In Which I Pay Two Lakes a Fall Visit

Sept. 24--Cedar Lake reflects cloudy, cool September sky.

September has been a mixed month for riding a bike or trike in Iowa. The month started very summer hot, but several weeks in the switch was thrown. It’s still not all that cool for fall, which officially began last Monday, but it’s no longer summer hot.

And it’s been very wet. It seems like rain has been an almost nightly visitor to this corner of the planet. In fact, early this week we got 4.5 inches of rain in 24 hours—rain that fell on saturated ground which could not absorb it, so suddenly Dry Creek, a small waterway behind my property, became briefly a raging river. The bike trail I ride on most often—the Boyson Trail—runs along Indian Creek and Dry Creek, and was flooded Monday. It has been closed for most of the week, and the paved sections of the trail opened for the first time today (I’m writing this Sept. 25, 2026).

Sept. 20--Looking down from Lindale Trail bridge at flooded Boyson Trail.

My riding has thus been a bit disjointed this month. In August, it was summer business and travel that limited my rides. The limit in September was usually simpler—rain.

With the fall equinox having been Monday of this week, the nature of my rides is shifting. I’m wearing long pants and socks a lot more, these days. I charged up the main rear light on my trike, the battery of which had lost power due to more use as dense clouds and earlier twilights cause more need for running with lights during rides. More of my recent rides have ended in twilight as the fall sun falls below the horizon earlier.

Sept. 15--New season, new look. Long pants, leg bands, socks. September trike rides.

There have also been some other common experiences during my September rides. Monarchs are migrating this month from the center of North America, headed for their winter refuges in Mexico. It’s been fun to see them—Noelridge Park and Cedar Lake, in particular, have been good places to catch sight of these stately insects during my rides.

And the mating season for White Tail Deer is approaching—I don’t if that’s why they’ve been a little weird lately. Not weird in a scary way, just more visible and distracted and not that concerned with hairless apes passing them by. Somehow, urban deer seem to know that it’s not hunting season now—and even if it were, nobody is gunning for them in the middle of a city bike trail.

Sept. 9--Deer on Lindale Trail.

Sept. 22--Bucks moving through Oak Shade Cemetery.

Anyway, this month has featured more walking for me, too—a hobby driven by health advice from my cardiologist as well as my competitive instincts. My brother-in-law Eldon from Des Moines suggested that he, my youngest sister who is also his spouse, my wife and I report our steps and distance walked via Facebook Messenger each day. The steps challenge has been a good motivator for me.

Nobody in our group can touch Audrey, my wife, who is an avid walker—but I’ve been walking more than a mile pretty much every day, even if some days that walking is indoors due to the unexpected monsoon season we’ve had.

Sept. 18--I have parked my trike and walked around Cedar Lake. Nearing the trike after my slow circuit.

Sept. 18--Walking around Cedar Lake after riding trike there. I like how the lake sparkles in the background.

Anyway, dear reader, you may be tapping your foot and wondering. Isn’t this a biking blog? Why do I care about the step challenge? Well, it’s had an impact on my bike and trike journeys. Now, I will often choose a location for a ride based on the existence of a place to ramble on foot for a time. I’ve walked around Cedar Lake after riding there, for instance.

And just yesterday, to have a new place to walk, I decided the day’s trike ride would take me to the Prairie Park Fishery. It’s a pleasant city park next to the Cedar River—it’s an old quarry site, which features a pretty, small lake and a walking trail that surrounds it. The lake, the old quarry pit, is also just a few yards from the river on its south side, so the trail goes pleasantly between the two bodies of water.

Sept. 24--Monarch fueling up for flight to Mexico, seen during walk around the lake at the Prairie Park Fishery.

I first rode down to Cedar Lake and circled it, pausing to make some images there. I went for a short walk on the fishing levee, but mostly this circuit of Cedar Lake was via trike. Then, I continued on the Cedar River Trail through downtown Cedar Rapids. My plan was to ride to near the Lion Bridge, where, instead of crossing the river, I would veer north through the New Bo neighborhood to reach Otis Road, which would take me to the fishery.

It didn’t work out that way. There is a lot of street construction in downtown Cedar Rapids, and the normal route that goes beside the Federal Courthouse was not available.

