Missouri River Flooding along Council Bluffs and Omaha Bike Trails

Pell and I rode out Sunday morning to check out how flooding has affected bike facilities between the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge in the north and the Veterans Memorial Bridge to the south.  What we found wasn't surprising, giving the history of flooding in some of these areas, but it was nice to document them with photos.

Please see the photos and captions below for some notes on the flooding.

Flood Gate #8.  Normally this is open to allow cyclists to access the Lewis and Clark Landing.

Flood Gate #8

Flood Gate #8.  Note the Bob Kerrey Bridge towers in the background.

The water is only a couple of feet from the top of the walk.

The view of the Omaha skyline from Council Bluffs.  This section of levee appears to have been fortified.

Harrah's Casino parking lot is flooded.  You can see geese on the gravel island.

The Iowa Riverfront Trail is officially closed heading south at Harrah's.

The bike trail passes underneath the parking garage.

The south side of the Harrah's Casino parking garage.

This water level photo shows the bike path simply slipping underneath the water.

The north side of the Ameristar Casino is flooded, as well.

The Iowa Riverfront Trail heading north is officially closed between Ameristar and Harrah's.

Not only is the bike trail closed heading south on River Road from Ameristar Casino, the road itself is closed.  Note the private security protecting the pumps and hoses running across the street.

The levee road heading south from the Western Historic Trails Center is closed.

The trail heading west from the Western Historic Trails Center is closed.

And this is why it's closed.  The trail is under 5-10 feet of water.

From this point on, we rode east to 24th Street in Council Bluffs and picked up the sidepath on Highway 92/275 (Veterans Memorial Parkway) and headed east back toward the South Omaha Bridge.

The trail is almost complete.  There's a missing section between the bridge and a block or so to the east.  The cement sidepath on toward the Willow's Motel is done, but still has "Sidewalk Closed" signs posted.

This used to be a gravel parking lot and trail access for dirt bike and ATV operators.

This looks like the river, but it's actually the motocross park just east of the river.

The Missouri River as seen from the Veterans Memorial Bridge bike path.

This is the first time I've seen the Omaha Riverfront Trail gate open north of the Veterans Memorial Bridge.  Cyclists normally have to lift their bikes over the gate.

This ramp was constructed to allow vehicles to pass over the pump hoses.

This facility is protected by sandbags.

Water is pumped across the levee back into a spillway to the Missouri River.

The pumps here were humming, creating quite a noise.

These hoses were not protected.  To our surprise, a a guy out siteseeing in his pickup truck drive right over the hoses.

There are several cabins and trailers on the wet side of the levee.  I wonder if they will come back after the water recede.

This house is underwater.

I heard that these ramps will flat a bike tire instantly.  I didn't even risk it, preferring to walk my bike over it.

Those welded on grips look very sharp to a high pressure tire.

The gate on the trail at Hickory Street was closed.  There was an OPD cruiser waiting, presumably for the guy in the truck.  The officers didn't say anything to us, but followed us on out to Hickory Street, moving barricades back into the street.

And for fun, Pell and I rode up Hickory Street Hill.

I like this view from the top of the hill in the Dahlman neighborhood.

I'd like to do a similar trip showing the Omaha and Council Bluffs trails heading north from downtown.

If you know of any other interesting spots showing flooding, please discuss below.

Omaha to Shenandoah for Lunch: 120 easy miles

My brother and I did it in October.  Chris G. rode along for part of he trip.  If you missed out in the fall, here's your chance to give it a try.  Read the post and see the route from October.

Saturday, June 18, 2011, Chris and I, and anyone else who wants to come along, will be leaving Turner Park at 6am and riding to El Portal in Shenandoah for thousands of calories of Mexican goodness.

If you want to come along, check out the details here.

Let Us Not Forget

I left my helmet at friend's house the other day and my fenders at home.

How does one forget a helmet?  Twice, I've done it now.  It's not so hard in the cooler months when I put on a cap under my helmet.  With the snug fit and the  brim visible over the brow, it's easy to pedal off thinking the helmet is on.

Cautiously, I pedaled off, paranoid that I'd hit some sand or crack and send my skull into a no win altercation with the street.  However, that feeling gave way to a sense of freedom.  Is this what it feels like to ride in Amsterdam?  A couple of potholes and a close pass from a car reminded me that this is Nebraska, and though I may never fall, I really need to keep my noggin protected, just in case.

Yesterday I forgot my fenders and my feet got soaked on the way home from work in the rain.

Fenders seem like an odd thing to forget.  My Earl has these groovy quick release fenders.  These aren't your dad's quick release fenders, with the flimsy rubber straps and thin wire stays that need constant adjustment.  These are sturdy fenders that connect into permanent mounts that stay on the bike.  When the fenders are mounted, they look and feel like permanently installed fenders.

