The 2015 Panama Enduro

Panama...Nebraska that is. It was windy but the temps were nice. Man this 15 mile roundtrip seems pretty easy...oh snap. We have to turn around and the crosswind proved to be more than just a crosswind. Yikes! Then the long climb. But we finished. That we did. Around the 13th mile I lost all my energy and watched as Brian and Dave N just pass me. Another mile more and I would have made it to the concrete section of the race. Oh well. Finished 6th out of who knows how many. Thats alright. Like I said...at least we finished. Beer, smiles and food at the end. Hooray!

Thanks to Elise for coming and taking alot of the pictures!

It was a good start to the race day. Pass a Jeep that was with a BDS suspension truck, get the Jeep wave from them. Then pass by my old house off of 148th Street in Waverly. The memories. 

Let's do this. A little pre-race meeting

A loose cassette won't stop us!

On your marks...

Get set...

Wait for it...

Go!

When we first hit the gravel

Hey we know that guy!

I had to keep telling Brian to slow down and observe the speed limit. He just wouldn't listen!

Like going through the safari

Billygoats somewhere in the picture

And then the turn around

I'm not gonna get stuck in these...are you?

The endless miles of country roads!

Turn here!

These would have been more fun

As would have been this!

Paul clownin around

The finish line!

Winna Winna

Also a winna!

That first real ride of the year

You know which one. The one that kicks you in the arse and reminds you of all those xmas cupcakes and cookies, those goo filled chocolates, and those pretzels covered in yogurt. But then the reality sets back in and you are cranking those pedals up the gravel road, wondering what the next hill will bring. Sometimes you get to the bottom of one, you look up and it seems to go on forever and ever. The gravel seems fresh, or they just plowed the gravel back to the middle of the road. And the sides seem mushy like from the warm temps and thawing. Yes, the mushy that sucks on your tires and doesn't feel like they want to let go. Zapping you of your energy before you get to coast towards the bottom.

I finally got around to installing my new Ergon grips from Bike Masters. This is what I came across when I pulled off the crap foam grips! Made me smile because I knew that it would be a good ride that day.

Thirteen of us made it out for a gravel ride on Saturday afternoon. The temps were great, in the 40s but with a strong wind that kept wanting to push my fat tires off the road. Todd W had slicks on his Scott, and I could see him swerving like a first time ice skater on ice. But he managed. And I barely managed to keep up with him (I know he was staying back to keep me company!). Thanks Todd for the encouragement to stay up with you.

We started at Prairie View Lake out by Bennington, made our way to Dutch Hall Road and continued that up to the Ponderosa Bar where we refueled and got caught up on everyone's lives. Because there was a little sense still left in me, I stuck to water at the bar instead of the beer. I knew that the night would be a wild night celebrating one of my best friend's birthdays, so I decided to keep my drinks non alcoholic for the time being.

Dangit! Hole in the crotch of my favorite winter biking pants. Yes, I really did take a picture of that

Chris N said the funniest thing that I've ever heard regarding a bike. He said that he was out taking the bike for a walk that day. 

And you thought the urinal in the bathroom was too high up...

We left the bar, Todd rode back home and we headed back our way. The wind was amazing and helped to push us all the way back. Probably took less than half the time to make it back. Good first ride of the year fellas. Just like last year's ride, it kicked my butt. I was cursing myself for suggesting the ride while riding, but looking back I'm glad we got it in. The temps were great, the company was great, and my body needed a kick in the butt!

This is how I felt after I got back to my car. Only to know that I still had a whole afternoon and evening full of festivities to attend. 

Was tempted to bike on the ice...but I'm not that dumb!

Last Sunday's Ponderosa Ride

A "little" ride out to Ponderosa Bar made for a great Sunday Funday. With the warming temps, Paul had proposed that we ride some gravel out to Ponderosa Bar. Amazingly, both he and Aaron had ridden the day before. Not sure how their legs were able to keep up, but after the 27 miles I rode they were smoked!

For some reason this is my favorite GoPro shot of the day

Aaron, Andy and I were playing catch up to the other riders

Not sure if I've ever seen horseback riders on the highway before. But then again, they've probably never seen two fatbikes on the highway before!

Toilets, bird bushes, and creepy A** mannequins watching you!

I sh*t you not, this was the sign inside Ponderosa Bar. Pun intended, because you weren't going to be sh*tting inside that place unless you use that toilet on top of that carport!

Where's Waldo? The Mannequin is watching your every move

Most riders started near 178th and Fort and rode out to Elk City, which is basically 230th and Bennington Road. Gravel, cross winds, beer, food, dead deer, toilets 15 ft up in the air, mannequins in windows, and bird shaped bushes were all part of the scenery and environments that we experienced. Oh yeah, and a major endo by none other than myself. Showing off on the fatbike. But we'll get to that later.

Censored.

Brian had joined us for a short section of pavement

Temps were in the low 40s, sunny, and for the most part dry except for the occasional melting of snow piles in the suburban neighborhoods. Paul swung by my place and we rode out to Greg's new dig before meeting up with the group. Two Andys, Jim, Aaron, Chris, Paul, Greg, and myself made our way slowly out to Ponderosa Bar where Brian met up with us for some beer and food. Service was great and the food filled our hungry bellies. We were known as the bikers that stopped in. Jokes were made amongst the locals in the bar, but that was to be expected in a small town bar.

Empty desolate gravel roads

It was a fun group of riders out

Our halfway meeting point

As for the entertainment of the ride, I assume full responsibility for being clown of the day. I was leading the ride back and decided that I was missing me some snow rides. Probably going between 7-13 mph, I veered off the pavement and meant to cruise over the crusty snow. The goal was to then end up back on the road. I did end up back on the road, but not in the way I was hoping. After about 7 feet of riding in the snow, my front tire got buried and stuck in the deeper than expected snow. I wasn't a physics major, but I know about the Laws of Motion. And my body was in motion! But my bike was not. A split second later, I found myself upside down in the snow and both of my feet clipped into an upside down fatbike. Seven riders behind me in disbelief as I just start laughing. Luckily I landed in snow and it was a soft landing. Come on guys, we're not new to snow riding and practice makes perfect (landings that is!).

You can see my shadow on the bottom left, I was taking aim and in position for the snow pile ahead. Just cruise right over the crunchy "packed" snow.

Paul was kind enough to offer me some medicine for my troubles.

You can see where my front tire stopped on the right side. About three feet in front of it is where I landed. See the small indentation? Yeah, that's my snow angel for the day.

I was fine and my bike was fine. Was the GoPro running? NO. Dangit. I was taking video all day and had gotten bored with hitting the trigger button. So I just put it on automatic picture mode every 10 seconds. Dangit. It actually crossed my mind to reenact the stupid stunt. Yeah, starving for attention or just plain stupidity. Neither, I just wanted to see myself flip over on my bike from a first person view. But my ego was bruised and I still couldn't believe what had just happened. So we continued our 9 mile ride back. A few miles left and my legs were beginning to cramp. Six hours and 27 miles later, I had made it back home. I proceeded to sleep from 7pm until 2am. Missed the 500th episode of the Simpson. What perfect timing for a seven hour nap!

Gravel grinders!

A leftover cookie from work was awaiting me in my kitchen 

One gravel ride a year is good enough for me. But as much fun as we had as a group, I would definitely do it again.

Our ride out from Greg's neighborhood. Pretty cool because this tracks your altitude.




And this was our way back home, until my phone died. At first I thought it marked my endo, wouldn't that be funny, on Endomondo, the app I use on my phone.