THOR Meeting Saturday morning

Be there!

This is my amazing friend, Elizabeth

Life is funny when you think about it. You think that you've been having a bad day, days at work seem longer and longer, and sometimes things just don't go your way. But things could be worse. Below is an article that I saw about my friend Elizabeth Edwards who was recently diagnosed with cancer. She just had her surgery done yesterday and is doing well.

Now the funny thing is that she is a ballroom dancer and instructor who is in charge of the dancing with the Omaha stars program. This program just so happens to help raise money for the sunshine kids foundation which helps kids with cancer. And she has been doing this for years. Even after she found out about her cancer, Elizabeth decided to continue on with the show and helped to raise $45,000 before having her surgery performed. Elizabeth is an amazing person and amazing friend. I'm wishing you a speedy recovery Elizabeth.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20140213/LIVEWELL01/140219370/1685

Fat bikes, clowns, you know, the typical everyday stuff

This video is cool. Turn up the volume. If you don't like clowns or fat bikes, then don't watch!

http://youtu.be/bgKtuUwp6FE

Mmm...dead whale beer

http://gizmodo.com/iceland-is-making-beer-out-of-dead-whales-1498806821?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_twitter&utm_source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

RHCP performance during the Superbowl

This article was brought to my attention by my sister. Turns out that the instruments were not really played, but the singing was real. Huh? I guess the NFL requested that the Red Hot Chili Peppers not really play during the halftime show, but instead to mime the music. Crazy


http://www.billboard.com/articles/events/super-bowl-2014/5893960/flea-defends-red-hot-chili-peppers-unplugged-super-bowl?mobile_redirection=false

We can't be stopped!

Can't be stopped from biking that is. Extreme hot to extreme colds, we do it all. 4 inches of snow out there and my bike and cold weather gear was loaded and ready to go in the Jeep before I even got out of work. Late consults, made even later by the slick roads and getting lost trying to find our building. Ughh...I just wanted to ride in the snow!

There was a lot of pushing going on. Some deeper areas of snow

Couldn't even drink my water after awhile

Met up with big Mike and rode from the north lot of Tranquility over to the main kiosk, then through the Fort Street loop and back. It was cold and windy, but you warmed up. Until you hit that wind heading back to the north side. It was pure torture. 10 mph winds, with 7 degree temps and -10 windchill. Yikes, it was brutally cold on the face and fingers. Moose mitts and gloves weren't enough towards the end of the ride. Probably the coldest I've ever ridden in. I was planning to just stay out for half an hour or so, but ended up being out for an hour and a half.

Snowy berms were actually quite fun

But at the same time, the riding was fun. I took my usual bike in the snow pics and tried to keep up with Big Mike who kept pushing along. He's an animal, with no complaining about the cold. I on the other hand should have eaten something before leaving work. Was out of energy 3/4 of the way into the ride. The snow was fluffy and staying in the trail was getting harder and harder. All part of riding in the snow, at night, in the cold, in the wind...

THOR annual meeting

Want to make a difference and voice your opinion when it comes to the Omaha Metros multi-use dirt trails? Want to meet great people who like to dig in the dirt, helping to build and maintain our area dirt trail system? Well then come to the THOR annual meeting where we'll discuss this years goals, budgets and projects for the trails.

Saturday, March 1, 2014
8:45am until 12:00pm
National Park Service Midwest Region, 601 Riverfront Drive, Omaha NE 68102

Will your friends laugh at you?

I say yes most likely they will. Especially when they see you on this one wheeled beast and your buddy pulls up next to you on his custom Harley. Even worse they will probably disown you as a friend when they find out how much you paid for this thing. Because you know, we all have $53,000 laying around to spend on our toys. But yet, I do find it kind of cool and I want to ride one!

http://rynomotors.com

That snow in Michigan

Okay, here are the pics of the snow from Kalamazoo. And this was actually from the first week of January when my parents got 17 inches of snow. I think they got more this week because my dad said that he's been blowing the snow like a madman with the snowthrowers. I like the snow, but maybe not that much.

These are not drifts, this is straight up snow falling down and landing on the railing of the deck. 

A true winter wonderland. Name that SUV.

My sister was obviously working hard that day. Why they were even open baffles me!

This Wild and Wacky Weather

I've been sick, I've been feeling good and lifting hard. I've been cold, I've been warm. It's been windy, it's been calm. It hits -5 degrees or more, then it hits 50 degrees or more. This has been one strange year of weather that we've had. The only thing that we haven't had much of is...

Now you skinny tire folk, don't fall through the trail. You hear?

Yeah not even going to say that four letter S-word. Thanks guys for buying your Krampi, Pugsleys, and me my Jeep. We prevented the snow this year. Too bad it isn't as simple as washing my car and having a foot of snow on the ground the next day. I love this dry weather but at the same time I want to hit the white fluffy with the snowboard, the fatbike, and the snowshoes.

