In Which I Fly 11 Miles to Lafayette

Argent parked late this afternoon in rack at Lafayette.

It was warm today, too nice and warm to not ride a bicycle.

But, I had an otherwise busy day too, doing school work, raking the yard, walking with the wife, daughter and grandson, taking a nap (the Sunday nap is almost as sacred as Sunday church). So it was 5:30 p.m. before I had a break to take on my bike.

I dug Argent out of the garage—a warm spring Sunday calls for the fast bike. I pumped up the tyres and lubed the chain, and then I was off.

I head over to the Cedar Valley Nature Trail and turned north. It was cloudy and windy—and at one point I felt glad I had just lubed my chain, as rain started to sprinkle down. I was facing a partial headwind headed north, but I just kept going. I didn’t really intend to go as far as Lafayette (7 miles north of Hiawatha, 11 miles or so from my house). But I did.

Bench added to Lafayette trail park, in memory of James Lehmkuhl.

And this is partly turning into the sky-biker blog, as the sky was again the star of the show on this ride. The setting sun kept coyly and cutely peeking out between clouds. The wind came and went, but luckily was not a constant problem.

Sky viewed on the way back from Lafayette along the trail. Pretty sunset.

I noticed a nice new bench at Lafayette, which no doubt I will use this summer. Today, I quickly used the outhouse there and then headed back home. At some points on the way back, without the headwind and with a favorable grade, I was flying along at about 20 mph—not all that fast, I know, for a road bike and a good biker, but I’m not a good biker and it was darn fast for me, even on a road bike.

I had just crossed Robins Road on the way south when this blackbird started yelling at me. Take that, blackbird. I have captured your soul. Sadly, the market value of a used blackbird soul isn't all that much. Second sky view from almost the same spot below.

I was using lights on the way back, and the sky got prettier and prettier as the sun set. There were some others, bikers and walkers, out on the trail, but not as many as I expected. Wind, I suppose, kept traffic down, but it was, despite the breeze, a very nice 22-mile ride. I was home by 7:30. That, for me, is flying.

Final sky views as I approach home, riding north on C Avenue. Camera doesn't quite do justice to how pretty the blue, grey, purple and pink clouds were. View above is near Walgreen's. View below is on C Avenue bridge.