Oak Creek Trail Ride

Just when you thought I completely abandoned this blog I make a post!

My phone app tells me that my girl Linda and I have been on 947 miles of rides together since Jan. 26th of this year. These miles encompass all kinds of good rides: cold gravel rides, fast road rides, spring race rides, hot Monday Night dirt rides and many many miles of Rail-Trail rides. Our most recent bike adventure was the Oak Creek Trail ride from Valparaiso, NE. to Brainard, Nebraska.

The Oak Creek Trail occupies a former Union Pacific Railroad corridor in the eastern part of Nebraska. It is the most rural and peaceful trail we have found. While the trail is only about 1 hour from both Omaha and Lincoln, it connects two towns with populations of less than 600 with little development in between. The Oak Creek Trail has great views. Linda and I began our journey at the trail's southeast point in Valparaiso. From here the trail has an oak tree corridor. It has some high bridges crossing creeks that were recently very full. Just north of the trail's midpoint, trail users enter the tiny community of Loma. Restrooms are located just off the trail near St. Luke's Czech Catholic Shrine—established by Czech immigrants in 1911—in the center of town. This town had several abandoned houses and businesses that appear to have been untouched for years.

As we rode northwest, the trail follows the top of a picturesque ridge. Here we found some of the nicest wild plums we have encountered so far this year.

For the next several miles, natural prairie stretches as far as the eye can see. At Brainard we found the original train tracks were still laid adjacent to the trail. After a little searching I was able to find a loose railroad tie as a souvenir of our ride.

We rode the same trail back but faster since we did not need to sightsee as much. Also the trail is more downhill in the southeast direction. Linda screamed loudly as she ran over a large bull snake. But then we she found a small turtle that she was not afraid of.

This was an unexpectedly great ride and one of many fantastic memories Linda and I have made together. We are looking forward to some great fall night rides coming up soon.

Manawa MNR

I'm averaging about a post a month here lately. I'll try to keep things going with a Monday Night Ride post. Last Saturday a group of about 10 THOR volunteers gathered at the Manawa Trails to cut brush and do maintenance on about 6 miles of existing trail. Once the work was done we were too tired to ride so we decided the MNR should take place at Manawa this week.

The rain we got in the morning only settled the dust and the trail was in great shape for this ride. We rode two laps. On the second lap we were noticing more moisture in the air. By the time we were finished a bit of fog rolled in along the river and it felt like we were riding in a cloud.

Back in the parking lot, Dave P surprised us by cutting his second lap short and firing up his grill which was really nice. We did some good carpooling and Chris P rode over from his job by the westroads and got a ride back to the hood. Good times!

Dale's Ogre

...and the creepy van by the river.

Creek Ride with my Dad

My Dad is no stranger to a bike. I'm pretty sure riding single track dirt trails was not any kind of cycling my Dad has done in the past. His most recent riding has been the crushed limestone of the Mopac Trail in Lincoln. You couldn't tell he was new to mountain biking by his riding skills. He did great. We rode the creek sections at Tranquility. While there was not much climbing or fast descents those trails can be twisty and tricky. At first he followed but I think it was better for him to lead the way and see more of the trail ahead. We met up with Greg and he joined us for part of the ride. Solid quote of the day from my Dad sending these photos, "Here's proof that you do run into good friends while bike riding on dirt trails." Agreed... My Dad seemed to be enjoying the stability of the 29+ Surly Krampus. So the timing of it's arrival this week could not have been better. We stopped a few times to talk and meet up with some of the other regulars out on the trail. My Dad was seeing parts of the papio creek that he has not seen in several decades. Back then his viewing was from a national guard helicopter while surveying flood damage on the papio creek. There have been many rides around Tranquility over the years. Some have been better than others. Today's was by far the best. Thanks for wanting to ride some trails Dad!

Warm November Trail Ride

The buzz around the cubicle farm at work this week was we are riding Calvin Crest this weekend. Finally, Alroy, Chris B. and Nick are going to experience the trail awesomeness that I've been telling them about. Bryce and Dale were also free to ride so the 6 of us met up for a Saturday morning Calvin Crest adventure. It's weird November weather when the temps are already close to 70 degrees by mid morning. It made riding the single track that much nicer.

After the first lap I rode ahead to take some video.

The beavers are still busy dropping trees along the river trail. There were plenty of firsts on the ride. First ride at CC for the West PMO riders. Dale's first ride on his Surly Ogre. My first ride after trimming my handle bar ends back by 3/4 inch (great decision). Even with a few crashes it seems like everyone liked the ride and wants to go back real soon. Great ride!

This is the tower on the north side of the trail.

This is Alroy's view from the tower.

Chris had a narrow escape almost getting kabobed by a tree. But he survived the drop over the 20ft dropoff behind him.

Thanks for the photos Alroy!

