creepin 'round

So on Sunday I went creeping around Omaha. By that I mean I rode my bike slowly around the northern perimeter of omaha. I rolled by Mt. Michaels right as the state championship men's cat 4's

I love how you can be in the middle of farm country and still see the buildings in downtown.

and womens groups were finishing, and I have to say that there were a lot of folks out there braving it in the heat. It was a very sultry sunday afternoon, almost on par with what I would expect in the old country . As I was trucking along on my CX bike I got to cheer for the racers that were headed in the other direction, but I could see in the distance that there had been some carnage. As I rolled past said carnage, I heard the expression, "Stamper"!

Now make no mistake, "Stamper" is commonly used as a adjective, noun, and occasionally a expletive, so I felt it was my duty to investigate to assure that no one was taking my name in vain.

Upon further investigation, I found environmental economist and all around nice guy, Jeremy Cook, scraped up, bleeding, but in otherwise good spirits after some bumpin and grinding with the tarmac (Jeremy, we still need to do lunch. have your cell phone call my cell phone). Jeremy seemed to be in good shape and the officials were on hand so defered to the authorities. Then it was onward to the north. My primary objective was Dutch Hall Rd (DH). DH is a spectacular gravel specimen that runs east and west between the Platte and Missouri Rivers. Once I hit DH it was wide open through the rollers to Fort Calhoun.

Things went downhill though after I left my midway aid station at Ft. Calhoun. Not sure what went wrong, but I had some serious stomach cramps all the way back to the 'Loo. Gas Station hotdogs were the likely culprit.

Then this week it finally got hot. the kind of hot where you can "feel the sweat run down your butt crack" as my illustrious friend Morrison would phrase it.

I wish I could photoshop a tobacco field into this picture.

Up till now I have just been trying to not get a redneck, but this week has started the fight to not die of heat stroke while we are out in the field. The spectacular piece of head gear that I am wearing is a Kavu Chillba. Its styled after the conical hats worn by the Vietmanese, but is made of closed-cell foam so it keeps your noggin cool and your neck a "little" less red. It also makes great rainwear.

Sorry, Rafal. It was long hot day in the field (with a heat index of 112) and the can was mocking me from the back of the fridge.

Ya'll stay in the shade.