In Which a Few Hardy Bugs Still Sing

Corn field bathed in lat afternoon golden light along the Cedar River Trail, north of Robins, Oct. 18, 2015.

We had a hard freeze Saturday morning, and frost Sunday morning—so today, on a quick, later afternoon bicycle ride north to the five-mile marker on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, I was slightly startled to hear them—crickets.

Hope for more butterflies next year--milkweed seeds, the only plant that hosts Monarch butterfly caterpillars.

Not that many. The grassy and woodsy edges of the trail are much quieter than they have been. But the bugs of summer have not totally given up the ghost—a few hardy crickets still mournfully sing, seeking love before the world freezes over on them.

Sumac.

A few lonely gnats fly in the shade, a sad remnant of the hordes that bedeviled summer bikers.Not that I'm complaining!

The mid-October late afternoon sky turns a pretty gold as the sun nears the horizon, and the tan and brown seed pods of summer plants looks starkly pretty in the fading light. I rode fast as I headed north, and decided I would not make it to Lafayette today—too much homework waiting at home—but, since I was being good and turning around at the 5-mile mark, I would indulge myself a bit and snap some fall photos.

Fluffs on tall grass in setting sun.

Sure, I prefer the greens of summer. After our freeze, color will rapidly fade out of the countryside. The brown fall world has its charms too, but I will be ready when the flowers of spring return. Here are a few more of my ride photos.

In Which Bike Lanes Are Spreading

Workers paint a bike lane on 42nd Street.

I’ve noticed, on Boyson Road, bike lanes that seem to go from nowhere to nowhere. And given how narrow Boyson Road is in parts where there is a bike lane, even if those lanes had a destination, I might, as a biker, hesitate to use them.

Bike lane marker painted on 42nd Street.

Still, it’s a good thing, from a biker’s point of view, how bikes lanes are slowly spreading in the city of Cedar Rapids.

The city just recently opened up the Cedar River Trail at 42nd Street, and I noticed this week, as I rode my bike there, there a city crew is painting new green bike lanes on the street.

On a Friday MMU Bike Club ride, for a time we were on bike lanes downtown. That was not my plan—I had been leading the ride and had used the bike trail, my preferred route through downtown—but I fell back to ride with the last rider, and the head of the pack took the lane instead of the trail for a few blocks.

Bike lanes in Cedar Rapids aren’t usually ideal. For one thing, they are right at the end of traffic lanes. Some cities are designing bike lanes so there is a barrier between cars and bikes—some even have the bike lane between parked cars and the sidewalk, rather than on the traffic side of parked cars.

Still, more bike lanes means, I hope, more bikers. That means a healthier city, less congested streets and more chances for more of us to be outside enjoying the weather and the sunshine, rather than merely transiting it in our metal cocoons.

MMU bike club on downtown bike lane.

In Which Grandpa Joe Sometimes Leads the Way

Bike Club tradition--pre-ride selfie.

There were some young’uns on today’s bike club ride who were faster than me some of the time, but most of the time I was zooming along pretty well. It was cool, and that helped a lot—in crisp fall weather, I tend to ride faster to keep warm. So today on the MMU Bike Club ride, I was going pretty fast.

Common saying on today’s bike ride?

“Grandpa Joe is passing us again!”

Arriving at city park at the end of the ride, 10 miles south of MMU.

We rode out to the Cedar River Trail and just kept going south. Once we had crossed the river, I think the college students in the bike club were seduced by the trail—it’s very woodsy and pretty south of the river. When we got to the bridge over the rails, I stopped to confer with Mark, the bike club president, about when we wanted to turn back, and the other members of the club just kept on going.

“I think the kids want to ride,” Mark said. “I guess we better let them.”

Some of the kids got a bit tired on the way back. Some bikers walked up the hill at MMU, and I heard, as I rode ahead of them: “He’s an alien!” I think that is a compliment.

It was the perfect fall day for a ride. Students thought it would be too cool before we started, but we bikers know better—50 is perfect biking weather.

Heading back to campus, riding into sunset along trail. Yes, my camera strap got in the photo, too.

It was a bit breezy, and I suppose I might have a leg cramp tonight after I rode so far so fast, but it was totally worth it.

