Today, we continued following Route 6 towards Omaha and Iowa gave us a fitting send off for what was a very enjoyable state for a lot of the riders. We challenged roads of various terrain, tackled some more rolling hills, crossed the Missouri River, and made it to a state that not one of the riders on the team had ever been to before. Particularly, compared with yesterday, this was a day to remind us that the time on the road can still be fun and enjoyable.
Ride Overview
Mileage: 66.8 miles
Elevation: +3,868 ft. / -3,940 ft.
Points of Interest: Iowa/Nebraska Border, Looking Up Sculpture, Omaha, Discovery Playground, Old Market
Tales of the Trail
Immediately coming out of Atlantic, the team hit a gravel road that had some climbs and descents that got a little spicy. We thought we were in for a rough day if this was just the prologue for the rest of the route. Luckily, everyone made it through the more challenging terrain without an issue (not to say there weren’t issues later, but here we were good). Actually, this is where we had some of the best and most expansive views throughout the whole ride. Cutting across this way to the highway we eventually got on was worthwhile not only for the view, but also for the lack of other vehicles. We encountered many more of those today.
Back on Route 6, we settled into formation in the shoulder and got ready to hold that for the next 60 miles until we reached Omaha. Riding this way is definitely not a favorite because of the quicker traffic and having to stay in a sometimes bumpy or debris filled shoulder, but it does beat taking gravel or dirt roads all day and detouring to add many more miles to our already long routes over the Summer. Route 6 is not a bad place to watch the miles tick by either. It is a historic road after all! (The white paint on the telephone poles made this road somewhat different and special compared with any other highway.)
Throughout the day we took a total of just two rest stops which kept things moving along quickly. In between them, the group with Parker, Anthony, Tada, and Max had some incidents with Parker doing a backwards summersault (totally okay now though) and Anthony falling while attempting a 1-footed track stand. For the remaining riders on the road, it was business as usual. The landscape was staying mostly the same as it had been the last couple of days and the winds were nothing brutal, so that made the ride feel pretty routine.
The real stories today come once everyone made it near, or close to Omaha. The team with Aadit, Nishk, Ehsan, Ren, and Cole did a ton of side questing on their way to the stayover! First up was a stop at a running track next to the bike trail where a race between Nishk, Aadit, and Cole went down. The one lap was close, but Ren saw Cole cross the line first. Somewhere, video footage exists as evidence, but we won’t show that here. Then, it was off to the edge of Council Bluffs where at the Tom Hanafan River’s Edge Park, this team and the others (who were ahead) took a stop to look at the Omaha skyline and the Looking Up Sculpture by Tom Friedman. We had to take in our last views of Iowa before crossing the Missouri River into Nebraska. On the bridge, everyone stopped to commemorate the moment.
Once they were in Nebraska, that adventuring team got right back into it. They stopped at a water feature to cool off and have some fun. While they got totally soaked, the water did help wash some of the grime from the wet roads of the day before from their frames. Then, there was a park adjacent to a science center called the Luminarium with some amazing, winding metal slides at the top of a jungle gym that they had to try. A few odd looks from some of the kids, but smiles and words of encouragement from the parents meant the task was doable and it was worth it. Those slides were awesome! To make this time wasting all worth it outside of the fun, they made a final stop at a bike shop to pick up some parts that will be needed further along in our Summer journey.
After dinner at the stayover, most of the team decided to make a trip into Old Market, Omaha since the evening was still young. We found vintage stores, candy shops, ice cream, arcade machines, and enjoyed having some time to explore the city. (Omaha was another place that ended up being larger and more lively than we could have imagined.) Since there was a Cheesecake Factory just a mile from the stayover, Maaike and Aadit made this a mandatory stop on the return trip. Shortly after that, it was time for rest and getting ready for the last ride before our upcoming rest day in Lincoln.
