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!

In Which a Butterfly Fails at a Heist

I thought I saw a monarch, but now I think it's a viceroy. Stripe on back wing and smaller size.

Hot times in Iowa! Today, Monday, June 29, I was too tied up for biking, which I regret because the sun was shining, but I was out with a grandchild at several parks in the late morning—and my regret is a bit muted, because—yuck!

Hot, almost 90, and sticky, oppressively humid—I saw that my hardy sister did a tour of Marion today, and more power to her, but I was indoors today.

I hope to get more miles in this week, but we are finishing some home projects. Monday was a biking fail and Tuesday looks iffy. Maybe I will be lucky and get a few evening miles in.

Sunday was also hot and humid, but not quite as bad as today. And I did get miles in. Around noon, I rode my hybrid bike to a nearby school. My 4-year-old grandson had been desperate to get a toy he had left at our house, and rode a small bike (his mom walked with him) to retrieve it, and after that his mom and I accompanied him to a nearby school playground.

Grandson on his bike rides to playground.

The plan was for me to then leave on a longer bike ride, but then I heard from the bike shop that I could pick up my road bike that afternoon.

So anyway, I went to the school with the boy, played for a few minutes, and then left for a quick ride of the Boyson-Lindale trails in Marion.

And that’s where the heist was attempted.

Last week, while riding with the grandson, we had spied what we thought was a monarch butterfly on clovers on a sunny hillside on that trail. I didn’t have my good camera and didn’t capture images of it. On this hot Sunday afternoon, I turned from the Boyson Trial to head up the hill on the Lindale Trail, and I idly wondered if I might spot said butterfly again.

Above and below--I shot images of a bee while hunting an elusive butterfly in the clover.

I neared the top of the hill and was getting past the clover patch, and I was sure luck was passing me by. Suddenly, something small and orange flitted out of the underbrush and buzzed my bike.

Well, I have seen a few monarchs this summer, but not many, and I had the good camera with me on this ride, so I stopped. The butterfly darted off, of course. I decided to walk over to the clover and just watch for a while, in case it returned.

It was hiding in the grass. I almost stepped on it, it rose up, and then it flitted to a flower to have its image made.

Butterfly (above and below) on clover.

And then the little scamp headed over to my parked bike and landed on the handlebar. I think of it as an attempted bike abduction with only the physics of such a tiny creature being unable to move the weight of my bike as my saving grace. I did get some cool butterfly on a bike images, though.

Brazen butterfly bandito attempts bike heist. Fortunately, it's too small to ride off on the bike. Same shady character in the sunshine below.

At the time I wondered a bit--it looked like a monarch, but seemed a little small. And a closer look at the images shows the characteristic back wing stripe of the viceroy, a butterfly that closely mimics the monarch in appearance, but is a different species. It's still a pretty butterfly, and the smaller size of the viceroy means it has even more chutzpah to try to ride off on my hybrid bike.

Later in the afternoon, I picked up the road bike from a shop in NewBo. It was still hot, and I thought I would just ride home rather than getting in more miles. I tried to get there via the Cedar River Trial, but near the federal courthouse, the Cedar River was not beside the trial as it usually is, but was across the trail.

Road bike by flooded trail. Turned back and rode streets through downtown.

Well, I rode an alternate route through downtown, and headed north on the trail where there were no flooding rivers.

It was good to be on the road bike again, and despite the heat, I decided to ride the quick ride up to Lafayette before heading home. They have a brand new and pretty cool bottle filling station at the Hiawatha trailhead, by the way.

I’m glad to have the road bike back and hope to get more miles on it, since it will probably be the main bike for faux RAGBRAI. The mountain bike is still in the shop, and I may explore the grassy part of the Grant Wood Trail after I get it back later this week.

One final biking note—my wife and I spoke with our son who lives in San Francisco Sunday via video call. He showed me his new, second bike—a black mountain bike that he’s planning to put a seat on so he can take his baby son for rides when the baby gets more confident sitting up. It was cool to see, and I thought of the bike that’s in the shop. It’s a mountain bike, too—black. And it originally belonged to the said son. Not sure how it can happen, but maybe someday we can take the young grandson for a ride on a trail riding our black mountain bikes.

