Tuesday, July 21, 2020

In Which We Tour the Lakes on a Damp Day

Man in rain
Looking out my front door at 7 a.m. I don't know the wet biker, but glad it was not me.

My sister who is riding with me this week calls the event “ARTNR,” A Ride That’s Not RAGBRAI. This was day 3.

And water was the theme of the day. The plan was for this to be a pretty substantial day, possibly in the 50- to 60-mile range, and it very nearly did not happen.

We had agreed to meet about 7:15 this morning, but rain was falling. I called my sister, who checked her weather app, and said the rain would not last long.

I left home about 7:30, deciding to ride The Fancy Beast due to the wet pavement.

As I rode to my sister’s house, the morning song came to me. You’re welcome:



We met and started south on the Cedar River Trail. It sprinkled and then began to rain, and we briefly took shelter under a drug store awning until the rain let up a bit.

Devonshire on a wet morning
Riding north up Devonshire as I start my ride--clouds, sprinkles and wet pavement.

Wavy clouds in sky.
Interesting clouds seen as I ride towards my sister's house in the morning.

Sign under Collins Road.
Under Collins Road, a message.

Sister rides trike on trail.
My sister leads the way south on the Cedar River Trail as we bike to Cedar Lake.

Sister on trail.
Another look as we ride to the lake on the trail.


But by the time we got to Cedar Lake, the sky was actually getting blue here and there.

Cedar Lake
Clouds allow some light through at Cedar Lake.

Sister rides at lake
Sister on trike at Cedar Lake.

Cedar Lake
Another view as we ride around Cedar Lake.

Cedar Lake
South end of Cedar Lake, the sky about as nice as it got today.

Trail at lake
Riding at Cedar Lake

Second lake
Bridge that crosses narrow waterway that joins northern Cedar Lake with the smaller southern part. South sky getting cloudy.

Pelicans
Short stop on bridge to make image of pelicans on south lake. I told my sister that bit of rest was our pelican brief.

That’s the way it went this morning—checking our phones during breaks, sometime seeing the sky cloud up and then at others clear off. My weather app predicted rain midday, and after we rode around the Prairie Park Fisher and Cedar Lake, I was ready to call it a ride.

Mostly it was because I didn’t want to get rained on. Party it was because many miles on The Fancy Beast can get tiring. The bike is great for riding on not pavement, but does take a bit more to make it move on pavement.

New trail
Cloudy sunshine. We've ridden through downtown heading towards the Prairie Park Fishery, this is the short levee trail that leads to a back street that gets you to Otis Road, where the fishery is.

Project.
Street work seen on Cedar River Trail on the ride back to Cedar Lake.

More road work.
Construction work complicates our route home from Noelridge Park.

Well, it’s was not exactly a “driving” day, a day of no riding that each of us has once or twice on a regular RAGBRAI. It’s more like the old days when we used to change drivers in the meet town—it was a half day ride.

Long rides are planned for Wednesday and Thursday, weather willing.

CR Biker
On Otis Road by Cedar River. My sister Cate made this image of CR Biker. She said mud splatters on my back made it look like someone perhaps had ridden me over.



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