12 Mile Bike Ride Keystone Trail South

Yes, we missed our bicycle ride last week. We loaded the bikes on the bike rack, drove down to the Bellevue Loop, and by that time the winds had gotten pretty bad, plus there was a bit of flooding. Enough about the ride that didn’t happen.

Today you could have found us on the Keystone Trail, our very first ride on this Omaha bicycle trail. We parked at Al Veys Sports Complex, which is located on 60th Street between Q and Harrison.

We had no intention of biking the entire 24.12 miles of the trail, just hoped to do maybe 6 to 8 miles total, though we ended up going a bit over 12 miles in all.

Keystone Trail Straight and Flat

Keystone Trail Straight and Flat

Here is a picture of the straight and flat section of the Keystone Trail from the area of the Al Veys Sports Complex, looking south. Our plan was to head south about two miles, turn around, head back north to the sports complex, keep going north another two miles (if we felt like it), then head back to the car.

We don’t always do as we planned…

We went a little further south than 2 miles, but at 2.2 miles Vicky’s three wheeler started making a peculiar noise from the back axle area. We turned around and slowly began a return ride to our car, hoping that nothing bad had happened to her bicycle, and that we would make it.

Keystone Trail Copper Creek Bridge

Strange Bike Noises

We were somewhere south of this portion of the trail when her bike became noisy. We had wanted to explore more of the trail, but didn’t dare to. We did flip her bike over to have a look at things, but sure couldn’t see anything obvious.

Anyways, as we were about a half mile from the sports complex and our car, we noticed that the noise was steadily decreasing, and soon Vicky’s three wheeler was back to it’s normal sound. Perhaps she had picked up a tiny bit of road debris, and it worked its way out?

I asked Vicky is she dared keep riding, and she felt confident again in her bike, so we kept going north beyond the sports complex. We paused for a look at our Omaha trail map, and it appeared if we went up to Q Street we probably could get across the Papio Creek and head down the Big Papio Trail to Seymour Smith Park.

We were able to see the Big Papio Trail across the creek from us, and as we went under the railroad bridge (sign there advising to watch out for falling debris) we noticed the Big Papio Trail appeared to be blocked with tree branches and who knows what else.

Vicky And Our Bikes At Aspen Park

Vicky And Our Bikes At Aspen Park

Going just a bit further to Q Street, we stopped for a look at the map and decided to turn around and head down south again to Sun Valley Park to use its restroom, then have a drink and take a break.

We followed the map, and ended up at a park called Aspen Park, which might have been a new name for Sun Valley Park, I don’t know. We did not see a restroom, and when another bike rider went by we asked him, and he pointed to a concrete slab and said that was where the bathroom used to be.

Back on our bikes again, and a quick ride up to the sports complex to use it’s bathrooms, then back to this place called Aspen Park where we sat in the shade at a picnic table, rested a bit, and drank our pop and water.

Keystone Trail Aspen Park Craig

Aspen Park, Almost the End of Our Ride

Aspen Park is about 1/2 mile off the Keystone Trail, and has a nice trail leading into it. This picture of me pretending to be going really fast was taken from our rest stop.

After finishing our break, we biked back up to the car, loaded our two bikes on the bike rack, and headed for home, well satisfied with the fact that we ended up riding a bit over 12 miles today, a new record for us.

Our opinion of this section of the Keystone Trail? It’s great! Fairly level, no terrible curves, and it was nice and wide. One thing that would make it better would be if every mile or two there were a couple shade trees and a bench beneath them, also a sign near the side trails advising riders where the trail led to.

Length of this bike ride: 12 Miles

Total miles biked together in 2008: 55.8 Miles

Date of this ride: June 21, 2008

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