12 Mile Tandem Bike Ride Keystone Trail

Keystone Trail at L Street

Finally a Good Day for a Bike Ride

We've been off our bike for over a month, and we were determined to get a bike ride in this weekend, weather permitting.

The weather permitted! Yes, we had other things we should have been doing, but we ignored those things for today, loaded our tandem bike on the back of the car, and headed for 52nd and Virgina (Banner Park) and a ride north on Omaha's Keystone Trail.

It felt pretty good to be back on the Keystone, though we had forgotten there were so many underpasses to go down and up. Just south of L Street there is a bench where we stopped a few minutes and also got this photo of the underpass. We had just passed by a golf course, and were soon to ride by the section of the Keystone that goes by lots of backyards.

I've often thought this would be a great place to live, with the Keystone Trail right behind the back yard. There was even a home with a for sale sign in that section. Yet the proximity of that creek to the houses could (in theory) some year be a problem.

Keystone Trail Bike Rider

Riders on the Trail

It was sunny (but windy) on today's ride, with temps in the 70s. Keystone Trail was less crowded than expected, but there were riders out. I was quite impressed at the riding skills of a young boy out for a ride with his father. I am bad at guessing ages, but have seen others of his size wobbling around back and forth across the trail, but this kid kept on his side of the trail, rode straight, and was doing a very respectable 9+ mph on his small bike for as far as we followed him.

Vicky was impatient to pass up these riders, but I waited till we had a fairly straight stretch to do this. As we passed him, he kept his bike in the preferred postion for being passed. By the way, this photo is of another rider on the trail, near Pacific Street.

Keystone Trail South of Pacific

Time to Turn Around

Our goal was a ten mile ride today, so that would have required a turn around point at the five mile mark. At the five mile point I asked Vicky if she wanted to keep going, and she was okay with that. This was our actual turn around spot, at the College of Saint Mary Softball Comples, just a bit south of Pacific.

The first half of our ride was quite pleasant, though it must have had a tiny bit of an uphill slope. Yet with a decent wind at our back, it was pretty effortless, for a bike ride, anyhow.

On our return trip, we were now riding into the wind, and we soon disovered it was work to manage even a consistent eight mph. Whew! We did take a break at Karen Park to relax for a few minutes, though we planned our main break a few more miles down the trail at Aspen park.

Pepsi Time at Aspen Park

Pepsi Time at Aspen Park

By the time we made it to Aspen Park, Vicky and I were quite ready for a can of pop and a snack. This shady picnic table was a nice place to sit, and I was really not in the mood for any more time riding a bike today. Luckily we only had about a mile left to ride.

Note: this park does have a porta potty, or at least it did on May 16.

Vicky Finds a Goldfinch

A Pretty Bird Song

While sitting at the picnic table at Aspen Park, we kept hearing quite a pretty bird song. It took a while before it was spotted by Vicky, and based on her description, it was an American Goldfinch. Nope, my eyes weren't quick enough to see it, but I was happy to hear it's song.

Keystone Trail Restroom

Bathrooms on the Keystone Trail

Perhaps it is too early in the year (Mid May) for the city of Omaha to allow people the comforts of a bathroom at its parks, but both Aspen Park and Banner Park (not in the Omaha city limits) did have one of these toilets. Nothing fancy, but thought I'd add a note as to their current location.

Length of this bike ride: 12.1 Miles

Weather on this bike ride: Mostly sunny, in the 70s, but wind from the south was a bit too strong

Average speed of this bike ride: 9.3 mph

Top Speed of this bike ride: 17.9 mph

Total miles biked together in 2010: 30.2 Miles

Total miles we've ridden on our tandem: 167 Miles

Date of this ride: May 15, 2010

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