I don’t like to do much street riding on my trike—if a ride involves streets, I’ll usually choose a bicycle. Still, I was familiar with an alternate street route that would lead to Otis Road, and the streets weren’t busy, so I decided to go ahead and take that route.

When I reached Otis Road, I felt it was very lucky that I could even get to the Prairie Park Fishery. Otis Road runs directly adjacent to the Cedar River, and if the river overspills its banks, that street is one of the first to be closed by the high water. Well, what with the local creek flooding this week, the river was running high, although, happily, not quite high enough to cover the road.

Sept. 24--Riding to Prairie Park Fishery along Otis Road. Note how Cedar River is close to level of road.

The cloudy, cool day warmed just a bit as I neared the fishery. I circled the lake there on my trike, then parked, locked the trike, ate a small snack, and went for the hike. The sun had been flashing through the clouds, but the sky again closed in and it cooled as I ambled—I didn’t mind, it was nice to have it pleasantly chilly for the walk. “Chilly” might even be over stating it, a bit. It was in the 60s and humid.

Anyway, I spotted a Monarch and made some images of it and some other things as I walked. For photo purposes, a bit of a walk is a nice change from riding a trike or bike. It’s much easier to use a camera when on foot.

I’m getting up there in age, and trotting for almost two miles on top of what was already a 12-mile trike ride did concern me a little. What would my knees make of this adventure? Well, they were fine while I was moving, although when I stopped at the end of the hike to change from walking shoes to triking sandals, they lodged their painful complaints. Still, the ride back home was OK—I knew I didn’t have any strenuous hills on my planned route, and I just took the pace nice and easy. Again, when I got into motion, my knees complained less, which was nice of them.

Well, while September has been a bit mixed. Yet, when I have been able to ride, the rides have been extremely nice. Fall in Iowa is not usually this damp, and it is normally one of the best seasons to roll across this tiny patch of the planet. As of Sept. 25, I’ve rolled 2,298.33 miles in 2026, which 163.23 of those miles being in the ninth month of the year. The longest September ride was the sojourn to reach the Prairie Park Fishery, clocking in at 23.84 miles. No 40-mile rides yet this month, but if we get a fully dry day, maybe there will be such a ride through the pleasant fall air.

In Which I Birthday Roll on Three Wheels

 

Aug. 30--Pausing on my birthday to take a picture of my new recumbent tricycle.

A conspiracy was afoot that I caught a few hints of, but didn’t get the whole story of until after the fact. And as a result, my biking life has significantly changed.

Is there anything for a biker more exciting than new bike day? For me, my Aug. 30 birthday this year was that exciting day. Although I had gone to the neighborhood bike shop and helped pick it out, and I rode it home, I was enjoined not to ride the new bike much until it was presented the morning of my 2/3 of a century day.

And “bike” is a loose term, related to bicycle, meaning two wheels. The new bike is technically a “trike,” a recumbent tricycle. Although I think the terms “bike” and “biking” are still broad enough to cover what I do on my cool new teal vehicle.

Sept. 5--Rode to campus where I worked before I retired, mostly to make flower images there and for a restroom break on trike ride. Model of the new trike shown on frame.

Tricycle parked at MMU bike rack.

Trike brand.

Me, reflected in campus building window.

The conspiracy started in January when I had heart bypass surgery. I’m getting up there in years, and while I was in the hospital, or so I’m told, one of my sisters suggested to my wife that maybe a trike would help me continue to roll as I become, shall we say, more mature. My children, my sister and my wife pooled resources to pull this off (a trike is an investment).

I have long been open to the idea of getting a recumbent tricycle. My four-person RAGBRAI group—comprised of my two younger sisters, a brother-in-law and me—has three members who ride trikes. They are slow uphill and fast downhill, and can stay even with this slow biker on the flats. And my teammates can ride all day without feeling the sore butt that bicycle riders must endure. An advantage to trikes.

A three-wheeled trike is, by its nature, more stable than a bicycle. Second advantage, one that grows more important as I age.

There are a few disadvantages, however. A trike is a larger vehicle than a bike, with a more substantial frame—add more metal, more structure, to anything and you add weight. And a recumbent tricycle is lower to the ground, which enhances its aerodynamics, but also means car drivers don’t see you as well. Nor, because you as the biker are lower, do you see them as well.