How to get on the singletrack at Calvin Crest

If you have not been to Calvin Crest to ride the single track this will give you a feel for how to find it. When you arrive at Calvin Crest you will see a basketball court on the left side of the gravel road. Please park in the large parking lot by this basketball court. See the map for the path (in orange) from the parking lot to the singletrack.

For the rules and up-to-date information on trail closures go to this link www.calvincrest.org/Mt_Biking_Trails.php And finally, this is a great video by Mark Sullivan that gives a riders view of how to get into the singletrack at Calvin Crest. This is a great fall destination! See you out there. -Paul

A trail bridge too far

The mission for the THOR brigade for today, build an alternate bridge at Calvin Crest. The sway cable bridge is nice but the bike traffic is putting a bit of stress on it and it would not be suitable in race conditions.

About a hundred yards upstream a new bridge was constructed out of two 17ft telephone polls and treated 2X4s. There was a large crew working the bridge and trail on both sides of the now dry creek. Using a tow strap tied to the heavy poles they were dragged into place.

It was Cody's job to guard the planks.

Once the job was finished there was the matter of a quality assurance load test.

And then the ride...

And finally, DMARS...

CC Trail Day September 23, 2012

Click here for more photos.

THOR in the local news

Good news, THOR, our trail work organization, was on the channel 6 news last night. It was fun to see our friends from the Monday Night Ride at Tranquility on TV. Eric Geiger and Roxanne Feagan did a great job with the interview.
The link to the story:
Volunteers Build And Maintain Mountain Bike Trail In Omaha

snapped

I got a big surprise on my ride in to work this morning. It was on the right side of the pavement on the Big Papio trail. I was looking around and off into the distance and then I noticed just before I was about to hit it. I made a quick swerve and it snapped out at me. It was a large snapping turtle. It was abut the size of a large frozen turkey. I stopped, went back and snapped this photo.

Check out www.singletracks.com and win THOR a grant!

There is a good trails website called www.singletracks.com . Why do I say it's good? It's one of the best resources I have found on the web to get information about trails I have not visited yet. There are also well written, interesting articles and photograhy about trails. For these reasons alone it's worth checking out www.singletracks.com.

Now there is an even BIGGER reason to join. They will select the two (2) $500 grant recipients on June 1, 2012 based on which clubs have the most singletracks members associated with the club. Each club has a page on singletracks.com but this link says more about this opportunity to win THOR a grant. If you are a friend of THOR, help us win!

First 2012 THOR Trail Day @ Tranquility

Tranquility Park Trailwork, this Saturday, March 10th, from 08:30-09:30AM. Meet at west entrance, 126th Street and Fowler. Tree trimming needs to be done, especially on the NorthHill Descent due to the heavy snow bending the evergreen branches down. Bring handsaw, loppers and maybe a rake. We will walk other sections clearing out of the mow zone (trail corridor) the deadfall and garbage from the high winds. Meet at the Fowler Street West Entrance (Green Placemark on Map)

View Tranquility TH in a larger map

MNR/MNS

(Monday Night Ride/Monday Night Snowshoe) Some did the ride and some were on snowshoes last night. We got a little bit more snow yesterday on top of the crusty snow we already had. Dave and I didn't want to fall down on our "skinny tire" Mountain Bikes. So we set off packing down the snow for Chris P, Mike W, and Dale. It was a cold night but there was no wind and the fog rolling in added some nice effect. Dave rigged up snowshoe lights...

Dale - Fat Tires, we don't need no stinking Fat Tires!

Chris P and Mike W - Ten pounds of air is too much.

Paul and Dave - Is there snowshoeing in the Winter X Games?
Not a great video but gives you the idea

Fat Bikes and Showshoes

The snow hadn't stopped falling when we got out to play over at Tranquility this afternoon. The wet heavy snow packed nicely but there was quite a bit of it to pack.

The long awaited arrival of Chris P's Pugsley is over. It's a beautiful thing and has a custom - one of a kind paint job. The green fading to black is really nice.

I started the afternoon out on my snowshoes. Jena and I helped pack down a loop north of the creek while Chris and Mike rode their fat bikes.

Mike and Jena were searching for sporting goods that will probably get found in the spring.

Mike's hands stay warm with mits that attach to his bars. After a while I couldn't wait any more and had to try riding my SS. It was challenging but fun. Great to get outside.

Chris is making it look easy.

Big Mike has to duck for the log arch.

Mr. Wong has a passenger of the abominable sort.

Chris and Mike packin it down.

THOR Annual Members Meeting

Date:
Saturday, February 11, 2012

Time:
9:00am until 12:00pm 

Place:
National Parks Service Office
601 Riverfront Drive, Omaha, NE


Agenda:
- successes/challenges of 2011
- plan for 2012.


Other Good Stuff:
Coffee and donuts will be available. If weather permits, a gravel ride will follow.