In Which We Bid Summer 2021 Adieu

On a bridge in Robins along the side trail to the city park. My road bike on a warm weekend day.

The weather took a dramatic turn today, with storms rumbling across Iowa and warm summer air suddenly replaced with a foreshadowing of fall.

It seems fitting that I rode my bike a bit on Sunday to celebrate the end of the warm season. I did not have time for a long ride, but headed out late morning and got over 16 miles in by the time I got to campus. I first went a little north on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail to Robins, and then came back on the Cedar River Trail to circle Cedar Lake.

The day was sunny and warm, a humid Iowa summer day, although not terribly hot. We are getting on in September—an unusually warm September in these parts, but nonetheless, September is not July.

I enjoyed many natural sights along the ride, many of which eluded my camera—a bluejay squawking and moving among the trees, a hawk quickly circling overhead but moving on before I could unzip my camera bag.

Still, there were pretty flowers, fall seeds and plenty of pollinators by Cedar Lake, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Butterfly on flowers near Cedar Lake.

September brings pretty seed pods to edge of Cedar Lake.

Monarch rests in woods by Cedar Lake. Seen a lot of these lately--as summer ends, I think they're acting on instinct to fly to Mexico.

It was a fitting end to rolling through summer. Monday, which started warm, is suddenly cool now. In the morning, I’ll need a sweatshirt. Possibly a jacket by Wednesday. The low tonight will be in the 50s, and we should see 40s Wednesday morning.

Fall! The only reason it’s not one of my favorite biking seasons is due to a pesky thing called work. But what rides I’ll manage to squeeze in, I’m likely to enjoy a lot.

So, goodbye to you, summer. I’m hoping to be rolling around the planet when our sojourn around the star Sol again brings you back to Iowa. And hello autumn, and to biking in layers.

In Which Butterflies Don’t Appear and Appear

Grant Wood Trail on sunny, warm Iowa day.

American flags at the edge of a lawn in Marion, Iowa.

Grant Wood Trail has two segments, that don't meet. Ride for a short distance on this gravel road was part of the experience today.

One app says it was 32, the other 33. I’ll go with 33.

Anyway, yesterday we came home from picking up some grandchildren, and while they were piling out of the van, we were watching a butterfly in the front garden. A pretty monarch was drinking at the butterfly flowers there.

I couldn’t see clearly if it was male or female, but I didn’t see any rear wing spots, so I will call it she. She left before I could make her image.

Well, my sister had done a tour de Marion the other day, and lost her flag, so today I was flag hunting. In addition, I took the good camera, hoping to get some summer flower and critter images on this muggy, warm Iowa July day.

I took two water bottles, and am glad I did. I was moving a bit quicker because I was riding the road bike—not quite Cate speed, but my sister is a young, fast trike rider. But at least I was on Argent, and although my GPS systems don’t agree, one said I averaged over 10 mph on the ride today.

I rode down the Boyson Trail and across Marion to the Grant Wood Trail. Sorry, sis, but along the way I did not spy any trike flag on the side of the road. When I got past Highway 13, were you leave the city and enter the county, I noted some puddles in a gravel parking lot beside the trail. Some butterflies were enjoying the rocky water for hydration and minerals, and although it wasn’t exactly the flower show on my butterfly flowers I was hoping to get, I made some images of a butterfly there.

Monarch in gravel parking lot at trailhead at the edge of Marion on Grant Wood Trail.

Argent, my road bike, parked by Grant Wood Trail as I make images.

Flowers by Grant Wood Trail trailhead parking lot.

Butterfly on queen anne's lace flower.

I circled the pond at Waldo’s Rock Park, and shot an image of an angry blackbird there. On the return journey later, I was again squawked at by another blackbird, and watch one chase of an egret who was trying to land in the pond and was made to regret that choice. Keep that in mind if you want to bike or walk about Waldo’s Rock pond—the birds there are ornery, so I think a hat is a good idea. My experience is that blackbirds may sometimes actually try to claw you in the head if they get riled up enough, and this seems to be home to a rambunctious avian community—but they don’t represent a serious threat and a hat seems to provide enough protection.

Anyway, I’ve jumped ahead. Maybe the heat of the day had an impact on my brain.

I rode on. When I was passing a patch of thistles, I saw another monarch, enjoying those large flowers. It was a bit skittish, but I managed to make some images there, so chasing the bright elusive butterfly of biking worked out.

Thistle by Grant Wood Trail. Spiky plant you do not want in your yard, but pretty flowers.

Here and below, monarch butterfly on thistle flower by Grant Wood Trail.

After the photo shoot, I again rode on. I was not upset at taking a few breaks on this very warm ride that had started around 10 a.m.

The narrow tyres of Argent didn’t appreciate the limestone surface beyond Waldo’s Rock, but it was OK to ride on. As I headed east, I was growing more curious about the leg of the trail beyond the T intersection that the limestone trail ends at, so when I got there, I continued on a gravel road to the county highway that leads to the next leg.

Grassy end of Grant Wood Trail. Did not go far, will have to save this section for mountain bike.