On balance, whether a tricycle makes sense depends on who you are and what kind of biker you are. I do a significant portion of my riding on bike trails, and a tricycle is perfect for that riding environment. And I haven’t given up bicycles. Just today (today being a loose term for when I first drafted this post, not the day I published it), I went for a bicycle ride on my hybrid bike because I was going to stop at a gym for a while. There is some street riding to get there. For in-town commuting via streets, I’m still going to ride a bicycle.

My sister Cate precedes me on Labor Day ride north on Cedar Valley Nature Trail.

Visiting new bike trail at Cedar Lake with new tricycle Aug. 31.

I parked trike outside during family lunch Aug. 31, when I came out for second ride, I had a visitor on the tricycle.

New trail at Cedar Lake, seen Aug. 31 while riding tricycle.

But I’ve also really enjoyed the new trike. I had decided well in advance of my birthday that, due to my wacky health history this year including heart bypass surgery and a follow-up procedure, I would split my usual birthday bike ride. I turned 67 this year on Saturday, Aug. 30, and I decided any rides Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday could count as birthday rides.

Well, I rolled way over that 67-mile goal, with most of those miles ridden on three wheels. On Friday, I rode my hybrid bike 12.86 miles. Then, on my birthday, I broke the trike for 20.6 miles. Then, on Sunday, I rode twice, 6.59 miles in the morning and 18.34 miles later in the afternoon (there was a very enjoyable family birthday lunch that day, hence the two rides). My sister, who lives in town and is on Team Joe, went on a 32.59 trike ride with me on Labor Day.

Counting all four days of my birthday weekend, I rode 90.98 miles. Just on the new trike alone, I put in 78.12 miles. All in all, a good 67^th birthday ride!

A few bike ride images to show I have not neglected by two-wheel steeds. On Sept. 2, I used my mountain bike to ride the Sac and Fox Trail, including one of the side mountain bike trails--although the limestone trail itself is best ridden with a mountain bike.

My mountain bike parked at south end of Sac and Fox Trail. I rode the Fancy Beast on the trail after parking at north end--after rest I had to ride the 7 miles back to the start. The ride was a bit over 14 miles, due to added distance from also riding a mountain bike trail beside the main trail.

In Marion, there is a side trail east of the Boyson Trail. It's been closed for months due to a large city utility project, but on Aug. 29, on my first birthday ride, I noticed it was again open. Bicycle on that trail. I don't know if I will trike this trail--tricycle may be too wide for a narrow bridge at one end of the trail.

Fixed the chain on my ancient (1970s vintage) tandem bike--wife and daughter and grandson rode a couple of miles with me on my birthday. My grandson and daughter rode this bike, after the derailed chain was put back in place. The biggest part of the project was removing and putting back on the chain guard (not shown, this is just after I fixed the chain).

 

In Which A New Bridge Opens

Aug. 12--Bike parked by new bridge near Cedar Lake.

When did the new bike trail bridge over the creek that feeds Cedar Lake open?

I don’t know for sure, but the detour on the Cedar River Trail north of the lake has changed—coming from the lake, the route now goes down a road to a new street bridge that crosses the trail. I was taking the trail north at that point (I had ridden down to the lake via H Avenue), and before crossing the new street bridge, I turned right and crossed the new bike trail bridge over the creek.

It’s very nice, a foreshadowing of the new trails near Cedar Lake that aren’t open yet but are being constructed. I crossed the bridge on one of the longer rides of summer 2025—a 17-mile ramble that took me to the Mount Mercy University campus before I continued to Cedar Lake.

A bunch of images from Aug. 12 ride. As I rest at Cedar Lake mid-ride, I watch a Stork that was fishing in the lake.

Monarch butterfly on Thistle flower near Cedar Lake.

Aster, fall flower, on Mount Mercy University campus.

Pausing on MMU campus.

Cone Flower in garden near Basile Hall on MMU campus.

For various reasons, summer 2025, the first summer of my retirement, has not featured the usual summer distances of bike riding. I didn’t, for example, participate in RAGBRAI this year. I had a heart bypass operation in January and a follow-up procedure in July.

