In Which I Click My Way to 10 Miles

New shoes on, ready for ride.

Thursday was hill day, but not so many miles. Friday, as it turned out, was more of the same, but something also very different.

I clicked it today—I took out the road bike Argent, donned my new biking shoes. As you can see from the video, I then spent several minutes practicing clipping in and getting out.

A friend on Facebook expressed the idea that clipping in would be easy, but getting my shoes out when stopping would prove to be more difficult. My experience was the opposite—I was a bit afraid of getting my foot out of the clip in time and avoiding a fall, but on this first ride, that turned out not to be an issue at all. It’s a reverse Dorothy move, she clicks her heels together and says “there is no place like home,” while I click a heal away from the bike and say “there’s no stop like a no-fall stop.” The exciting shoe practice movie:



Starting was a little trickier. I have to practice where to place my foot and what motion to use to clip in.

There are plusses and minuses to this whole clip thing. I did the hill ride again because I wanted to practice hills with the new (to me) system, and discovered it did seem to give me a bit more power—I could delay getting into granny gear a bit (although, as a grandfather, I’m not ashamed or embarrassed about my skill at biking up hills slowly in that grandfather-friendly gear).

My legs did feel a bit worn, but that could be because this was day two of hillfest 2018.

Anyway, the shoes were fine. They aren’t terrible to walk in—they are bit like wearing those “earth shoes” that were popular 30 years ago, the ones with the low heels and high toes. The rubber part on my new shoes is so thick that I don’t actually clip-clop like a horse, at least not yet until I wear down the rubber a bit.

And the bike was silent. My old pedals made distinctive snaps and crackling sounds they made, and it was a distinct pleasure to ride 10 miles on a silent bike.

The one downside is that I discovered I fidget quite a bit while I ride—I shift my hands, my butt and my feet. Or I used to. With clips, my feet are locked in place, and honestly, that will take a bit of getting used to.

I only rode 10 miles on the road bike. Later, I took out Clarence to attach the Tag-A-Long and ride with grandchildren—I did four short rides that totaled somewhere around 15 (I tracked it with Map My Ride but feel too lazy to grab my phone and check).

Granddaughter, one of four who rode with CR Biker late this afternoon/early evening.

Those late afternoon rides were cool and sometimes damp. I got sprinkled on, but was otherwise fine.

It was a good day of biking, but I need to get some serious distance rides done. The week was not so great, but here's hoping I'll get many more miles soon.

Cloudy skies on evening rides.

In Which I’m Blinging in the Rain

Checked on rain garden at MMU during today's bike ride.

I did not take the first ride with the new pedals, so I don’t have any reports yet on the number of falls or resulting injuries. I hope there are no falls, but I also recognize that may not be the most likely outcome.

But, I am joining the horse walkers.

On RAGBRAI, one of the distinctive signs that you’re entering a town, besides the distance appearance of a steeple, elevator or water tower, is the distinctive clack-clack-clack of bikers tottering around on their special shoes that have clips in them as they reach that busy point where riding becomes impossible.

I have not been a member of that horse walker crowd. Until now—because the pedals on my road bike were “crunchy,” the bearings wearing out, this week I purchased new pedals at the bike shop. I bought double-sided ones—one side is regular pedals that I can ride with regular shoes, the other is the clips for special biking shoes.

And, of course, I bought the bike shoes.

New pedals and new shoes. Will use them tomorrow, I think.

I have not gotten many miles in this week—weather is a factor and the week began with a rather fun non-biking interlude. My daughter had a conference in Des Moines, and my wife and I were taking care of our 2-year-old grandson. It turned into a two-day stay-catoin, and included a music program at the Hiawatha Public Library Monday and a trip to the Natural History Museum at the University of Iowa Tuesday. The grandson loves bike rides, and we managed to sneak a late one in on Tuesday, but mostly I didn’t bike much the first part of the week.

The weather didn’t cooperate much today. It had rained overnight and the street was very wet this morning, but I thought I might go for a ride on The Fancy Beast, the mountain bike I treat as my “winter beater” bike. Before I rode, I changed the pedals on Argent, my road bike.

