In Which the Planet Tilts to Winter

My trike, briefly parked at Thomas Park in Marion, Iowa, during a late November ride along the Boyson Trail, parts of which were recently paved.

The sun never gets super high at this time of year, but still looks pretty in the afternoon, seen on November trike ride to Cedar Lake.

Late afternoon sun at Lowe Park in Marion, Iowa. seen in November.

Well, it’s been quite some time, biking blog pals. I’ve been fine, but what with one thing and another, I have not been writing a lot here lately.

I place the bulk of the blame on my own aging memory but I’m willing to share some resposibility with the TSA and modern air travel. For three weeks at the start of October, I was off my trike and my bikes due to a pleasant journey.

My wife and I drove up to the Twin Cities to visit our oldest daughter who lives in a suburb of Saint Paul with her family. Then, we flew out from Minneapolis to visit our oldest son and his family in San Francisco.

We had packed our laptop computer, since I was planning to possibly use it to process images. But it would have been a pain to take it on a flight, so we left it in a suitcase in a closet in the basement of a house in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. Where, when we returned from San Francisco to visit for a few more days and then drive home to Iowa, we left it.

Shucks. It was inevitable this blog would be on hiatus for some time as I spent a fortnight and another week moving across the planet via planes, cars and feet. But that hiatus was extended by the delay getting our laptop back—the laptop is what I use to both edit images and write blog posts.

Long aside, I know, but after the voyage I spend the waning days of October and the whole month of November rolling across the planet, usually on three wheels and sometimes on two.

November, from a trike or bike riding point of view, was a decent month—it was warm and dry for late fall, with some frosty mornings and blustery, chilly days to remind me I live in Iowa. The world was much greener and pleasant than it usually is in the 11th month in this part of the Northern Hemisphere.

This and next images, me during unusually warm November trike rides. It's Nov. 22 in this image and I don't have a coat on.

Stopping by Oakshade Cemetery, were my parents rest, on Dia de los Muertos, Nov. 2.

I guess cemeteries were a theme. Riding my trike through Mt. Calvary Cemetery, where I visit the Sisters of Mercy who rest there. I taught at Mount Mercy University, founded by the sisters, before I retired to ride my tricycle.

Final selfie of this post. Nov. 13 ride takes me by Cedar Lake.

And then came the week of Thanksgiving.

The cool, sunny days turned colder. And then it suddenly got very cold. On the Saturday after turkey day, the winter weather switch was fully engaged—11 inches of dense, heavy snow carpeted my world.

That was Nov. 30, and it was Dec. 5 before I rode my first post-storm ride—and that was a short jaunt on the Fancy Beast so I had a mountain bike to cross snow or ice. I needed the wide tyres of that bike, and indeed walked about a mile of a 7-mile journey to get past the C Avenue sidewalk, which is both the most heavily traveled pedestrian route in my neighborhood and the one least well cleared.

The Fancy Beast, paused on C Avenue Dec. 5. I'm returning home from Lindale Trail and have dismounted to walk across the most ice and snow covered section of the sidewalk.

Lindale Trail on Dec. 5 ride--the trail, in both Cedar Rapids and Marion, is much clearer, although a bit of snow here and there means I'm not unhappy to be riding my mountain bike.

My November rides featured one 35-mile jaunt south to the nearby town of Ely and back along the Cedar River Trail. On that ride, I was interested in seeing progress being made on a new pedestrian-biking bridge that is under construction across the Cedar River between the New Bo neighborhood and Mount Trashmore.

It will be Eastern Iowa’s answer to the High Trestle Trail Bridge, I suppose. Not much of an answer because I’m sure the HTT will still be much grander and where all the cool Iowa bikers gather. Still, it will be very nice to have this new bridge crossing our largest local river in a couple of years.

Many deer seen on November trike and bike rides.

The new bridge being built between Czech Village and New Bo over the Cedar River. The bridge uses the old foundations of a closed railroad bridge. The project will soon close this segment of the Cedar River Trail, and I hope they create a bypass or detour and don't just close one of the busies bike trails in town.

Snake on a trail--seen on Cedar River Trail south of the river.

The weather in the world here at the start of November looked more like September, but by month’s end, even before the winter snow arrived, most trees had become bare and the world started to take on a bit more of its brown, sleepy winter hues. It was surprising this year how many bugs persisted into late November this year, but they aren’t persisting now.

Saturday, Dec. 6, another snowstorm was here. It was colder too, so I didn’t try to ride in the morning before the late afternoon snow blew in. Sunday, I spent my outdoor time clearing snow and filling bird feeders. I’m pretty sure the roads won’t be ready for a ride Monday (I drafted this post before Monday but posted after, and yes, roads weren't ride ready Monday). It will take some time for pavement to be clear enough to be passable.

There aren’t any days in the 10-day weather forecast that look warm enough for getting my as yet unnamed tricycle, or even my mountain bike, out for a ride.

Whatever. I’ll be happy to squeeze in any miles I can this December, as weather allows. In October, I rode 97.44 miles, not many even by my low standards, yet not all that bad since three weeks of the month were spent away from my trike and bikes. In November, I rolled for 262.78 miles. My total so far this year is 1,776.22 miles. I am pretty sure that I won’t make it to 2,000 miles in 2025, but with luck should top that in 2026!