Day 8 - 30 Days of Biking

Day 8 of 30 Days of Biking was a pretty darn cool one because it gave me a chance to reconnect with my good friend, C.T.  It worked out great with me having the day off and him being off in the afternoon that we were able to meet up and ride together after a very long time of not doing so. 

Proud to sport the Greenstreet Cycles jersey

We decided to start our ride at Greenstreet Cycles bike shop in downtown Omaha.  *Real quick, I gotta give this shop a plug – if you are ever in the Omaha area, and you don’t stop in to Greenstreet Cycles, you’re missing out on a true bike shop experience.  It’s a small shop that specializes in cycling for fun, transportation, and even has the coolest shop dog ever, Copper – and 8 year old Golden Retriever who does nothing but share the love with all who walk in the doors.  Aside from some sweet rides, Greenstreet has a fabulous crew (Sarah, Vince, Jonathan, and Tony) that makes you feel welcome and works hard to help meet you cycling needs no matter what level of riding you do.  Every time I visit that shop, I always leave with a smile on my face.  SO CHECK IT OUT!  End plug*

From Greenstreet Cycles, C.T. and I rode around Epply Airfield, onto a city bike path and then out on the highway for our trip towards Fort Calhoun (a 20 mile trip).  The wind was at our backs for the majority of the way out, so it stayed on my mind that it would be in our face coming back, and we had several long hills to climb.  I struggled a little on the hills (I’ll blame my hip again lol), but enjoyed looking around at various roadside curiosities like farms, road kill, and an orchard!  As we rolled into Fort Calhoun we decided to stop at the gas station for some coffee.  It was a chilly day for a ride and for those of us that didn’t dress appropriately (ahem….C.T. in just bibs and a jersey) something warm was just what we needed.  We sat inside at a booth doing some much needed “catching up” for a little while and we were both feeling pretty good to be able to be riding together again. 

When we went back outside the temperature difference gave us goose bumps, although since I wore tights and a long-sleeved baselayer, mine weren’t visible.  I was sure to give C.T. plenty of flack about being cold and underdressed!  LOL sorry man!  We took a little bit different route back and it included plenty of climbing in the form of loooooong hills and rOoOoLLers.  It took a bit to get my legs warmed back up, but once I got a little more in the groove I was feeling fine.  The coolest part was going down this big decent that went on forever and at the bottom we turned onto our very own set of cobbles!  It was like Paris-Roubaix, Midwest-style lol, and of course, we pretended to be Cancellara for almost 100 yards.

Friends having coffee at the gas station - good times

After one last climb, we were in the home stretch back into Omaha.  Zig sagging our way back to the bike shop was a nice way to keep the legs spinning easy and I enjoyed it.  We stopped in the shop once more to talk to the crew, and of course pet Copper for a few minutes, before we got on the road to go get some grub.  A trip to Jimmy John’s was much overdue, and we inhaled out sandwiches with ease while talking about our ride.  It was a great end to a wonderful day!

Good friends and riding partners are not always easy to find, and while there may others that come and go, the good ones are always the people that you wish to be around.  I think being able to spend the day with a person that I haven’t spent time with in a while and do something that we are both passionate about was exactly what the two of us needed.  I’m glad we were able to get out there together.  Another fantastic day to be Loving the Bike J