In August, four grandchildren from Minnesota were visiting for a week. That precluded any long bike rides that week for me—but the good news is that one of my bikes has a Tag-A-Long seat, and a 7-year-old grandson was very happy to put it to use. Sadly, other events and very hot afternoons constrained those rides a bit, but nonetheless, most days that week we headed out for at least a few very pleasant miles together.

July 26--Deer on Lindale Trail are pretty socialized to bikers. Fawn lets me get pretty close to make this image.

Bike on Lindale Trail July 26. Note milky sky, it's been a wet summer but also a hazy one; sometimes the haze, from Canadian forest fires, has limited biking.

Anyway, back to my lake sojourn on Aug. 12. I missed one day riding last week due to yardwork—mowing and clearing weeds. But in the past four days of the week, I used all of my bikes.

On Aug. 12, I rode Argent, my road bike, on the longest ride—the 17-mile cycle to campus and the lake.

On Aug. 13, I rode my mountain bike, The Fancy Beast. It’s been wet lately. I planned to ride the Boyson Trail, the paved and unpaved parts, on a day that would turn too warm for this old man to ride in the afternoon. So, I went on a late morning ride, which went well, but the mountain bike trails beside the Boyson Trail looked too muddy, so I stuck to the main trail. The ride was about 8 miles, but given the heavier bike and warmer day, felt like it was as much work as the 17-mile ride the day before.

July 29--another day, another deer. I know it's farther away,but I like this image of the Lindale Trail.

Reflecting ball in Lowe Park seen on July 27 bike ride.

I skipped riding, as mentioned, for the Aug. 14 yard work day. The forecast was for hot, humid weather after this day. It was too bad to avoid riding on Aug. 14, but it was good to get the yard work done, too.

On Aug. 15, the afternoon was forecast to feel like 100 degrees, which dictated a shorter morning ride. I was going to ride part of the unpaved Boyson Trail again, but it had a bit more time to dry out and I decided that Clarence, my hybrid bike, would be a good choice. It turned out to be a 10-mile ride where I headed up behind Linn-Mar High School on the Creek Trail and road part of the Boyson Trail, too.

My biking goals have become modest in 2025. I’m accepting, for now, of shorter rides, although I’m hoping the 17-mile ride, accomplished with no problems, is a sign of longer sojourns coming as soon as the weather improves. However, I’ve already decided it’s OK to take several days to ride my birthday later this month.

I turn 67 later this month. Maybe by next year, 68 miles in a day would be a doable goal. For now, I’ll just be happy to roll 67 miles over several days and be satisfied that I can keep rolling.

As of Aug. 19, I have 851.02 miles for the year. I’ve ridden 85.46 miles in August. July’s miles totaled 112.16.

Aug. 15--I have some Goldenrod planted in my garden--it's a great late-season flower that feeds pollinators as fall is setting in. This is not in my garden, however--Goldenrod by Boyson Trail seen during bike ride.

In Which My Brain Causes a Brief Biking Hiatus

March 24--I was released from the hospital Thursday, drove to work Friday due to a snowstorm, and rode six miles on Sunday. Back in the saddle again!

It’s turning out that 2024 will be a more new and interesting biking year than I thought. On the morning of March 20, I rode my bicycle to work, intending to bike home that night.

And I didn’t. Because I ended up in the emergency room. In the afternoon, as I detailed on one of my other blogs, I suffered a mini-stroke, what they call a TIA, and had a resulting overnight stay in the hospital. By Friday, I was able to go back to work but a morning snowstorm prevented any bike ride that day..

Well, what’s ahead on the biking road can’t always be anticipated. After my hospitalization, I’ve been told to engage in any physical activity “as tolerated,” and I can tolerate riding a bicycle. For now, my wife has informed me she doesn’t want me to do any solo 50-mile rides, and I think she has a point.

March 24--Going deliberately slow, using my mountain bike due to some snow left on trail. Put in a bit more than 6 miles on first ride in a few days.

So, we’ll see how this year shakes out. Since my last biking report, despite an unexpected hiatus, I have ridden more than 80 miles. This Easter weekend, I’ve enjoyed several rides with a 6-year-old grandson, doing two short rides with the Tag-A-Long seat. The weekend was grand, but so full of family fun that bike time was rather constrained.

