Wednesday, August 20, 2008

ponca 2008





for the last 4 years a group of lincolnites have ridden from lincoln,ne to ponca,ne. all gravel roads, pretty much striaght north. leave early morn, get there before sunset. stay in a group all day. camp that night and drive back with some friends that drive up the day before with our gear. it's between 155 and 165 miles depending on where you're leaving from in town.

this year it took 16hrs to go north. and this year a few of us agreed to ride home. and that took 14hrs. we cheated a bit with some highway shoulder but 310miles in two days nonetheless.

thanks for cornbread for the pics. i broke my saddle on the way up and had to shim it with a wad of duct tape between the saddle shell and the top of the seatpost. of course, it failed at mile 30. so the rest of the way on a ride-able but painful saddle. i switched it out to a friend's saddle that his wife drove up since she was camping too. the tire lever fix was my first attempt. it didn't work well.

i've got the route on a series of maps i printed from garmin software. it shows all the gravel and paved roads. pretty much a big grid untill you get up north or around the platte river. in 4 years i have the route pretty much in my head, but i like to check it alot so we don't get off track and waste a bunch of daylight.

we'll try to keep this as an yearly event. it sure is a good time.