Ainsworth, NE --> O'Neill, NE --> Norfolk, NE --> Fremont, NE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5j5nzk7OIc

If South Dakota was a tough cookie with all its hills and 3-inch road seams, Nebraska was (mostly) a hot windy pancake.

After arriving in Ainsworth, NE on a north tailwind from White River, SD, we showered at the town swimming pool and camped in the public park. I think we both forgot there was such a beautiful thing as public works. After weeks of gallivanting through the wild west Nebraska felt like civilization--a place of comfort, calm, and peace, with amenities at every turn.

Unfortunately the storm systems we were dodging in Montana followed us. That first night a massive thunderstorm moved in to the south and east, throwing up a glitzy firework show. Thankfully our tent only got a sprinkling, but the air was hot and muggy, making for less than ideal sleeping conditions.

We woke to the rising sun, groggy and grumpy to learn about the umpteenth headwind we would showdown the coming day. Needless to say, we remember little of the 75 mile ride to O'Neill except that we maintained our system of rotating every 2.5 miles (instead of the standard 5 miles) to lessen the impact of the winds.

This experience repeated itself the next day as we struggled to get any sleep in the heat and humidity, and we started our 75 mile ride from O'Neill to Norfolk in a similar daze.

About 30 miles in, however, we were abruptly startled to our senses. Ben was leading while I drafted, but it seemed to make little difference as the south wind was bowling both of us from the right at a healthy 21mph.

Suddenly we heard behind us a pelting screech of tires locked up against the road, followed by a tire explosion. I was so scared I pulled up beside Ben as quickly as I could without looking back to see what caused the commotion. A glance revealed a car along the opposite shoulder, slowly rolling backwards off the road, it's rear tire blown out. A few seconds later an older woman stumbled out from the driver's seat to assess the scene. Two cars stopped to help, and Ben rode back to do the same. When he returned his face was ashen. The driver had fallen asleep at the wheel while approaching us from behind. But instead of drifting to the right of the road and towards us on the shoulder, whether because of the driver or the strong winds that day, the car drifted through the oncoming lane and onto the opposite shoulder. When the rumble strips woke the lady, her reaction kept the car on the road but not without sending her on a 180 degree spin and blowing a tire. We were grateful to ride away unscathed--inwardly thanking each of you who have been sending us prayers and positive energy to keep us safe on this journey--and we ceased cursing the wind. We arrived that night in Norfolk physically and emotionally exhausted and found the nearest hotel to properly rest and regroup.

The air conditioning and a good night's rest were what the doctor ordered. Our ride from Norfolk was our best ride in Nebraska. Granted, it started with a very long walk along the freeway out of town because there was no shoulder for 2 miles, it was rush hour (which meant all the truckers were lumbering through amongst the cars), and the other roads out of town were either gravel or had no shoulder even after 2 miles. But once we got past that part the riding was nice. Sure, there was a quartering wind, but after our experience the day before, we were not ready to curse the wind.

Our route to Fremont took us through West Point, a town of a little over 3,000 people, which coincidentally marked the HALFWAY point of our ride! In celebration of the occasion, I caught Ben on tape doing the West Point “Rocket”. What the video doesn't catch is the thunderstorm that promptly chased us into town and into the closest open shed we could find for shelter--which happened to be a display shed on the main street that the owner hadn't bothered to close. As if replaying the scene from Hammond, Montana, we holed up for about two hours waiting for the storm to pass, napping, doing social media, and finalizing riding jersey designs (reveal date coming soon!).

Once the weather cleared, we hit the road the Fremont, NE for 30 miles of cool fresh evening air that comes after the rain.