Four Years

Four years ago, I was in the hospital having suffered a stroke. This meant lots of tests (Before the stroke, I went through months of tests trying to get to the bottom of major health problems).

I remember I was supposed to get an MRI, to see what happened in my brain. Before that, my health took a bad turn and I was rushed to surgery. When I woke up, I had all kinds of tubes and a new mechanical heart valve.

The short story, Cardiac Rehab started me back on my feet. Knew I would have to get active - that's where Xtreme Wheels came in. Bill got me on my first bike (since as a kid). The rest is history.

Spring has Sprung!

The first full day of Spring (Saturday) was a great day to be our on the bike. Light breeze, sunny, in the 70s, what more could you want. (OK, it would be nice to have the trail repaved under Hwy 92 - see photo.)

Head out from Xtreme Wheels, heading to Omaha. Decided to ride the hardtail since the studded tires are off and I had not ridden that bike in a while. Lots of folks on the trails and the Bob Bridge.

Turned back at Millers Landing. Debated where to ride on the way back. Ended up riding the same way back (did not want to ride through town on a Saturday afternoon).

A great ride (one of my few A+ graded rides) - just short of 29 miles. Happy with the 12+ mph pace including over the Bob Bridge, and on fat tires.

Topped over 500 miles for the year so far.

Trail Inspection Ride

Today, I decided to ride what I call is a Trail Inspection Ride. Time to look at the Wabash Trace and Manawa MTB trail to see how they fared though the Spring thaw. I rode the FuelEX7. Would have ridden the hardtail, but it still have the studded tires mounted.

The first was heading up the Wabash Trace. Rode up to Margaritaville. The trail surface was damaged by bicycles and ATVs. Basically, the section I rode is rideable. My fat tires did not make marks on the trail surface. It was slow going because of the slightly soft - dropped my climb speed by 1-2 mph. Down the hill, also dropped my speed by some 3-4 mph. Greg and a group are working on the Trace Saturday, including grading.

From the Wabash Trace, it was time to ride over to Lake Manawa. Rode West Sidewinder. That trail was rideable. The only thing was that some idiot had ridden through when the ground was very soft -- leaving deep ruts. From there I went to East Sidewinder. I was able to ride without leaving marks along the doubletrack. But after the crossover, riding near the levee, it was obvious that the trail there is too soft to ride. Walked the bike over to the levee and rode that back to the pavement.

By the time I got back from the bike shop, I had ridden 24 miles. That took me over 100 miles in the last 7 days - my first 100 mile week of the year. Oh, yeh, a couple other statistics - 475 miles so far this year and 1500+ miles now on the FuelEX7.

Just a warning. When I got back from my bike ride, I removed the studded tires from the hardtail. Now, its time for our Spring snow storm.

FMR

Friday night was the March Full Moon Ride. My count was 18 riders (per a photo). Weather was nice when we headed out. We rode the trails from Xtreme Wheels to Riverside Grille.

At the Riverside Grille, we celebrated Blaine's birthday. Then headed up to the Bob Bridge.

Turned cold while we were eating. My fingers, toes, and face were pretty cold when I got back to the shop. A 27 miles ride - but took a lot out of me. Did nothing all day Saturday.

BTW - Photos of the March and February FMRs are on my photo site.