Mountain Biking Around Obert, NE

I should have known this day and ride was going to be intersting when, as I was putting the bike on my van to prepare to leave, all decked out in my biking gear, my 10 year old looked at me and asked: "Going biking Dad?"....Here's your sign.

It definitely wasn't the longest ride of my biking life, but it was interesting and I look forward to the next excursion to the land time forgot...Obert, Nebraska. Tim C. drove Joe P., Cindy L., and myself over to the "village" of Obert. Obert is a quaint, quiet little place that was about to be invaded by four mountain bikers.

The instant we left going south out of Obert, we were climbing...and climbing...and climbing. I like at least a little warmup (I'm sure this is shocking to Joe), but there was none to be had on this ride. About four miles in, we were ready to go from gravel to dirt. That's right, dirt. Joe P., realized that his tire was going flat. A flat always stinks, but especially on your birthday (Happy Birthday Joe!). We stopped, pumped it back up, made it a mile on a STEEP dirt road, and pumped it up again. It was here I noticed something to add to "land that time forgot" stigma: A "SCHLITZ" can. Do they REALLY still make Schlitz? Plugging forward we abandoned Joe with a lowly little pump and our best wishes on his survival. We all went another mile south before circling around to get the pickup and to backtrack Joe's slow progress and pick him up. Sadly enough, Joe's birthday woes didn't stop there. As he went to get into the truck, he slammed his head (still in helmet) into the top of the truck. Joe may have to reconsider biking on his birthday from now on.

At any rate, it's amazing to see how different this land is and it's still so close to Vermillion. It also looks like some good hill training for next year as well.

Tim decided to take us on the "north" loop from Obert to Maskell (via truck). After a fairly good climb leaving Obert followed by a fast descent, we turned on to another minimum maintenance dirt road. After being on this narrow road for a little while I jokingly said, "Now watch another mountain biker come screaming down the hill at us". Shortly thereafter we actually seen another mountain biker that was broke down. As we got closer we realized that we knew him! What are the odds! We gave Charles a lift back to his wife who backtracked to get their vehicle. So, all in all, it was an interesting day of mountain biking and bizarre coincidences on a cool November day.

At any rate, here is some info from the area we did mountain bike. I look forward to going back and biking the area again. Oh yeah, and if there are any people from that area reading my blog, I apologize for the "land that time forgot" comments! Please don't run me over when I come back.

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