  Izie wishes to see Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Cinderella at Disney World.  She wants to get her own blue (her favorite color) princess dress and tiara just like Cinderella. Izie lives with her parents and siblings in Central NE.

Please help me make it possible for Make-A-Wish Foundation of Nebraska to grant Izie's wish! 
Thank you. 
Mike

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About today:

Doug and JoAnn

Well, the countryside wasn't particularly pretty today, but the
people I met certainly were friendly.  It started out not too
long after I left Arapahoe when I was flagged down by
JoAnn Becker and Doug Garey.  We had a very nice visit.


Then about 2 miles down the road, I came across this sign. 
To think that someone took the time to make a sign for the
sole purpose of encouraging you is really humbling. 
Thank you!!



    There was also a group of folks waiting for me in Beaver City.  They are Lee Krewson, Karen Flanagen, Alice Hinkle and JoAnn Becker. 

Karen, Lee, Alice and JoAnn

      From there it was just hard pedaling east to Alma.  Had a headwind that gradually turned to come out of the SE.  So, when I turned north to go to Holdrege it was a LOT more fun!!  Just east of Alma, I met a group of cyclists who rode out from Kearney to ride back to town with me.  That was really cool!!  We stopped by the NTV station on the way by and I did a quick interview.  It was on the news tonight.  Char saw it.  Perhaps a few of you did as well.  Here are the friends who rode out to ride back with me. 


They are from l to r: Doug Peterson, Tim Norwood, Nancy Norwood, Ben Anderson, Hannah Stone, Paul Talbert, and myself.  Thank you SOOOO much!!  It was nice to have you along. 

When I arrived in Kearney, there were some more folks waiting to greet us.  I didn't get your names, but I thank you for coming out and waiting.   

One other cool thing also happened.  On behalf of the Mayor of Kearney, Mayor Stanley Clouse, Tim Norwood awarded me a Key to the City of Kearney.   I was both surprised and honored by this gift.  It also made me wonder, "Ok, what does this mean?"  So, I googled it and here's the best answer I could find.  

What does getting a key to the city mean?

I live in California and the pilot of the plane that went down in the Hudson river was given a key to the city of Danville. I was wondering what that meant.

• Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Of course, the person receiving the key is always free to enter the city at will, but this is a ceremonial gesture of welcome and appreciation to someone.  It's a symbolic gift from the city's administration.  An ornamental key is presented to esteemed visitors, residents, or others the city wishes to honour. Evoking medieval walled cities whose gates were guarded during the day and locked at night, the key symbolises the freedom of the recipient to enter and leave the city at will as a trusted friend of city residents.

My Key to the City of Kearney!

Thank-yous for today:

Thank you to my sister and brother-in-law, Jackie and Don Liess, for letting me stay with them tonight!  But, then when you're family, what are you going to say, huh?  (-:)

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

     To let Peter know he was forgiven and accepted – John 21:15-19

Quote of the Day:
“Marriage is a wonderful invention; but then again, so is a bicycle repair kit.” - Lord Charles Beresford

Closing thoughts for the day: 

My ankles are very tender tonight.  I think going through the gravel yesterday irritated them.  I didn't want to clip in so I basically put my toes on the pedals, which increased the torque on my ankles.  Cranking up the hills on the gravel really made my calves burn.  So, my nephew, Adam Liess, is going to tape both of my ankles to help me get through tomorrow.  That will help keep them stable when I'm pedaling tomorrow, reducing the strain and therefore the pain.  This will be good because tomorrow is a very long day.  I am going to leave quite early and just keep cranking.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Blessings!!!

Forecast for the next day:

Low 80's for the high.  Partly cloudy with chance of some thunderstorms.  Wind out of the E at first, gradually shifting to the SE.  But nothing more than 12 mph or so for the max.  Not a big factor. 

Route/Towns for the next day:

June 25 - Kearney to Minden to Macon to Franklin to Riverton to Inavale to Red Cloud

to Nelson to Lawrence to Pauline to Hastings

June 23, 2011

Today's report from my Ride for Make-A-Wish Foundation of Nebraska


Started at 5:45 am in McCook and finished at 4:30 pm in Arapahoe.

                Covered 128 miles, 14.0 mph ave speed, 35.8 - max speed 

Riding time - 9 hrs, 8 minutes

Wind - really wasn't any today.  Kind of odd...  
"Hurt/Help" Wind scale - +0.0.

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.

beautiful morning!!!

north of McCook

  It was absolutely beautiful today, no wind at all.  Once I left McCook, anytime I would stop I could hear pheasants crowing all around me, cattle, just all the morning sounds from every direction.  It was so peaceful! 