Bike parked on Grassy segment of Grant Wood Trail.

Grant Wood Trail.

I go to the grassy trail, but after a few yards, quickly decided it would be a trail to try with the Fancy Beast, my road bike, which is still in the shop awaiting shipment of a new rear wheel.

I took a short break, and accidentally met Monica, a friendly large dog who was with her owner and came over to say hi.

I then headed west, back to town. I stopped again at Waldo’s Rock to eat a snack and reapply sunscreen and bug spray. I then rode across Marion to the Boyson Trail, and took on more water at a park restroom along the trail.

Waldo's Rock Park, I stop and shoot images of some angry blackbirds who do not appreciate my company.

Blackbird chases egret away from pond at Waldo's Rock Park.

Hornet seen at Waldo's Rock Park.

I had another goal in mind, besides the butterfly images. Catalpa trees bloom in June in Iowa, and what with one thing an another, I have not made images of their pretty flowers. But I knew that at the end of Boyson Road, on 10th Street, there was a late blooming tree whose flowers have not yet all faded, and I headed over there just to capture some images.

Catalpa tree, here and below, on 10th Street, seen on today's tour de Marion.

I then headed up to Tower Terrace Road and out to the Lowe Park Trail. I headed to Echo Hill, and was going to continue past the trail and past the new school being built there to try to find the bike route that leads to the Marion corn sculpture—I thought that would be another bookend for the tour de Marion.

But it was getting past 1 p.m. and the hottest part of the day was upon me. I was fading, and decided a ride of over 30 miles was enough for today, specially since I was feeling too under the weather to ride Thursday.

So I headed back towards home. I used the short side trail that leads to the neighborhood you can ride to in order to get to the paved led of the Lindale Trail, and then headed home from there.

It was a good ride, all in all. I hope to get out much earlier tomorrow morning and get in more miles than today. One these warm summer days, an early start is key!

In Which Team Joe Faces Heat

What a hot ride does to bikers. What hot bikers do to cats.

At the end of the ride, to celebrate, we had bottles of “Not Your Dad’s Root Beer,” which I should get a kickback from for product placement, but it’s been the official drink of Team Joe for a couple of years.

The Des Moines crew was kind enough to bring the six pack, but when it arrived in Cedar Rapids it was only a four-pack. The Des Moines crew looked away and let the silence grow slightly awkward.

Anyway, Team Joe met for its traditional pre-RABRAI summit—this year on Independence Day. There are four of us, two of my sisters, my brother-in-law and me. We had a nice breakfast at Riley’s (product placement) and then met at Cate’s house to start our ride.

We first headed over to Lowe Park. The visitors from the west were suitably impressed by both the flower meadows and the rusty buffalo being stalked by gardeners.

Although, from a distance, they also thought the Lowe Park art performance amphitheater looked like a statue of an alien from the movie “Alien.”

The morning was sunny and humid, and already quite warm by the time we got to Lowe Park. I was in the lead, which was nice because I do have a tender knee and it ensured that the group moved at the glacial pace of gimpy CR Biker. Eldon, who has a hamstring injury, said he did not mind the slow pace.

After Lowe Park, we headed over to the Boyson Trail, mostly to visit the facilities at Thomas Park.

After the break, while we were on the Lindale Trail, Eldon noticed a leak in one tyre, and for a while, there was some drama as we waited to find out if the sealant in his tubeless tyre would work. It took its time—we speculate extreme heat may have been a factor, and Eldon aired up the tyre several times—but in the end, the tyre held and the ride went on.

It went on through gathering heat. On Facebook, Brigid called the ride “hot and squiggly.” We were recreating my earlier slow quest for flowers, mostly because the Des Moines crew had not seen Lowe Park before.

But Noelridge again stole the show. We wandered over to the Monarch hatching area, and saw several of the majestic insects flitting about the milkweed there. And, of course, oohed and ahhed  at the cocoons.

A Monarch, upper left, takes off to avoid the press at Noelridge Park. Fortunately, the cacoons, below, can't flee as easily.

We then headed east and down to the 42nd Street Parlor City (product placement) on the Cedar River Trail for ice cream. After that, to finish the ride, we went north to side trail that leads to the Robins City Park (technically, South Troy Park--product placement).

Finally, we rode to Cate’s, drank our root beer and had our team meeting. Which basically consisted of: “Brigid has a driver’s schedule planned,” and the rest of us saying “that sounds like a good idea.”

We somnolently watched a hummingbird feed, some turkeys and other wildlife (note the importance of commas in the preceding sentence so that a hummingbird was not feeding turkeys and other wildlife--and no, Des Moines writer, no Oxford comma). One of Cate’s cats wondered onto the sun porch where we were lounging, and reflected the mood by itself lounging.

Nothing like a hot summer ride to turn at team of bikers into boneless kitties.

The ride will put a biker to sleep. The promise of root beer will wake them up. And there had been a hummingbird at this feeder (below), I have witnesses. Wildlife was being elusive on this hot day.

