The 65 Mile Adventure - Part Two, The Way Home

More notes from our first cycling tour - the way home

Fast facts:

• Miles ridden according to GPS: 65.8
  
• Time pedaling: 6 hours, 58 minutes
  
• Time standing: 1 hour, 20 minutes
  
• Average moving speed: 9.5 MPH
  

Between these 66 miles and the previous 65 mile leg of the trip, we did a nice 130 odd miles over this extended weekend getaway, plus whatever in-town riding we did for sightseeing and dining. The time pedaling came off my GPS, but seems a little high to me. We left at 9:00am and arrived at the Blue Line in downtown Omaha at 5:00pm. It seemed that we did about two hours better on the way back than on the way out.

Starting Out

We thought we'd leave Shenandoah and hit the road at 7:00am, but with what typically happens, we were delayed due to sleeping in and extra time spent packing. The continental breakfast was yummy and also helped provide snacks, as we prepared some bagels and PB&J to eat on the trail.

The Saturday morning was glorious, but chilly with temperatures in the upper 20s to lower 30s. The sun was out, the wind was slight, but when it did gust, it was at our backs. Once we left the asphalt and hit gravel, we noticed right away that the day and a half of sun helped dry out the trail. Trail conditions make all the difference in the world on how easily we could cycle. When the trail was even a little damp, the extra resistance felt like someone was grabbing on and holding the rear wheel.

It didn't seem like we had as many problems with downed trees on the way back. Perhaps someone moved a few more over Friday. There were still a few that required dismount, and a few that could be dodged by careful shoulder riding.

By the time we hit Malvern, it was already quite warm out. Roxanne had completely changed clothes and was into her shorts and lightweight shirt. We stopped for a break at C&M's and had fries and sodas. There was a part of brightly colored cyclists eating there. They had lots of water bottles on their road bikes, but no luggage. I assume they were from Omaha or CB out on a day ride.

Once back on the trail toward CB, we started seeing many cyclists, runners and hikers. My guess is that the stretch between CB and Mineola is the highest trafficked stretch. We even passed a Boy Scout patrol out for a hike, uniformed and carrying full packs. It was fun seeing full families out on bikes, maybe for the first time this year.

We stopped at the trailhead in Council Bluffs and had a light bite to eat from our provisions. We then set out for the Blue Line Coffee Shop in downtown Omaha for our final hurrah. At this point I noticed that my left knee was really aching. I was able to compensate with my right leg, thanks to the technology of clipless pedals. Is knee pain like this normal on long rides?

The Blue Line would be our last bit of vacation before returning to normal life Saturday evening, so we wanted a nice bite to eat and final drinks. At the Blue Line I had the pleasure of introducing my wife to Brady, of steel-cut fame. Brady was out for a run and happened to be enjoying a soda when we arrived. I'd told Roxanne about Brady and Brady about Roxanne, so it was fun to introduce them to each other.

Finally we left the Blue Line and started home. We changed clothes and went to the in-law's house to pick up our daughter and return to being just ordinary Mom and Dad rather than the adventurous Cycle Touring Duo.

Lessons Learned

• It's nice to relax and not be so worried about keeping a schedule. I'd still prefer to leave earlier and experience sunrise on the trail.
• Bring hub wrenches; Roxanne's front hub is a bit wobbly, and a problem like that could really wreck a tour.
  
• A front rack would have helped with weight distribution. When I started shedding layers into my rear bags on the warm Saturday, plus carrying our food, souvenirs and Roxanne's tools, I had a hard time with the weight on the back rack on the damp parts. I think moving some weight to the front wheel would help considerably.
• I'm so glad each of us have racks. I can't imagine a trip like this with a backpack.
  
• The 700Cx35 tires were probably the minimum width I'd recommend for riding soft gravel and damp earth. I think a wider tire would have helped to carry the load more easily
• Technical fabricclothing (or old fashioned wool) should be used to replace Roxanne's sweatshirts. She got a little cold on the way out, due to perspiration clinging to her shirts.
• The security of packing lots of trail mix, cereal bars and the like was comforting, especially not knowing what the trail had in store for us. However, when we were hungry and needed a break, it was no problem to stop into the next town for food. Maybe we didn't need to pack so much to eat. On the other hand, had an emergency arisen and we needed to stay overnight on the trail, we would have been well prepared.
• Replace the grocery panniers with bags than can be closed. I lost a Tupperware lid and a sports drink bottle. I found the bottle on the way back. Roxanne's stowed sweatshirt bounced out once, but I saw it and picked it up.
  
• My Garmin eTrex Vista did very well on battery save mode. I was amazed that I was able to get both legs of the trip on to a single pair of high powered Energizer E2 batteries. You don't need a GPS to ride the Wabash, but it was nice tracking distances and times into the towns.
• An iPhone gets incredible battery life when not attached to any data network: wifi, 3G, or even Edge, and email fetching turned off.
  

Pictures

I obtained a simple Kodak EasyShare camera for this trip. I hoped to use a less expensive camera over my Olympus so that I wouldn't worry so much about dropping it on the trail. I also wanted a simple camera that could fit in my pocket so I could snap some pics while riding.

Pictures leaving Omaha


















Pictures leaving Shenandoah


















Video

I recorded a couple of short videos using the Kodak camera. The quality is low, but the camera made it easy to record the clips.

