A Late Season Warm Day For a Ride

Cedar Valley Nature Trail headed north from Hiawatha--afternoon is still warm and lots of people are on the trail.

I don't know why I like this view of a telephone pole.  It's at "Schultz Road," where the pavement ends and I turned around.  Note there are more clouds now, got sprinkles now and then, too.

Lots of people had the same idea as I did.  At midday today, I raked my backyard for probably the last time this fall, but before that shot some pictures of pretty fall leaves.

You can check those out on Facebook.

Then, after lunch, I left home for a bike ride.  I headed north on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail.

I was dressed in shorts and a bike jersey—on Nov. 10!  It was warm, probably around 70.  As I rode, however, the wind picked up, the sky clouded over and even some sprinkles fell.  It never really got too cold, but had definitely chilled.

Still, as Saturdays in November go, it was a glorious day to be on the trail.  I didn’t got as far as Central City, but turned around when the trail pavement ended.

Heading back to Cedar Rapids meant riding into the wind, and I was climbing a “wind hill” the whole way.  There had been a lot more people on the trail earlier in the afternoon.  I got home just a bit before 4, and was riding with lights on.

I got to enjoy many critters along the ride--I stopped at one point to try to photograph a woodpecker, but it moved on too quickly.  I saw many birds, and in the dim light as I was headed home, a deer casually sauntered across the trail probably 20 yards ahead of me.

I’m glad I rode today.  The forecast is for a cold and rainy Sunday, followed by a chilly week next week.  The high temperature Monday is supposed to be 32 degrees—I’ll need warm socks that day!  Well, lets be grateful for a late fall fine day and a good trail to ride.

Sky in the west along an open stretch of the trail in the afternoon.  I think of it as a "God" sky with the beams of light showing through holes in the cloud cover.