I removed the fenders earlier in the week when it was so windy with 20-40 MPH gusts.  I figured it would be one less thing to catch the wind and slow my commutes.  Well, lazy me, didn't think to remount the fenders before the rain.  Most of me and my gear stayed dry, but I'd forgotten just how much fenders do to keep the feet from getting drenched.

You can see some photos of quick release fender mounts here.

Please share stories of things you've forgotten to bring on a bike ride in the comments below.

Goodbye Fat Jeans. Hello Skinny!

This post isn't exactly about cycling, but cycling plays such an important role in the subject.

Two and one-half years ago I started commuting to work by bicycle to save money and to attempt to get into shape.  I enjoyed bike commuting, but also began incorporating cycling into my daily life.  I learned to ride my bike, not only to work, but for grocery shopping, errands, and for fun.  I made many cycling friends and have since been on many long rides, as many as 120 miles in a day.  I've since moved closer to town and in addition to cycling to work, I can easily walk to work, the grocery store, movies, bars, restaurants, etc. Basically, I've tried to simplify and orient my lifestyle around active transportation.

When I started cycling to work, I weighed about 213 pounds.  I was able to get down to 188 within a year by cycling alone.  Then this summer, I decided to shift fitness into high gear by joining Weight Watchers.

After five months, I am now down to 165 pounds.  As an aside, I weighed 250 pounds about 10 years ago, and lost a lot of that by switching to a vegan diet.

Between cycling and sensible eating using the Weight Watcher system, I have lost almost 50 pounds.

If I count back to 2001, when I was at my heaviest, I have lost a total of  85 pounds, most of it lost by diet.

So now that I'm at a weight I like (perhaps even lighter than I was when I graduated high school), my plan now is to perform regular workouts to get into a better form and shape, both for cycling and general fitness.  So far, my sessions with a personal trainer are proving to be both fun, and productive.  I've lost another inch around my waist, and gained a little around my chest and arms.

If you've made it this far into my seemingly self-gratifying post, please note that this isn't about bragging.  Simply, I want to pass along to anyone reading this that weight loss is, indeed, possible, and within reach.  As a lifelong pudgy guy, I always thought the natural order of things was to get fatter and fatter as I aged.  Between my diet and exercise, I'm finding that it's not only possible to lose and keep off weight, but once the proper mind frame and motivation is found, it's not as hard and I imagined.

Many pairs of fat jeans are going to Goodwill. 

I much prefer the new skinny ones.

Weight Watchers tool help me track my progress.

I'd be remiss if I didn't shout out to my brother, Jason, who, over the past year, has lost 118 pounds through cycling.  He really put the fire under me and inspired me to get more serious with my weight loss plans.  Thanks, bro.

2010 Omaha Bike De'Lights

The 2010 Omaha Bike De'Lights ride was Friday, December 10.

Here are my photos and video from the fun event.

Videos

Photos

Getting Ready for Winter

For you readers in climes where it snows and ices over, I can assure you that you can, indeed, continue bike commuting through the winter. In my last post, you'll recall that I fitted some 35mm studded tires to my Trek Earl. The fit was tight, but I did seem to be able to get the fat tires on the skinny rims.

Last week I refitted the studs and rode the bike a few miles to the Omaha Bikes winter commuting clinic. I felt silly riding studded tires when it was nearly 70 degrees out, but I wanted to do two things:

• test ride the Earl with studs
• show the studded tires to the clinic participants

I also got a new rack and a waterproof Pacific Outdoor Equipment pannier. I think the pannier is actually supposed to go on a front rack, but it fits pretty well on the rear rack. Even though I am comfortable on my commutes with a Chrome shoulder bag, my theory is that a rear pannier might help keep weight over my rear wheel for better traction. Having a rack also helps for trips to the grocery store.

I had wanted to replace the 17 tooth single speed freewheel with a new 22 tooth freewheel, but I ran out of chain. Simply, the new cog was large enough that there wasn't enough chain to go around it. The larger cog also put the chain up so high that I couldn't keep the chain guard. The 44 tooth chainring on a 22 tooth cog will provide for a 2-to-1 pedaling ratio, which may be easy enough to power through snow on the streets. Since I couldn't fit the chain, I ended up riding the bike with it stock 44 tooth chainring on a 17 tooth freewheel. Talk about slogging up the hills!

Yesterday I got a new chain to use for the winter configuration and took the bike for a spin. Certainly climbing Omaha's hills on the 44x22 was super easy, but all I could do on the downhills and flats was to coast and coast and coast ...

At this point, I think I have everything ready for the first snow. All I need to do is put the studs back on and I'm ready to roll. However, I may trade the cogs again so that I can use the rack for Cranksgiving in a couple of weeks.

Here are some pics of the new configuration.

From this angle, the freewheel looks as large as the chainring.

The Pacific Outdoor Equipment bag features pockets just the right size for my
wingtips. None of my other shoes fit, however.