Anyway, we agreed that an early start each day is a key to RAGBRAI. We agree on that every year, and we’ll see how the execution of that idea goes. Our track record is a bit mixed. But our ride totaled over 30 miles (some dispute about how much over, there were minor computer problems, but I know my miles totaled close to 40 for the day—but include several solo miles to and from the ride).

It was a good pre-RAGBRAI ride. And it may lead to a crazier ride yet this week. The trail to Waterloo closes next week, so Cate and I are thinking … why not ride there Friday when the weather will be cooler? And if we can ride to Waterloo, what is there to keep us from riding back beyond sore knees and common sense? We sometimes try at least one pre-RAGBRAI century practice ride—and it’s 102 miles there and back again from the Hiawatha trail head.

Stay tuned, biker fans. There may be more pre-RAGBRAI adventures ahead. May your RAGBRAI training go well, too—and may you avoid melting in the Iowa summer heat.

I arrive home for family feast the afternoon of the fourth, and snap image of flag on my front stoop. Happy treason day, fellow colonialists!

In Which I Contemplate Shifting Iowa Skies

June isn’t the cruelest month, but it can be the most interesting. Almost exactly 10 years ago—June 13, 2008—the Cedar River crested after it spend days rampaging out of its banks and destroyed a chunk of Cedar Rapids. We were aghast at the power of our usually calm stream, and the whole city came within on functioning well of losing its water supply.

Whole neighborhoods were destroyed and lives upended.

Well, here we are, 10 years later. A slightly short and dry spring has given way to a volatile and rather damp early June—and there are starting to be some flood watches posted for the Cedar River due to heavy rains up north. Let’s hope history does not repeat.

Anyway, while much of yesterday was sunshine, there were also thunderstorms. Today was the day after. I attended church in the morning and then went on a late morning-lunch-park ride with my wife, daughter and grandson.

And then it was nap time. I woke up about 3. My wife had urged me to get out of the house and get on one of my bikes, because I need the training rides. The sky looked a little ominous, but I checked radar and it said I was good to go.

So , by about 3:30, I went. All in all, in a rather leisurely 37-mile ride, I got sprinkled on just a tiny bit, but was mostly dry, and the sky was an interesting kaleidoscope of change. Here is a gallery, in the order shot, of some sky images from the ride today:

Lowe Park trail in Marion, headed west to ball park area.

Nearing Tower Terrace Road in loop in neighborhood east of Lowe Park.

Boyson Road, heading into my neighborhood, before turning down Boyson Trail.

C Avenue headed north from Lindale Trail area.

Emmons and Center Point in Hiawatha. More blue appearing slowly in sky.

Nearing Cedar Lake from the north.

On the shores of Cedar Lake.

View of sun from south end of Cedar Lake.

Northeast edge of lake, looking west.

Noelridge Park at about 7:45 p.m.

On C Avenue bike lane. Lots of  large birds--buzzards or hawks--congregate near broadcast tower in this area.

At Corner of C and Old Marion Road.

Final two images--both looking west over C Avenue pond t Rockwell-Collins.

My ride was in two parts. In part 1, because I had not “Map My Ride” recorded it, I followed the same route my wife and I had ridden last night on our tandem bike. I went out to Lowe Park, rode the trail there, did a loop through some neighborhood streets that led back to Tower Terrace Road, and then returned home via the Boyson and Lindale trails.

The ride, it turns out, was about 14 miles.

I knew I wasn’t done for today—I needed more miles. So I decided the hill challenge was next. I rode up the Bowman Woods Hill on Brentwood Drive from one direction, looped around to the other side of the hill, did it again, and then looped back up another route, going down into a valley neighborhood and climbing back out. All in all, I tackled the hill four times.

That was enough. I next headed west to the Cedar River Trail, stopped at the Boyson Road trail parking lot for water and to eat the nuts I had brought with me, and then headed south to Cedar Lake.

On the way home, I took the shorter route that leads through Noelridge Park, but backtracked a bit to come into my neighborhood via the C Avenue bike lane.

Besides watching a shifting sky, I was impressed by the number of bikes and walkers out on the trail today. It was definitely the “day after,” as a large tree had split in the previous day’s storm, and clearly a city crew had already been at work to clear the trail.

Down by Cedar Lake, I encountered a young couple ripping leaves off of a milkweed plant. Hmmm. Turns out, they are “caterpillar hunters.” They find milkweed leaves with monarch eggs on them, and take them home to shelter and raise the future butterflies. “I have more than 60 chrysalis right now,” the woman noted.

Well, good luck, egg hunters. I don’t think they were hurting the plants—they were clearly only taking a part of a leaf when they found an egg—and it seems they are doing some good.

Between the 8-mile park ride in the morning and the 37-mile sky scene ride in the evening, it ended up as a 45-mile day. My wife told me to break 50, which I did not quite do, but I’ll make that a goal this week, weather willing. One day of 60 miles? OK, 50 is the “hard” goal, 60 is the “stretch” goal, and we’ll see.

Milkweed in bloom near Cedar Lake.

Big limb off of tree north of J Avenue on Cedar River Trail. Clearly, city crews were at work today.