In Which A New Bridge Opens

Aug. 12--Bike parked by new bridge near Cedar Lake.

When did the new bike trail bridge over the creek that feeds Cedar Lake open?

I don’t know for sure, but the detour on the Cedar River Trail north of the lake has changed—coming from the lake, the route now goes down a road to a new street bridge that crosses the trail. I was taking the trail north at that point (I had ridden down to the lake via H Avenue), and before crossing the new street bridge, I turned right and crossed the new bike trail bridge over the creek.

It’s very nice, a foreshadowing of the new trails near Cedar Lake that aren’t open yet but are being constructed. I crossed the bridge on one of the longer rides of summer 2025—a 17-mile ramble that took me to the Mount Mercy University campus before I continued to Cedar Lake.

A bunch of images from Aug. 12 ride. As I rest at Cedar Lake mid-ride, I watch a Stork that was fishing in the lake.

Monarch butterfly on Thistle flower near Cedar Lake.

Aster, fall flower, on Mount Mercy University campus.

Pausing on MMU campus.

Cone Flower in garden near Basile Hall on MMU campus.

For various reasons, summer 2025, the first summer of my retirement, has not featured the usual summer distances of bike riding. I didn’t, for example, participate in RAGBRAI this year. I had a heart bypass operation in January and a follow-up procedure in July.

In August, four grandchildren from Minnesota were visiting for a week. That precluded any long bike rides that week for me—but the good news is that one of my bikes has a Tag-A-Long seat, and a 7-year-old grandson was very happy to put it to use. Sadly, other events and very hot afternoons constrained those rides a bit, but nonetheless, most days that week we headed out for at least a few very pleasant miles together.

July 26--Deer on Lindale Trail are pretty socialized to bikers. Fawn lets me get pretty close to make this image.

Bike on Lindale Trail July 26. Note milky sky, it's been a wet summer but also a hazy one; sometimes the haze, from Canadian forest fires, has limited biking.

Anyway, back to my lake sojourn on Aug. 12. I missed one day riding last week due to yardwork—mowing and clearing weeds. But in the past four days of the week, I used all of my bikes.

On Aug. 12, I rode Argent, my road bike, on the longest ride—the 17-mile cycle to campus and the lake.

On Aug. 13, I rode my mountain bike, The Fancy Beast. It’s been wet lately. I planned to ride the Boyson Trail, the paved and unpaved parts, on a day that would turn too warm for this old man to ride in the afternoon. So, I went on a late morning ride, which went well, but the mountain bike trails beside the Boyson Trail looked too muddy, so I stuck to the main trail. The ride was about 8 miles, but given the heavier bike and warmer day, felt like it was as much work as the 17-mile ride the day before.

July 29--another day, another deer. I know it's farther away,but I like this image of the Lindale Trail.

Reflecting ball in Lowe Park seen on July 27 bike ride.

I skipped riding, as mentioned, for the Aug. 14 yard work day. The forecast was for hot, humid weather after this day. It was too bad to avoid riding on Aug. 14, but it was good to get the yard work done, too.

On Aug. 15, the afternoon was forecast to feel like 100 degrees, which dictated a shorter morning ride. I was going to ride part of the unpaved Boyson Trail again, but it had a bit more time to dry out and I decided that Clarence, my hybrid bike, would be a good choice. It turned out to be a 10-mile ride where I headed up behind Linn-Mar High School on the Creek Trail and road part of the Boyson Trail, too.

My biking goals have become modest in 2025. I’m accepting, for now, of shorter rides, although I’m hoping the 17-mile ride, accomplished with no problems, is a sign of longer sojourns coming as soon as the weather improves. However, I’ve already decided it’s OK to take several days to ride my birthday later this month.

I turn 67 later this month. Maybe by next year, 68 miles in a day would be a doable goal. For now, I’ll just be happy to roll 67 miles over several days and be satisfied that I can keep rolling.

As of Aug. 19, I have 851.02 miles for the year. I’ve ridden 85.46 miles in August. July’s miles totaled 112.16.

Aug. 15--I have some Goldenrod planted in my garden--it's a great late-season flower that feeds pollinators as fall is setting in. This is not in my garden, however--Goldenrod by Boyson Trail seen during bike ride.

In Which I Contemplate No Alt RAGBRAI

June 23--Early morning ride on very hot summer day, bike near C Avenue on Lindale Trail.

The last time I didn’t ride RAGBRAI, my family team and I made up for it with alternative, non-RAGBRAI miles. Not so, this year--some are riding some of RAGBRAI while I am sidelined.

As of today, I have biked 711.87 miles in 2025—a pretty low figure for this point in recent years. My riding has been constrained by serious health issues—I had heart bypass surgery in January and was subsequently knocked off two wheels for a while.

I was back to riding in a couple of months, but a lingering heart flutter kept me from longer rides—and now I’m off the bike again due to yet another heart treatment. I developed a heart flutter following my bypass surgery, and the flutter required what’s called a cardiac ablation. On Tuesday of this week, they put me to sleep and snaked a needle through my veins to my heart, where some tissue was frozen to end the errant nerve signals causing the flutter and to put my heart back into normal rhythm.