WW II hangers on the horizon

     What do Alliance, Ainsworth, Scottsbluff, McCook, Kearney, Grand Island, Harvard, Bruning, Fairmont, Lincoln and Scribner all have in common?  They were all the sites of Army Air Bases in WW II. 

      See the following links for some great WW II history!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska_World_War_II_army_airfields http://www.nebraskaaircrash.com/aaf.html 

      http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/stories/0801_0108.html 

One of several corn and wheat fields shredded by hail a few days ago.  Sad sight!

Nebraska state Highway 18 is 39 miles long from Curtis to highway 283.  The west 15 miles or so is gravel!  There are only two state highways that are gravel and this is one of them.  So, I had to ride on gravel for about 1 1/2 hours of my ride today.  Having navigated the longest gravel highway in Nebraska is a dubious distinction for someone on a road bike with 700X23 size tires!

What!?!?  This is a highway??

Yup!  There's the Hwy 18 sign.

Mike kissing the pavement! 
I was VERY glad to see it again!!

After this it was just doing to work to go north to Lexington and then back south to Arapahoe.

Lexington in the distance from the top of the
hill on the south side of town. 

The Chapel by Lake Johnson

Kerry Scott and Mike

      We had two unexpected meetings today.  The first was Kerry Scott.  He works for the Nebraska Department of Roads (with my brother Rick) and was a classmate/friend with another brother, Greg.  He also joined Rick, me and another guy in cycling around Lake McConaughy many years ago.    He was just out checking Hwy 18, saw us, knew it was me and what I was doing, so stopped to visit.  Cool!  Thank you for your donation Kerry!

Mark Bales and mike

The other visitor was Mark Bales from Grand Island.  He "installs and maintains" pacemakers and was working out in this part of the state.  He knew about where we would be and was able to find us.  He had a gift bag for me: 2 Gatorades and a bottle of water!  Greatly appreciated!!!  Thanks Mark. 

Thank-yous for today:

Emily, Mike and Mary

First of all, thank yous go to Mary Shirkey and Emily Lashley for organizing the wonderful pancake feed last night in McCook!   Thank you to the Boy Scouts and their leaders who made the pancakes, served them and then cleaned up.  And finally thank you to all the generous people who came and ate.  The total raised for MAW was $1862!!!!!  Super night!

Thanks also go to my support driver today, Jennifer Blake from the Grand Island area, and to my host home person, Janice Breinig (Jennifer's mother).  Thank you for your help!

Jennifer, Janice and Rico

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

     To warn Peter goes unheeded – Matthew 26:69-75

Quote of the Day:

“Cycling to work is an important issue for business – the more who do it, the more our communities will support it. Healthy and green, cycling is worthy of the support of every business in the land.” - Sir Digby Jones

Closing thoughts for the day: 

Very long day today.  Thankfully tomorrow will not be so far.  Plus, Nancy Norwood, from Kearney, is getting a group together to meet me in Axtell and ride with me into Kearney.  That will be a LOT of fun!  Riding in a group is a blast.  Looking forward to meeting whomever can make it.  (-:)  See you all tomorrow night.

Forecast for the next day:

Wind out of the SE around 15 mph, chance of thunderstorms, sometimes sunny, other times cloudy, mid to upper 70s for the high.  Decent day.

Route/Towns for the next day:

June 24 - Arapahoe to Beaver City to Stamford to Orleans to Alma to Holdrege to

Funk to Axtell to Kearney

June 22, 2011

Today's report from my Ride for Make-A-Wish Foundation of Nebraska



Sorry for confusion that may've been caused by the update from yesterday that posted automatically last night at 10pm.  I forgot that it would to that.  Since it was a rest day today, I did not update anything last night.  Plus, we don't have internet out at the farm where my host family (my Mom and Dad!) live. 


So, here's my report from June 21, posted on my rest day, June 22 (from the McDonalds in McCook which has free wi-fi.  Pretty cool!)

Started at 6:00 am in Benkelman and finished at 12:00 noon in McCook.

                Covered 73 miles, 18.6 mph ave speed, 46.1 - max speed 

Riding time - 3 hrs, 53 minutes

Wind - out of the NW between 30-35 mph, gusts over 50 mph!!  
"Hurt/Help" Wind scale - +3.5.

