Crappy Bike Lanes

Omaha is definitely not the most bike friendly town, but I think it's slowly getting better. I've been commuting to work for two and a half years now and I've noticed small improvements in people's attitude toward cyclists and of course we have new bike lanes being developed (slowly).

I guess it could always be worse........

Chuck likes Lumpy vs Lumpy

Winter Training

Withdrawls

The last few weeks have been HORRIBLE for my mileage count. Since labor day weekend, I think I have ridden on dirt 4 (maybe 5 times). Road rides haven't been much more than that either. Because of rain or my schedule I haven't even been able to ride to work.
J.A. and did enjoy "the Bellevue Loop" on Saturday. Of course right as we got to the toll bridge the rain started and was pretty steady until we came around the west side of Offut.
I would love just one more good day on the dirt.

Drop into a favela...

Bike Nirvana

30 miles + 50 Wings + 10 Donuts = Enlightenment

STOP!

Wing Stop: Thank you to all the chickens who sacrificed their wings for our pleasure.

Donut Stop: As you can see, Joe and Jess had a very intense staring contest. This went on for hours.

No actual biking photos were taken, so it's up to you whether you believe any real biking actually took place, or if we just dressed up and drove around Omaha.

RUN!!!!

Run for your lives! It's a Stop-To-Stop ride!!!!

Kanye West disses MTB Omaha

He's such a jerk.

GREAT DAY

What a nice and surprising Saturday. Rode Manawa in the morning with the mrs. and then met up with 3 other Goatheads for a couple laps at Tranquility. Four of us haven't been together since CO. JA, JC, The A-train, and myself had fun. Too bad Lumpy watched Big Red or turn out would have been the best all year. J.C. and myself managed to remain unscathed while J.A.'s hand met a tree and Austin's body met the dirt.
Maybe, just maybe 5 of us can make a trip to either Lewis and Clark or Platte.

This isn't going to end well.......

The Power of a Single Heckler on a Political Speech

With the 2010 election campaigns starting to gearing up, just a note to hopeful candidates to stay off Lumpy's yard while stumping. He doesn't take kindly to your type.

Punctuation is your friend...

Love Your Commute...

Danny MacAskill's commute to work is very similar to mine.

Failures and Successes

Here are some of the failures and successes from our recent attempt at a 24 hour mountain bike race.

Failure - Our support team got sick and/or had scheduling conflicts.

Failure - Jeff injured his back in a cage match 3 days before the race. We were down to 3 riders.

Failure - Our "Goathead-for-a-day" competition failed to garner a 4th rider. We had several leads but they all fell through in the end. 3 riders would mean more laps and less down time.....

Success - Only taking three meant one vehicle and more room for Lowel's king-size "Select-Comfort" bed inside the tent.

Success - The weather forecast was stellar, with the exception of fog, but I'm sure fog won't affect things too much........

Failure - Jon gets called out by the race organizers in front of everyone at the pre-race meeting for being a Nagging-Nancy. Lowell and I actually consider this a success...... It was hilarious!

Failure - The race starts with a 50 yard sprint to bikes. We agree Jon should be our first rider since he's got the mental fortitude needed for cut-throat competition........... After the gun, Jon quickly gets bewildered by the flurry of activity. Forgetting where he put his bike, he starts zig-zagging through the crowd like a drunk sorority girl. After finding his bike, Jon attempts to mount and catch the field. Somehow, Jon misses the bike completely and crashes to the ground. He picks himself up and slowly throws his leg over and shakily rides off. The crowd lets out a patronizing cheer....... Team Goathead is in last place.

Success - After 2 full rotations of riders, Team Goathead is in the hunt and feeling good.

Failure - The fog rolls in. This is the thickest fog I have ever seen. Here's a picture of Lowell returning after a lap around midnight.



Not only did the fog make for some sketchy night-time riding, but it made everything wet, and I mean everything. There was no way to keep dry. The inside of the tent was as wet as the outside.

Success - Our game plan was to keep a rider out on the trail at all times. Some teams went out and threw down blazing fast lap times at the beginning, but faded as the night wore on. Our slow and steady method paid off.

Success - We turned a 24 hour mountain bike race into a 22 hour race. By 10 am, the leader-board made it clear that we couldn't catch the team ahead of us, and the team behind us couldn't catch us. Our fate was sealed. We sat back and let the sun dry us and our gear off.

