June 9, 2021
Day 4: Kimball, NE to Scottsbluff, NE
This was a route I’ve done before. I rode the 2019 Tour-de-Nebraska, and it stopped in Kimball before continuing to Scottsbluff.
Great road! Hwy 71 is smooth with a rumble-strip, wide shoulder, and very light traffic. There are two traffic lanes so almost everyone moved over to give me room.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Here’s a plane dusting crops just as I was leaving Kimball.
The first half of the ride was rolling farmland. As far as the eye could see…
Eventually the Wildcat Hills came into view. I needed to get over those.
The rock formations are certainly interesting. I could imagine seeing those out my window every day instead of the Rocky Mountains.
Then came the longest climb of my ride so far. I didn’t measure the distance – 4-5 miles I think but the grade gets up to 6% at times. I did pretty well – only stopping to take this picture:
It was a long climb (at 94 Fahrenheit!) and I stopped at the top at the Wildcat Hills Nature Center. This is recommended if you’re in the panhandle – nice scenery and lots of birds. Then the downhill side of the Wildcats was amazing – I got up to around 35mph, even with my super-unaerobic setup!
I got into Scottsbluff around noon. I’m ashamed to say I bailed on the tent camping for tonight – it’s so hot! After riding for hours my tolerance for setting up and then trying to sleep in a hot tent is almost gone. So I found a hotel room.
This was a good thing as I had time to box up 12 lbs of stuff I have now figured I just don’t need on this trip, and send it home. I listened too hard to my boy-scout side when planning and overthought things. I’m now 12 lbs lighter, which should help. I also stopped at a local bike shop to get an annoying squeak from my front brake taken care of.
Today’s standout track was “My Pet Coelacanth” by Deadmau5. No words to speak of, but a good beat that helped me up that long hill!
Heading to Oshkosh in the morning…
Today's ride: 45 miles (72 km)
Total: 245 miles (394 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |