Bunyan's To Bob's 2009

For some reason, this was about as nervous as I've ever been hosting a ride. Even though I have one of the best friends a man can ask for in BiTeBiLLy (newly ordained this weekend) asking me how he could help, in my mind I had it all taken care of. For the most part I did too. I forgot maps for the newbies and the directionally challenged returnees, maybe a cool B2B banner for the front yard, but other than that, it was under control. Shirts made it in plenty of time, Bunyan's and Bob's were notified of our arrival, even let the Dixon Co., NE sheriff knew that we would be riding on their no shoulder Highway 12 hoping that they could patrol a little closer -- props on the way down as I saw on Deputy in the three short miles that I spent on it before taking the gravel route. All that was left to do was ride.

About 0815 in came the onslaught of cyclists, most of the out of town people coming to my place. The MOST WONDERFUL Mrs. Biking Brady made a trip to the store for donuts, OJ, Milk for the early arrivals along with the fixings for the after ride gathering. I also forgot to warn all my neighbors except one about the influx of visitors on Saturday morning...oops. I'm sure that many awoke to the sounds of bikes being removed from bike racks, back of pickups, and trailers.

After getting everybody tires aired up, we stopped by Bunyan's for the quickest Bunyan's Bomber ever as we were already late...so late that some took off when we got there. Oh well, nothing was going to stop us from our bombers! After pounding one quick, on the road we went. I'll spare you the details of the ride other than to say the few of use that chose the gravel route were the real animals (substitute stupid, idiots, crazy dudes, etc) of the ride. The route was challenging as always.

Upon hitting Bob's we ate ourselves into a coma as always. Ginormous burgers, fries, cheese balls, were consumed and we made our way back. That, followed by a ride home with FULL stomachs, set us up for the celebration that followed. More food (thanks Laura and Bonnie!) and wonderful Hopluia beer (thanks eDLoNNie!) was consumed until around 10:00 pm. It was a great ride, great friends, and great camaraderie. As nervous I was going into the ride about everything going right, I was quite pleased with the result.

Below are some pictures that I scored from T-BiLLy of some of the festivities. I'm sure there may be more pictures popping up on other blogs, but at this point, I could only find a nice slide show on the Hooterville Mayor's site.

Bunyan Bombers - The pre-ride drink of champions!



thE_kErnEl ends his gravel stretch in style with the Surly Long Haul Trucker.



Your's Truly (aka k-BiLLy)



BiLLy's @ Bob's





The last fifteen miles is all downhill. Um...sure..



Ride is complete...Tap the Keg already!! The Beer Box protects the keg of Hopluia from Spilker's in Cortland, NE.



Arguably the best part about riding: The party afterward!