In Which Winter Rides Continue In Snow

Jan. 15--Above and below--Birds fly over Cedar Lake on a grey winter afternoon. Taking a longer route to campus to enjoy them.

January is back, baby. I’ve missed a few days of riding as a result—once for a cold rain. I won’t ride in rain when it’s warm, given the choice, but certainly not when it’s in the low 40s.

And then winter, on vaca apparently, decided to return. Late Wednesday this week, the forecast was for light freezing rain changing into snow, and we sort of got that weather. But we were lucky, the change to snow happened early enough that we didn’t get seriously iced. Instead we got about an inch of snow—wet, heavy, dense snow.

School at my university was delayed two hours as a result on Thursday, and when I did got to campus, I drove rather than rode.

But Cedar Rapids was better about clearing this snow from streets than the previous one. Maybe it helps that on Thursday after the snow it was warm enough that road salt was fully effective. Anyway, despite  some patches of snow and ice here and there (Amaco, can’t you afford some snow removal on the sidewalk?), the commute to campus was rideable with a mountain bike on Friday.

I’ve been enjoying the winter riding that I’ve had. Snow is again in the forecast tonight, so it remains to be seen whether I bike much this coming week. Last Sunday, I meandered a bit on my way to campus and rode the Cedar River Trail down to Cedar Lake, one of the spots I enjoy on my local bike rides.

I continue to be ahead for 2023—may that be the trend. I’ve ridden 126.62 miles. My computer has stopped talking to my phone, which means I’ll be recording miles to the tenth rather than hundredth place until or unless the phone app recognizes the computer again.

Jan. 14--My sister and I inspect some of the new bike trails in the neighborhood. It was cold, but we were dressed well. We're at the end of the new trail that leads from the Boyson Trail north to Tower Terrace Road. She had not ridden there yet, nor under Blair's Ferry, and we rode both routes.

Minor technical problems. Whatever. The world is still a beautiful place, worthy of seeing from a bicycle. And today, I stopped at my neighborhood bike shop and finally got a tube so I can fix Francis, my hybrid bike.

But most of my January miles will be on the crusty, rusty old mountain bike. And yet, miles are mile and a ride is a ride and I’m grateful for any distance I achieve in the dead of an Iowa winter.

In Which Friday the 13th Isn’t Unlucky

Late afternoon ride on Jan. 1 on trail behind Linn-Mar High School.

Pretty late afternoon light on bike trail, Jan. 1.

The first almost fortnight of January 2023 has been pretty good, from a biking point of view. California has been socked with rain, the South is dealing with tornadoes, but in Iowa, the weather has been sometimes grey and damp, sometimes sunny, sometimes cold—but never as harsh as Iowa in January can be.

There has been snow on the ground, but no blizzard. There’s ice covering the C Avenue Pond, but it’s melted and frozen again several times. It’s been windy and chilly, and most (but not all) of my rides have involved insulated long underwear, yet we’re been in positive degrees above zero Fahrenheit pretty much for the whole first two weeks of the year.

Jan. 6--I take a slightly indirect route via Boyson and Lindale Trail as I head to campus. Seen from bridge over Dry Creek on Boyson Trail, some ducks in the glistening sunlight.

Jan. 6--Boyson Trail. Marion does a good job with snow removal, but it's the nature of a limestone trail to still have some snow. Riding my mountain bike, however, so it wasn't really an issue.

Another view of Dry Creek from Boyson Trail bridge Jan. 6.

My goal is to ride 3,300 miles this year, but last year I fell about 300 miles south of a 3,000 mile goal. I have a flat tire on my hybrid bike, and because of sometimes wet or slick on pavement, have been mostly riding The Fancy Beast, my oldest and slowest bike.

Still, the weather, while mixed, has been kind. At this time last year, by Jan. 13, 2022, my total mileage was 47.51 miles. I’m well ahead of that, now.

I’ve ridden 85.02 miles as of Friday the 13th. On Friday, I rode 7.99 miles on my road bike, one of two days I was able to ride that bike.

My longest ride, Jan. 1, made the best map image. Sideways view of bird?

Jan. 10--Morning light as I ride to work. Days are slowly getting longer, but it's a bit dark on morning rides still.

Jan. 11--Road bike awaits ride home. Bikers get the best parking spots!

Jan. 13--Image of bike bag as I park on campus--mostly for the few flakes of snow in the air. Can you see the dusting on the bag?

Jan. 13--Another view of winter bike dandruff--little flakes of snow. Rode road bike, but it was OK, snow was extremely light and didn't coat pavement at all.

My biggest mile total was 14.39 on Jan. 1. Two rides on Jan. 6 totaled 11.40 miles. I haven’t really taken any longer rides so far this year—over 40 miles—but it’s January, it’s cold, and I’m still getting some miles in.

That makes it, as of Friday the 13th, a pretty lucky biking year. More images:

Jan. 6--The Fancy Beast ready to ride home at Warde Hall.

Jan. 6--Morning snow cover and light at C Avenue Pond.

Jan. 11--Argent, my road bike, near Warde Hall as I leave work. One of two days this month when pavement was clear enough for road bike.

As I ride to work in the morning Jan. 11, I see this eagle perched in a tree at Kenwood Park. It flew off after I made a few images, second one below. I looked for it because I thought I heard an eagle's cry--for such large birds, they have a surprisingly pretty chirpy call (why in movies they usually use louder hawk cries to stand in for eagles).

Jan. 11-Second look at eagle.