Lafayette, I Am Here

End of the road for me, I turned around in the little bike parking area just on the other side of this new bridge were a road crosses the newly-paved Cedar Valley Nature Trail north of Cedar Rapids.

Lafayette is the name of a germ of a town that never really sprouted, a cluster of a few houses and now-closed tiny stores north of Cedar Rapids along the Cedar Valley Nature Trail.

That trail has a newly paved portion north of Robins, and I had ridden on it last weekend. However, this week, the trail was closed again. A rumor among bikers is that there were several accidents involving bikers who didn't make way quickly enough for construction trucks and ended up falling when they hit the loose rocks adjacent to the trail.

Can't say I blame the powers that be, if the rumors be true, for deciding they had better finish construction completely before letting bikers back on the track.

But, despite the “trail closed” sign still being in place, the barriers were down today, and I went a bit farther north than I had in my first ride on this new pavement. I did not have time to go to the end of the new surface, but I made it to Lafayette, and back.

It was a pleasant ride. Although we are in a dry week during a drought, recent rains and cool weather leave everything still seeming lush, particularly compared to this dry summer. There were enough clouds to keep me from having to wear shades, but enough light to make it a cheerful day.

New shoes, which I biked in Thursday, I think.  Very comfortable.

 

I was wearing sandals today, new, comfortable ones that I will probably use for work on warm days. When it cools a bit, I'll be wearing my new shoes, which I wore on some bike rides earlier this week.

New shoes on a new trail on a fresh, fall-like day...biking is only better when I have more time, but conditions were just about ideal today. And old tunnel-like culverts near Lafayette have been replaced, as you can see by the new “Lafayette” road underpass, shown at the top of this post.