In Which I Find a West Side Route

Saw this woodpecker on an owl figure, carved from a stump of a tree, across the street from Mount Mercy University on an Aug. 8 bike ride.

Another image from that ride--just parked my bike in a nearby bike rack.

I’ve had some recent biking adventures: Riding some distance on a tandem with a grandson (“some distance,” to an old man, being over 10 miles), hitting the Sac and Fox Trail on my mountain bike after getting supplies at a bike shop to fix my road bike, and cracking one of the great mysteries of Cedar Rapids bike riding. That mystery: How can you get from the east side of the river, where I live and do most of my biking, to Morgan Creek Park on the west side without any scary rides on narrow roads with high speed limits?

I’m happy to report that, weeks before the second half of “the ride that is not RAGBRAI” by Team Joe, I’ve found a doable west side route. More on that coming.

But first, a flat tyre. It was very hot on Monday, Aug. 5, but my plan was to ride my bicycle to the office and get some work done for the upcoming fall semester. I had recently returned from Des Moines for the first half of the ride that is not RAGBRAI, and had some recent warm-day riding experience, although the heat was way more intense this Monday. Still, I did not anticipate a long ride and was deliberately going to take it slow.

I started out, but as I climbed the hill on C Avenue, the bike started to feel odd. Was I succumbing to the heat? I stopped, and felt the back tyre.

It was soft, squishy, not what one wants a bike tyre to be. It was losing air, so I walked the bike home and decided the universe was telling me it was just too darn hot that day to ride.

On Tuesday, a grandson was spending the day with me. It was still warm, but not as hot, so we mutually agreed to a ride using the tandem bicycle. We rode to the Lindale Trail, and then used the new Creekside Trail off the Boyson Trail to head north, ending up at Lowe Park where the grandson played and I sat and watched him play (not completely, there was some grandson-grandfather play time, but also some grandfather sitting time, which I am grateful for). After lunch, later that afternoon, we again got the tandem out and rode to the Freeze in Marion for some refreshment.

Deer doesn't care as grandson and I ride by on tandem bike. Or stop to make an image of indifference.

It was a good day and two nice rides. The first was longer, just over 10 miles, but the two together were close to 19 miles—quite a lot of miles, thank you, on that heavy, old tandem bike.

On Wednesday, I decided I wanted to ride the Sac and Fox at least once before summer ends, so I loaded up my road bike and my mountain bike in my old Kia van. I was taking the road bike down to Goldfinch Cyclery to get a new tyre and a couple of new tubes (taking the bike because I wanted them to verify I was getting the correct tyre and tubes), then I drove to the north end of the Sac and Fox Trail.

It was a perfect day for riding that trail. The heat of Monday was gone, and Wednesday was a beautiful day. Recent rains made some parts of the Sac and Fox a little rough, especially down by the river, but what the heck, I was on my mountain bike anyway. I rode over to the Prairie Park Fishery, rested, and snacked a while, and then headed back. On the return journey, rather than sticking strictly to the trail, I rode a couple of the side mountain bike trails that snake through some woods, with some pleasant open glens included, where I paused to make images.

Flyers were a theme of the ride. At the Prairie Park Fishery, a hummingbird briefly buzzed me, pausing as if it were trying to figure out the intruder in its world. It sped off before I had a chance to grab my camera. I had a similar photo failure on the Sac and Fox. I saw several Swallowtail butterflies, but only one Monarch. It, too, flew off before I could photograph it.

Still, as you can see, I did capture some of the pretty flyers. And, anyway, I had the pleasure of going for a leisurely ride along some pretty trails.

Swallowtail butterfly along Sac and Fox trail.

Blue Swallowtail.

Flowers in a sunny clearing along mountain bike trail off of the Sac and Fox Trail.

The kind of day it was, sunshine on Mountain Bike Trail.

Here and below--views along the Sac and Fox Trail.

I did a bit of bike maintenance on Thursday, fixing the flat on the road bike and replacing a broken bell on the tandem bike. After that, I rode to campus to test the new tyre (and also do some work), so I was ready for an adventure on Friday.

I had a plan. Recently, I had ridden my bike out to Morgan Creek Park, a very nice county park on the south side of town, west of the river. Getting there from where I am was a bit of a nightmare, at least on bicycle. Then, I rode to Ellis Park and then up Edgewood. I headed west, but ended up on narrow roads with 35 mph speed limits—not the sort of place CR Biker is comfortable rolling.

