The light is fading away from the Northern Hemisphere. Time to check the lights.
Despite the fading morning and afternoon suns, summer heat and drought has been the theme of recent biking in Iowa. That finally changed this week. While it wasn’t by any means a gully washer, some rain fell Monday into Tuesday, and suddenly the humid 90s have been replaces by cool 70s.
I felt I was melting at the start of this week. Now I wear a sweater for morning rides.
This morning was a bit frustrating. I was all set to leave home early and get to work well before 8—but I noticed an odd wobble as I got close to the Rockwell-Collins crossing. I thought something was wrong with my front wheel due to the wobble, but it seemed true. Then I looked back at the rear wheel.
Wobble. Wobble. Wobble. If felt like it came from the front, but in fact it was the back wheel that was bippity bopping as I rode. “Looks like a broken spoke” I thought to myself, and when I stopped, hopped off the bike and checked, sure enough, myself was correct.
Well, I was much closer to home than work, so I turned back and swapped bikes.
It meant I didn’t get in early, as I had hoped to. But I did, at least, get to ride a bit more in a pleasantly cool morning, which is nice to experience after our long, hot September.
Here are a bunch of images of recent rides showing the beauty of the fall skies, whether hot or seasonal in temperature.
Early sun at Blairs Ferry Road (above) and Rockwell-Collins pond (below).
Ones above are last week-this is this morning, Sept. 27.
Heading west on Grant Wood Trail to tunnel under Highway 13. We can't see it yet, but there is not a trail beyond the tunnel.
Have you ever been on the Grant Wood hiking/bike trial east of Marion?
I tried it today for the first time. After doing some schoolwork in the morning (and other unfortunate events that Amanda knows about, but the rest of you are in ignorance of although a yummy breakfast that must be atoned for was involved), my wife and I decided it was time for a bike ride.
We had talked about the Grant Wood Trail before—we’ve noticed signs for it east of Marion on Highway 13. We parked one day earlier this summer at the east trail end, and noted the surface was not paved, so today, when we decided to finally ride it, we thought it best to bring mountain bikes.
Sometimes the trail was sort of a grass-rock mix, and sometimes, below, was more just a grassy track.
That proved to be wise. If you ride the Grant Wood Trail, do it on a bike with wide tyres—the ground is grass at some points, and was, despite the drought we are now in, a bit soft and muddy in one low, shady spot. You don’t want a road bike on this trail, and even a hybrid would be dicey. It is quite nice, however, on a mountain bike, and you’ll be grateful for the shock absorbers such bikes typically have.
After parking in a small gravel lot just off of Highway 13 near Highway 151, we started off heading west because it looked like there was a tunnel under Highway 13, and we wondered where the trail went into Marion. It turns out that it doesn’t. There is a tunnel under the highway, but it’s the far west end of the trail. So after the quick tunnel passage, we turned around and did our best 1970s rock band imitation. We headed east.
If you’re old enough, that may have launched a frat party soundtrack in your head. If not, see below. You’re welcome.
The Grant Wood Trail is fairly straight and not hilly. It does make up for it, however, with hidden bumps. It is, at points, like riding across a rather rough lawn, with little dips, sticks and unexpected tree roots. Still, despite being a bit on the bumpy side, if you ride it slowly (we were going about 7 mph) on a mountain bike, it’s also a very pleasant trail to be riding on during a late summer/early fall sunny afternoon.
And there are some bonus sights. We early passed a new park just south of the trail—so new, it appears that it’s not open yet. We could glimpse a big hole in the ground that we assume will be a pond when the weather turns wet. In future rides, this may be a nice picnic stop.
A little farther along the trail, an interesting sign marked a boggy area that, a few thousand years ago, was a small lake where a bison drowned. His bones were found in the 1960s. The animal was not a fossil—it died recently enough that the uncovered bones were still just bones. And yet, it belonged to a species of bison that is now extinct, the almost immediate ancestor of the buffalo of today.
Well, hello there, bison great, great, great grandpa. You were an unexpected bonus to encounter on this fine day.
Seen along the way--a future park (below) and past bison (below).
It was a day of pleasant sunshine, comfortable shade and a multitude of grasshoppers. There were a few screams and yelps from my wife when a jumper would hitch a short ride on her body. I’m happy to report that, for whatever reason, I was not a locust bus myself.
The yelps were few and far between, like the hidden roots. They did not spoil what was a pleasant ride. In fact, despite the jolts of the uneven trail, we were not ready to stop when the trail came to an interruption at a gravel road after a bit more than 3 miles. A sign said it continued somewhere, but we didn’t know how to get there and weren’t willing to try on unknown roads.
So our whole ride was 7 miles (we rode back to the Highway 13 tunnel just to ensure we reached the 7 target) and a bit more than an hour. That time included stopping to read the buffalo sign and peer at its spot of earthly departure, and a pause at the east end for a granola bar break.
The trail (above) continues somewhere. Our bikes parked a bit more than 3 miles from where we started (below).
All in all, I would say the Grant Wood Trail is worth your time, if you have not yet tried it. Do bring a mountain bike, keep a careful watch on the changing trail conditions and pick a very dry day. I hesitate to think what the boggy part of the trail would have been like if we weren’t in a drought. My wife noted she would like to bring grandchildren to hike part of it—I’m sure it works well as a walking trail.