That would be cool. Even more cool than a hot day attempt by a butterfly at a bike heist.

Summaries of Sunday rides--why Element and Map my Ride don't quite agree, I don't know:

In Which a Hoped-For Eagle Appears

Heading south on C Avenue bike lane early in the ride.

I took an afternoon ride today—no need for lights. It was a fairly quick ride, probably 90 percent on streets with a few jaunts on trails, but relatively quiet ones.

I wanted a ride that was mostly street in nature, and to avoid the busiest trails. I decided to aim for Ellis Park. It was mostly a ride on streets, although the route there does include a trail on top of a flood control levee south of the Cedar River.

Third Avenue bike lane in downtown Cedar Rapids.

Bike trail on top of levee west of downtown area on south side of river.

On the north side of the Cedar River, in in recent years, a nesting pair of eagles have their home high in a tall cottonwood tree.

Luck was on my side. On this nice, sunny day, an eagle sat in a tree next to the nest, watching the river.

Eagle on north side of Cedar River, seen from south side. Below, the nest is in the next tree.

Ellis Park is one of the older city parks in Cedar Rapids. It’s been damaged by flooding in the past, but is still a nice place. The trail that leads there was pretty quiet today—I suppose most people drive to this park. I rode to near Edgewood Road, the west end of the park, paused to lower my bandana to take a drink, and then headed home.

I was enjoying the network of bike lanes in Cedar Rapids. Some have had recent improvements. On the Third Avenue Bridge, barriers separate cars from the bike lane, and water drains, that used to be perpendicular to the street and thus “bike catchers,” have been replaced with covers that have slots perpendicular to the line of travel—not something I would want to ride across, but if by mistake I did, it would just be a rumble strip and not a nasty fall.

Cedar River, on the way back east on the south side.

5-in-1 damn--crossed by four spans (north and south street and north and south Interstate highway) and is also a dam. Rode by it.

Third Avenue bridge crossing the Cedar River.

Bike lanes downtown are in more proximity to traffic, but traffic late on a Saturday afternoon was very light.

As I approached home, I had ridden more than 18 miles. Rather than head directly home, I briefly detoured down the Lindale Trail (pretty much empty) to add the extra mile I needed to get to 20.

A 20-miles ride on a pretty afternoon, and an eagle. It all makes for a nice day to be on a bicycle!

Deer looking at me from woods beside Lindale Trail.

Today's ride, above and below. Map on app makes it seem like I was drawing a bird on today's eagle ride.

In Which a Door Closes on Ride’s Eve

Garage door, closed for now.

For a while, getting to my bicycles will be a challenge. A monarch caterpillar crawled up onto my garage door and built it’s little “I’m going to be a butterfly” house there, which my wife found on Thursday.

So on Friday, I had to wheel my hybrid bike through the basement and muscle it up the stairs. It was not fun. Then, I had to squeeze it into the van and drive to a shop where we were leaving off a car.

Morning light on Cedar Trail,

 And from there, I rode to campus. Actually, despite being Friday the 13th, it was gorgeous. A cool day after some hot, humid ones. I had to get to campus as quickly as possible, but on the ride home, I took more time to enjoy biking on a nice fall afternoon, riding down to Cedar Lake.

On a cool September day, with some clouds and some sunshine, and breeze, riding is nice.

And I am happy that one of the caterpillars from my garden built a chrysalis. Although, I also would have picked a different spot, where it up to me.

Cedar Lake in the afternoon.

In Which 45 Miles or so Seems to Bode Well

Pretty sunshine near the start of the ride on the 73rd Street bike lane.

Cedar Lake is a little choppy due to the wind, but sparkles very prettily in morning sun.

Hyacinth (above) and daffodil (below) in bloom by parking garage in downtown Cedar Rapids.

Plans for RAGBRAI 2019 seem to be taking shape in the background. The team seems set to do the full week.

I’m traveling a lot this summer—with visits to England and San Francisco planned, and so I had some anxiety about doing the full week of RAGBRAI. But, events seems to be headed that way, and I’m not sure that I mind all that much.

RAGBRAI, I can’t quit you, even if I’m worried about having time to prep for you.