But, I knew that the Cherokee Trail on the south side of town provides a safe route to that park—the problem was, how do I get to the trail from the Cedar River? I tried to do a bit of planning pre-ride, wishing I had a big city map to help. Remember maps?

Bell on tandem broke, so I replaced it with bell from road bike and put the bell at right on road bike--shimming it with piece of the leaky inner tube I had removed from the road bike.

New bell on road bike.

Just changed tube and tyre and put wheel back on road bike. Bought two tubes so I can carry one with me on rides.

Anyway, the pdf versions online weren’t all that easy for me to read, but I got the idea that my plan was workable. Rather than riding to Ellis Park, if I cut south earlier, I should find a more bike-friend route to the Cherokee Trail.

Honestly, one of the reasons I was planning this adventure is my wife had given me a coupon for a free beer at Big Grove Brewery. She’s gone for a while—helping a son and daughter-in-law with a newly born grandson—and I decided I would use the coupon and try the new Cedar Rapids location of the brewery for lunch.

But the explore would come first. I headed south on the Cedar River Trail, crossing the river at Third Avenue. Then I headed west along the river—using bike lanes downtown, and a sidewalk trail after that. When the trail got to Ellis Boulevard, I turned the other way. One rides west to the park, but I headed east—which means, unlike the road to the park, I was on a stretch of Ellis Boulevard with a bike lane. I got to O Avenue, another street with a bike lane, and headed south.

O Avenue turned out to be a mixed blessing. The pavement is nice—the street seems to have been repaved in recent years. But, especially headed south, it’s a bit hilly. Still, I rode for several miles, before decided I had probably gone too far. I did my best to consult maps on my phone—and identified 11th Street as the place where I should turn west. I had to backtrack to get there, and not for the last time, as it turns out.

O Avenue--good pavement, nice bike lane, some ups and downs--still, way, way better than narrow roads with higher speed limits.

I took 11th for a while, then turned on another Avenue (I rode on both I and J, I used one on the way there, the other on the way back) to reach 13th Street, which I took until I ended up behind the Johnson Avenue HyVee store. Johnson Avenue is a very busy street on the south side of town, but is also a street that has a bike lane—so I turned west and rode for quite a way—until, unexpectedly, it was suddenly there, the Cherokee Trail!

From there, I followed the trail signs (part of the “trail” is just residential streets, but they are marked as bike routes and aren’t busy) to Cherry Hill Park.

That was as far as I was going on this explore. It was midafternoon now, I was hungry, and the coupon for the beer seemed to be gaining in importance. I knew from previous experience that the ride from Cherry Hill to Morgan Creek is an easy trip along a short stretch of trail and a longer stretch on bike lanes, so I knew the explore had been a success. After a short rest, I backtracked.

By the Cedar River on Friday ride--a hawk, I think, circling overhead several times. It decided I had too many calories.

Friday turned out to be just a little cool. Even in the afternoon, fire at Big Grove Brewery was pleasant.

And got confused at O. See, the problem is I have almost zero innate sense of direction, and since I had ridden along O too far and come back, both directions looked familiar. I was trying to ride towards the river, and I turned the wrong way. Fortunately, while directionally a numbskull, I can read numbers on side streets. Would they be going up as I approached the river? My logical brain said “no.”

Besides, I seemed to be going uphill more than down—and one would think, no matter where one is, if you’re headed towards a river, the elevations on your ride should generally be downhill.

So, a couple of blocks later, I turned around. And I really appreciated the difference heading towards the river made on O Avenue; I still had some ups and downs, but more downs, and I do like the downs on my bike rides.

Big Grove Brewery turned out to be a pleasant stop. Some staff from Mount Mercy, the university where I teach, were hanging out, and I joined them. I had a pulled pork sandwich, with came with a scoop of red cabbage slaw on it and a side of fries, both of which I enjoyed. I washed it down with the free beer, and free beer just always tastes great.

So, Team Joe., a question: On part 2 of our ride, will we aim for Morgan Creek Park and the new trail to nowhere that is there? It would be a mostly “street” ride, but with some nice trail parts. And there is always Big Grove Brewery to celebrate the ride at. The total ride would easily top 40 miles (mine was about 32, but again, I stopped at Cherry Hill Park), and would have more hills than our Des Moines rides, but no big hills.

We will see what the team thinks. I’ll have to find an excuse this fall to head out to Morgan Creek again, just to practice this new route. I’m slowly learning you, strange land west of the river.

As of Aug. 10, 134.5 miles for the month, 1,884.64 for the year. Maps of two of my rides: