In Which Flowers Bloom, Skies are Gray and Trails are Closed

No Cedar Lake ride for you! My turnaround point, a mile or so north of  Cedar Lake.

Summer biking season in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is underway. That means bugs, warmer weather, pretty greenery and closed trails.

Actually, the weather wasn’t all that warm today. It was a cloudy day with the temperature struggling to get north of 60. But I had spent most of the day finishing semester work, and by early evening was ready to celebrate the official end of spring semester and the start of summer bicycle riding.

Early in the ride, corner of C Avenue and Collins Road. A cool, grey ride, but it stayed dry.

I knew that tonight’s ride would be a fairly quick ride, since I was starting at nearly 7 p.m. and didn’t plan to still be riding in the dark. I decided to head down to Cedar Lake on the Cedar River Trail and then return home.

Somehow, I was forgetting it was the start of summer in Cedar Rapids. It seems every year, major chunks of bike routes are closed for utility projects, flood control projects, and/or street repairs. Last year, it was challenging to get through downtown Cedar Rapids because all of the street crossings near rail lines, which parallel the main bike trail, were being redone.

This year, a library construction project in Hiawatha closes the trial there, so you can’t go south from the north end of the trail. And in Cedar Rapids, there is another blockage. I had forgotten that the trail north of J Avenue is closed, too. So tonight, I didn’t make it down to Cedar Lake.

Well, projects are inevitable—positive, even, since they are improvements in the biking infrastructure, just annoying in the short run. I don’t mean to whine too much. Still, it would be nice to have a summer when a bike trek through Iowa’s second largest city could actually proceed on that city’s biggest bicycle trail unblocked.

Whatever. I only wanted a short ride anyway. When I got to the closed trail, I turned back, making a mental note to proceed south past J Avenue on streets before heading over to the trail. On the way home, I was going to ride the bike lanes on 42nd Street over to Noelridge Park, but nasty not surprise, the bike land on 42nd Street is closed, too.

Hello 42nd Street! View from trail. Decided not to turn east hear after all.

Welcome to a CR summer. The city of five season has a fifth season so you have time to try to find an alternate route.

Otherwise, it was a quiet ride. Something about a damp, cool night kept the traffic pretty light. Honeysuckle were in bloom, providing a pleasant springtime aroma.

Above and below, honeysuckle bushes along Cedar River Trail.

Above and below, two views of blooming tree along C Avenue near Collins Aerospace. Maybe a chestnut tree?

I rode down the Lindale Trail on the way home, just to make it an even 10 miles.

Plotting routes for my longer rides during stay-at-home not-RAGBRAI may get a little tricky. Then again, I think that seems to be true every year.

Above, geese in flight along C Avenue, seen on my way home. Below, map of tonight's quick ride. Picture of paperclip whose happy days were long, long ago.