So one thing that's for sure is that Paul and I were lucky enough to get out for a ride on Sunday at Tranquility. Yes, Tranquility in the end of January. A few others had hit Manawa and Swanson that same weekend and I heard that trail conditions are great! It's been awhile since I've ridden but man it felt great. The trail was dry, a few icy section and almost half frozen slightly frozen sections, but overall it was great. To reiterate great to be riding on dirt in January!!! Then it was off to 5 hours of training at work on a Sunday afternoon...only to be continued Monday and Tuesday morning. Ughh.

Rising From Ashes

Movie is playing this Thursday night at 7pm, Aksarben Cinema (the evening begins with a social hour hosted by the Omaha Pedalers Bicycle Club at 6 p.m.) "Rising From Ashes is a joyous and uplifting independent film about the development of a national cycling team in Rwanda, a country still affected deeply by the genocide that tore the East African nation apart in 1994"

 Advance tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.imathlete.com/events/risingfromashes. Tickets at the door will be $15

One Wheeled Board

Pretty cool, like the video says, its like a Segway but cooler. Tilt forward to speed up and backwards to slow down. Charges and can get up to 12 miles per hour and get up to 4-6 miles.

LED gone too far?

Saw this for sale in my email, I'm thinking really? Why is this necessary? It's not...but then I started thinking about it and it would be cool to shower under a rainbow!

http://showerdoordirect.shop.rakuten.com/pg/f5cf1cb6-ea33-49c9-8d4f-ebbe3a97edd2.html?scid=em_20140119_Daily&adid=18007

Fat Bike Demo - Oh the fun we had

Last Friday, Cycle Works down in Lincoln hosted a Salsa fat bike demo at Wilderness Park. It was raining when I eagerly left work at noon. And I'm thinking great, muddy trail condition, oh well we'll have fun anyway. I was in hopes of riding a new Mukluk, just to see if there's much change from my Mukluk2.

I eventually made my way to Wilderness Park where Paul was waiting for me. Come to my surprise, they still had plenty of snow on the south side of Lincoln. Even better, it starting snowing while we were there! Now Paul let me in on a little secret as I was getting ready to leave work, he was riding a Beargrease! I have yet to step foot into a Salsa dealer and actually see one, let alone ride one in the wild! I was getting excited and already wondering if I would need to one day trade in the Muk2. Riding these demos might be a very bad idea...

Salsa Goodness!

Salsa goodness of a different sort! Johnny Salsa was at Cycle Works giving out free tastes and samples.

Beargrease in every size, Fargos, Spearfish, regular Mukluks, you name it, the Cycle Works truck had it! Oh course, the only bikes out were the Beargrease as they were the most popular. Even folk who you wouldn't think would be interested in a fat bike were riding out there after work. It was a grand time.

I could definitely have some good adventures on this bike!

I kept seeing this awesome scene and needed to get some pics in. This is postcard worthy!

They fit me on the right bike, even asked what pedals I run. Yup, we got the Time Z Controls. Sweet, throw them on a medium Beargrease please! And then Paul and I were off. This was Paul's second time on the trail and Paul was blazing the trail, I'm surprised the snow didn't melt behind him! He was flying on the bike and taking the turns like a champ. I myself was cautious, heck we were riding on snow on a $5000 bike and I had no clue how they would handle. They were all equipped with 45Nrth Dillingers, man these babies were grippy! The trail traction was amazing despite being packed with snow. The bikes were light and fast, and the weather was perfect. Right about 25-30 degrees if I remember right.

So one word to describe a carbon fatbike, specifically the Beargrease? Amazing! I have over 2000 miles logged in on the Mukluk and I would say there are a lot of differences. The Beargrease felt nimble, light enough to easily lift up and get over any obstacle that stands in your way, and the geometry felt great. Definitely more race bike like. My Mukluk 2 is more upright, heavier, and more of a touring "adventure" bike.

It was definitely a great experience and am glad to have been a part of it!

updates to this page this weekend!

Been so busy...work has been nuts with flex season in full swing. EVERYONE has to have their lasik surgery in the month of January.

But I promise you guys lots and lots of pretty biking pictures before the weekend is done. Have a wonderful Friday!

Do you liked to be teased by photos of expensive bikes???

Follow your biking quadracopter

This is a really cool idea, can film yourself using a camera mounted quadracopter. It follows you using GPS coordinates. Pretty much like a drone, watching as you huff and puff on the trail.

My sis and I brought up the point, what about the trees. Will they hit them?



http://reviews.mtbr.com/pint-sized-pocket-drone-captures-your-mtb-radness-with-gps-tracking-video-copter

Sent from my HTC smartphone on the Now Network from Sprint!