With our Cannondale tandem offloaded from the car’s bike rack, we’re pretty much ready for our ride on the Bellevue Loop, a nice trail south of Omaha Nebraska. Before we get on the tandem, I like to sit for just a few minutes, long enough to have one last look at the trail map to refresh my memory of the distances to (and between) potential places to stop along the trail.
It’s pretty much impossible to get lost on this trail, either you are on the trail or you are not. We haven’t built up our stamina enough to do great distances, and I like to be aware of just where those two places are along the Bellevue Loop where the the trail crosses those gravel roads because there are gates there to lean our tandem on if we want to stop for a few minutes. No, our tandem does not have a kick stand, and that’s why we need a gate or something to lean our Cannondale against.
Our last ride was ten miles, and we both had sore backs for quite a few days afterward, so we figured this would be “about” a six mile ride only. Three miles down the trail, turn around and head back. This picture must have been taken about two miles down the trail as we took a quick break from our tandem ride.
If you have never ridden the Bellevue Loop, we’d both recommend it. It’s a pretty easy ride (the section we ride is, anyhow, won’t vouch for the rest of it, fairly level, smooth most of the way (okay, it does have a few bumps), and there’s a bit of farmland along the trail to admire.
Nearing one of the few curves along the trail, we stopped for just a bit and took this picture of another bicycle rider heading down the trail approaching one of the few curves the trail has.
The trail wasn’t very crowded at all on our weekday ride, of course it will be busier on a weekend.
Along the section of the Bellevue Loop where we took the picture of the other bike rider, we were going along quite nicely on our top gear, when I managed to get my pants leg caught in the chain. Not a serious problem, though it did a bit a damage to the pants. No harm done to the bike or the tandem, and we just slowed the bike to a stop, back pedaled a bit to get my pants cuff out.
Before going on, I tucked the bottom of my pants leg into my sock…a bit peculiar looking, but it kept it out of the way.
Although (as I wrote earlier in this post) we only planned on riding about three miles down the trail and turning around, it was hard to resist going just a bit further, and ended up at the Trail Head parking. This added five miles to our planned six mile ride (that includes the return portion).
We took advantage of the shade under this tree, and relaxed on the grass and had our drinks and a snack here. There is a bench here, but it was in the sunshine, and we preferred the shade while taking our break.
It seems strange to have this pretty little break area so near the entrance to the sewage treatment plant, yet the wind was out of the west, keeping the scent of sewage away from this spot.
After taking it easy a bit, we got back on our tandem, headed up the hill to the trail, and began a pleasant return ride on the trail.
Part ways back, we stopped near the Missouri River Road crossing, and were fortunate enough to be there as a USAF plane flew low over a corn field on its approach to Offutt Air Force Base.
In this area on a ride last year Vicky saw five deer, but no such luck today, though we did see a hawk off in the distance, much too far away for a picture.
Around the eight mile point of our ride, we became a bit less communicative, a sure sign that perhaps we were beginning to tire out. It was nice to see the Missouri River bridge off in the distance, and to realize we were just about at the end of our ride.
Note for potential riders of the Bellevue Loop: the section near Haworth Park is the “bumpier” section of the trail, the rest of it is much nicer. It smooths out quite a bit after about the area where the model airplanes are flown near the trail.
All done with our ride, we parked our tandem in the shade of the trees at Haworth Park, along the Missouri River and enjoyed the view for a bit before loading our tandem onto the car and heading for home.
This ride was two days ago, and, surprisingly, our backs ache less than we expected from this eleven mile ride.
On a side note, I guess we are doing okay for a pair of great-grandparents on a tandem.
Ride length? 11.0 miles
Average speed? 9.0 mph
Top speed? 14.2 mph
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