Vacationing In Shenandoah

Friday was a "do nothing/do anything" day on this short vacation. I wonder if Shenandoah is close enough to Omaha to be considered a "staycation" spot, but since we traveled 11 hours to get there, it felt like it was a world away.

We started with breakfast and then rode into Shenandoah's historic downtown shopping district. We looked in a few shops before spending some time at the Shenandoah Historical Society museum. The museum was a mix of local arts and crafts, natural history and exhibits of artifacts and photographs of Shenandoah and surrounding communities. The take-away here is that around 1880 all of these towns sprang up, thanks to the railroads. Then agriculture and the seed business fueled the development. In the early part of the 20th century, radio and music played important roles, as folks like the Everly Brothers got their start here.

Pictures

It's like I can't eat the oatmeal fast enough.

Peas in a pod.

Score. A direct hit.

Bike racks on almost every downtown corner.

The mammoth skull is named "Homer."

Neither Shenandoah nor Coin had streetcars. But years before Photoshop existed, postcard companies "Photoshopped" them into the street scenes.

V-Mail predates E-Mail.

Iowa banned artifically colored margarine.

An X-ray shoe fitting machine.

Yo, yo. Scratch your records here.

An 1897 bicycle race.

Check out the teeth spacing and the odd chain links.

The Essex graduating class of 1900.

Oohh... they are so dreamy.

Hats!

Lunch.

Vacation: Now that's what I'm talking about.

Back in Omaha, And Feeling Fine

We made it back to downtown Omaha by 5:00pm yesterday. There's lots of stuff to do around the house today, including Easter family stuff. Watch for a wrap up on the bike tour, plus some photos and video clips to appear here later.

Rest, Relaxation, and ... Laundry?!?

We could do this at home!

Actually, it's nice to be able to wash our sweaty cycling clothes before we head out tomorrow morning.

However, since we're using the house laundry soap, all day tomorrow I'll be sniffing the air thinking, "Who's following me?"


-- Post From My iPhone

Shenandoah Trip, Spring 2009

This week, Roxanne and I will be loading up a change of clothes, books to read, and some snacks and heading off to Shenandoah, Iowa for a weekend getaway vacation.

"Shenandoah," you say? "What's in Shenandoah?"


View Larger Map

Well, my friend, it's not what makes us go to Shenandoah, but how we get there that makes this vacation so anticipated.

Roxanne and I will be loading up this stuff and transporting it, and us, by bicycle down the famous Wabash Trace, which runs out of Council Bluffs, Iowa, south, almost all the way to Missouri. We'll stay a couple of nights, and then pedal back to Omaha.

It's roughly 20 miles from our house to the Wabash Trace trailhead, and then another 45 miles to Shenandoah. Certainly this isn't a long ride by RAGBRAI or BRAN standards, but this will be our first cycling tour, and longest single trip mileage yet. I guess this would be a metric century ride.

We both ride hybrid bikes, with fenders and a rack, so we should be comfortable on the ride porting all of our stuff. A hotel will shelter us as we relax and rest in Iowa's Garden City. It doesn't look like there's a lot to do from a tourist perspective, but in a way, that's the point; to relax and enjoy a couple of days in a small town, surrounded by a couple of days of cycling.

We're not taking computers, but I may still blog a bit using my phone and will be taking lots of pictures with a new pocket camera. Look for more updates on the Ask Directions? blog. I may also post on Redd Shift if there's something that draws my roving cyclist's eye.

ApacheCon2008 - Last Day in New Orleans

Today is the final day of ApacheCon 2008 for the folks who aren't staying for the "voluntourism" day Saturday. I think the idea of "voluntourism" is a great idea, and hopefully the idea will take off.

Yesterday I took the stairs down from the 40th floor to the first floor just for fun. Down is easier than up, but today my legs ache after siting around in sessions all day. I am sure I'll get a chance to work out the kinks walking around airports on the way home to Omaha.

The rain gave way to a not so steamy, but relatively dry afternoon. I did get a chance to snap some photos of the French Quarter (or maybe it was the Garden District? I never looked at a tourist map) over lunch. I will get those posted later.

I am still amazed at how narrow the streets are. Despite the high volume of traffic, including automobile, bicycle, and pedestrian, things seem to move along pretty well. I've never been to Europe, but I imagine this might be how the old, crowded European cities might look.

I learned some cool new things at ApacheCon, and had the opportunity to participate in a Birds of a Feather session on "Web Operations Battle Scars." I've got some ideas of things I want to try in the R&D environment, and if things work out, they may eventually work its way into production.

ApacheCon 2008 - Intro

Destination: New Orleans, Louisana, USA

Event: ApacheCon 2008

Goal: Learn more about Apache open source projects, with a particular emphasis on the HTTPD web server. I hope to gain more knowledge about how Apache HTTPD can better be used for high-volume, high-availability web sites. I also hope to learn more about simplifying configuration management, web search, logging strategies, and whatever else comes along. It would also be nice to network with other Apache HTTPD server admins and swap notes and war stories.

I also hope to have a little fun and get some rest with a full 8 hours of sleep each night in a big, soft, comfy bed with no distractions. I might even bring a book to read.

Updates: I will be experimenting with using this blog combined with photo blogging via Zannel.com and Shozu.com, and quick updates using Twitter.com. Feel free to interact with me via comments on the blog and replies to the twitter updates.