|
|
Dennis (a Ham Radio/cycling friend) and I headed to Nebraska City to check out the Steamboat
Trace. The trail head is South of Nebraska City. Once you get to the trail
head, you need to ride 0.6 miles south until trail
Steamboat Trace begins.
Now, we knew it might be windy, but with the trees and the
bluffs, figured we would be sheltered. For about the first 6+ miles we
were sheltered. The ride was pretty good, considering we were mostly
riding into the wind. Our goal was riding to Peru.
All that
changed. We came out of the woods into the open. Over a mile we were
riding right into the wind - guessing about a 20 mph wind (more on that
later). The map that was retrieved on the web site lead us to believe
the ride from the Nebraska City trail head to Peru would be about 8-10
miles.
In the woods, we were riding at about 10-13 mph. Out in the open, at times we
were down to 6-7 mph!.
When
we reached 10 miles, still riding into the windy and mostly in the
clear, we gave up. For what we could gather, it would be another 2+
miles to Peru, we did not have the energy to do that in the wind.
The
ride back was a "breeze". On the open section, I clocked the wind at 20
mph. That's the speed I was riding to get the point where I could not
feel any wind.
A note about the Steamboat Trace - it needs a lot
of work. The crushed limestone trail bed is badly eroded in areas. I
was happy that I rode my mountain bike rather the hybrid with the rigid
fork. It would have been nice to have a full suspension bike!
Here are photos I took on that ride:
|
Ride of Discovery
