In Which Chilly Fall is Suddenly Upon Iowa

Sunrise at C Avenue and Collins Road, a frosty Wednesday morning.

It was wet Monday, so I did not ride. Tuesday morning was windy, with damp pavement, but no rain, so I got the mountain bike out and rode to work.

Wind gusts topped 40 mph that morning—a stiff, cool west wind. Luckily, my ride is mostly to the south. I needed my jacket, hood and gloves, but despite the wind, the ride was not terrible.

I arrive Tuesday morning--not all the wind is from Mother Nature. That's my bike in the Warde Hall rack.

In the afternoon, the wind was still blowing, but was definitely not as extreme. It was pushing past 5 p.m. as I left work. On the way home, because the sky had cleared and it was, despite the chill and breeze, so pretty, I rode around the pond at Collins Aerospace, and then headed down the Lindale Trail to take the Boyson Trail back to home.

I rode the short eastern trail—I didn’t want to use the crosswalk to the main trail during the evening rush hour. As I rode north on that short trail, a deer ambled out of the creek bed to the right and paused. A second, younger deer followed, and the two walked over to the line of trees to the west, and began nonchalantly munching grass. I snapped some images, which did not seem to bother the deer at all.

On the way home Tuesday afternoon--many such signs like the one above. It feels a bit weird that a lot of street paving projects seem to have started in October. Fall colors have arrived--maple tree (below) at Collins Aerospace pond on C Avenue.

I haven’t ridden as much lately as I like to, so just for the challenge, I headed over the Bowman Woods hill. It’s also possible that I was just getting hungry and over the hill is the shortest route home.

That was Tuesday’s ride. Today, it was still cool in the morning, and frosty. Chilly fall weather is here. We’ve got a hard freeze on the way Thursday night.

I enjoyed the ride to work, but parked the bike inside. The TV weather forecast said there may be sprinkles in the afternoon. In fact, there was a pretty daunting looking downpour for a while, but luckily by around 4:45 it had simmered down to sprinkles.

It was a damp, chilly ride home—but not really a wet one, although I did change my pants due to the place where the back wheel had kicked up some water.

I enjoyed having the mountain bike, and these days of marginal weather are what I own it for. Cars turning right onto Collins Road as I waited for the light on C Avenue skidded around the corner—the cool, wet pavement could be slippery. Tuesday and Wednesday were better days for wider mountain bike tyres.

Still, I would like to wear the bike shoes and ride the hybrid bike—maybe Thursday. It’s getting chilly, but not too cold for your bike correspondent!

Deer along the trail late Tuesday afternoon.

Dry Creek seen on the bike ride home.

V of geese, heading the wrong way (they are flying north) as sun sets. View from near the top of Bowman Woods hill on Brentwood Drive.