Pedal, Coast, Pedal !

It’s been awhile since we’ve ridden the Missouri Riverfront Trail, and we decided it was time to get out there with our tandem (last time Vicky was on her three wheeler, and I was on a two wheeler).

Vicky and our Tandem Omaha Riverfront Trail

We started from NP Dodge Park, a tiny bit north of the main part of Omaha, though I guess it’s still in the city limits. The park (and the trail) had “just enough” people. It wasn’t crowded, nor was it deserted.

That haze in the distance behind Vicky is a bit of really light fog from the Missouri River.

We headed south on the trail, and it was easier riding than we remembered, and we delayed our first stop till we got to the Missouri River Overlook, which we arrived at much sooner than expected.

It’s September, and the leaves on the trees pretty much blocked any view of the Missouri River, though I climbed on a bench and was able to see a bit of the river from there.

Behind me is a look at the trail heading north towards NP Dodge Park.

Shade on the Missouri Riverfront Trail

This picture is taken looking south on the trail… Vicky insisted there be one more picture of me, and this is the one she wanted.

Further down the trail….

On last years ride we turned around near a sign advising trail users that a long steep uphill grade was approaching. This year, before seeing the hill we had already decided we would make it up the hill, and probably turn around and head back from that point.

I suppose we should have built up more momentum before the hill, and we made it quite a ways up before we needed to downshift to a lower gear. Of course, once we did the downshifting, we needed to downshift a few more times as we progressed up the hill. It’s nice having the lower gears, but one has to pedal so much more to make any distance at all.

Anyways, we did make it up this hill, and we were both ready for a few minutes rest to catch our breath once we reached the top of the hill.

Here’s the hill we came up, that’s the Missouri River off to the right, and the bridge in the distance is one we went under on our way down the trail. Nice view from up here!

We were tempted to keep going south, but we had reached our goal for this portion of the trail, and there was a nice downhill slope on the south side of the hill, which would have meant one more uphill slope coming back.

Omaha Riverfront Trail Through the Woods

On the way south, we really like this section near NP Dodge park, and stopped on the way back for a picture. Pretty place, isn’t it? I’d like to find about a ten mile stretch of trail like this.

September 8th, and the leaves are beginning their autumn drop.

Reaching the park again, we kept going up the trail, with a feeling that the rest of the trail had not been completed yet. Still, it was a nice ride, the corn along this section was quite impressive, and the goldenrod was equally nice.

Omaha Riverfront Trail End of the Road

As we expected, the trail has not been completed yet. That white sign behind Vicky is at the trail end. We spent a few minutes here, then began our ride back to the park, where we planned on finding a nice spot to have our crackers and pop.

Omaha Riverfront Trail to Boyer Chute

Supposedly a couple miles up the road there is another trail, but we didn’t go exploring here, so can’t say for sure. After all, we had already decided it was just about time for a snack.

Between the park and the trail end we had to slow down a lot and ride off the trail a bit to navigate around a good sized tree that was blocking the trail.

Watch Out For That Tree

This was in sort of a swampy area, near a bridge, and was loaded with mosquitoes. Needless to say, we hurried out of there after taking a few photos.

Back at the park, we stopped at the bathroom, then rode down to a spot by the river.

Missouri River from NP Dodge Park

This was a pretty nice place, and we were able to see quite a few geese across the river on the Iowa side.

Break Time Near the River

We spent enough time on this break to get rested up, and were ready for a bit more riding, and ended up wandering the roads in the park, and I think we rode at least a ways on all of them, or at least the ones that were paved or semi paved.

We did end up riding back down a portion of the south trail, just to get a bit more distance on this ride.

Nice ride, we did see a few hawks again, a long necked bird (crane,heron,egret? I don’t know) flew low over the trail ahead of us, and we saw a few black squirrels, something we seldom see around our home.

Ride length? 13 miles

Average speed? 8.8 mph

Top speed? 15 mph