In Which I Ride the Narrows

Stump on lawn at Collins Aerospace on C Avenue. Large trees that were removed were painted with an L. Feeling sad for the loser trees.

Waiting for light to change at Collins Road. Raindrops pattern the sidewalk, first rain since the derecho storm. We only got a little.

First corner, Blair's Ferry and C Avenue. Off to the left, that open grassy area. It had many mature trees on it, all are gone now.

Riding south along C Avenue by Collins Aerospace. Near Collins Road--another empty lawn that used to have many mature shade trees.

It has been not quite a fortnight since the derecho storm blew through Cedar Rapids.

My first bike ride since then was a short tandem trip with a granddaughter. It’s been dry since the big storm, although there was a chance of some rain today. But, since wifi was down at my house and accessing work files would be difficult, on Saturday I decided to take a morning ride as my second post-derecho bicycle adventure.

My goal was to check out campus. Volunteers have been clearing the devastation there, and offices are to open Monday.

I started my journey south. The campus of Collins Aerospace is poignant to see—it was a pretty grassy area with mature trees, most of which were blown away by the 140-mile gusts of the derecho. It’s open and sunny now, and feels naked. Fortunately, the young trees recently planted in a line along C Avenue, although a few are leaning, largely survived.

After crossing Collins Road, I got to the place where C Avenue had a bike like. “Had,” although the lane is still there, just mostly buried under tree debris. That was not terribly surprising, and I planned to turn off C Avenue at the first intersection, rather than riding almost to the end of the bike lane, which in the past was my usual route.

Bike lane on C Avenue has disappeared under wall of cut branches.

Mail truck passes me along suddenly narrow C Avenue. I turned off as soon as I could.

The neighborhood I turned into was surreal. The storm was wildly inconsistent—it hit and damaged the entire area, but in some places it’s mostly downed trees, while in others roofs were damaged, sheds demolished—the winds of chance blew a bit more in places, and this neighborhood west of C Avenue featured the usual piles of debris stacked by the thereby narrowed roads, plus some wires still down and many roofs a patchwork of tarps. Today was the first that those tarps were important, as a few sprinkles came down.

And Mount Mercy University is in one of those hard-hit places, too. I was riding on familiar, quiet residential streets, but the ride was a still more than a bit eerie. The piles of former trees plus the more open skyline, the occasional downed wires—it’s still a revelation to move through this space, at once so familiar and so strange.

After turning off of C Avenue--the neighborhood of quiet streets and quiet devastation. Many trees down, those standing look shell-shocked and shorn of leaves.

Sure.

Another street scene I saw.

The space between houses is part of small neighborhood park, apparently used as a staging area for trucks.

 

 

No one will play in this park for a while. In fact, the city has closed all parks and said they are not even safe to walk across due to unstable trees.

A few unexpected turns on my route--some streets closed or filled with equipment.

I got to campus. Signs on the drives announced it was closed, and I could hear equipment moving. I know it will be open on Monday for work, and I decided it was best to satisfy my curiosity then. I rode partly around campus (a blocked street prevented a full circuit) and made some images from the edges.

I am betting a lot of cleanup has been done on central campus, and it will help a lot when the city can cart away the fences of felled wood, but at its edges of The Hill (local term for MMU campus) there is still a lot of reminders of the recent storm.

Unexpected detour of a few blocks.

Striving statue on MMU campus, seen from Prairie Drive.

Campus view, post derecho.

I decided it was best to obey the signs.

Not every tree in front of Warde Hall is down. Just most of them.

I paused here to pluck two drying hickory nuts off of the downed branches.

In our backyard after the storm, my 4-year-old grandson found some hickory nuts, although I don’t know where the nearest hickory tree is. He has planted some in his sandbox and in gardens, explaining that he hopes to grow “hickory dickory dock” trees.

At the end of the MMU campus, some drying hickory nuts were attached to fallen limbs laying by the street. I grabbed a couple. May as well try to see if I can get a hickory dickory dock tree out of this mess.

It was a somber 9-mile ride. The grey sky matched the mood. The sprinkles, which started early in the ride, held off, however, even as the sky darkened.

