I thought by this time I’d have been out to re-visit some of my favorite bike haunts. My plans have been thwarted by the fact that it’s been raining every day and I know better than to ride any dirt levee roads when it’s like this. The hard surface roads can be a mess too, so I got some long overdue fenders yesterday. At least between rains we’ve gotten to see how progress on the […]

This time next week I’ll be back to teaching English and riding my bike around Zhoukou for another ten months. That was not originally the plan, but there was no one lined up to replace us, so I said I’d do it again, one more time. There are still many places I never got to see and explore, so now I’ll have the chance. If you want to know more about anything in particular let […]

This year the masterminds behind Lincoln’s increasingly popular gravel-road sufferfest, Gravel Worlds, introduced an option for those of us who are new, under-trained to do 150 miles in a day, or only slightly crazy: the Gravel Worlds Privateer, a 75-mile (officially) noncompetitive gravel ride following much of the same route as the full event. Last year, with only the 150-miler as an option, I had all of two months of gravel riding experience before I […]

Many of us have a favorite ride of the year, the one we look forward to most. For some, it may be Trail Trek. Others count the days until Jingle Cross, or the Tour de Nebraska. We all have our favorites. For me it’s Gravel Worlds, and it was this last weekend. Why we should look forward to this sufferfest is hard to explain, but since this was my fourth, there must be some reason […]

Whether we’re taking it easy or crushing it on the trails and roads around Lincoln, we are experiencing nature around us in some form. Do you know what it is you’re seeing? If you ride by some of the prairies, such as Fletcher prairie on the Mopac at 105th St., you can see a re-creation of what the area might have looked like as tallgrass prairie. It may look at first glance like a large […]

Our excellent trail system in and around Lincoln is a resource all of us who use it are happy to have. Whenever a piece of it is disrupted, especially a heavily used segment, all kinds of opinions are weighed and verdicts handed down. Cyclists want safe and well engineered routes, wide enough to pass with an “on your left” that everyone hears and understands to mean slower traffic keeps to the right. Walkers and runners […]

An interesting fact rolled in front of my eyes this past week. Of women registered to race in Gravel Worlds this August 19, there are more master women, those over 40 years of age, (25) than those under (18). It’s not the case for master men (over 50 years of age) where it’s 87 to 224. Registration is capped at 500 for the full 150 miles, and at 300 for the new half-distance race. Dirty […]

For three years, I rode the same route, year-round. I knew every crack and pothole. I knew where ice would form in the shady spots. I navigated the most dangerous intersections on my route with aplomb, never startled by bad driver behavior. I collected just the right bags and lights and coats and locks, over a long process of trial and error. I cemented my reputation as a bike commuter among colleagues. And then I […]

By this time in the summer everyone should be acclimated to their bikes and putting in their big miles. Ragbrai is going on next door in Iowa. The Mountain Bike events of the Cornhusker State Games were this past weekend, with the rest of the cycling events this coming weekend. The Rapha 100 km is in the books. Or you’re ready to to do some epic bike packing and touring, but you’re really getting annoyed […]

Someone asked me the other day what I missed most about China and today I thought of one more thing. The tree covered B-roads. As much as I love riding the gravel roads around Lincoln, when I’m broiling under the hot sun I think of how nice it was to be in the shade of the poplars around Zhoukou. They know how to squeeze out a use for every bit of land there and many […]