Nice bike ride, MMU Bike Club. It was our first 20-mile ride. Do that three times and add a bunch of hills and you would have one day of RAGBRAI. More photos of the ride.

In Which the Light Fades in Morning

Wednesday morning, sky starting to turn light as I cross the bridge over the railroad tracks on the Cedar River Trail.

We’re getting on to the “dark” biking months. When I leave campus late, as I did tonight, I usually get random horror stories from people about who Uncle Bob was nearly killed by a bus in the dark while biking.

I appreciate the sentiment, and I don’t plan to be much of an adventuresome biker in low light conditions. But both Argent and Francis have lights, and my helmet is also lit. Whether in the dim morning 7 a.m. dark, or later at night (I came home around 9 tonight), I’m also riding a very familiar route on mostly very quiet streets.

As long-time readers of blog know, I once had an odd run-in with a driver at night that caused me to call the police, but besides that, my dark-months commutes have been pretty uneventful. I suppose as I age and my night vision fades (I do already have a cataract in one eye) there will come a point where night riding is no longer practical, but I’m OK with it for now.

And it’s a bit soothing. I needed some soothing this week—it has just been very busy and the semester is starting to grind me down. I think biking is one key to maintaining my sanity.

Catherine McAuley as I arrive on campus. Sun halo.

Take Wednesday morning, for example. I had been working late both Monday and Tuesday, and knew I wanted to stay on campus for a writer’s visit Wednesday, and I had a concert Thursday night. So I was feeling a little blue that morning, but just for a change of scenery and because the 42nd Street detour is so much less of a time waster, I decided to take the trail ride in.

It’s pretty hard to stay blue when you’re riding a bike on a crisp fall morning as the sun climbs in the sky and the world slowly glows golden before the yellow light of day. I even took a bit of a break midday on Wednesday and strolled through the grotto at MMU.

I am not sure I understand why it seems important to me to be outside. Maybe the sunlight just make me feel more alive. Maybe the fresh air, or the sounds of birds and the rustle of leaves. Of course, we’re getting to the time of year when soon the leaves will be gone and many birds will migrate away, but I’ll still try to be outdoors when I can, riding a bike if I can.

From my walk in the grotto. A late rose.

Anyway, I discovered Wednesday that the trail ride actually doubles the distance—my 4-mile commute becomes an 8-mile commute. It does not, however, double the time. What is a 30-minute commute become a 45- to 50-minute ride. Despite 42nd Street, Blairs Ferry and other intersections, I think my average speed on the trail is higher than my average speed on a city street—both due to not competing with cars for space, and simply riding on a smoother, better surface.

It was the second time I had been on the trail since I found last week that it’s pretty much open. Last Saturday, one of my daughters and I rode 16 miles, including a jaunt down to campus, then around Cedar Lake.

It’s been a busy week for CR biker, but thank goodness for bicycles.

Hawk seen on trail during Saturday ride. Another reason to go outside.

Saturday on the trail with my daughter.

In Which Barriers Are Falling Away

Thursday afternoon--creature along the trail. Traffic in this section would have been pretty light due to trail closure at 42nd Street, maybe she or he is surprised to see bikes again. The critter just sat there and watched me. As I sat there and watched it.

Thursday afternoon, I was ready to leave campus before 5—a pretty rare thing for me. So I decided to ride around Cedar Lake and take the trail route home.

Now, I know that the trail is closed at 42^nd Street, and knew that crossing Center Point road would be a bit of a challenge at rush hour, but that was all OK.

So I rode around the lake and then headed north.

When I got to the bridge where the trail crosses itself (you Cedar River Trail users know exactly what I mean, but it’s also a bridge over McCloud Run), I had a minor surprise. All summer long, since they closed the trail at 42^nd Street, there was a sign on the bridge warning of the trail being closed ahead. But it was not there.

And, a bit farther on, I got to the little side street, opposite the food coop, and again, the warning sign that I was expecting was AWOL. The trail is open?

Wow—well, when I got to 42^nd Street, it turns out the project is not yet done, but it has advanced to the point that the detour is much smaller. The official detour means going one block east and then coming back west on the other side. The unofficial detour is to wait until the workers are gone and just go around the signs.

