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For anybody who has ever gone on that breathtaking trail ride and your first words or thoughts were, "Wow! This place is magnificent and amazing!" then you will understand what riding in Potter's Pasture is like.
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Throughout our three trail rides that we squeezed in before the snow, I was experiencing feelings of pure enjoyment and even jealousy. Jealousy because the guys in that area are fortunate enough to have trails like that so close to them. It is that initial awe after that tough long climb up to the top that keeps you coming back for more. You just had to stop and take a look around at all of the different terrain types. There were cattle chutes, twisty singletrack through the prairie, and fast fire roads. The view was magnificent as you could easily see at least 10 miles into the distance in certain areas.
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This year's Big Wheeled Ballyhoo took place in Brady, NE. Todd and I left Omaha after hearing skeptical weather reports. We arrived with excruciating amounts of excitement around 3pm on Friday. Heck, we even had to stop on the country road to take a pic of the sign that let us know we were heading towards biking bliss.
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We were quickly greeted with friendly welcomes by Chad and a few others. Matt Gersib was there to check the Ballyhoo folks in. We managed to set up our tent somewhat successfully. I say somewhat because throughout the night while trying to sleep, I could feel the snow layering on top of my pillow. John and Aaron were camped next to us. These two crazy boys had driven from Minnesota to join us at the BWBallyhoo! Other folk were from Lincoln, Gothenburg, North Platte, Kearney and surrounding areas. Butch from Cycleworks in Lincoln was also there with a handful of beefy 29 inch Giants for use as demos. In the morning, a fellow rider had even stopped by who had biked all the way from Oregon!
Todd and I decided to head out on our own first, that way we could take our time with the Canon 40D and take some great pics. First of all, the trail names are hilarious. Hornitos, named after the Tequila seemed to be the local favorite. Yard sale, Triple Bypass, Tunnel Vision, and Pump Hill are just a few of 40 plus trails that are available to get your adrenaline rushing. Escalator was a newer trail that Chad said they just completed. It was our first tough climb for the day and I remember my chain came off. I was thinking great, were all our rides going to be like this here? But soon enough, twisty fast terrain infused with chutes and sharp dropoffs were just around the corner.
Todd riding in one of the first chutes we came across
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For our second ride, Chad lead the way for the eight of us. He showed us the shortcut to avoid the cardiac arresting Pump Hill and we even managed to ride alongside the cattle. Pretty cool as they kept looking back at us. My helmet cam captured that moment on video.
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Later that night, we hit up the night ride. At that time, the snow and wind had picked up. My legs were spent and I'd like to say thanks to Paul and Kyle for putting up with my slow pedaling and bike pushing. We started up Pump Hill, joined up to Freeway, and eventually finished off with Hornitos. I have to say that it was pretty cool to be up on the hill and hear the people back at camp cheering and yelling once they saw our headlights. I'm sure we looked like a lit up LED snake of riders meandering down the countryside. My first real trail ride in the dark and it was exhilirating.
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At some point during the night ride, I came up to a headlight pointing at me on the trail. At first it didn't make sense to me. Yup, Todd managed to pull the classic endo. I guess he went over a root dropoff in the middle of one of the chutes, squeezed a little too hard on the front brake, and went over. He said he tumbled down the side of the hill just a little bit. Luckily he is strong willed and hopped back on the saddle. Let me say that those chutes are fast and narrow. Being the rookies we were, we didn't really know how to ride them. Either your pedals are hitting the sides of the cattle chutes, or you are squeezing both brakes because you are going down so darn fast. But that is what makes Potter's Pasture unique!
You can barely keep your feet on the pedals!
Also during the nightride, I managed to take a wrong turn and ended up stuck in two trees that came across a chute. I do remember Paul behind me saying how he wished he had a camera. I literally had to lift my bike up, back up five feet, and climb out of the chute. A little embarassed, yes, but a funny experience nonetheless.
Todd and I got in a little over 15 miles of riding that Friday. Back at camp, there was a campfire blazing and good spirits all around. The band had bailed on BWBallyhoo because of the weather, but luckily somebody had brought their guitar and managed to steal the spotlight.
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The only thing that didn't go our way was the weather. I think it probably reached 15 degrees that night. Snow blowing into our tent and strong winds kept me up most of the night. I had full Under Armour on, with jeans, sweatshirts, parka, snowpants, mummybag, and another sleeping bag on top of it all. I was still cold! We even attempted to cover the bikes with my grill cover brought from home.
As I kept waking up to take a bathroom break, all that I could think about was the pancake feed in the morning.
Had to try out the Pugsley on the snow! Those tires are 4inches wide!
After breakfast and some riding around on Kyle's Surly Pugsley (that bike is a beast in the snow!), Todd and I decided that we would probably wouldn't get any more riding in because of the snow. Unfortunately, we only had the chance to pedal maybe 1/3 of what Potter's Pasture had to offer us.
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Matt Gersib raffled off some redbull videos, a pair of Oakleys, gas and food vouchers, a Sette frame donated by PricePoint, and also a Misfit Psycles frame. Unfortunately, neither or us won.
There was an informal Ballyhoo meeting and talks about a future Potter's Cowpie Classic. Finally, we thanked Steve Potter for his generosity in letting us use his land. He hopped on his two wheel drive full suspension bike, took his dog Callie and rode away on the snow packed trails.
Thanks to everybody there who made it such a great weekend despite mother nature's uncooperativeness. Two thumbs up to Chad, Kyle, and Paul for all of the hard work that they put into trails and also for making the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo happen. We'll see you fellas next year!
A few parting shots from Potter's Pasture...
Close the gate to keep the cattle in! Not joking!
Taking a breather to enjoy the scenery
The ice and mud buildup
Friends are asking how my first time photographing a wedding went. I felt like I was cramming for a test. Read the books for months, looked up images online for direction, even took notes an hour before it was time to click the shutter. My biggest fear was using my flash during the ceremony. I know you aren't suppose to, but the lighting was terrible and the tungsten lights were killing the shot (which is why you shoot in RAW format if possible). Next thing I know, it looked like the paparrazi was covering the wedding. Flashes going off from everyone's cameras. Problem solved, flash A okay.
Six hours later, 819 pictures were taken and my hand was cramping up. I didn't realize that my hand would still be sore a day later from holding the camera. Experimented a little with ISO, aperture priority, and different flash techniques. Overall, I think the photos turned out pretty decent. Amateur photographer shooting a wedding for free? I think my supervisor lucked out on this one! Congrats Jeff and Michelle!
