052: Days 64 and 65: June 11, 12 2021: Ainesworth to Valentine NE: 48 miles and 2207.5 in total.

Today we had a very tough day. When we woke up after the thunderstorms of last night, the wind came from the North-North-West at 10-30 miles per hour, exactly in the direction we cycled today. We were in the saddle for about 9 hours and we showed 48.0 miles of trail cycling. On arrival in Valentine we immediately booked a hotel for two nights, just to rest and catch our breaths again.

We heard all over Nebraska that we shall see and enjoy the Sandhills. We took this picture outside Ainsworth and we miss one verb - enjoying nature. This area is more hilly and it sort of brought more of the summer colors out.

On leaving Ainsworth the trail changed to crushed limestone and 

we were among the trees for a short while.

The trail was great and the wind brutal in our faces.

We were happy to reach Johnstown and I was beginning to hope that we should get some downhill in the trail as well. Alas, about 46 of the 48 miles we did today, was uphill. Yeah, since this is an old railway line, the gradient is not too bad, but combined with the wind, we felt it all the way. 

The flowers enjoyed the sunshine and showed off their colors.

Look at this proud Yucca Lily.

We stopped here for a quick lunch. As you can see, there were no trees and, therefore, it was quick. 😀😀😀

The soil is quite sandy here and the corn fields of the last weeks gave way to grass fields where hay bales are seen or some cattle are grazing.

You can see the wind blowing. At one stage I was wondering whether I should cycle on the road shoulder with the road still running parallel to the trail. But the wind would have been there as well. 

We gave this deer a fright. She did not want to run away immediately and we stopped for a photo. 

She decided to run away eventually and we saw this young Bambi right next to the trail. It came to smell at my leg as well. We left him without trying to touch him and left with the hope that his mom will come back and look after him. 

What I found amazing are these marshes all along the trail. I am certain many of them must dry out during the last part of summer, but there is a lot of birdlife here. 

Oh, I nearly forgot about the western box turtle crossing the road.

Welcome to Cherry County, "God's own cow country."

We loved the low dunes, but could also see signs of overgrazing here and there.

We are going uphill to the next town, Wood Lake. We can argue when you look at the photo, but rest assured, the headwind made this uphill a couple of degrees steeper.

Coming towards a road crossing.

This is Wood Lake's Post Office and City Hall.

Christine wanted a photo of Ben next to his own sand hill. 

The hills remained beautiful,

as well as the flowers.

We came to this ranch, also the site of the last train depot before Valentine. 

Here the trail veered away from the road and we passed through some beautiful countryside. 

About 3 miles from Valentine, we came to the Niobrara River Bridge. This was built in 1905/06 and remained in service until 1992 when it was decommisioned. This is a beautiful valley and visiting the railway trestle is a popular pastime.

We were quite tired by now and we did not stay for long, However, these photos show the beauty of the surrounding valley as well as some features of this steel trestle, about 148 feet high and about 0.25 miles long (about 45 m high and 400m long) 

We soon came to Valentine where the trail changed to a concrete pavement through town.

Rather than paint a mural, this building has a relief mural consisting of Longhorns and a train. 

This is Valentine Bike Station.

The Cowboy Trail is 194 miles long and we enjoyed the experience. We were able to break this up into four days of cycling in hot to very hot weather (the weatherman said the average temperatures were between 10 and 20 degrees F higher than normal). We were surprised at the lack of maintenance along the trail. This is totally the opposite of what we experienced on other trails so far. What this means is that you have to use a sturdier bike that can take you easily through soft sections of crushed limestone and sturdier tires to change the goathead thorns into "stickers," a name given to them by one of the people we met on day four.

The goathead is on the right with a burr on the left. Christine and I were so worried about puctures and the thorns did not se 22ndem to bother them at all. 

This is also the last of the trails for some time now. We enjoyed the day's rest and tomorrow we start with about 320 miles of road cycling to Casper Wyoming and thereafter we shall cross the Continental Divide on our way to Jackson. We can only ask for prayers to keep us safe and for strength to climb (or push whichever is easier) the mountains.