I can't seem to upload pictures from the connection I have, so they will have to wait.
I found myself with a couple of days off in Council Bluffs Iowa early this week, so a ride was definitely in order. The weather was fully co-operative, except for blustery winds on Monday, but Tuesday was as perfect as it gets.
I contacted Billydonn to see if he was up for a ride, and it took no arm twisting to get him to go. On Monday afternoon, I rode across the river to Omaha and met up with him for dinner and to make our plans for a ride on Tuesday.
After he got off work, he came to the truck stop and picked me and my bike up, and off we went to the trail head.
The plan was to ride the 15 miles to Silver City, have dinner there, and ride back in the dark.
the trail is great. Smooth and fairly wide, hard packed crushed stone. Just enough grades to make it a good workout.
Billydonn is a fairly strong rider, so it kept me stroking to keep up with him on my heavy steel 3 speed.
We had a great dinner in Silver city, washed down with a couple of Fat Tire brews
The lights had to be turned on for most of the way back which made it a fun ride. Billydonn was up front, partly because he has the stronger headlight, but mostly because, well, he's faster.
At one point, three deer ran across the trail right in front of him. I was too far back to make out just how close he was to them, and I only caught a glimpse of them in his headlight beam, but they looked pretty close.
By the time we reached the trailhead, he was far enough in front that I lost sight of his lights, and I overshot the parking area. Things started to look unfamiliar but I kept going. Then I thought, I don't remember passing a stadium, and then, yeah, I'm pretty sure we didn't start out on pavement either. That's when I decided I better turn around, cause I was pretty sure by that point I'd missed it.
Sure enough, a couple of km back, there was the parking area, and my host waiting for me patiently.
There's more to tell, like the story of a squirrel encounter that I should have had my camera running for, but I'll leave some of the story for Billydonn to tell.
Many thanks to Billydonn for showing me around. It was a great ride.
Pictures to follow.