Schnoctobeerfest '08 - A Biking Brady's Perspective

Sometimes you love your children so much....that you have to get away from them once in awhile so no harm comes to them. Parents know where we are coming from. That's what Laura and I was thinking as we left Vermillion Friday. Laura was so excited about getting out of town that we were almost to Fremont before she asked, "How far is the ride anyway?" Bwah ha ha....too late now!

As we unpacked in our room we received a call from eDLoNNie that eDBiLLy had invited us out for pizza. We had a great time along with the great food and heard many more BiLLy tales. The night passed quickly and we didn't find ourselves asleep until well after midnight.

We awoke to a thick fog and COOL temps (mid 40's). Laura stated on the way to the ride that if it wasn't over 50 by the time the ride started that she wasn't riding. Luckily there was no thermometer when the ride started. We were off and moving with the slightest of tail winds. That would prove ominous as the winds increased, as usually happens, by the time we headed back south.

There were a few stops along the way: the need for an occasional tall boy at a convenience store, a stop at thE_kErnEl's parental units, a stop in the bar at Valley, NE, and a stop just 2-3 miles from the finish to "mark some territory". One memorable stop was pulling into thE_kErnel's parents house and hearing his Mom say "It's a GIRL!" to Laura. For some (probably good) reason, it is obvious that women are a rare sighting on a BiLLy ride. The other good story came from the bar in Valley. One rider asked for a Sam Adams and was told they don't have imports (but then got a Corona ?!?!).

The only slight fear we had was getting caught in "no mans land" coming into Valley. We lost the "yellow dot" of the lead riders up ahead of us and the rest of the crew was no where to be seen behind us. Had we missed a turn? We stopped in the Casey's and hung out until the rest of the crew rolled by. It was that point that we found out the bar was all of two blocks away...DOH!

All in all it was a great day to ride. I mean really, how many REALLY BAD DAYS are there when it comes to cycling? The CiTy BiLLy crew never ceases to impress me with their rides. The celebration portion of this event is best told in the pictures posted HERE.