In Which I Do Early Spring Bike Maintenance

Bike pump and three bikes--Fancy Beast, the winter mountain bike; Argent, the road bike; and Clarence, the hybrid commuting bike. Why does a biker need 3 bikes? Why does an adult need more than one pair of shoes?

Tuesday—the student newspaper has been sent to the printer and I’m wasting a bit of time before a staff meeting. Snow is coming late tomorrow, so winter isn’t completely done with Iowa, but I plan a quick bike ride in the nice early evening before the meeting takes place.

It’s been a pretty good biking week, even if much of my riding is early in the cool mornings or well after dark. This is a time of year I don’t think I’ll struggle much with what do when I finally retire, as long as I can ride a bike.

Anyway, Sunday afternoon I had to go to campus, but before leaving home, I took all three bikes out, aired up their tyres and lubed their chains. The surprise is that neither the road bike nor the hybrid bike actually needed much air—despite not being ridden a lot lately, the warmer day probably boosted tyre pressure a bit.

I also swapped out worn brake shoes on my mountain bike with relatively new ones that were on The Beast, the old Schwinn bike that isn’t rideable anymore. There is also a frame pump on that old bike that I’m planning to take off and attach to the hybrid, one of these days, but I did not quite get that done.

My plan was to ride Clarence, the hybrid bike, but with all three bikes out of the garage, I fell under the spell of the road bike, so I instead flew to campus on Argent. Naturally, I took the 10-mile trail route rather than the 4-mile direct route. There was a cool wind, but despite that, it was still a sunny, cheerful afternoon.

Sunday--Read to head out on Argent. Cedar Lake, below, with what I think is an eagle resting on the ice.

Monday and Tuesday, the pavement was clear enough to use the hybrid bike, which meant riding without a backpack, which I enjoy.

Spring! It’s not really here yet—all is brown, with barren trees, and any water is ice each morning. But the change is in the air. February is about to give way to March, the transition month from nasty to nice in Iowa. March can go either way, and will start with snow—but if there are days like there were this week, there will be nice, too.

Monday--Sunshine on the bike rack by the library at MMU. It's cool like winter, but pretty like spring.

In Which the Winter Bike Proves Valuable

Dry Creek seen from the C Avenue Bridge on the way home, 5:30 p.m. or so Tuesday, Feb. 20. Not so dry.

My wife asked me if I was going to drive Friday morning—I had driven Wednesday and Thursday due to expected wet weather or van maintenance or a combination of both.

It rained overnight and was damp and chilly, but not raining. So I did ride. “I’ll take the mountain bike, but I hope we have a sunny day soon so I can ride the hybrid one,” I said.

She replied, somewhat amused, that she has no idea which bike is which.

Well, I did ride and I did use the mountain bike, the Fancy Beast. This winter, using it has proven to be a good move.

The last time I rode, the day these images are from, was Tuesday. Monday was wet, too, and Tuesday during the day it got cold, so ice was the concern. But it was too warm to freeze Tuesday morning, and I figured as the temperature chilled below freezing, most of the water was evaporate into the dry air rather than freeze on the pavement.

The gamble paid off. I was a bit damp when I got to work Tuesday morning, and it cooled off during the day into the 20s. As I set off for the ride home, most of the streets I rode on were bare.

Not totally bare—there were patches of ice here and there, and I did have to slow down and take it easy. But the wide mountain bike tyres did their thing, I and arrived home safely.

And almost fell down. The only place that I had a bad slip was right in front of my own house.

The site of the slip that started but did not end in a fall--ice on my sidewalk and driveway. More than I saw Tuesday anywhere else.

Which was not too much of a surprise, because the geography in my home area does tend to the damp. I was a good citizen, and sprinkled some road salt after carefully dismounting.

Anyway, I hurt my left knee rather badly a few years ago falling on ice, and vowed I would never again ride on it. Clearly, I am stretching that rule a bit.

But also clearly, so far, the gamble has paid off! Hooray for the Fancy Beast!

Corner of C Avenue and Blair's Ferry on the way home Tuesday, Feb. 20. Grey day, windy and chilly, but bare pavement.

In Which an Eagle Circles Over the Lake

Three views of pretty sunshine from Friday morning ride--Rockwell Collins pond on C Avenue (top), hillside approaching MMU (middle) and Catherine McAuley's halo gets a little bright on Rohde Plaza (bottom). Blue sky day.