I don’t think we’ll be riding this trail a lot, mostly because we have to drive through Marion to get to it—but I’m sure we’ll be back. We’ll someday try to find the other two-mile stretch of the trail that’s cut off on the east.
***
Not from Saturday ride--these images are from my Friday ride on the Cedar River Trail.
The Grant Wood exploration ride came a day after a very pleasant evening ride home for me. I happened to have my nice camera on campus for other reasons, so on the way home Friday, I used my good camera to shoot butterflies, egrets, flowers and bees on the way. See more of my pictures.
Our bikes, ready to go. Big red tandem on the end. My wife and I (below) ready to ride.
Tandem time! The birthday gift my wife bought for me is a late 1970s vintage Schwinn tandem bicycle.
I have been strictly forbidden to name the new, old bike.
Today was the first official ride on the big red tandem. My youngest son Ben arrived from Ames about 5, and we—my wife, daughter, grandson and I—were ready to go on a ride, five of us on three bikes.
I wheeled the big tandem out of the garage, aired up the tyres and lubed the chain.
My grandson loves to bike on my commuting bike on a toddler seat, and Ben is tall enough to ride that bicycle, so we decided that if the grandson were willing, Audrey and I would ride the tandem and Ben would ride the commuting bike.
As it turned out, the grandson was infatuated with his uncle, and had no trouble with the idea of riding with him.
We took off north along Devonshire. The tandem is a heavy bicycle, and I was a bit concerned about how it would ride. It turns out that the “two motors” definitely compensates for the extra large, heavy frame—Audrey and I seemed to make good time. We headed over to the Boyson Trail.
Riding a tandem is a bit of a new experience. It requires some communication and coordination between riders—when you’re riding a solo bike, you don’t have to let anybody else know to stop pedaling when you want to slow, for example. My wife and I also have “gear incompatibility,” in that I know what gears are for and I shift them, while her philosophy is to keep a bike always in one setting.
Tandem shadow. I suppose she has a point, but my wife didn't like it when I took the camera out.
Cornering is different, too. Our tandem is lower and longer than our individual bikes, and requires a bit more planning and swinging wide at tight corners.
Still, it was great fun. It’s nice to ride. And two motors, even if we have to coordinate our cadence, are good to have.
A tandem! I’ve been down the trail on a bike with no name, and I like it.
My wife's picture of her view. But she seemed to like the ride, anyway.
Audrey shoots a sky picture.
A view I seldom see--someone else using the toddler seat. Audrey shoots picture of son and grandson on Clarence.
Marlon (above) reacts to having his picture taken. Three students and I (below) in official CR Biker Bike Club Ussie before ride.
Ride 2 of the MMU Bike Club: Marlon expresses his displeasure at having his photo taken, and then organizes our small crew for the photo.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“We are going wherever you lead us,” Marlon answers.
So, instead of going south along Cedar Lake, I take the three students north on the Cedar River Trail. We are supposed to return to campus by close to 5, so it can’t be a long ride. Along the way, at a construction zone, I accidently turned into a street rather than the trail, so for about 10 seconds, they proved the folly of following my leadership as we were briefly lost. Still, the trail was never out of sight, and the point was to ride, right? There were perhaps a few sarcastic remarks as we made pointless parking lot loop, but I consider that all fair comment.
Then, at 42nd Street, I ask if we turn around or push on to go to Noelridge Park.
“We push on,” Marlon answered. “We’ve only been riding for 15 minutes.”
He is a man of few words, but they do work.
We rode on. I was on Clarence, my commuting hybrid bicycle, while they were on the heavier, older hybrids or mountain bikes owned by MMU. I was pushing it a bit, and asked if they liked the speed. They were fine. Those youngsters on their heavy, slow, old bikes have no trouble keeping up with an oldster on a much lighter, faster bike.
Well, there must be a reason CR Biker rides bike tours but never a bike race.
Anyway, we continued north until the side street that leads to the back end of St. Pius X. We went to the next short street just south of the church that cuts over to the north end of Noelridge—I was taking them, as a destination, to the city flower gardens.
The young woman on the ride, a local, had been there before, but not the two men. They did enjoy the flower beds. However, I wasn’t aware of the Monarch breeding area, and the woman with us was, so when she pointed them out we rolled across the grass to go see them.
On Cedar River Trail heading north. Besides mocking me for getting them lots, students noted I was often not pointing camera at them--it's not easy to shoot over your shoulder while riding a bike. This one worked.
At Noelridge Park. If you look at upper part of picture, you can see butterflies undergoing metamorphosis.Student (below) takes unofficial Bike Club Ussie.
And, they were very cool. They are mesh shelters protecting clumps of Milkweed plants used to breed butterflies. At first, I didn’t notice any butterflies—and it was the woman with us who again had to point out the sight—she noted the multitude of chrysalises hanging from the tops of the shelters.
Hmmm. It puts the bug back in my ear. Milkweed planting time is later in the fall just before the ground freezes, in this climate—I think it is time to revive the MMU pollinator garden project. Maybe we can get seeds in the ground this year…
Anyway, we headed back to campus. This second club ride was shorter—about 8 miles, compared to the 15-mile ride the club took last week, but we needed to get back earlier, too.
Ride 2, I think, was very nice, butterfly nice. And now I have a cool idea for a project to try to sell to the club …
Sun streaming down on our way back to campus. Nice afternoon for a ride!