Thursday afternoon at 42nd Street.

They aren’t done with the street crossing yet, so I don’t know if 42^nd Street will still be the second-most interesting street crossing (First Avenue is still the most interesting) on the trail. But the project has totally eliminated a sharp turn and short trip down a very narrow sidewalk—the trail is nice and wide and has its own rail crossing, now.

Well, hooray. So I snapped a few photos and continued north. I turned to take the Noelridge Park route home.

And again, an expected detour was no longer there. An obstacle has evaporated. The sidewalk that crosses Noelridge to the middle school area had been closed while they did something to a stream. Turns out they were, among other things, putting in a prairie.

Well, that’s cool. I hope there are lots of milkweed seeds in that prairie area. And it’s nice that the main CR trail is gain pretty much open, and that I can go both north and south on it once more.

Prairie in the park.

Bridge in park. I am amused. They put in lots of new paving but carefully preserved the nice bump at the end of the bridge.

Sign in park.

Friday morning. No sneaking through today--workers on 42nd Street. And below, approaching trail again on the other side--detour is only a block now.

In Which We See the Moon In A Pond

Lights in a pond on C Avenue.

Riding home in the dark at night on one of the first cool fall evenings felt pretty nice.

We have not had the first frost yet, and honestly I am looking forward to that. Not because I’ll love biking in cold weather (although biking in cool weather is actually quite pleasant as long as it’s dry), but because I won’t miss the biting insects.

I was pleased this morning to dig Argent out of the garage—so far this week, I had been riding Francis. That’s been due to carrying capacity—Francis has the baskets but Argent has the speed.

I didn't have too much to carry today, so I opted for speed over capacity. It does not make a big difference in the commute, but I was getting a slightly late start this morning, and I was able to recover about 5 minutes due to riding the faster bike.

Anyway, so it was Francis on the ride home last night. I was late at the office because I stayed for an event in our fall Vietnam series, and was riding home around 9 p.m. The moon, which had been full Sunday, was still large and was just rising in the sky.

I stopped by the pond at Rockwell-Collins. I liked the way the fountains, parking lot lights and moon were all reflected, so I rested my little camera on the handlebars of my pickup truck bike and tried to snap a few.

The shutter was very slow, but I think the results are decent. Like the bike ride—a little slow and decent.

In Which We Bike Over 7 Miles for Sweets

Monarch I watched and shot as students got ready for ride.

Oh, you sweet thing, you.

Today, at a fancy candy shop next to the Paramount, I purchased a piece of chocolate-covered bacon. It tasted of salt and chocolate—it was a pleasant combination of sweet and salty, like chocolate covered peanuts. (If any of you want to bribe CR Biker, by the way, I hear he loves chocolate covered peanuts).

My wife and I packed up our bikes this morning not long after 7. It was only the second time we’ve ridden bikes to work together, but today was a special occasion.

The Mount Mercy Bicycle club was having its candy ride. The club offered $5 worth of candy to the first nine students who signed up to ride, and since pretty much all of the MMU bikes ended up being used, the bribe proved effective. As for Audrey and I, we didn’t have the bike club pay for our bacon, but went along for the ride.

The traditional club seflie became just a group shot, as there were too many bikers for me to merely hold out my arm. But no matter. While students organized themselves and unlocked bikes, I shot some photos of a butterfly visiting some nearby flowers.

Bike club before ride.Francis in front.

And then we were off. It was a hazy, sunny, warm afternoon. Riding with 10 others was a little challenging—we got a bit spread out and the group had to stop now and then, but we did better once we reached the Cedar River Trail.

Then it was downtown, where the bike lanes were briefly crowded. The students were pretty excited by the candy shop, which was a cool place to visit.

Shopping for candy.

Lloyd tries chocolate-covered bacon.

One young lady from Germany said she didn’t like to have her photo taken. Then, she made a Halloween-appropriate face just to get her photo taken.

Do not take my picture, she said. Then, this.

Between Catherine McAuley’s birthday cake and this bike ride, it was a sweet afternoon. Between this ride and commutes to work and a couple of errands at a store, I got close to 20 miles today. The club rode about 7.5.

Sweet.

Stopped on way back to campus, nearly there.