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 yesterday:

I had a very nice run from Benkelman to Trenton.  I love it when there is a shoulder and it's even SMOOTH!!  I know why "joints" in the road are necessary, but they sure beat up someone on a bicycle (bump-bump...bump-bump....bump-bump...ouch!).  If you've ever ridden a bicycle through them you know what I mean.  

looking back west toward Stratton

looking south at the west end of Swanson Resevoir

The wind today was crazy strong.  It mostly helped, but even then as a bit of a cross wind it really knocked me around.  Wow!  You really had to be careful going down big hills.  It was hard to even stand up when I stopped.  I'm not kidding you.  Between the wind resistance of my body and the bike there were gusts that almost put me over.  Ridiculous!  I was supposed to ride from Trenton 24 miles north up to Hayes Center.  Here's reality folks.  It would've been grinding it out at about 6-8 mph, taking 4 hours or more when you count in rests.  Just not possible.  So, I rode with my sag driver up to Hayes Center and then cycled back to Hwy 6 and then east to McCook.  I lost those miles, but sometimes that's life out on a bike in the wind.  

flat grass from the wind!

there are some HUGE canyons south of Hayes Center!

It was a pretty quick trip to McCook, and after lunch at the venerable Mac's Drive In, it was time to head out to my host home, the farm I grew up on and on which my parents and one of my brother's still live and farm.  Char, my wife, also drove out there from Grand Island (bringing our dog, Toby, a Yorkshire Terrier) so there were all kinds of folks/critters I was eager to see again!  I forgot to get a picture of them so will have to add them after tomorrow's ride to Arapahoe.

I will also be adding pictures from a Pancake Feed that is planned as a fun/fundraiser tonight for MAW.  I look forward to meeting the two ladies primarily responsible for organizing it, Emily Lashley and Mary Shirkey.   I'll make sure to get a picture of them with me tonight for you.  I'm really looking forward to it and deeply appreciate their work to plan it.  Thank you!!

I'm hoping that with donations already in the mail and the ones from the Pancake Feed tonight, we can push the amount up to there I'll be riding for my third MAW child, IZZA.  More information and a picture to come on Izza.  Thank you for your continued generosity and support! 

Thank-yous for today:

Thank you to my sag drivers today: They are my soon-to-be nephew Christian Amack, my niece Jane Reiners, and my soon-go-be sister-in-law, Friday Amack.  And thank you Dad for letting us use your pickup.  THAT is a sweet ride!!!!!!

Christian, Jane and Friday

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

     To warn Peter that he would deny Jesus – John 13:31-38

           For His followers to stay connected to Him and produce the fruit of good deeds 

           by loving others – John 15:1-17


Quote of the Day: 

“As a social revolutionizer, the bicycle has never had an equal. It has put the human race on wheels, and thus changed completely many of the most ordinary processes and methods of social life. It is the great leveler, for not till all Americans got on bicycles was the great American principle that every man is just as good as any other man fully realized. All are on equal terms, all are happier than ever before.” - New York Evening Post

Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever. - Lance ArmstrongIf you worried about falling off the bike, you'd never get on. - Lance Armstrong

I now only have good days and great days. - Lance Armstrong (Cancer survivor and seven times winner of the Tour de France.)

“I relax by taking my bicycle apart and putting it back together again.” - Lance Armstrong

Closing thoughts for the day: 

It is so very nice to have a rest day and such a wonderful host family (-:)!  There are some long days ahead, but I am way past the halfway point and that really helps.  There are a group of cyclists (being organized by Nancy Norwood) that are going to meet me at Axtell and ride with me into Kearney on Friday.  I look forward to that.  

Then there are two gentlemen from Omaha (Damon Wagner and a friend of his) who are going to ride with me from Nebraska City to Omaha to Lincoln on June 29.  They will be guiding me through the maze of streets, paths and byways known as Omaha (and suburbs)!  They will also be riding in front of me to reduce wind resistance, which has the overall effect of making a very happy guy. 



Forecast for the next day:

Sweet!!  Sunny, NW wind 10-15 mph, mid 80's, as good as it gets!!

Route/Towns for the next day:

June 23 - McCook to Maywood, to Curtis to Stockville to Elwood to Lexington to Elwood to Arapahoe

June 20, 2011

Today's report from my Ride for Make-A-Wish Foundation of Nebraska

Started at 7:00 am in Ogallala and finished at 12:00 noon in Benkelman.

Covered 88 miles, 19.8 mph ave speed, 40.8 - max speed 

Riding time - 4 hrs, 27 minutes

Wind - out of the NNW between 25-30 mph!!  "Hurt/Help" Wind scale - +4.5.

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 has been a marvelous day, which may come as a surprise with all the heavy rain and tornado activity going on in Nebraska as I type.  I rode from Ogallala to Benkelman today, and north of Benkelman they had 2 1/2 inches of rain this afternoon alone.  Here is town they've had over an inch.  And through it all, I've been dry and safe as a bug in a rug! 