Winter is slowly losing its grip on my corner of the hemisphere. While part of this week will be too wet for riding and there was fresh snow Saturday, Sunday was quite warm. I didn’t have time for a long ride, which was probably OK, given how slushy the world was.

And there was Friday, which was a cool day but nice by winter standards.

I rode to work in the morning by the direct route, admiring the sunshine. I left work about 4 in the afternoon, and decided to take the longer Cedar River Trail route home—swinging by Cedar Lake before heading north.

I had not been to the lake for a while, and enjoyed seeing the crowded patch of open water at the lake’s north end. It was crowded with geese and a few ducks, and sounded like a busy cocktail party. I shot some images and moved one.

But a particular bird caught my eye, flying high above the others in a straight line headed southeast. It was a bit distant, but unmistakable—white tail feathers and white head gleaming in the afternoon sun.

Your eyes may be playing tricks on you--in the above picture, three geese are near the middle of the lake. Higher and farther away, that is no goose. The bird in front with the straight wings is a soaring eagle. Below, the eagle has wheeled away from the lake and is heading west, probably for the dam area of the Cedar River. In profile, I think you can see it's an eagle more easily, with the naked eye it was much more obvious.

I instantly wished I had my good camera with a long lens. Fortunately, the bald eagle interrupted its straight flight and circled for a while near the south end of the lake before turning and heading west.

As you can see, it was a pretty winter day. And in this part of Iowa, in 2018, eagles are not incredibly rare. Still, I think this was the clearest sighting I’ve had in recent months, and there’s still something awe inspiring about the sight of an eagle.

It should rain tomorrow—and I don’t do cold rain, even on my winter beater bike. We’ll see when I can get back in the saddle, but it shouldn’t be long. I did a short ride to and from the gym today, just one day after fresh snow fell, and it felt good.

Not as good as Friday—no eagles—but it seems biking weather is coming back!

Other Friday views--sunshine through park trees on J Avenue in the afternoon on my way to the trail.

Just a small selection of the large bird party going on in the patch of open water at the north end of Cedar Lake.

Low sun looking west on trail by lake.

End of trail loop, I've circled the lake counterclockwise and am nearing the T intersection to turn north.

In Which Warm Wet Days Lead to Rides

Sun shining on a driveway at MMU on the afternoon of Feb. 14 (above), My winter bike parked in a rack on campus on a grey, cloudy but warm Thursday (below).

On Wednesday and Thursday, it was cool and wet in the mornings, and the pavement seemed a bit iffy.

But, after a week of not riding, I was ready to take a chance. And I am glad I did. I did slip a bit on ice about 100 yards from home, but other than that, the mountain bike proved sure footed. And although both mornings were wet and cold, afternoon rides were nice.

Friday is supposed to be cold, but that just means I will have to dress a bit warmer. Let the rides begin.

In Which Winter Will Cause a Delay

On the way to campus, about 2 in the afternoon. Some snow at the corner of Collins and F, but not much.

CR Biker won’t get much biking time this week, I’m afraid. There’s snow bearing down on Iowa, with accumulating snow during the day Monday virtually a certainty.

On Saturday, a rainy wintery mix briefly turned to light snow overnight, and today there was a white glaze on the world. It turned cold—it was warm enough yesterday to briefly rain, but the temperature was 30 degrees colder today, in the teens, with a stiff wind.

Still, the sun was shining this afternoon when I needed to go to campus, so I did it—I rode. There was snow here and there, but much of the pavement was bare, and I gambled I would be OK on the Fancy Beast, my winter bike.

And I was. It was cold, but I was well dressed, and in fact felt rather a bit too warm on the ride to campus. I arrived in the afternoon and worked for several hours, and it was just starting to get dark as I headed home.

My bike all alone in bike rack at Regina Hall, MMU, above. A closer look at my snowy back tyre. Despite the snow, the trusty mountain bike didn't have a slip at all on the ride.

The temperature had dropped and the wind had picked up—I was riding into the face of it on the way home. I was still well dressed enough to be OK, but was definitely chilled when I reached my destination!

Well, we’ll see how many days it takes before the pavement seems ride worthy. At least I did sneak one chilly commute in before the big snow arrives.