I think Friday will bring the first clipped ride for CR Biker, and assuming I survive, I’ll update you on how it goes.

Anyway, I had been dreading the pedal change—in the past, at times, I’ve had a lot of trouble getting old pedals off of a bike. It turned out to be pretty quick and easy, so I was ready to ride by 9 a.m.

My plan was, because I knew it was supposed to rain again in the afternoon, to do a hill ride rather than a longer miles ride. I started by doing the hill tour of my neighborhood, climbing Bowman Woods Hill five times in five miles. But as I finished the final climb, rain pelted down, so I headed for home rather than campus.

Today's ride, The Fancy Beast, casting a shadow (a rare thing) before the first ride, and parked at MMU in the middle of the second ride.

And, half an hour later, the sun came out. I decided to gamble and did end up cycling to campus, where I did four climbs of the MMU Hill.

Besides the new pedals on Argent, I added a bell to The Fancy Beast, and was all set to ring it cheerily to warn pedestrians. Unfortunately, with the wet weather I didn’t do much trail riding today, and thus did not get much use out of the bell.

But I did manage about to bike about 15 miles between two rides, and although there was a clothing set change due to getting soaked in the morning, I still enjoyed the day.

And I look forward to the first “click it” ride tomorrow!

Tuesday afternoon ride with grandson--clouds reflected in C Avenue pond.

New bell on the Fancy Beast.

Top of Bowman Woods Hill, during second of several trips of the hill this morning.

Home after first ride--rain on the bell.

Two  views of C Avenue Pond and sky. Looking east at patch of blue and west at rain clouds that have just passed over.

Climbing MMU Hill, took a break for a few minutes.

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.

In Which I Complete West Side River Inspection Ride

I was hoping to break 50 miles today, but alas, I ran out of time and did not get that many miles in. Still, I rode 42 miles in the 4 hours I had, and that wasn’t bad.

The ride started with two climbs of the neighborhood hill, before I headed over to the Cedar River Trail. My plan was to head south and check out Ellis Park, which I had not ridden to yet this year, and maybe head over to the Prairie Park Fishery.

The morning was very pleasant—milky sunshine, not too warm—as I rode around Cedar Lake. I shot some images there, just to try to illustrate the quality of the light. I think these look very “Rainman.”

Two view of morning sky as I ride paste Cedar Lake.

When I got downtown, I crossed over the river at Third Avenue, I think, and then headed west towards Ellis Park. By the time I got there, the day was getting sunnier and noticeably warmer.

I paused for a rest in a shelter there before heading on. As I returned east along the river, I looked across the river to a cottonwood tree on the far shore. And there is was, sitting in the upper branches.

Biking along Cedar River in Ellis Park.

Break time by river in Ellis Park.

Trail by river a mile or so east of park--you may not be able to see it well, but that bird in the sky is a bald eagle that seconds ago was roosting in one of those trees.

I stopped and got my camera out, but the bird took flight. It looked a bit like an eagle when it was sitting there, but when it jumped into the air, its white head and tail left no doubt. My point-and-shoot camera did not have enough zoom to get a good shot, but the eagle wheeled about the edge of the river for a while, and it was fun to watch it.

I continued east. They painted a bike lane on First Street on the west side, so I used that as far as it went—and it went as far as the corner where the Flying Weenie is located. I did not plan on lunch out today, but I duly noted where that bike path leads—I will have to take this route again.

Bike lane on First Street on west side of Cedar River. In Cedar Rapids, it's the "west side." To the rest of the world it looks "south," but Cedar Rapids is in its own odd compass-direction challenged zone.

Look where the bike lane ends! Sadly, it ended here about 10:30 a.m. and I was not hungry for a Chicago dog. I'll have to time my next trip down this bike lane differently.

I continued past the bike lane and veered off where C Avenue separates from First Street. At Czech Village, I cut back north a block to it the Cedar River Trail again. I decided, rather than crossing over and aiming for the Prairie Park Fishery, to stay on this side (I know some road projects make the route to the fishery from this direction a little more difficult, and that probably played into my decision).