That's because I left at 7 am and arrived here (88 miles later) a few minutes before noon!  Having a 25-30 mph tailwind tends to help one ride along quite smartly.  And I am soooooooo thankful to be in here and not out there!  I did put my rain gear on 20 miles north of Benkelman, but never really got any significant rain on me, for which I am thankful as the temps were in the 50's today.  A warm rain is one thing, but a driving rain on a very cold day is NOT pleasant.


Let me back up and share the highlight of my day.  About 10 miles south of Ogallala, a pickup passed me and pulled off to the side of the road ahead of me.  "What's this" I asked myself.  I could not believe it when Don Moeller stepped out of his black "Moebile" truck with a big grin on his face!  He is a member from Peace in Grand Island and said, "he was just out checking on me".  Well, I was so deeply moved by this unexpected show of kindness that I totally forgot to snap a pic of him for my blog!!  We visited a few minutes before he took off again.


As I reflected on this surprise, I had to ask myself WHY would Moe drive almost 200 miles west just to make sure I was safe and sound?  I mean THAT is an incredible act of friendship!  Then it occurred to me.  I'm 99% certain of the reason behind this show of kindness: Connie!  You see, his wife, Connie, is one of the 4 (self-proclaimed) Biker Babes who guarded me from danger for the last three days of my ride.  And when she thought about me riding today without a support vehicle, she must've been so filled with concern that she sent Moe over here to check on me!  Wow!  This kind of care and compassion MORE than makes up for the scarf incident of two days ago!  She is truly looking out for me even after returning home to GI last night.


Now, Moe (who works for Hogemeyer Seeds) DID say something about having an appointment with a customer who lived a few miles from where we met, but that is JUST what I would expect from Moe.  He is a very practical guy and if he's going to drive 400 miles round trip to check on my welfare, then it makes perfect sense that he might as well check on a couple of customers while he's out in this area.  That's what I like about Moe, he's always thinking.  Thank you Moe and thank you Connie!!

branch caught on the top of the courthouse in Grant!

Well, the ride part of the day was just cranking, enjoying the tailwind and hoping the rain held off until I arrived in Benkelman.  Here is a pic of the top of the county courthouse in Grant.  I suspect they had some wind recently as it looks like a branch hanging from the eagles neck on the top of the roof! 












There was water everywhere in Imperial, along with evidence of VERY strong winds last night!  There were branches and leaves everywhere around the town.  Here are a couple of pics of the mess on the lawn at the courthouse. 

mess left from previous night's storm



leaves knocked down by the wind



VBS ain't happening in the tent tonight!



I suspect that VBS in the tent did NOT happen tonight as this church had planned...



looking south into the valley coming into Imperial



      This is what it looked like all day.  Once again, thank you Lord for protecting me from the nasty weather all over the state today!!

Thank-yous for today:

Thank you first of all to Mr. Blake Edwards for transporting my luggage/gear from Ogallala to Benkelman!  Thank you sir.


Dallas and Kelly Watkins



Second, my thanks also goes to Dallas and Kelly Watkins, my host home folks in Benkelman.  I have had a luxurious day at their home: a shower, hamburgers for lunch, a wonderful two hour nap and then a fast computer to update my blog.  I could not ask for anymore!  It's been neat to visit with them.  Dallas was 4 years ahead of me at Republican Valley HS and Kelly was one year ahead (I believe).  She is also my cousin.  Her maiden name was Reiners.  And she told me that she is a big-time quilter who learned to sew from my mom, Wendy, when she was the 4-H leader for Kelly (and others)!  How cool is that?  Supper was delicious too.  Thank you Dallas and Kelly!!

 

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

To comfort His followers and point them to the only Source of eternal life – John 14:1-14

Funny quotes for today:

“Bicycling is the nearest approximation I know to the flight of birds. The airplane simply carries a man on its back like an obedient Pegasus; it gives him no wings of his own.” - Louis J. Helle

Closing thoughts for the day: 

ONE MORE DAY, then a much anticipated rest day at my parent's farm.  Char is coming out there as well, and there are some wonderful folks in McCook who have organized a Pancake Feed Wednesday night as a fun/fundraiser for Make-A-Wish.  I would like to encourage all of you, if you have not made a donation to MAW to consider doing so.  It's a great organization, and I truly hope to fund wishes for several more children as a result of this ride.  Just give it some thought, ok, perhaps a penny a mile for the rest of the ride.  That would be about $10.  Or a nickel, etc.  Thanks for considering my invitation.  If you are in the McCook area, I look forward to seeing you at the pancake feed.  (-:)


Forecast for the next day:

mid 70's, wind out of the NW 30-35 mph.  It's gonna be breezy.  I'm going NE, North and East, so it will be a bit of a headwind, a bit of a cross wind and a bit of a tail wind at different times.  I'm planning on an early start as it's about 100 miles, plus I lose an hour reentering Central Time Zone.