I don’t feel myself, 100 percent. I’ve had a headache since the medical event, nothing serious, but irritating. I don’t know if I’m just tuning into aches and pains more, but I’m strapped to a 24-hour heart monitor, and I’ve had several “events” to report. Nothing serious, but some lightheaded moments.

Well, biking friends, when I saw my doctor’s PA post hospitalization, he was pleased that I had already been out on my bicycle. I intent to continue rolling—it would be a serious mistake to pull back too far on exercise, given my health issues.

March 27--Rode down the Lindale Trail for some extra distance on the way home. Weather getting more into spring, deer by trail keeping an eye on me.

But this past fortnight has had its share of reminders of reality and mortality. If we’re lucky, we grow old. That inevitably has an impact on our bodies and lives. And yet, if we’re also lucky, those bodies will be all the better because we choose to bicycle.

In other personal biking news, Team Joe, my RAGBRAI team, has made a big decision. We’re going to do joint rides the week of RAGBRAI, but not RAGBRAI. The route this year is very hilly and very southern Iowa, and doesn’t go through our towns. So we'll enjoy our own rides in the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids areas.

I still want to train and gain miles as the weather turns to summer. How far will I go? Nobody can tell for sure, but I hope to roll many more miles. Hope to see you out there on the trail, Lord willing, the creek don’t rise and my body holds up.

In March, my miles totaled 291.63. I’m sure they would have been more than 300, but for, well, you know. Still, I have 647.31 for the year. I don’t have Spring Break in April, but school ends a couple of weeks into May, so by the time spring is rolling into summer, I’m hoping that I can have rolled more than 1,000 miles. We’ll see!

March 28--Family is coming home for Easter weekend tonight, and I have Friday off work, but I ride to Cedar Lake in the afternoon on the way home. Warm, pretty afternoon, starting to feel a bit more like myself.

In Which I Enter Dark Times with a Light Heart

Enjoying the last night of late light Nov. 4--my bike parked at Mount Calvary Cemetery. I rode there because site of Sisters of Mercy graves is very peaceful and beautiful at sunset. Sisters founded university where I teach.

Nov. 4--Low sun at Cedar Lake.

Low sun behind Sisters of Mercy graves, Mount Calvary Cemetery, Nov. 4.

Winter is coming.

I’ve never seen “Game of Thrones,” but even I haven’t escaped that line. Winter really is coming. We’re into mid-November now, nights have a definite chill and the world is turning brown. Fall is late this year, but still the trees are emerging from their leaf coverings and the drab look of the sleeping landscape is taking hold.

It’s still a good time for biking—not winter cold yet, although I’ve used my riding hat and gloves a lot more recently. But last weekend was the time shift, and rides home from work are starting to require lights as darkness falls around 5.

I’ve had some pretty fun rides in the past week, encroaching winter notwithstanding. Last Saturday, I rode briefly to campus, and took the First Avenue route just to capture the low sun at Mount Calvary Cemetery. After picking up some files on campus, I headed down to Cedar Lake, one of the best places to enjoy the late afternoon light.

And it was late, maybe close to 6, because I hadn’t turned the clock back yet.

Nov. 4--Gull flies over Cedar Lake, lit by late sun.

Nov. 4--Smaller south lake by Cedar Lake--pelicans seen from bike trial.

On the first day of Standard Time, Sunday, my wife and I went over to Des Moines. There was a family baby shower that my wife and daughter were attending. Meanwhile, I visited with my son, his son, his wife and the other daughter’s son (so, two grandsons). My son in Des Moines has a  young child who needed a nap, and my son needed one, too—so while he was reading stories in the hope of inducing sleep (which, thankfully, worked out) my daughter-in-law, my older grandson and I embarked on a bike ride.

The Des Moines family lives on the south side, and it turns out there is a route along ride-able residential streets to Grey’s Lake. I attached the Tag-A-Long seat to the hybrid bike, which I had brought just in hopes of taking a ride, and we were off.

My daughter-in-law just recently learned to ride a bicycle, in her adulthood, but rides well. And she was faster than me—then again, almost all bikers are. In my defense, my hybrid bike is not my fastest bicycle, and I was towing a grandson. Sometime, I’d like to go on a longer ride with this daughter-in-law when I’m riding my road bike and not towing anybody.

