In Which ‘Awful’ Bike Lanes Fortunately Expand

Sept. 29--Rode my trike up to Lafayette, about 10 miles from home, 7 miles from Boyson Road trailhead. I'm returning from a short stroll--I've been trying to walk more lately. I walked north of Lafayette and am returning there--you can see my trike Sommer Livin parked there. Look, it's Iowa, and there are riders on bicycles. Who knew?

This is a big week for bicycle and tricycle riders in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A major leg of the CeMar Trail, linking central Cedar Rapids to the main trail in Marion, Iowa, is set to open with a ceremony at noon, Friday.

There is a 60 percent chance of rain that day, so I’m a bit conflicted about whether I’ll ride the new trail segment on its opening day. If I still had a working bad weather mountain bike, I’m pretty sure I would ride unless it really pours—and, honestly, I’m still likely to chance it.

Just not on my new, expensive recumbent bike nor my sleek road bike. The beater bike, these days, is Clarence, my hybrid bike.

Anyway, this new milestone comes as bike trails are expanding here. A new bridge—called the Alliant Energy LightLine and part of a larger project called ConnectCR—across the Cedar River is taking shape, and last week, my sister and I rode our recumbent trikes down to take a look.

A tower at the south end of the bridge, which is to be lit and is a key feature of the bridge, has been put in place. The tower is designed to be a reminder of the historic Sinclair meatpacking plant that was an important part of local history, bringing many Czech immigrants to town. The bridge will connect two prominent local neighborhoods associated with the city’s Czech heritage, NewBo and Czech Village.

Workers on new bridge at base of new tower seen Oct. 22.

New tower comes into view Oct. 22 as my sister and I ride trikes on trail.

My sister and I had a beautiful day for our ride. The route there was complicated by road construction, which seems a theme of riding in Cedar Rapids this fall, but it was still nice to see the under-construction bridge, built on the foundation of a rail bridge swept away in a 2008 flood, taking shape.

That’s all well and good, but clearly there isn’t universal support for biking infrastructure. In my Congressional District, the Republican candidate is Joe Mitchell, and he made some biking headlines of his own recently.

President Trump came to the Sioux City airport Oct. 22 to, I assume, help sink the chances of most GOP candidates, and Mitchell was among the candidates reaching for an electoral anchor to pull himself down. He presented Trump with a fake “man of the century” award and then spoke about biking. Trump’s government is changing transportation funding, eliminating money for bike lanes that the previous administration had included.

“Thank God you’re getting rid of those awful bike lanes,” Mitchell was quoted by the Des Moines Register as saying in his remarks.

“We don’t ride bicycles in Iowa, we ride Harley Davidsons,” Mitchell also said.

Somehow, bikers and bicycles are being lumped with other priorities as liberal, tree-hugging DEI nonsense. It’s another wrong-headed policy of the confederacy of dunces who are in power now, but it does tap into a common and deep resentment many Iowans feel about bikers.

Mitchell has been widely mocked for his comments—with many pointing out that one of the largest organized cross-state bicycle rides, the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) happens here each July. Yet, while I love and have ridden RAGBRAI, it does have a mixed reputation and can represent a huge inconvenience for non-biking Iowans.

Sunset at Waldo's Rock. Trail around the pond very popular with people who fish and walk (and ride bikes, as many Iowans do). Rode my trike there Oct. 7.

I think it’s important, for the sake of public dollars going there, to note why bike lanes and bike trails benefit all Iowans, those who chose to pedal and those who don’t. Here are several reasons why I would argue that “those awful bike lanes” and bike trails are a good deal for all.

First, I write about bike lanes. While many motorists resent bikers, riding them (or motorcycles) is a free choice people are allowed to make. If bikes will be out there—and, because of many committed riders like me, they will—bike lanes relieve traffic congestion that slow-moving person-powered vehicles can cause. Drivers who get frustrated by bikes would do well to consider that having a separate lane for them makes the presence of bikes less of a hassle for everyone.

A bike lane makes the road safer and more convenient for the bike rider, sure, but also for the auto driver who can more easily pass a rider who is not using the same space anymore.

And bike trails help serve to remove bikes from the auto trafficway completely.

So we segue to trails. Why should my tax dollars fund them? Well, you could ask the same about any recreational infrastructure. Why should my tax dollars fund playgrounds when I’m a 68-year-old man and I don’t often frolic in such facilities? (I sometimes do, I have young grandchildren who I like to play with, but that’s another story). It’s partly an overall quality of life issue—parks and playgrounds clearly make a community better, more livable, more likely to be popular with the people. Parks in Cedar Rapids include baseball diamonds where I don’t play, tennis courts I never use, golf courses that require equipment I don’t own, swimming pools I don’t dip in—and I say that’s all OK. A park doesn’t have to benefit me directly to benefit me, and I understand that.

Children should have parks to play in—it’s what a community provides to aid a healthy society. Parks also serve the general good by promoting exercise and thus reducing healthcare costs.

Some views of nature seen on bike trail Sept. 29. Iowa snakes are usually not our enemies--most of them do not harm humans nor human stuff. If an Iowa gardener had written Genesis, Satan would be a deer or rabbit.

Here and below, more nature seen on Sept. 29 ride. In late September, trails were a good place to catch a view of migrating Monarch butterflies.

Bike trails, too, are not exclusively or even mostly for bikers. In Cedar Rapids, virtually all trails are linear parks used by walkers, joggers, skateboarders, etc. They include trees and flowers and wildlife habitat. In this modern, insular era, infrastructure that invites us outside to touch and see and otherwise experience nature is important for our collective wellbeing. It’s good for the soul, all of our souls, bikers and nonbikers.

True, the trails also provide me, as a biker and triker, with a more convenient, comfortable place to ride. But I encounter many dog walkers and runners and strollers—mother and fathers pushing baby carriages. A “bike” trail benefits us all. And those who choose not to use parks do benefit from a more attractive community that’s amenable for others to spend time outside in.

I don’t own a Harley. But Joe Mitchell is wrong. Nobody has to choose between riding a Harley and riding a bicycle. I’m sure some people do both (just not simultaneously). And some of those Harley riders will park at a trail head and go for a stroll now and then—on advice of their doctors who want them to walk more.

Oct. 14--A line of turkeys are crossing the Krumholtz Trail during my ride.

Seen on Oct. 7 ride on Grant Wood Trail in Marion in park by old railroad caboose. Monarch (and bee) enjoying Asters.

A common sight on bike rides in Iowa in fall. Deer by the Lindale Trail. They are used to humans and not very wary. I made this image on a ride Oct. 14.

Plenty of Iowans ride bikes, Joe Mitchell. You may score some political points among resentful non-bikers with a churlish remark about “awful” bike lanes. That doesn’t make you right, just far right-wing.

Anyway, unless it’s raining cats and dogs, I’ll probably be there Friday when the new leg of the CeMar Trail opens. On wheels. As an Iowan.

As of October 25, I’ve ridden 207.16 miles on bike and trike this month. My year-to-date is 2,541.55 miles. Lately, because I need some brake repair on Sommer Livin, my trike, I’ve been rolling on two wheels, and my longest October ride so far was 20.19 miles on a bicycle Oct. 20.