In Which Mama Nature Finally Relents

Late in ride, seen from Lindale Trail. Quiet winter woods. I will love the pretty greens of spring and summer--but winter has it's charms, too.

Do I call it a winter ride or a spring ride? It was in the 20s today (American 20s, still well below freezing but warm enough that there was some melting where sun hit pavement), and there is a lot of snow around.

On the other hand, we are on the cusp of the final week of February, and my daughter in Norwich, England, is seeing spring blooms. Despite it still being winter here, there is a hint of spring in the air. The sun is slowly moving north and slowly visiting longer each day, the horny birds are singing their avian spring Tinder tunes—there are signs that good changes are coming.

It’s been a long time, a couple of weeks, since I donned my helmet and headed out to move two-wheeled in the world. The streets between here and campus, being in Cedar Rapids, are still packed with slick white ice, and they won’t be rideable until we have a string of warmer, sunny days. Snow is expected Sunday.

But today, the morning was too pretty. I had other stuff to do for a while, and honestly other stuff to do this afternoon, but I decided I needed some two-wheel mind and body therapy. Spring—when young birds think sex and old men think bicycles.

Bike on Boyson Trail, in top image, winter walker approaching. The Iowa road and trail game--find the road in winter. Honestly, eyes are better than cameras, the trail was really pretty obvious. Covered in packed snow, but passable if one rides The Fancy Beast slowly.

I figured I would need a short ride that didn’t involve streets—as even where there are bike lanes, they are often covered in snow and ice.

But I also thought that a ride on neighborhood trails using The Fancy Beast might be possible.

It turned out I was right on all counts. It was tough going climbing the hill on C Avenue to get to the Lindale Trail—technically I did slide and fall at one corner, but it was such a slow-speed “fall” that all it meant is that I ended up standing over my bike. No harm done to cold bike nor cold bike rider; the bike even ended up still upright between my legs. Would that all my bike falls would be such nonevents.

Just climbed C Avenue hill. The pavement here does not look bad, but it's only this clear by Walgreens--most of the way was 100 percent snow and ice covered. But I managed at a slow pace.

The morning sun had given way to clouds and the wind was chilly. I regretted my foolish decision to not wear long underwear, but it was still OK. Frankly, despite becoming cooled, I have to say that this little winter adventure was great for lifting my mood.

Once I got the on trail, the ride conditions improved dramatically. The CR parks workers—and those in Marion—did a great job of clearing the Lindale Trail. It was not 100 percent dry pavement, but good enough for a slow biker on a mount bike.

Two views of Lindale Trail--snow on the west end, clearer just beyond that. Most of the trail was in good shape, easy to ride.

I got to the end of the trail and turned to head through a residential neighborhood to the side trail (which I named the Joe Trail in an earlier blog post) of the Boyson Trail. Again, I was enjoying this cloudy, cool ride, but I could not help but be a bit sad at the state of streets in Marion, Iowa.

These quiet residential streets were clear of snow—bare pavement, totally safe to ride on. It’s like this town has discovered snow plows and uses them—I wish CR could do that.

Two views from the ride--the sad state of Marion Streets (above)--sad only because CR streets do not look like this. End of side trail (below) approached by a beast. A very reserved, quiet beast whose walker quickly leashed and walked by. "Beautiful day," he said--the biped, not the dog. "Yes, comparatively," I replied.

I met a few dog walkers on the Boyson Trail. Its limestone surface was totally packed with snow, but I was actually kind of hoping for that. When it gets warm enough for melting, this trail will be too mushy to ride—but the white ice covering meant on this slightly warmer day, the trail was still frozen and rideable with a mountain bike. I rode in a loop, leaving the trail where it’s closed for construction and looping back to the Lindale Trail though the neighborhood again.

I don’t really know my miles—not many, maybe 4 or 5. I guess, to me, that wasn’t really the point. I’m not sure when Iowa’s winter will relent enough for me to resume normal bike commuting operations. But I enjoyed today’s preview of spring.

Probably not as much as the birds, but still, I liked it. Three final images, contrasting the Lindale Trail with the C Avenue sidewalk:

East end of Lindale Trail, I'm ready to ride west towards C Avenue. Again, the east end. like the west end, is more snow covered than the trail in general, but this surface is OK with a mountain bike.

C Avenue sidewalk (above) covered in snow. Bridge over Dry Creek (below) is also not in great shape--but I was able to navigate both.

In Which I Ride 10 Miles Before The Storm

Deer munch in a harvested field at Lowe Park, Marion.

Today, my sons who were visiting over Christmas left to go home—one flying to San Francisco, the other driving to Ames.

It was a cool, cloudy day, but I wanted to get a bike ride in today, if possible, because we are supposed to get socked by a nasty winter storm Monday. The only question is: How much will fall as ice and how much will fall as snow?

For a biker, a secondary question is: For how many days will streets and sidewalks remain slick?

Anyway, we had an exciting time dropping Jon off at the Waterloo Airport this afternoon because the ticket dispenser at the entrance to the airport parking lot would not dispense and the gate would not go up so that we could park. After a time, because the parking lot is not that big, Jon just elected to walk across to the terminal. I hope the rest of his journey on this busy travel day was less eventful!

Anyway, we got home about 3:15, and by 3:45 I was pulling Argent out of the garage. I had replaced my bike’s broken pedals with a spare pair we had from a long defunct bicycle. That job was done before Christmas, but this was my first ride on my pedlal-replaced bike.

Tennis court at the end of the trail. My turnaround point.

We had encountered some moisture falling from the sky on the way home from Waterloo, but that must have been a random passing cloud, because the nasty isn’t due until later tonight. I was lucky, the sky stayed cool and mostly cloudy, but also dry for my ride.

