Bike Masters' Dave Reinarz poses in front of some of the more than three dozen riders who participated in the third annual Bike Masters Century.
Omaha, Neb. - "A long day in the saddle," is how Team Kaos' Mark Brackenbury described Sunday's third annual Bike Masters Century ride.
"It was pretty tough," Brackenbury said of the 100-mile ride that began and ended at the team's bike shop sponsor, Bike Masters, at 129th & Fort.
More than three dozen riders showed up for the third annual event, which celebrated Bike Masters' manager Dave Reinarz's successful recovery from a bad crash earlier this season. The ride, which normally occurs over the Labor Day weekend, was postponed a month so Reinarz could participate.
 In addition to Brackenbury, Team Kaos' Gary Schmidt, Doug Semisch (pictured at right) Rich Pearson, Steve Cramer and Chris Spence participated. Team Kaos' sponsor Dave Mortenson of Dave's Decks also rode in the event, while Team member Ian Danielson drove the Bike Masters van, which served as one of two sag wagons.
Despite skies that threatened rain at the beginning of the ride, Brackenbury said the first 50 miles were "relatively easy."
We had a tailwind all the way north to Elk City," he said. "The weather actually improved for awhile, too. It got sunny and really warmed up."
But that changed when the riders turned back south from Herman. Riding into the teeth of a 15 to 20 mph headwind, with rain clouds moving in, made the return trip more challenging.
"It got cloudy and a lot cooler," he said. "We never really got rained on, but we rode through heavy mist for about 10 miles."
Brackenbury's group, which stopped three times, arrived at Bike Masters at 1:30 p.m. with hearty appetites.
"They had crockpots of soup after the ride and a jello dessert, which was fabulous at that point," Brackenbury said.
Click here to see more pictures from the ride.
|
