Nebraska tri training

[Kevin Van Cott]

I'm interested in what training is like year-round in the Lincoln, Nebraska area. I'm used to the
Blue Ridge Mtns of southwest Virginia.

I grew up in the midwest, and so am familiar with the constant winds you get in the midwest.

My main questions are
1. How are the roads - rough surfaces? adequate shoulders? do car/truck drivers have a vendetta for
cyclists out there? any good climbing hills to speak of?

2. Looks like the UNL pool is pretty decent - that true? Any good indoor pools out in the suburbs
for families? Do neighborhoods/schools have swim teams for kids?

3. What is the typical outdoor riding season? In Virginia, I don't ride outside once the temp goes
below 35 F, which allows me to ride through most of the year unless there is ice/snow.

4. I found a website with a couple tris in Nebraska. How are these races? Any good ones within
reasonable driving distance (no more than 4 hours)?

5. What section of Lincoln and the surrounding area is best to live in for easy access to riding -
i.e., not having to drive my car somewhere everytime to find good roads.

Any help with these questions would be appreciated.

Thanks, Kevin

 

[Born]

1. The roads are decent. There's construction all the time, so get used to it. It seems like every
road has a shoulder, so there's always a place to ride. It's a lot of rolling hills around
Lincoln and Omaha (the flat stuff doesn't start until west of Seward). Going out of town to the
west on Route 34 takes you to Seward, which is about a 45 mile round trip.

2. I've never been to the pool, so I don't know.

3. The riding season depends on how the winter goes. Most years you get to ride from about March (if
it doesn't snow) until November (if it doesn't snow). The lucky riding weekend comes up every
once in a while, which is good to take advantage of when it there.

4. Never done a tri in Nebraska. I only lived and rode there in college.

5. I'd say live on the southwest side of town 'cause it's close to the country roads that head out
of town, but I'm biased because that's where I spent the most time riding.

Good luck!

Kevin Van Cott wrote:
> I'm interested in what training is like year-round in the Lincoln, Nebraska area. I'm used to the
> Blue Ridge Mtns of southwest Virginia.
>
> I grew up in the midwest, and so am familiar with the constant winds you get in the midwest.
>
> My main questions are
> 1. How are the roads - rough surfaces? adequate shoulders? do car/truck drivers have a vendetta
> for cyclists out there? any good climbing hills to speak of?
>
> 2. Looks like the UNL pool is pretty decent - that true? Any good indoor pools out in the suburbs
> for families? Do neighborhoods/schools have swim teams for kids?
>
> 3. What is the typical outdoor riding season? In Virginia, I don't ride outside once the temp goes
> below 35 F, which allows me to ride through most of the year unless there is ice/snow.
>
> 4. I found a website with a couple tris in Nebraska. How are these races? Any good ones within
> reasonable driving distance (no more than 4 hours)?
>
> 5. What section of Lincoln and the surrounding area is best to live in for easy access to riding -
> i.e., not having to drive my car somewhere everytime to find good roads.
>
> Any help with these questions would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks, Kevin

 

[Stansd]

I started training when I lived in Omaha 3 years ago.

I found the training to be decent, and Omaha had a nice little tri community, which mostly revolved
around the folks who trained with the UNO masters...presumably Lincoln has a similar community (when
I was last there 3 years ago, the masters coach at UNO was also the coach at UNL).

Roads are decent...pavement is a bit rough, and the only hills are rollers, so it's really tough to
get in good hill climbing fitness as I found out quickly when I moved to the bay area. Wind can also
be brutal at times...I remember days where I'd go out at 16MPH, with my heart rate through the roof,
and cruise back at around 32 without killing myself.

Races in NE itself aren't that great. The state games is probably the best race in the state.
Outside of that, there are quite a few good races within a 4-6 hour drive in Kansas,
Minnesota, and Iowa.

A buddy of mine maintains the site below, which has a pretty good list of local races:

http://members.cox.net/kueffner/2003Races.htm

All in all, I enjoyed training there...I've been spoiled by CA since, but if you can discipline
yourself to get on the trainer in the winter, and to find some of the other triathletes to train
with, it's not a bad spot.

Good Luck!

Stan

"Kevin Van Cott" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm interested in what training is like year-round in the Lincoln, Nebraska area. I'm used to the
> Blue Ridge Mtns of southwest Virginia.
>
> I grew up in the midwest, and so am familiar with the constant winds you get in the midwest.
>
> My main questions are
> 1. How are the roads - rough surfaces? adequate shoulders? do car/truck drivers have a vendetta
> for cyclists out there? any good climbing hills to speak of?
>
> 2. Looks like the UNL pool is pretty decent - that true? Any good indoor pools out in the suburbs
> for families? Do neighborhoods/schools have swim teams for kids?
>
> 3. What is the typical outdoor riding season? In Virginia, I don't ride outside once the temp goes
> below 35 F, which allows me to ride through most of the year unless there is ice/snow.
>
> 4. I found a website with a couple tris in Nebraska. How are these races? Any good ones within
> reasonable driving distance (no more than 4 hours)?
>
> 5. What section of Lincoln and the surrounding area is best to live in for easy access to riding -
> i.e., not having to drive my car somewhere everytime to find good roads.
>
> Any help with these questions would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks, Kevin

 

[Dave Hamilton]

I live in Lincoln which has an extensive set of trails for running and active cycle clubs .. no
problem running/cycling streets. Several health clubs have masters groups as does UNL and Y's.
Lincoln and Omaha have tri's .. there are more in region as well. You can email me with specific
questions.

On 10 Oct 2003 06:20:55 -0700, [email protected] (Kevin Van Cott) wrote:

>I'm interested in what training is like year-round in the Lincoln, Nebraska area. I'm used to the
>Blue Ridge Mtns of southwest Virginia.
>
>I grew up in the midwest, and so am familiar with the constant winds you get in the midwest.
>
>My main questions are
>1. How are the roads - rough surfaces? adequate shoulders? do car/truck drivers have a vendetta for
> cyclists out there? any good climbing hills to speak of?
>
>2. Looks like the UNL pool is pretty decent - that true? Any good indoor pools out in the suburbs
> for families? Do neighborhoods/schools have swim teams for kids?
>
>3. What is the typical outdoor riding season? In Virginia, I don't ride outside once the temp goes
> below 35 F, which allows me to ride through most of the year unless there is ice/snow.
>
>4. I found a website with a couple tris in Nebraska. How are these races? Any good ones within
> reasonable driving distance (no more than 4 hours)?
>
>5. What section of Lincoln and the surrounding area is best to live in for easy access to riding -
> i.e., not having to drive my car somewhere everytime to find good roads.
>
>Any help with these questions would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks, Kevin