Owl Ride 2011= Epic Fail

It sounded like a good idea:

"Join the 2nd annual Owl Ride, Omaha’s nighttime urban cycling adventure, on Saturday night, July 16, 2011, for an active experience in Omaha’s dynamic metro core. The Owl Ride is the largest annual night bike ride between Chicago and Denver.

See the city in a unique light—star light and moon light, as well as street lights. The Owl Ride circles a specially designed 16‑mile route through Downtown, Midtown, Dundee, Aksarben, Field Club and Old Market neighborhoods, with a shortcut available to create a 7-mile ride."

Based on my experience last night at the 2011 Owl Ride, here's my suggestion for future publicity:

"Dare to take your life in your hands riding in the dark in close quarters  with 1800 largely unskilled cyclists who do not have a clue what "hold your line" means. All of this while enjoying humidity in excess of 80 percent. To enhance your adventure, lights on participants' bikes are optional!"

I rode my bike downtown for the start of this ride but bailed and headed for home as soon as I got out of downtown on Farnam Street. This would be a good night ride to do with a group of friends some night when the weather is better... not with 1800 other riders though.

2011 Fireworks Ride

One of the "fun ride" highlights of the year for me is the annual July 4th ride to view the City of Ralston fireworks show. It's a short five-mile trip from Steve and Anne Macklin's house to our viewing point, which happens to be on one of the area's bike trails. The company is excellent and the ride home in the dark is a lot of fun too.

Link to Full Picture Set

Pipestone Pass Video Part 3

Looking Back, Coming Home

I have driven the route to the Bozeman area and beyond many times on family vacations to Yellowstone and eastern Washington.  A town or two along the Cycle Montana route were pretty familiar places. So this trip put me on familiar ground, except of course for the bicycling.  And always when I have turned the car for home there has been, somehow, a palpable feeling of sadness and regret. The open space and the mountains of the northwest just do that to me and I think they always will.

There is lots of time to mull things over driving home alone for two days. I am satisfied with my ride. I prepared well and rode the route about as well as I could have hoped.  The bicycle I assembled for the trip performed flawlessly and none of the usual things that cause pain and suffering on a bicycle gave me any problems. Not that many 63-year-old men with so little experience could have done much better.

As much as practically possible, I tried to take the time to drink it all in along the way. Sometimes after a day’s flyfishing from a driftboat  I have had the feeling that I had somehow, in my intense concentration,  missed out on the beautiful place I had been going through.  And there is still just a little of that in my mind as I take my leave of this beautiful place.

As I get closer to home and family my spirits lift. But riding my bike in this special place was an experience I will not soon forget. All the local miles and routine daily rides made it possible to do this and I’m going to try and remember that when they seem just a little boring.  Thanks to the people I met, however briefly, during this ride. You added much to the experience and the memories.

I will be back to southwest Montana, if I am able. And when I return, I am bringing my bike.

Pipestone Pass Part 2- I Could Do This ALL Day Long!

Here is the second part of the Pipestone descent video. I hit a small hill near the end and inhale a bug about halfway down. Not hair-raising speed maybe, but what fun! There are two more parts to come. Click to enlarge.

Descent From Pipestone Pass- Day Five

I finally got my GoPro helmet camera up and running and took this video on the last of the major descents on Cycle Montana. This is Pipestone Pass on old US10 headed east out of Butte, MT.  It wasn't the fastest or the longest of the descents by a long shot but it was good fun.nonetheless. Pic of the top of the Pass:

And the ride down, again, headed east.
Video Part1: Click to make larger!

More of this video is coming soon.

A Walkabout Around Butte

I really should have posted this earlier but maybe it will work okay to do it now from home.

My first thought when I saw that our CM rest day in Butte was, well, not so favorable. Bozeman and Missoula have much more hip reputations, being college towns with much more "leisure time physical activity" going on. But I am told by my friends from Montana that Butte folks are known to be very vocal advocates for their home town. And now I can see why.

For one thing downtown Butte is situated high on a hill with a spectacular view of the valley below. It has a great stock of Victorian houses and other 19th century buildings with a large number of them on the National Register of Historic Places. Butte has a fascinating history based or the "extraction" of minerals, especially copper, and the mining industry is responsible for both the boom and bust that have obviously taken place in the area. The Montana Tech campus, where Cycle Montana set up camp, is a truly lovely place with a great view overlooking the downtown area and the valley below. I can highly recommend a visit to the campus Mineral Museum though, sadly, I did not get any photos of that. The historic hotel in downtown Butte was a good mile walk from the CM campsite so the walk back and forth offered the occasion for a look at some of Butte's old neighborhoods. I was told that young Levi Leipheimer grew up in Butte. If so, I can see where he got his legs for there are some truly scary San Francisco-like hills all over the place!

Anyway, here is a selection of pics from our layover day in Butte, Montana:

This might also be a good place to comment on the cuisine of Cycle Montana. It was just excellent! A shameless plug is well-deserved for Chef Kathy at feeding-the-tribe. Thanks Kathy... well done!

 Tour mechanic Don needs to be fed too! He looks guilty of something here....

Yum!