There were some hill climbs on the way to Grey’s Lake, but we had a pleasant ride around the lake, and then stopped at a park to let the grandson run around. It was funny, he was complaining about his legs being tired on the ride, but when we got to the park, he was zooming around at peak speed.

Nov. 5--Warm afternoon in Des Moines Park, but trees do look like mid-fall.

Nov. 5--Grandson enjoying park in Des Moines.

Well, to be fair, you do use different muscles biking than running, and the grandson normally spends a lot more time running than biking.

It was a pretty day, and the ride totaled just a bit more than 6 miles. A short ride, but a ride nonetheless on a day when I was out of town.

Next time, Stefani, I hope we can ride together for a bit more distance.

I have passed a milestone on the way to my 3,300-mile goal. I’ve rolled more than 3,000 miles—as of today, I have 3,035 miles for the year, 62.8 miles in November.

Nov. 10--Bike traffic on a cool fall afternoon, Lindale Trail, on my bike ride home.

Darkness comes earlier, now. Nov. 6, look of the sky at Mount Mercy as I start my bike road home.

In Which There’s Not Much Chill Yet

Lowe Park, warm summer sun shining on fall day, Sept. 24.

Well, bikers, fall in the Northern Hemisphere is here yet it still feels like summer in Iowa.

Take today, for instance. I was taking a mid-afternoon break from paper grading, and got my road bike out. It was cloudy and in the 60s this morning, so I had on jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. I decided to change into shorts, and I’m glad I did.

As I road along the local trails—I was headed down the Lindale Trail to the Boyson Trail, thence up to the trail behind Linn-Mar High School, and finally over to Lowe Park—the clouds broke up and it became sunny. This is the second official full day of fall, but the mugginess and sunshine and warmth didn’t foreshadow cooler weather to come. By this time of the year, we’re usually seeing some crisp nights, sometimes even a hint of frost, but not so far in hot, dry 2023.

Sept. 23--Saw many grasshoppers on Grant Wood Trail, but only one of these crawlies.

Sept. 23--Fall is here, but sky looks like summer. You many not see it well, but Monarch butterfly is flitting away west in the middle of the sky. I think they're getting ready to go to Mexico.

Sept. 23--Grant Wood Trail. Summer may be in the air, but fall is showing in Sumac leaves (above and below).

Sept. 23--Turn around point of my ride. On hybrid bike due to flat on road bike (which I fixed later in the day). New extension of Grant Wood Trail visible--I can tell by tracks many are already sampling it, but I'll wait for it to be open. From the looks of things, my wait won't be all that long.

While we’re still officially in a drought, at least the “dry” was not so intense this week. A few light rains have rolled through. They had a tornado and flash-flood north of us Friday night, but just a few drops here. Still, there has been some fall damp, which we desperately need.

Although the weather feels summerlike, there are definite signs of fall everywhere. Plants are changing hue. Of course, the drought will dry up grasses and make them brown, but other plants, like milkweed, can be seen in shades of yellow rather than green. Sumac is turning red. Trees are dropping leaves.

The bike rides have been pleasant, though. Even if I would be OK with cooler fall weather, at least most of September has not featured the full hellish heat that this summer sometimes saw. The 80s and sunshine feel warm, but it’s not the upper 90s nor 100s.

Winter is coming. That’s OK with me, when it’s not too cold I’ll continue rolling. And I generally like cool fall weather for biking anyway. So, bring on the autumn. Soon, please.

So far in September, I’ve rolled about 284 miles, giving me 2,713 for the year. Schools keeps me busy and time for riding is precious, but I’m happy to have those miles.

Sept. 15--Flowers at Cedar Lake.

Another look. Have not ridden down to the lake all that much now that school is here, but went down this Friday, Sept. 15.

Seen at Cedar Lake Sept. 15--the small lake south of the trail.

Sept. 15--And some of these big birds on the main lake, too.

Sept. 15--Above and below, pretty sky at Cedar Lake in the afternoon.

Sept. 13--This week was "Mission and Ministry Week" at the university where I teach. Many nuns of the order that founded Mount Mercy are buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery, which is right next to a bike trail. There are still living nuns involved at MMU, but on a fine afternoon, I paid a peaceful visit to some previous ones. And that's my bike parked on a drive as I take a quiet stroll with the spirits of the sisters.