Reply to Our Labor Day Week Trip on the Cowboy Trail

I must say, we really enjoyed the trail. A few places were pretty tough (either thorns or a bit mushy), but it did make for a bit more of an adventure than just a bike ride. A little review of our trip is outlined below, I did take some clips on my Go-Pro and am going to try and splice them together showing conditions of the trail, and a little bit of our ride. I'll probably break them down by the day of the ride:

A Lot of Fun With a Little Adventure


DAY 1

We’d driven over from Hannibal to St. Joseph the night before and started North toward Sioux City/Omaha on Saturday Morning, Driving along we stopped and had a bit of lunch and a brew at Divots Brewery in Norfolk. Great Beer and Great Cheeseburger. Then we continued on our route out Hwy 20, toward Valentine, seeing all of the towns we’d be riding through on Sunday over the next three days, as we went along. We’d gotten a room at the Raine Motel in Valentine, and had arranged a rental car so we could drive Lisa’s car down to Inman and have a way back to Valentine. So we got checked in, the car company had left our car at the Raine Motel, and we were off, seeing all of the road from North to South the way we’d ride it. Got to Inman, and left Lisa’s car on the square (or street anyway), and headed back to Valentine. We stopped at Chesterfield West in O’Neill and had a salad, then back to our Motel for the evening.

DAY 2

The weather forecast for the day had changed and went from a high of 89 to a high of 100. We stopped by the McDonalds for a bit of breakfast, and then we started out from Valentine about 7:00 so we could ride earlier in the morning and miss the midday heat. The trail was just a block or two north of our Motel, so it was easy to get to and we were off. Riding along just before the sun came up, brisk chill in the air, and clear skies, it was an exhilarating feeling. We met one other biker that was out that early riding about 10 minutes into our ride. He had his dog with him.

We got to the Niobrara Bridge right about 7:40 AM and the sun was just on the horizon to the East North East, and steam was coming off of the water forming a fog in the low lying valley around the river. We stayed for a bit, enjoying the vista that were the inspiration for our trip out. Then we were on our bikes again going down the trail to the South East. Mostly crushed red granite and granite dust, it wasn’t the compacted limestone of the Katy Trail, but it was ridable, and fairly firm underneath our bikes.

Along the trail I saw one box turtle, one dead porcupine (the first I’d ever seen in the wild albeit dead), some small snakes, and on track across the gravel of a big snake about the size of my forearm I’d guess.

We got to the Arabia Ranch for our first snack and drink of the day, then rode on. A few miles down the trail at about mile 19, we jumped off on to the road as the vegetation had pretty much taken the trail and we were trying to avoid the goatheads and puncture vine. So we rode the highway shoulder down to Wood Lake where we met Rachel and Patrick from Boise, ID who were on their last leg of a 24,000 mile trip that started in Holland and included other parts of Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, and India. Nice folks who were on their way to Valentine for the night.

We pull in to the park wat Wood Lake about 10:00 or so and enjoy the calm pretty shaded area, filling our water bottles at the spigot and writing a note on the spiral notebook in the mail box there for travelers. A beautiful little spot to sit and ponder the rest of the mornings ride.

About 10:30 or so we got on our bikes and headed toward Johnstown, our goal was to be there by noon, have lunch in the L Bow Room, and then go to the Brown County Fair there and watch the Rodeo till later in the afternoon and the heat had subsided a bit. We visited with the young cowboys and cowgirls in the bar as we had our lunch. We left our bi

the rest:
bikes in the back of the L Bow Room, and as we were leaving and walking down the road, one cowboy, Joe(who I’d shook hands with in the L Bow Room), said, do you need a ride somewhere. We responded we were going to the rodeo, he said he was too and to jump in so he gave us a ride to the rodeo. We were pulling through the gate and we pulled right past the guy there, who started hollering that we hadn’t paid to get in,
Joe stopped and we gathered up enough money to pay our way in.
Joe, stopped, get gathered up our money and paid. Joe said, “Now that’s a fellow that takes his job seriously.” He sat with us telling us who to watch and all as he knew all of the riders. This made for a great afternoon break. We all stopped by the L Bow room for a final beverage and get our bikes for the remaining 15 miles of our trip. As I was pulling my bike out of the bar, one cowboy said, “You need a lead rope on that one”… and I responded, “Yes I do”..

So we are riding on for the final leg of our day riding into Ainsworth and our room for the night at the Rodeway Inn. We went across the street to the Pizza hut for a small pizza for dinner.

DAY 3

Got up early and had breakfast and were on our way to Long Pine. It was 55 degrees when we got up, chillier that we had expected, so we stopped in at the Dollar General and bought a couple of long sleeved shirts to keep us warm for the first part of the ride.

Great riding, a nice cool morning and about an hour into our ride we were at the trestle bridge at Long Pine, while not as expansive a view as the tressel at the Niorbara Bridge, it was a wonderful stop and an inspiring sight of a pristine wilderness creek running through a beautiful green valley nestled away in the Nebraska backwoods. We stayed and enjoyed it.