I decided not to use the Boyson Trail, because I figured that limestone surface would be mushy with recent rains, so I rode into Marion and headed up to the bicycle trail that goes to Lowe Park. There were a couple of people walking on the trail, but otherwise I had it to myself. The wind was biting, but the ride was nonetheless decent.

Two views of grassy-wildflower area near east end of trail. For a cloudy day, it was an interesting sky.

I stopped to take a few photos to show the stark beauty of the park in December, and also to flip on lights.

It wasn’t yet full dark when I got home around 5 from a 10-mile ride. That’s good. There may be a winter storm on the way, but light is also slowly returning to this dark corner of the globe—and that foreshadows better biking in the future, if not this week!

In Which I Try Some New Biking Fashion

What all the cool kids wear to bike in winter. Actually, it's the warm kids. They look silly and feel ridiculous, but on a truly cold day, this is what you want on your feet.

Pretty cool, huh?

My winter boots are falling apart—where the rubber lower meets the leather upper, the right boot is split all the way along the left side and the insulation is sticking out like milkweed fluff about to fly away. So my wife suggested I borrow my son’s boots, since he’s a student at ISU, has cleared walkways to transit on and does not use his boots. Plus, we both have the same size ginormous feet.

At the same time, my regular biking shoes are suffering from snapped hickeys—the nice rubber closers that Eldon Rocca so kindly got me on RAGBRAI are wearing out. I need to find some new ones.

So this morning, when I was headed out on my icy slide to work, I donned Ben’s snow boots. I felt ridiculous mounting the bike with those huge clumpy Frankenstein monster things on my feet.

And I also felt divine. I wear more than one pear of socks, including an insulated one, when I bike in cold, but usually my feet are the least comfortable part of my body.

Not today. Despite bitter morning winds that chilled my face and made me wish I had chosen warmer mittens than my thin biking gloves, my feet were fine, happy, toasty and warm.

Indeed, both the ride in the morning and in the afternoon were, from a did Joe freeze or not point of view, pretty successful. I stuck my paws in my pockets when stopped, and my fingers got a bit chilly, but not painfully so. And even if the chill breeze froze my cheeks a bit—well, the rest of me was so covered that it did not seem to matter much.

The boots were good for riding downhill. In the summer, when you go down a little incline, you shift into 7 and pump and see if you can get up to 20 mph. In winter, you stop pedaling, deploy your landing gear, and hope that you don’t slip on the way down. Today was a landing gear day.

I’m happy to report I’m home safe and sound. And despite my morning qualms, I biked home while it was still light out, and the streets were probably slightly better than they had been. Still slick, still icy, but what melting there had been turned some formerly dangerous stretched a bit mushy.

So, I’m proud to say I made it. And that I biked this very cold winter week. I probably won’t get a lot of miles in next week either, but I’ve got 54 for the year so far. Given the weather we’ve been having, that’s not too shabby.

And now I have warm feet on cold biking days.

Riding in Single Digits

What you need for cold biking, coat, second socks, second underwear, warm gloves. My bike alone on the trail and my frozen face when I arrived at MMU.

I don’t recall the exact temperature Saturday morning, but I don’t think you would need to take off your shoes to count the degrees—and there was a very brisk wind from the northwest, making wind chill feel subzero.

It was cold, blog fans. Too cold to bike to MMU for Scholarship Day?

Naw.

I know at least one of my sisters will say I’m crazy, and some of the others may think it without saying it, but I rode my bike yesterday to MMU. It was very cold, and I did get a bit uncomfortable on the way in, but by the afternoon, when the winds were still quite brisk but the air had warmed at least to the 20s, it was surprisingly pleasant—so pleasant that I took the long route home, via trail, rather than the short route.

Did not see any other traffic on the trail at all—nary a biker nor walker. Hmm, maybe my sister would have a point.

Anyway, biking in single digit temperatures is made more practical with the right “stuff.” To me the right stuff means warm gloves, multiple layers (I had on a white t-shirt, a long-sleeved turtleneck and a sweater under my coat, as well as long underwear and two pairs of socks—one a regular white pair, one a fuzzier warmer grey pair intended for winter insulation) and the right coat—the right coat being a fairly light jacket that nonetheless does not let the wind through, and that has a thin, yet fairly warm, hood that can be worn under my helmet. And a scarf—a scarf wrapped around the neck makes a surprising bit of difference on a cold ride.

Well, I survived the cold. Now, I have to adjust my brakes, which have loosened up in recent weeks. And I bought a new child seat. No doubt, there will be more bike news later!

Playing The Waiting Game

Ice on my drive, many streets are in worse shape. Come on, old Sol, melt it away!

It’s a bit misty-cloudy in Iowa at mid-day today, which is too bad. I’m playing the waiting, game, just hanging around, hoping for the ice to melt.

Many of the streets that I would commute on might actually be passable, but many are not. We need some ice melting.

It will be warm enough today. You don’t have to get to 32 degrees to see ice recede—even when the air temperature is in the 20s, sunshine will warm pavement enough to turn a little bit of ice to water, and in dry winter air, trace amounts of water quickly dissipate. And water, a tricky substance, can go from solid to vapor.

But, I’m clearly nowhere near ready to ride. I expressed the wish earlier this week to get back on two wheels by week’s end, but on Wednesday that looks pretty dicey. Maybe if the sun shines for a while this afternoon ….

Probably wishful thinking. See photo of my driveway. As ice encrusted as it is, it’s much clearer than many back streets in Cedar Rapids.

I can and will alter my route some once I think my driveway is clear enough. When will that be? Don’t know.

Waiting, just waiting.

In the meantime, yeah, I shouldn’t … but I did: