B road sunrise...W. A St., 210-224.
Gravel to Norfolk, actually Battle Creek, has been on my radar for a some time now. Just been waiting for the right time & definitely the right wind. The route...roll out W. Claire & work my way to David City, West to Duncan & Monroe for the two Elkhorn River crossings & then a straight 40 something mile shot North to Granma Jenny's.Only one flat & one bad turn. MMR up North can be like trying to ride on a beach, or a sand dune. So basically...unrideable at times. I ended up run/walking a 1/2 mile section when I bogged down trying to grind through it. The section started out an awesome meandering double track but about a quarter mile in the sand dune section began & that was where the hike-a-bike commenced. I was able to ride out the other side, barely. My experience in this section must not have adversely affected me because 4 miles from the end of my trip I hit another section & was faced with a choice...detour 3 miles around it or go for it. I went for it, this one wasn't as severe. I managed to keep the pedals turning as I passed a deer carcass on a fence post to my right & then a coyote carcass on the ground a little later on my left.
Nursed a slow leak to Duncan...
The beach...355th Rd. 5 miles South of Monroe...
Here's a interesting side note...the entire ride I had only one car pass me from behind, sweet! This fact is made even more poignant because I spent a bunch of time zig-zagging the roads trying to find a good line in very loose gravel. Our groomed gravel in Lancaster County is a luxury.
The ride, basically uneventful. Point a to point b. I will mention the folks I visited with in the convenience store in David City were very nice. A customer wanted to know the details of my quest and the counter lady was very pleasant. To all the haters in Cortland, that is how its done.
I've got a few pics I'll post later when I can.
Sunday breakfast, round 1...
I saw some ToDR pics, sorry I missed it. Looked like a great time.
Later,
TK
4 comments:
Yes! Nice work. That's a real good pace. Looking forward to hearing about it.
That's big miles. I used to do stuff like that back in my younger days. Did a double metric century one day. Basically I was on the bike as the sun came up and got off as it was going down. I'm glad I don't do that anymore. Something nice about getting on the bike now knowing that i'll be off in 90 minutes or less!
Nice Nebraska geography there. As a former Nebraskan I am thinking of those towns. My dad still tells stories about Duncan softball in the summer. My grandma lives in Newman Grove so that's right in the hood. Good riding. Keep in mind for us mortals that's like the same mileage as doing a classics race (Milan San Remo, Ronde, whatever) but the PROs have climbing and cobbles and attacks to deal with. Wow.
Mark - I was just saying the other day how "easy" CX season was with the shorter time commitments...I'm having a great time though.
Carp - nice hearing from you. I did a road loop once up there took me through Newman Grove then Madison & up 81 to Norfolk. Funny...the toughest hills I encountered on my gravel journey last Saturday were on West A, still in Lancaster County.
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