Which made Friday better than expected. I’m busy this Easter weekend—I feel guilty writing this post when I should be grading papers or writing quizzes, but I’m rewarding myself for finishing some projects, so there it is.

And on Good Friday, with a cool spring sun shining, I decided to try a longer morning ride. My goal was 40 miles, although it would be 40 at a guess since the computer on the road bike is iffy and often cuts out.

I headed up the Brentwood Hill, and then rode over to the Cedar River Trail, intending to complete the first long south ride of the year. I was hoping maybe to see Solon.

Lot of construction just south of the river.

Remains of the rail bridge that are planned for site of new bike-hike bridge in Connect CR project.

Another view. I was resting by the bridge site.

Final view.

Train passes under bridge on trail, heading over bridge on river.

Butterfly on dandelions blooming south of Mt. Trashmore area.

I was inspired, a little, by a story in the paper about the Connect CR project. Millions have been collected, and maybe by the time Notre Dame is open again, the Sleeping Giant may be underway. We’ll see.


Anyway, the morning was just a little cool, but warm enough that the season’s first butterflies were joining the bees in the dandelions that are blooming along the way. A few early violets have joined the daffodils and early tulips that are in bloom. It was a gorgeous spring day.

The ride was a little odd. On a long ride, my habit is to pack and consume snacks, knowing that I don’t react all that well to lower blood sugar. But this long ride took place on Good Friday and for a Catholic, that meant packing no snacks.

Cedar River Trail south of river, past construction zone, looking very pretty although trees are still asleep.

Not sure why, but images are getting a bit out of order (have been sequential along the ride so far). This is a view of the new trial south of Ely.

Miles at turn around where trail ends. Computer gave out later, and this is not exactly half my distance because I took a slightly shorter route home.

The trail ends a few miles south of Ely,. Where is Solon?

And we go back in time again. This is the start of the newest leg of the trail, I have just crossed Seven Sisters Road headed south.

First ride on the Hoover Trail this year. Headed south--and yes, this is before Ely and the new trail. As I noted, order among images has broken down.

I pushed quickly down the trail, got to the Hoover Trail, breezed through Ely and then encountered the new trail at Seven Sisters Road. Then, a few miles later, it just ended, in a bit of anticlimax. I don’t know exactly where I was or how far Solon was from where the trail peters out, but I then turned back.

And the wind, which had been my friend, became my not friend. I was climbing the wind hill for most of the return journey, and without snacks, was feeling a bit wilted when I got back to the construction zone where Sokol Park used to be.

Shortly after getting on the new trail--trail beside Seven Sisters Road.

On the return journey--headed north now into wind hill.During a water break, a blackbird in a blooming maple objects to my presence.

The new bridges on the new trail seem very impressive.

As the blackbird yells at me, my bike waits for me to get going again.

Wilted, but oddly happy, too. For one thing, the day, despite the wind hill, was persistently grand. For another, although there was a bit of chafing and butt soreness, I felt I was bearing the first long training ride of the year rather well.

Somewhere in downtown Cedar Rapids, true to form, my computer conked out. I estimate the ride at 45 miles, but it’s a guess. I’m sure I well exceeded the 40-mile goal.

Saturday, with family, I rode another 20 miles or so. And I could ride Saturday with no soreness or discomfort.

RAGBRAI, I can’t quit you and I may be pressed for time to train for you—but this old body seems to react OK to longer bike rides, and that’s a good sign.

Hawk, I think, passes overhead as I ride north back towards Ely.

Daffodils at church in Ely.

Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man. Which means Oz gave everything to the Tin Man?

I notice pretty white flowers in creek bed by trail--I have no idea what these are.

Bee on dandelion during yet another break--back in CR now, heading home.

The day never turned super warm, but warm enough for butterfly.

Maybe 1 p.m. or so--at the Bridge of  Lions.

New signs warn against bikers riding on sidewalks on bridge. Well, OK--but put in a street crosswwalk and curb cut to access trail on south end of bridge so we can get to street easily, please.

More downtown flowers seen as I head in the other direction.

Downtown daffodils.

Nearby crocus.

Second of two family rides Saturday. Took grandson to park in the morning and out to lunch. In the late afternoon, riding on bike lane, family shadows above and below.