Success - Team Goathead placed 3rd in our division, and 7th place overall. We left with some pretty nice swag.

On the way back home, we all agreed that next year we need to compete in the 4 man division. We just weren't sure who the 4th man would be. Jeff would be a good teammate, but he's too focused on cage fighting......... When I got home I realized who the obvious choice would be. He throws down lap after lap and never gets tired. Meet Broheim...

For Future Reference....

".. And I began imagining what it would be like to be run down(by a car), and if that were to occur someone might say 'at least he was doing something that he loved'..

.....I began reflecting on that sentiment, and just how much crap it is... I'd like to go on record here and say that if I do ever meet the underside of a vehicle while riding a bike, I would prefer that no one utter those words, because as I see it, what I was doing when I was killed was being hit by a car, and I don't love that."

- Stevil Kinevil

The Vortex of Terror

The upcoming 3 day weekend should afford me enough time to accomplish two significant tasks.

Task one: Survive the 24 hours of 7 Oaks.

Task two: Construct one of these in my backyard.

My Little Boy!

Hatin' on cyclists

It amazes me how many people seem ignorant of the law for cyclists. I remember as a youngin' riding my bike on the road, and getting bottles thrown at me telling me to get on the sidewalk. Actually, I guess the last two sentences answer each other.

She crossed the line......

..... You can't throw away a man's bacon and expect him to stay. I see nothing wrong with this kids behavior.

"THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS"

Best movie title ever........

Random thoughts of the day.....

Whenever I get an email that appears to have forwarded a thousand times before it gets to me, I usually delete before reading and then I reply; "Grandma, stop sending me this crap!"

However the following comes from one such email. These are just a few of my favorites. I don't know the original source.

Random thoughts:

• More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

• Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

• Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

• I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

• The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

• Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

• I think everyone has a movie that they love so much; it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

• I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in

• I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

• Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

• How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

• While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

• MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

• I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

• If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

• Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from; this shouldn't be a problem....

• You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

• While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don’t win, they are executed.

• I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

• Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

• Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

• Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

• The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There’s nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner

2 weeks and counting

2 weeks till 24 hours of 7 Oaks. The closest thing Omaha has to 7 Oaks is Jewell, so we decided we needed to do some night riding at Jewell. I love Jewel. Tight and twisty, and more wildlife than any other trail. We saw a dozen deer, 4 or 5 turkey's, a raccoon, and a family of jackolopes.



This will be the first 24 hour race the Goatheads have done. I'm a little nervous about it because I don't feel like I have a clear game plan. Riding at Jewell made me feel a little better.

Which one is more impressive?

Sorry

I read the blog that Lumpy linked to below. Like Lumpy, I feel guilty for previous actions and would like to make ammends. So I would like to say I am sorry to Goathead nation if it looked like I was advertising any of the following products through photos on this site.
-Trek bicycles
-Giro Helmets
-Oakley sunglasses
-Nashbar sunglasses
-Nashbar garment/pannier bag
-Pearl Izumi shoes,gloves, and shorts
-Nema shorts
-Midwest Cycling Community (I wear their socks)
-Joe Boxer Athletic socks
-Dakine hydration packs
-Target brand technical t-shirts
-Old Navy technical t-shirts
-7 Oaks ski and mtn bike area
-Colorado toursim department
-Breckenridge downhill trails
-Moab tourism dept.
-Energizer head lamps

Man Asserts Dominion Over Nature, Hits Horse With Rally Car

Another local bike blog has made me feel guilty about the two environmentally destructive bikes made by evil corporations that I own. Thus, I have decided to stop riding and instead sit on my couch all day finding cringe-worthy Youtube clips to post on our environmentally destructive website. The following clip is brought to you by the Military Industrial Complex.

MC Spandex

No commentary necessary.

What heat?

This past Saturday, the mercury topped 100. While you were sitting on the couch sipping an Arnold Palmer, the Professor was cranking out 7 laps at Tranquility. He's the guy in the back in the above picture.......... but don't let that fool you. 7 laps earned him a 9th place finish in his first ever marathon event.

Every picture tells a story......

Tranquil Wednesday

With the pace yielded to the pleasure of Above & Beyond podcast #278 (happy late 40th first-man-on-the-moon anniversary by the way), I completed a full lap at Tranquility with no breaks. I feel like I'm starting to taste where I was at a couple years ago.