At Regis Middle School, people were clearing the lawn by the street. I wish that they had been wearing masks, although that would be hard to do such work on this warm, humid day. Yet I was glad to see them. It gave me some hope. Power is on back on campus, or so I’ve heard (I had no wifi this week, so I haven’t really seen any campus messages). We’re coming back. Slowly, it will be a long road back, but we’re coming back.

And then I rode back home. Longer and more pleasant rides are clearly a way off in the future. Here’s to those future bicycle rides.

Seen on my way home.

Nuts from campus.

On the way home I went up F Avenue to avoid C Avenue traffic. Just crossed Collins Road at F, entering Collins Aerospace bare lawn that used to be well shaded by mature trees.

In Which I Take One Post-Derecho Ride

My granddaughter, riding on the back of a tandem bike, made this image early in the ride.

Have you heard that we had a storm in Iowa? Not just any storm—a “derecho.” An inland category 2 hurricane.

My lovely city, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is devastated. About 1,000 buildings are too damaged to be habitable. In the sister city of Marion (don’t dare call it a suburb), the public library will never open again in its present building due to the harm done by the storm.

A biker died in the storm on a trail that bikers in our area love. He was struck by a tree.

Right now, all bike trails in the metro area are closed. City and county crews won’t get to clearing trees from them for quite some time because there are other urgent needs. Like the fact that all of the streets were blocked by fallen trees. Half of the tree canopy in this town whose symbol is a tree is gone with the wind.

Two more images made by granddaughter. Trees by street (above) and fallen street light (below) among the tree remains.

Anyway, on Saturday, the day was too pretty to resist. I suggested to a granddaughter that we go for a bike ride, and she agreed. It had to be on quiet streets—busy ones would be too narrow and dangerous due to fallen trees. Every street in this town right now is constricted by fallen trees. Thus, we rode just about a mile from home and back. We used the tandem bike, and she’s a good partner on such rides.

Communication is important in tandem biking.

This granddaughter’s aunt, another daughter of mine, plans to buy a house not too far away, so I gook this 11-year-old on a ride to see it and then return home.

The ride went well, as far as it went. It was a beautiful day to be out on a bicycle. But the destruction of so much of what we are familiar with could not be ignored. We had to take it easy on quiet streets lined with heaps of what used to be the pretty trees of the neighborhood.

It was my first bike ride in a week. I didn’t expect to take a week off of the saddle, but then again, nobody expected the derecho.

Normal doesn’t exist here anymore and won’t for a while. But at least this ride went well.

In Which I Dodge Storm Clouds

Cloudy day Saturday. I saw this view fairly often--rode my road bike Argent and climbed the MMU hill four times before going to my office.

April 15--Magnolia on F Avenue seen on the way home.

April 15--almost home, corner of C Avenue and Blair's Ferry. It's a good thing I'm almost there--storm clouds gathering.

April 16--I rode to the gym early on Easter. On the way back, shot this image of flooding Cry Creek.

April 16--just got back from gym. Rhododendron in front of house is still wet from overnight storm, but sky is clear.

April 16--Easter--was on a ride with two grandsons on Lindale Trail when we saw this snake.

I managed to get some riding in on Saturday, although it was mostly a work day for me. I pedaled to the MMU campus, and before going into my office, climbed the MMU hill four times.

Winter? It’s not coming. RAGBRAI is.

Anyway, storms were predicted Saturday, but with thunderstorms, sometimes they blow through pretty quickly. I gambled that I would be able to dodge the storms.

As it turned out, when it started to rain, it RAINED and stayed wet for a while. But, it was also pretty late when it started—and luckily I was already home, although the storm broke not long after I got there.

Sunday, Easter, and Monday were much more bicycle friendly days. I attached the Tag-A-Long to Clarence on Sunday and got good use out of it, giving grandchildren rides, and allowing my son-in-law to use it to give a grandson a ride.

April 17--pretty morning sky. Looking east at Rockwell Collins pond on C Avenue.

My wife rides into the sunset on Lindale Trail April 17.

April 17--the "other" view of the Rockwell Collins pond. Circling the pond on a sidewalk, I pause to look west from the east end late in the day.

Monday, my wife and I took an evening ride with our youngest grandson. It was very pleasant, he enjoyed himself, and it’s something we hope to do more often. We rode the paved part of the Lindale Trail, then crossed Blair’s Ferry Road at C Avenue to circle a pond at Rockwell-Collins before returning home.

