Variety

In playing with the new camera on the trails today, I came to the realization that there is a significant variety in the terrain at Potters. There are rolling grass covered hills, rooty chutes, dry, dusty plateaus, swampy lowlands, cedar enclosed benches, and much more. CQ and I spent some time scouting an extension to Hornitos that bypasses the swamp at the lowest point along the road. There will be a lot of tree cutting, but the higher bypass will keep us out of the heavy vegetation and muck of the old route.

Near the drop in at the top of Hornitos

Near the middle section of Church Grove.

At the highest point along Hornitos.

Just before the final descent on Hornitos.

The last switchback on Cedar Ridge.

I'm not yet as familiar with the new Panasonic Lumix LX3 as I'd like to be. The last shot on Cedar Ridge just doesn't look quite right, it's so much greener that pictured. The LX3 is a great quality trail camera, but it may not go on every ride, because I'm afraid of smashing repeatedly like the old Nikon.

P.S. All photos above feature CQ on his Salsa Big Mama.

Old news, but you must check this out.

Head on over to Mitch Kline's site to check out the rest of the 12 photo set of pics from one of his visits to the pasture last year.

Last Week in Review

Last week there was a bit of action at the pasture. Too much riding, not enough time for blogging.

On Tuesday, Paul borrowed a Grasshopper mower and cleared a swath through the jungle in the valley. I hit some areas with a weed whacker, but Paul did most of the work. If you see Paul say thanks. Also, we need to take up a collection to help pay for fixing the mower.

On Thursday, Chad worked the pit crew for the "pasture shuttle"after I hit the upturned cattle guard on the north side of the gate. We met up with Kristy Holland (thanks again for the use of the vice grips) who was passing through on the way to an adventure race in Fairbury. Kristy rode a couple of loops and did some GPS mapping for a national magazine.

OK, so this pic is about 60% of what I was going for . . . ah the life of an amateur photographer.

More Grass

The rains keep coming and the grass keeps growing.

Can you see the stock tank directly in front of the vehicle?

We ended up moving to higher ground away from the saturated valleys and did some trail work on "Horsehoe Canyon" The cordless sawzall made tree work much faster.

The newly cleared section on "Horseshoe Canyon". This new route extends the trail by following the edge of the canyon and flowing more with the contour of the land.

Eastern Nebraska

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to hit Platte River State Park with distance rider extraordinaire, Matt Gersib, and the 26th most popular cyclist on the web, Guitar Ted. Guitar Ted has an excellent write up on his blog, just follow the link above.

My perspective is from someone who rides in the dry, open, West. It's amazing how much of a difference there is between, Eastern Nebraska and Western Nebraska trails. Platte is a tight, foliage enclosed roller coaster. It's a blast, but was I ever slow. No spring training will do that, I suppose. At Platte, you have to remain focussed since the trail is always changing directions. They really made use of a tight space - very efficient trail design. I think we could take some cues from Platte in the new extension of Cedar Ridge and the new festival camp loop.

Sorry for the lack of pics, nothing from the camera turned out . . . it's time to ditch the little P&S, blow the dust of what I learned in college photojournalism, and take some real pics . . . right after I finish these summer classes, mow the lawn, bleed a pesky rear brake, paint the living room, housebreak the monkey . . . you know, the usual stuff.

I the rain holds off today, a fast loop at Potter's may be on order.

Grass

A few weeks of wet weather + sunshine and warm days in between = GRASS!

The green stuff has been growing like the Federal Budget Deficit. The cows are not yet in the pasture, so their consumption has not had the usual mitigating effect. The mower will be coming out soon. If you are riding at the pasture, be prepared for some overgrowth.

If you look closely, you can see CQ disappearing into the sea of green.

He's still there . . .

Perfect Again

Temps were in the 60s, wind was light, and the trails were in great shape. We worked on photographing most of Church Grove and Hornitos (pics in a future post). It appears that word is getting out since there were a couple of travelers hanging out and riding when we rolled into camp around noon.

CQ on the entrance to Hornitos, it's trickier than it looks in this photo.

TV approaching the middle of Hornitos.

Llama navigating the last rut near the end of Hornitos (yes, again) .

Potters Pasture - Updates to Come

Just a FYI to left the folks checking in from Guitar Ted's site and looking for Ballyhoo information . . . a couple of updates are in the works over here that will highlight various trail features and give a broader look at the history of the area.

Thursday Night Dirt

An old schoolmate was in town, so we broke from the normal schedule and fit in a weekday night ride out at the pasture.

The skies looked a bit threatening, but the rain held off until we were off the trail.

Jason Kline finishing the big descent on Hornitos.

Paul's new trail signs look great. The spring trail work is really starting to make things much easier to navigate for the uninitiated.

The regular summer trail builders are getting ready to start their work. Just a few cows in the pen, but I'm sure the rest are on the way.

Oh yea, watch out for tics. They are the thickest I have seen in recent memory. Keep moving, don't stop or they will get you.

Another Spring Camp Out Recap

For a couple of intrepid individuals, the Spring Camp Out began with a cold, rainy ride on Friday night.

We put in a few miles in daylight and finished off the ride with a blast down "Hornitos" with headlamps blazing. It's amazing how much deeper the valleys appear in the dark. The ride was relatively uneventful, no one had any near collisions with cows (as in years past).

Saturday began with a morning ride followed by some hiking to stretch the legs before the rest of the crew arrived.

The main ride of the day was a great loop featuring "Sweetness", the newly improved "Two Dogs", "First Way", "Church Grove", and "Hornitos". You can see Kelly and Jesse negotiating the last cut on "Two Dogs' in the picture above.

The new "Festival Camp" has plenty of room (especially before the crew arrived).

On the Saturday morning ride, Kelly, Chad, and I stumbled upon "Jim from Aspen" loading up in the regular camp (we were all over at the new festival campsite). It was great to see someone from out of the area enjoying the place. Sorry we didn't get to ride with you, Jim. Maybe we'll get a loop in on your return trip.