All you Marathon guys best watch out. I'm gunnin'.

Anyone want to play a game I just made up?

You bring your own blindfold, I'll supply everything else.....

Anyone???

Who can explain this?

Friends, MTBers lend me your ears

I think most people would agree that Lumpy is one of the more eloquent speakers in the Goatheads. But I don't think too many people in the Omaha MTB community get to hear his wisdom. Luckily cameras were rolling on a recent trip to Breck.

Recap

There's a nice pictorial recap of the TdF at the Big Picture.


In Goathead news, we all got together today to celebrate JC's Birthday. Our original plan was to do some laps at Tranquility followed by wings at Wing Stop...... But then Jon said, "I have an idea." One thing led to another, and well.... I'll just let the pictures tell the story...... Happy Birthday Jess!

Someone beat me to it.

I snapped the above photo when we were in Colorado. It was driven by a couple of German dudes. When asked what it was, they said they couldn't say and they walked away. They were visibly annoyed when I snapped a picture. Austin suggested I send the picture to Car and Driver, which I did, but it appears someone beat me to it. Turns out it's a Prototype 2012 Mercedes Benz SLS AMZ Roadster.

More pics from RAGBRAI

For one day only

Miah insisted that my Nema's would not be good for 100 miles.

Sunday Ride

So I go into Highgear on Saturday and Miah asks if I want to do a century on Sunday. He says him and some of the other guys at the shop are going to do the first stage of RAGBRAI. To make it a century we were going to ride to Red Oak (day one) and then turn around and ride back to Omaha. Before really thinking about what I was saying I blurted out, "Yes, I'll do it". Okay, well I don't think the Soho S or EX 8 are good for a century so I need a bike for the day. Thankfully Paul donated a bike to the cause. It wasn't great, but it helped get the job done.



As we started the ride Miah did play a little theme music for us.



Obviously what makes this ride fun or famous are the people. Wow there were people everywhere. As we got to Mineola the road was so crowded we actually had to walk our bikes. When we finally got to Red Oak it was lunch time. For me that meant Steak Kabob. The rest of Team Miah enjoyed other types of red meat.





Of course now the real fun was about to begin, the ride home. My good buddy Lowell Peterson and I road back together. Remember how crowded Mineola was, when we came back through it looked like a ghost town.



When I finally reached my car I had gone 120+ miles. WOW!!!! I haven't gone that far in 20 years. My body feels fine, except for my pinky finger on my right hand. It is kind of numb. Thanks to my HG buddies for a great group ride.
By the way, sorry to Team Goathead for not wearing the official jersey. I needed pockets to carry fuel for the road.

Lock it up!

12 trails in 5 days.
Keystone(I Guess that's a trail), Dakota Ridge, Prime Cut, Zippety-Doo-Da, Kessler Run, Holy Cross, Vegetarian loop, Chutes and Ladders, Joe's Ridge, The Ribbon, Horse Thief Bench and More Fun Trail......... That was exhausting!

I have my own thoughts about Fruita, but instead of sharing those I think I'll just share some of the pictures. Hopefully the other Goatheads will post their thought on the trip.
(Stay tuned for a more pictures and videos. It was a well documented trip, now I just need to do some editing)

All systems go

The Goatheads are slowly making their way toward the rendezvous point in Denver. I took a picture of the above goat near the top of Mount Evans. I offered him the secret hand shake but he declined. He must be from another chapter.




The view from the top of Mt. Evans is pretty incredible. Now that I'm fully acclimated to the altitude, I'm ready to ride. Tomorrow, The Professor, T-Rev and myself are heading over to Keystone. On Saturday, we'll meet up with J.A. and A-Train for our annual Dakota Ridge ride. After that we're off to Fruita for three full days of riding. The only negative is the noticeable absence of J.C. J-Mac and Johnny Law. It just wasn't in the cards this year. Don't worry, we'll post plenty of pictures that will make you jealous.

It's settled..... for now.

After months of negotiating, bickering and back room deals we've finally decided that our summer destination will be Fruita, CO. There were many other worthy options, but Fruita just simply had too much going for it. We leave in a couple weeks. None of us have ever been there, if you have, please share some advice. What are the must ride trails? Where should we eat? Local bike shop? Anything else?