As you can see, it was a perfect evening out to be riding a bicycle!

In Which I’m Not Impressed By Bowling Street Trail

Saw MMU billboard near Kirkwood Community College while riding Bowling Street bike trail.

Well, that was an interesting ride. In the morning, I rode my bike to the gym, and then did a figure 8 loop in the neighborhood to climb the Brentwood Drive hill from both east and west.

And I snapped some photos of the storm devastation. Trees down. Streets blocked. Trail flooded. The June 30 storm in Cedar Rapids will long be recalled-sadly, it made the U.S. national news due to a teenager being swept away and drowned in the downpour.

I called my sister Cate, and she had much the same experience that I did—although many tree limbs were down in her neighborhood, she hadn't really suffered any damage. So I suggested a mid-day bike ride, and she agreed.

I puttered around a bit first. I removed the top third of a medium-sized tree that had snapped off in our back yard, and got rid of a few of the larger other branches. I also fussed with my bike, oiling the chain and tightening the rear brake. And I dug out my fake Camelback water source.

I had told my sister I would arrive around 11, but got to her house around 11:30. No worries, she’s used to “Joe time.” We headed over to the trail and headed north, figuring that the trails in town would be a mess.

Well, that was some storm. It hit in Johnson County, south of us, where I was at a mall with family. It smashed much of Cedar Rapids. And as we went north, the trail got more forested and messier. Only a few miles into the ride, we gave up and turned around—too many downed trees.

North on trail mid-day Tuesday. A bit messy, and it got worse.

Worse. Francis near where we turned around.

As expected, high water left many Cedar Rapids trails closed, but what was open in town was in better shape--not as many woodsy areas to be swamped in branches. So we headed south, avoiding the closed stretches of trail by the river, and crossing the bridge of the lions. Cate took me through Czech Village to a trail that I had not ridden before—the Bowling Street trail that leads to Kirkwood.

I was a bit underwhelmed. One of the original bike trails in Cedar Rapids, the Bowling Street Trail is old, bumpy and poorly marked. Cate says it’s a 3-mile shorter ride to Kirkwood then going along C east of campus, but I don’t know. I might ride 3 extra miles just to avoid that trail.

Well, it was there. Unlike the Cedar River Trail, which passes under Highway 30, the Bowling Street trail goes over the 4-lane highway, which makes for a nice view.

View of Highway 30 from Bowling Street trail.

After that, we headed to Ely and then back to Cedar Rapids. We used C Street to avoid the closed areas of the Cedar River Trail south of the river.

It was a nice ride. My bike fell over while we were carrying our bikes over downed trees, and it seems to have killed my computer, which is unfortunate. But, otherwise it was a good practice ride.

I've ridden more than 1,400 miles this year. And 47 of those were today. (By the way, if you look at the chart carefully, the totals don’t add up because today’s July miles are not included). I’m a bit behind in reaching my annual goal, but July should be the month with the most miles. I hope for many more 47-mile and more practice days ahead, weather willing!

In Which I Feel Sorry But Then Recall Europe

Scary looking video from storm, one lucky Dutch biker.

It’s been a lousy biking week, blog pals. On Sunday night, on the way home from playing with the MMU Bell Choir as part of the celebration of Mass, my back tire blew.

That was my bad, as I knew the tire was getting thin and needed replacing. But the front derailleur control also cracked, so I could not shift in front. My brake shoes are also shot.

So, I took Francis in to Northtowne Fitness for repairs. Because the bike needs new pedals too, as well as two new derailleur controls, it will be a pricey fix.

And so I have been driving this week. Horrors.

Then again, we’ve had some rainy days, so I really have only missed two days of biking, at most.

And we need the rain. Also, I can’t feel too bad when Europe has been battered by much worse, deadly weather. My wife has spoken with my daughter in England, by the way, and since the weather was not raised as a topic, we’re assuming all is well, although I wonder if my son-in-law had to resort to a bus commute.

Anyway, check out the video in this New York Times story. Among other things, bike traffic was interrupted in The Netherlands.

Well, I hope Francis is back in shape soon. And I hope the weather in Europe is back to normal and those Dutch are back to biking, too.