In Omaha…

I made it to Omaha in fairly good shape. The flights were fine, I had plenty of leg room in Economy Plus and no annoying seat mates…I trust I wasn’t one myself.
I checked into my hotel quickly, I’ve been here before and it’s as nice as I recall. It’s really more of a studio than a hotel room as it’s meant for longer term business travel folk…those people staying a few days and wanting to get work done and not be running out all the time.
Naturally I soon figured out what I’d forgotten. Actually I noticed the first missing item while I was at HNL. My helmet. I’d meant to bring one as they are required on a group ride such as this…darn it. I also worried about forgetting my GPS, but I’d actually remember that item. It’s not that I really need a full GPS unit on a ride like this but they are fun to have.
What to do?
Well the obvious answer was to go get a new helmet. The problem is I’m cheap. Sigh.
In any case I found a nice bike shop, Greenstreet, just a couple of miles from the hotel. I found a helmet that fit and didn’t break the budge. The person that helped me was genuinely friendly, helpful, happy to be there, and gosh, just made the whole thing fun. I ended up buying a t-shirt from the store and some lube as well…that being something else I’d forgotten.
I did a couple off miles of riding after that just to shake out the cobwebs. Ultimately after a long flight the cobwebs won and I had to retire from the field for a nap. Now I’m up and waiting for Erich to arrive…hope it’s soon. Not sure if he wants to do anything, it’s already 10:15 (though really only 5 or 6 for me – though I’m still tired and figure I’ll adjust soon).
I’m using Tumblr to micro-blog this trip as it’s wee bit easier than that WP, though really, not by much. I’ll try to post stuff here too, but you can follow the feed at:
veloahu.tumblr.com
That’s it for now…stay tuned as there’s a whole lot of fun in the future!