Springtime Fun Ride!

April 14, 2012

It's pretty cool to see new things and places sometimes, don't you think? I saw some new stuff during my participation in the inaugural Ride for Sight this morning. It was a mysterious event. Intriguing. Which I think is a good strategy to get people interested. It also forced me to pay attention to where I was going for a change. Here is the map for the ride.

As you may be able to discern, the map is difficult to discern. It was even more difficult to discern because it was my first organized bicycling experience for the season.  I was stoked!  As were many of my compatriots.  This state of stokeness was somewhat distracting when trying to navigate.  (the blister is from applying steel wool to my wheel rims to enhance braking.  And yes, I was wearing gloves!)

I think this was a deliberate, cagey ploy by ride organizers to make the event more like a scavenger hunt/poker run. Signs were few. A few worn, arrows painted at the occasional intersection, pointing indeterminate directions. People roved and rambled across the highways and byways. Scampering about like the abundance of urban animals that seem to have been actively posing for my photos lately. Here is a woodchuck (nevermind, the woodchuck was quite shy, and did not care for paparazzi as much as I think I would).
Here are some geese.

Here are what I suspect were grebes.

And, behold, the majestic turkey.

And here are what I suspect are all American coots. 

The start/finish area was shrouded in mysterious mist as things were getting underway.

The route was quite scenic and the cloud cover facilitated my curious gazing around. We rode through some dunes created by river sediment during the big flood. There were ruins and condemned homes here and there. On the way back I paused to enjoy some of the cultural features. My favorite was the Riverfront Trail, shown briefly in this video clip.

This trail stretches from the downtown area up to Boyer's Chute.  About 19 miles.  Some sections are closed due to bridge work and some flood sediments that haven't yet been cleared.  Here's some additional info on the Riverfront Trail as well as some other local favorites.

I also enjoyed the lawn sculptures at this residence.

We rode past Hummel Park and a steep trail up to a kind of cave in the side of a loess cliff.

This ride was organized/sponsored by the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Whole Foods, and with beer provided by Nebraska Brewing Company.

According to a knowledgeable party, approximately 320 registered riders and 50 walk-on riders participated and/or contributed. The ride raised funds for eye surgery for Haitians.  A local eye surgeon will be travelling to Haiti to perform the operations.

New York Times photo, one particular bicycle ride.

On my way home I noticed that Jimmy Buffet is in town. Jimmy is not only an avid aeroplane pilot, he is also occasionally known to straddle a bicycle as shown here.

I could be wrong, but I don't think Jimmy made it out to the ride.  Next time, though.

Not a bad Saturday. I even made it back before the heavy rains unleashed their irritation upon the earth.