In Which Cool Fall Rides Are the Norm

Mount Mercy bikes in the bike rack as students put away bicycles from a recent Friday ride.

I did not see the snow Sunday—relatives living in central Iowa posted images on social media, so the fact that flakes were in the air later in the day here is not a surprise, but I was hunkered down, feverishly grading papers.

So I missed it, not that I miss it much. Cool fall rides are the norm here now. Today, the temperature is in the mid 30s, and in addition to the jacket I have already started wearing, I have to dig out some cold-weather gloves.

A very big creature (woodchuck? muscrat?) watches me Sunday as I circle Cedar Lake on my ride home. View of  Cedar Lake on a cold, grey day (below).

But the hybrid bike is back from the shop, and the monsoon season is temporarily suspended.

On Friday, the Mount Mercy University Bike Club held a ride. Five students showed up, not a bad size for a ride on a very cool afternoon. One first-year student is a woman from California, who I am proud of because she is not used to this Iowa weather, but came on the ride nonetheless.

At the end, she was “dancing” a bit, moving her legs to loosen them because biking 10 miles had left her sore—but what she said was “that was fun.”

Club selfie (above) before ride. Crossing grass at Noelridge Park on the way back to campus (below). Crossing a bridge on the Cedar River Trail (bottom).

It was. We headed north to Noelridge Park and circled the park on its limestone trail. Recent rains had washed some ruts in the trail, and I was a little worried we might have a spill, but luckily we did not.

So that ride was quite pleasant. On Saturday, I did a bit of yard work—raking, picking up fallen branches, planting some fall bulbs. And my wife and I headed out on a late afternoon bike ride, down the Lindale Trail to the Boyson Trail, heading to a big box store to get some more bulbs.

There were more slips on that ride, especially on the low-traffic stub of a trail before the sidewalk to the store. Despite that, again it was a pleasant ride.

Sunday, I went to campus to print more papers that had been turned in recently. That ride was less pleasant—rawer, windier, grey with a chilling dampness in the air.

And yet, it was still a bike ride, and that’s nice.

This week, we have a biking adventure planned. More to come later!

Some pretty sky views from Saturday ride to store.