DirtBum

Rutlader / LaCygne Lake Loop

On Thursday I did some further southward explorations, this time starting at the Rutlader Outpost near Louisburg, KS.

My route took me east to Cold Creek Road, then south to Drexel, then south some more on State Line Road. I originally mapped out my route to totally encircle LaCygne Lake, but I ended up cutting the ride short, and just clipped the upper end of the lake.

The ride southward turned into a slog. A combination of a stiff headwind, freshly-graveled roads, more traffic than I expected, and some saddle issues caused me to me to not particularly enjoy this part of the ride. That doesn’t happen to me very often, but it did on this day, and I was happy to take the shortcut on 399th Street.

399th wasn’t much better for a mile or so, then the road dropped into a nice long curvy downhill to the lake, and suddenly, it was fun again!

I messed around a little at a neat old bridge crossing the lake, then headed north. Within a mile or so I took another detour, heading off-road onto what was apparently a backwoods road that quickly turned from doubletrack into barely-visible track, but it was fun and scenic as the trail wrapped around a hill and passed between a heavily-wooded bluff and a creek.

On the way back up the trail, I flatted — my first one in several months! I never did find the cause of the flat, but patched the tube and was on my way.

The trip back north to Rutlader was nicer than the trip south, due primarily to the tailwind, but also to smoother roads and very light traffic. I pulled into Rutlader after only about 26 miles, but I was glad to be finished.

I definitely want to go back and explore the LaCygne Lake area some more. What I saw of it looked very promising!

Some photos from the ride:

A fancy gate on a farm on Cold Water Road near Drexel, MO.

This is a nice old bridge crossing LaCygne Lake. Too bad about all the graffiti.

DirtBum on LaCygne Lake Bridge

This was just too much to resist…

South From The Cider Mill

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Wednesday I did a gravel ride from the Louisburg Cider Mill south through New Lancaster, nearly to La Cygne, and back through Somerset, for a total of a bit over 37 miles. I would have gone further, but I got a late start, and needed to get back to the cider mill before 6pm [...]

Stupid Sign

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Some days are just too nice to pay attention to stupid signs.

Night Ride Home

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Did a fun night ride last night with some local folk I’ve been wanting to ride with for ages. For a night-time ride in late October, there was actually quite a crowd — ten riders, including myself, 9Toes, commuterDude, Noah, so other fellows I’d met but never ridden with before, and even a couple [...]

Good Life Gravel Adventure

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I’m more than a little late in posting this, but geez, this sounded like fun. Wish I could have gone.
The Good Life Gravel Adventure was a 135-mile gravel grinder on the gravel and dirt roads surrounding Lincoln, Nebraska. It was put on by the Pirate Cycling League, a crew of Lincoln-area gravel freaks headed [...]

Before The Rain Set In

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With rain in the forecast for the next several days, and a sunny (though cool and windy) day on tap, I took off for a short afternoon gravel ride, heading to Baldwin City and back.
The route followed 183rd Street due west, following the same path I rode in September (Hard Forty), with the first stop [...]

Steep Hills and Old Bridges

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After weeks of cajoling, finally got 9Toes out on that gravel grind we’ve been talking about. We’d initially planned to take to do an organized ride in the Flint Hills, but faced with the prospect of a 6am start and a two-hour drive, we instead elected to keep it close to home and get [...]

Chiba GelPro Gloves

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Perhaps I’m just easily impressed, but I think this is rather brilliant.
I bought a pair of Chiba on eBay. Haven’t ridden with them yet, so I can’t comment on their ride qualities, but they have one feature that just kicks butt.
Between the first and second fingers, and between the third and fourth fingers, there’s a [...]

311 Kickyerbutt Road

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After a weekend of wind, followed by two days of rain, a sunny day with mild wind was too much to pass up, so Reed and I took a little field trip to lovely Miami County, Kansas (with a side trip across the state line to Missouri).
We parked in Louisburg and headed east on Highway [...]

A Long Slow Grind

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I was in the mood for a nice long ride today. I could have joined some friends on the Octoginta ride, but I did that ride last year. I would have enjoyed the company, but I didn’t feel like getting up early and spending $25 to ride a route I already knew.
I got [...]