In Which My Feet Disagree with a Shoe Choice

Left my helmet and pants holders on campus--so improvise. I start the ride wearing my old helmet (above) and rubber bands (below).

First day back in Iowa: Although I go to bed early last night, I slept as if I was still on West Coast time, arising promptly at the early hour of 9 a.m. (which would have been 7 in San Francisco).

Unfortunately, nobody brought me a warm and cute baby to snuggle with for a while in the morning, nor did they make coffee for me, so I had to make my own coffee and skip the snuggles. Miss you, Jon Coffee Maker, Lucas Snuggler (and you too, Nalena Kind Mother and Maker of Delicious Breakfasts). Both Jon and Nalena had turns as the Giver of the Baby, but the baby was always Lucas, who was a sweet little cutie. As a grandfather, of course, I’m a totally unbiased source.

Anyway, this morning I worked for several hours, had lunch, worked some more, and decided, around 2, to take a break. To nap or to ride? It was windy and in the 30s.

I decided, despite the wind, to ride. Lets just say, thanks to my son's and daughter-in-law's and wife's cooking abilities, on display during the West Coast trip, that my weight didn't drop in the past week and leave my motivations at that. It would be too warm with long underwear, but too cold without it, so I compromised by wearing PJ pants under my blue jeans, and two pairs of socks. (I hope that is not TMI, and yes, I was wearing other stuff, too).

I left my hybrid bike on campus during my recent trip to the Bay Area, so I got the road bike out and headed over to the Cedar River Trail.

I circled Cedar Lake, and felt pretty lucky. I saw two young eagles hanging out. Siblings? Teens on a first date? I don’t know, but it was cool to see two such birds.

A bunch of eagle pictures and some others down at the lake. Why not?

When I got to campus, I went to the library to get my bike shoes. I worried, a bit, because I know from experience that the bike shoes are not very warm, but I figured, what the heck? And I took my other shoes with me on the rack of the bike, so if the toes got too cold, I could swap back.

If you saw a crazy old man laying in the wet grass near Basile Hall this afternoon at MMU (and you probably did not, it was pretty quiet on campus although two random pedestrians did pass by), it was me, making images of these flowers between Basile Hall and Warde Hall. Legit to put on bike blog--I had ridden to this site and bike was parked on sidewalk.

 On the way back home, I went north to South Troy Park in Robins. My feet were getting pretty cold, but I still was enjoying the ride. I had not planned to use up the bulk of the afternoon in a bike ride, but it was my first time on a bike seat in a week.

It felt good to be riding again. Not as good as a morning baby snuggle nor as warm, but good.

Headed north on trail, cardinal and robin in same frame by the side of the trail.

Traffic was lighter in Iowa, but lock down not as tight as West Coast yet--and Iowans are more dependent on their cars than mid-city dwellers. Traffic at 42nd Street on trail.

A bush buds by the trail in woodsy area of Hiawatha.

Change of fashion. New helmet, bike vest, picked up at newspaper office at MMU. Bike still parked there, since I could not ride two home.

Ride summary on computer.

It's after 5 and the weekend--trail is pretty empty, It's cold, but still it felt like lots less people were out, which is a good thing, I suppose.

Normally quite creek in Robins has some extra water in it.

Another view in Robins. Gray day, but it was still good to be out.