I rode down to the last city park in Cedar Rapids and took my second off-the-bike break, eating a bag of nuts and renewing my water supply.

Shady park of Cedar River Trail east of Czech Village (above). My turn-around point, bike parked at last city park headed south.

I intended, then, to sprint home. But I felt a bit woozy by the time I got to J Avenue, so I sat in the shade in the park there for a few minutes for a final unplanned rest before finishing the ride.

It had grown humid and hot. I was glad, in a way, that I had a family obligation that afternoon.

All in all, while I wish I could have gotten to 50, it was a very pleasant 42-mle ride. The Ellis Park area is nice to visit now and then, and bonus if one of the eagles nesting across the river decides to put in an appearance.

In Which Three Rides Aren’t Quite Enough

Image of sky seen from Marion Library as I wait for other Bookworms June 2.

I didn’t exactly make my biking goal this weekend—in total, I rode about 45 miles.

The weekend started with the Bookworms on Bikes ride, meant to go from the Marion Library to the Iowa City Library, passing by the Hiawatha, Cedar Rapids, Ely, Solon, North Liberty and Coralville libraries on the way.

The weather forecast was a bit dicey, with a 40 percent chance of rain midmorning, with a greater chance later in the afternoon.

Still, a small band of us—Michael Miller, Laura Runkle and I—met before 7 a.m. at the Marion Library and headed off on the ride. We rode over to the Boyson Trail, then took the Lindale Trail to some roads behind Target to reach the Cedar River Trail and pass by the Hiawatha Public Library.

At that library, I checked the weather radar on my phone. It looked like a big band of rain was headed our way.

We continued south towards downtown Cedar Rapids. As we circled Cedar Lake, it started to sprinkle.

But, while it remained unusually cool, the sprinkles eased off as we pulled into the farmers market in downtown Cedar Rapids. The Linn County Trail Association was offering some free snacks for National Trails Day, and I was happy to grab an extra muffin. My co-riders grabbed some breakfast and then we conferred.

Nice man giving out information at LCTA booth. I am glad to say CR Biker joined the LCTA this year.

The radar picture continued to look bad, and we decided it was not worth it to attempt the ride to Ely, so the ride this year got cut off early.

We split up, and I headed to a popcorn stand—since I was going home early, I thought I could bring Audrey a treat she likes, so I got some kettle corn. And after I purchased it, realized I was riding my road bike, not the hybrid bike with the nice big bags in back. How would I carry the corn?

I emptied the right side of my small bike bag. There I had the snacks I brought for what was to be a more than 50 mile ride, and I stuffed them in my pockets (thank you, fashion trend that decreed old men would wear ridiculous cargo shorts). As it turned out, while I could not then zip the pocket closed, I could insert the popcorn snugly enough that it would remain on the bike as I rode.

Bike on the way home--stuffed with popcorn. Yes, I shot this while riding.

I returned home.

My ride totaled about 25 miles, but I reached 30 for the day when we took a bike ride after supper with a 2-year-old grandson who was staying with us overnight. Today was dedicated to a different set of grandkids, but this evening I managed to squeeze in a quick 15-mile ride up to the city park in Robins.

A few evening sprinkles, but grandson wanted a ride, so my wife and I took him on a 5-mile ride in our neighborhood after supper. C Avenue Pond reflects interesting evening sky June 2.

I also climbed the neighborhood hill several times.

All in all, I had hope to ride more than 45 miles this weekend, but still, 45 is 45.

And it never really did rain Saturday, not that morning nor later. The rain gods were teasing us. Images of Sunday ride:

On trail in Hiawatha, headed north. Late sunshine on trail.

Sun going town in countryside between Hiawatha and Robins.

I rode Cedar River Trail to the Cedar Valley Nature Trail only as far as side trail that leads to Robins park. Snake on that side trail--first snake sighting of the year!

Crossing creek as I exit Robins to return to Cedar Valley Nature Trail.

Heading south, sun dipping below horizon.

Top of Bowman Woods neighborhood hill--Venus in the sky.