Colonic War

21 June 2020

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy Daze of Summer!  Here at last!  And there was much rejoicing!  My dad and I were able to get out for a nice spin and I even gave myself some credit by deigning to affiliate myself with the virtual Rollin’ to Colon 2020, which has been an enjoyable Father’s Day tradition for Dad and I for neigh unto a decade or so.

We hit a bit of the Chalco Hills trail, enjoyed the rolling hills of Highway 370, and then the recreational ease of the West Papio Trail and just a bit o' ye olde Keystoner.  

The weather was glorious and the only sadness I witnessed was a young lad who toppled from his noble steed in a decidedly inglorious manner. Fortunately shortly after the event he appeared to be receiving some excellent guidance about resilience and the rough and tumble nature of the bicycling experience from his mom. 

To prepare for this event I partook of a supplement whose recent expiration date inspired me to give it a go.  It was called Total War, and I think I got it as a reward for participating in a gravel ride a while back.  It was not bad tasting.  Kind of bananay.  I was and continue to me mildly wired, but not jittery as I sometimes become after consuming caffeinated substances.  It may or may not have allowed me to keep up with my inspirational 73-year old dad as we enjoyed a pleasant recreational bicycle outing.  

I knew I would get dropped like a bag of underipe grapes if I was not bringing my A or B+ game to this event, especially after staying up later than usual the night before in order to enjoy a smart, dramatic zombie film!  

Speaking of total war, I would be remiss in not mentioning what the hell is going on with the police violence against black Americans!?  It needs to stop.  As you may be aware, there are many organizations that support progress towards fairness and justice.  Also, I exhort you to choose your political representatives with care in order to try to help.  In some parts of the US, bike rides have been effective ways to spread the message that this shit ain’t right and we gotta stop it.  

One love.

BSO

Recreational Fun and a Pint!

April 26, 2020

Dear Family,

I hope that you are doing alright and that your health is good.  

I went for another recreation bicycle outing today and it was a blast!  I rode past an olden, hilarious trailer with the Clark Erection Co. moniker, still quite legible but faded, emblazoned gloriously upon its broad side.  It was right across the creek from a large Pink Construction Co. conex storage unit. Ahhh.  All is right with the world.  Sure I could have taken some photos, but then it wouldn’t have felt so intimate.

It was nice and warm so I had a hard time withdrawing, I mean turning around to head back.  I found that a fairly large group of people were out on a memorial/remembrance walk for Payton Lester, a boy who had a very short life.  Due to the COVID-19-asaurus, I did not find out any additional details about the young fellow, although I liked the "Payton is my Hero" t-shirts they were sporting.  As I was out on the Keystone Trail heading south, I found that the trail was closed at Capehart Road, 

so I rambled about for awhile.  I took a neighborhood recreational trail

and 25^thStreet south until I reached Fairview Road, headed east, then headed back north on Fort Crook Road.  The City of Bellevue had fairly recently decided it didn’t want some of its bike lanes, and I found some evidence of this along Fort Crook Road, which had a few parts with not much of a shoulder.  

Ouch.  Why you do me like that?

Be that as it may, at least the signs were still erect.  

I was happy to see a pretty good bike lane on Capehart Road as I headed back west to the Keystone Trail.  

On my way home I noticed a lone bicycler sitting out on a picnic table behind the strip mall that contains both Kros Strain and Pint9 breweries.  He was drinking a tall boy and so I quickly interrogated him and found that I could get some beer to go from either store!  

I quickly availed myself of this option and had a pint whilst chit-chatting with Phil for awhile.  He informed me that in the Des Moines, Iowa area he once rode for 150 miles (in one day!?) just on paved multi-use trails and that he never used the same trail twice!  I was mightily impressed.  While, it turns out the Des Moines area claims 550 miles of bike routes (although about 170 miles are shared with automobiles, hopefully they don't get any ideas from Bellevue!)!  And now that BRAN has been cancelled, maybe I’ll just head out to DesMoines and ride around on some sweet trails for 2 or more days and see what kind of trailside breweries are available.  

Well, that is a brief summary of my day.  I hope yours has been equally or more satisfying.  Many blessings from the middle of (US o’) America.  

Love,

BSO

PS:  Here is an optional bike-related video for your enjoyment and/or bafflement

Gravel ho!

June 14, 2015

Salutations!  I have been out doing some recreational bicycling lately and it was quite enjoyable.  I rode this bicycle.  

Rich rode this bicycle.  

We are planning on bicycling on some gravel next Saturdy.  Big Fondu Dy, I her.  There are other opportunities that weekend as well, why it’s the Rollin’ to Colon weekend, too!  So you really have no reason not to enjoy an organized bicycling event, unless you hate organization.  And if you really hate organization, then you probably shouldn’t be reading, because communication with words requires organization. 

Les be real hear.  Rolling on gravel doesn’t sound all that great, but I guess it might be fun.  And I’ve been told there’s a nice beer drinking opportunity following the dusty, arse-bruising, spine-jarring sojourn through some rural landscapes. 

So Rich and I rode around for awhile today.  We saw a camp.  

We saw a big truck and some heavy equipment. 

We saw some typical Omaha outskirts landscapes (i.e., nuveau chateaus avec le olde rustic avec accentes beaucoup, ole!).  

We even saw a gravel rode, butt we din’t hav tim fer it.

So huzzah to the gravelly grunting a head.  I am as reedy as I will ever bee.  Buzzzzzz or buzzzkilll?  Tim wil til, tim wil til.