Route/Towns for the next day:

June 21 - Benkelman to Max to Stratton to Trenton to Palisade to Hays Center to

Culbertson to McCook to Indianola

June 19, 2011

Today's report from my Ride

Started at 5:45 am and finished at 2:45 pm.

Covered 74 miles, 15.0 mph ave speed, 39.0 - max speed 

Riding time - 4 hrs, 55 minutes

Wind - out of the NE, but very minor. On the "Hurt/Help" Wind scale - +0.5.

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: First of all, it's my son, Greg's, 25th birthday today.  Happy Birthday Greg!!!  Hope you had a great day.  I love you!!

Well folks, I starting to realize that it's one thing to sit at the kitchen table in the middle of winter and plan out how far each day is going to be, and it's another thing to get out in June and ride them!  The reality of time and weather are shredding some of my plans, and that bugs me.  I only got in 74 miles today instead of 135 (yeah, yeah, I know.  My eyes were bigger than my legs.)  But, it's the best I could do considering weather and the time I had.  When your host family is fixing a wonderful supper and your sag drivers (who have been away from home and deprived of their spouses for 3 entire days) need to head back to GI, you've got to call it a day a bit early.  Ah well.

It started out very interesting.  When I left Kimball, it looked REALLY icky, lightening, dark blue clouds, etc.  When Pastor Mars shook my hand, looked me in the eye and said, "The Lord go with you", I know he was dead serious!  (-:)

Between Kimball and Sidney I had to stop and take shelter twice from lightening.  Here are some pics.   It was threatening to rain from the moment I left.  

The "bad thing" that was stalking me!  I had lightening on both sides and behind me.  Certainly helps one ride a bit faster...



My first shelter, dry but still creepy with lightening and thunder popping all around.

I sat under there for probably 20 minutes and then  rode out into the rain (after lightening eased).

For a brief time, this was on the horizon.  Faster Mike, faster!!



Then it was replaced with this. 
It's hard to keep riding when you know it's going to be wet and nasty ahead!  





My second place of refuge when it was lightening/thundering again was under the front of a 5th wheel horse trailer. 

Looking out from my snug little spot under the trailer. 

Two horses who wished they had a dry place to stand!

Well, I finally made it to Sidney, where I met my sag drivers. 

Later on it turned out to be a very nice, even hot and humid day.  Here are some pictures from Hwy 26 on the south side of Lake McConaughy.  That is a really pretty stretch of highway!

the south side of Big Mac

a little further down the road

We stopped in Ash Hollow.

Where the wagons came down Windlass Hill.

The "dip" in the middle is where the wagons were lowered down Windlass Hill.

lunch break

 My report is a bit sparse tonight.  I'm really tired, even with my "power nap" that made me late for supper.  Thanks for understanding.



Thank-yous for today:

First of all to Sally Harris of Sidney for picking up my stuff in Kimball and taking it to Sidney for my support drivers.

Also to my four support drivers for their THIRD day of putting up with me!! 

I am very grateful that you were there for me today.



And finally to Terry and Gwen Johnson for allowing me to stay with them in Ogallala, for fixing a wonderful supper, AND for being so patient when they had to wake me up from my nap for supper!  I told them I'd be up at 6 pm, and it was 6:15 when Mr. Johnson finally roused me from the depths of sleep (My phone alarm had tried to do that for 20 minutes!).  It's not very often that I'm late for supper...(-:)  It was fun to visit with Terry's mother Ruth Johnson as well. 

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

     To give a friend hope and her brother life – John 11:1-44



Quote of the Day:

“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.”  - H.G. Wells



I came out for exercise, gentle exercise, and to notice the scenery and to botanise.  And no sooner do I get on that accursed machine than off I go hammer and tongs; I never look to right or left, never notice a flower, never see a view - get hot, juicy, red - like a grilled chop.  Get me on that machine and I have to go.  I go scorching along the road, and cursing aloud at myself for doing it. - H.G. Wells, The Wheels of Chance

Forecast for the next day:

I'm probably going to get wet, but I will have a tailwind out of the NNW between 25-30 mph.  Sweet!!!


Route/Towns for the next day:

Ogallala south to Benkelman via Grant and Imperial.