We ran on into town where we had a break and lemonade at the Sandhills Lounge right on Main Street. We had a great visit with the bartender and waitress, discussing things, I brought up our friend Joe and he said, “I know him, he’s a friend and is in here from time to time”. I wasn’t surprised as Joe wasn’t the shy type. There in town Lisa had found the old school house that had been surrounded by a castle like wall and the owner had put in a huge sword shaped sidewalk laid out up to the building. He told us to check Google Earth from time to time, that we might be able to see his ‘sword’.

We were off to Basset, the trail was much looser, granite and granite dust and pretty mushy. Mainly rolling sand hills with hay and cattle.

We got to Bassett thinking we’d have a bit of lunch, but the downtown was totally empty (it being Memorial Day), so we sat and had a drink at a little corner of a building there, Lisa advised she’d ventured on South and found a Convenience Store open, so we went down and had lunch there, and sat for a while down by Hwy 20.

After lunch we were off toward Newport. I was riding along and came upon a lady walking with her dog, we were visiting, her husband was a rancher and she a teacher, when Lisa showed up, she’d had a tumble and cut her arm and leg, in the soft gravel. This as far as surface of the trail may have been the toughest we’d encountered.

When we got to Newport we decided to jump off again and ride the road, on to Stuart where our room for the night was. We were riding and met a rancher in his driveway, on a four wheeler, talking to him, he had alfalfa down and was hoping to get it baled. Lisa was discussing with him that we’d left the trail at Newport because of the mushy conditions. He said, “Well, that’s all sub-irrigated
soil up there, and your ride tomorrow out of Stuart should be much firmer”.. We said our farewells and were off toward our room.

At Stuart we stayed at the Stuart Inn, and to check in you go to the Mini-Mart, our only option for supper that night, it being a Holiday. We moved our chairs out on the sidewalk in front of the

motel and watched traffic until dark, being the only customers there that night (although the Motel was booked for the rest of the week for a local wedding).

DAY 4

Getting up early Tuesday morning we realized it was 46 degrees out and we had no fleece or jackets, only the long sleeve shirts to wear under our bike clothes we’d gotten on Monday morning. So we got on our bikes in the cold early morn and headed out to the Central Bar downtown Stuart for Breakfast. It was COLD, and my fingers were tingling in just a few blocks. The restaurant/bar was full of the local citizenry having their coffee and breakfast. We were greeted by the server and ordered our breakfast, which was promptly served with a smile. The owner came out to check on us and our meal and was very gregarious and interested (as were the rest of the folks), where we were going etc. We told him we were going to hang around till 9:00 or so to see if it warmed up a bit, so we sat enjoying the company and the warmth. I mentioned to the owner about our Rodeo experience and our friend Joe, whom he also responded, “Yes, I know him, he’s a friend of mine and is in here frequently”. He told us to try lunch at Chesterfield West where we’d been before and have the Prime Rib Sandwich, he was good friends with the owner.

So about 8:30 or 9:00 we went outside and in the sunshine it had warmed up a bit, so we took off and headed toward our destination, Inman. It was still pretty chilly, but rideable. We got to Atkinson and sort of jumped off and went down town where we found a pavilion to have our snack bar and drinks. A really pretty little town, we liked it a lot. We got done, rode our bikes back to the trail and off we were again. Coming to the town of Emmet, we thought we’d find a place for a lemonade or drink for our morning break, but no such luck, there wasn’t anything there for that, so we sat on the curb and have a drink from our water bottles before getting back on the trail. About half way to O’Neill I got my first flat tire, the front tire, and a goat head was sticking pretty much in the sidewall. So I stopped and Lisa and I pulled it off, (my tire liner came out with it fell in the dirt and got all gritty so I didn’t put it back in), put the new innertube in and it wouldn’t hold air. So off it came and I put another tube in, and it seem to hold ok. There was lots of vegetation, Lisa had about four that she found in her tires (but no flat at that time, but the day after our ride, we found her front tire flat). So we jumped off on to the highway and rode to O’Neill, where we stopped again at Chesterfield West and enjoyed the Prime Rib Sandwich Special that Ray from the Central Bar had recommended. From O’Neill we rode pretty much on the highway (as I had only on innertube left), and got to Inman 20 minutes later. Happy to see Lisa’s car there sitting just as we’d left it.

All and all a wonderful three days on the trail, with not near the tribulation I’d expected after reading much of the online chatter about flats etc. I would definitely recommend the Schwalbe Marathon tires, they have a protective liner built in, and were really about the right size for the type of gravel we were dealing with. My Clement X’plor USH tires are great gravel tires, but they were a bit too narrow for the consistency of the gravel on the trail. I did have Teflon Liners in my tires though and I do recommend them.

Thanks for taking the time to write this up....I had been 'waiting for it'. ;-)