And now I have to take a week off from most activities, including biking, in order to recover from that procedure. We’ve had some beautiful days this week which I have been watching from a recliner in my living room. Not to complain too much—the procedure was apparently successful and the recovery is far less onerous and lengthy than the one that followed the surgery.

July 10--Above and below--Black Swallowtail Butterfly seen at Hanna Park garden in Marion during bike ride.

Still, no RAGBRAI riding for me this year. Good luck those of you that are setting out Sunday, crossing the state the west to east, I’ll be thinking of you and hoping you have a good ride.

In the meantime, if all goes well (and the first two days of recovery have gone well), I should be back on a bike by the end of next week.

June 13--Pretty day, late afternoon ride, bike at north end of Creek Trail near Tower Terrace Road.

June 14--Two rides totaling more than 14 miles. Evening ride, final one before heart procedure, is to see grandson play baseball in Marion. On the ride, I encounter one of those indifferent deer on the Lindale Trail--it's such a heavily used trail with woods that deer love that they become too used to humans.

I rode over 14 miles on July 14 and had my heart procedure July 15. I expected my miles in June to exceed my May miles. That did not happen—I rode 228.9 miles in May but 228.78 miles in June. So, I was not off much, but weather got more complicated at the end of June and my heart flutter was getting to me, a bit, making my rides shorter.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Tomorrow as in the vague future that starts in the second half of next week when I can start riding again. It’s been an interesting summer in Iowa, some very hot weather, but no extreme heat, and the June wet period has lasted into July, when a dry time usually starts.

Recent rides may have been a bit short, but have also been pleasant and pretty. I’m looking forward to rolling across my corner of Iowa again soon—I hope to see some of you out there on the trails next week!

In Which Summer Rides Bring Mixed Surprises

Surprise! We'll put in a major bike trail all the way through our town and then tell you that you can't ride on part of it! Wacky fun. My bike on trail across the street from Marion's new Central Plaza.

Well, biker pals, May was my final month as a professor at Mount Mercy University, as I retired from my professional career. In May, I was biking to work more consistently then before, so I had more time on the bike and rode more miles in May—but, what with the end of my career and the busyness associated with a new life phase, I had less time to devote to posting on this blog.

The past few weeks of bicycling have been an interesting time. I still have a follow-up heart procedure scheduled in July due to a lingering flutter in the old pump, and my miles are thus somewhat limited this biking season because I tire quickly and, also, how carefully (read slowly) I have to move on a bicycle to avoid any injury. Falling off a bicycle while you’re taking blood thinners, my doctors and my wife often remind me, is not a good life choice.

Basically, about 20 miles is my current ride limit, with most rides being around 10 miles. 2025 is therefore, for me, the year of short rides. I don’t resent that, because January and February where months of zero rides as I had and then recovered from major surgery, so I’ll enjoy the slower, shorter rides I experience now and keep on rolling with a smile on my face.

My bicycle parked on Creek Trail the runs behind Linn-Mar High School, on May 29 bike ride.

Another surprise, a "greetings, bikers, we're happy to have you" sign in the woods at the north end of the Creek Trail in Marion. OK, a landowner is free to put up such signs, but I can't imagine many bikers were trying to roll through the walnut grove there. Whatever, life is full of surprises, one of many signs posted in this area seen on May 29 bike ride.

We are in a June summer heatwave now, with the heat index topping 100 degrees this afternoon. That hasn't generally been the case lately, and on May 9, a cool but not cold morning, I noticed sun dogs in the sky during my morning bike ride (sun dogs are usually seen on the coldest mornings of winter, little rainbows created by sunlight refracted by ice crystals high in the atmosphere. It must have been much colder way up there).

And, although we are starting a heatwave today, the weather has mostly cooperated with biking. Although there have also been some unexpected challenges.

One is mechanical. On a commute to work in May, I broke a spoke on the rear wheel of Clarence, my hybrid bike. That wheel has had a previous broken spoke, so it was time to replace the whole wheel rather than just the snapped spoke. At the bike shop, they also noted the drive train was very worn and the bike was long overdue for a thorough tune-up.

So, that broken spoke cost me several weeks of riding that bike, plus more than $300. Oh well. After I retrieved that bicycle, it has been notably more pleasant to ride, which is a bonus—it has cleaner shifting and better rolling speed.

May 4--A nasty surprise at work. A broken spoke, and not the first on the back wheel of my hybrid bike Clarence.

Here and below, some damaged trees were cut down after the 2020 derecho, and someone had then carved into bird statues. Corner of Albernett and  Boyson roads. Another pleasant surprise seen on ride May 31.

In the meantime, my road bike Argent in late May developed a weird wobble on its front wheel. Was it another snapped spoke? I couldn’t find one, and I concluded it was a flaw in the front tyre. But I took the wheel into the shop to have more experienced eyes confirm my opinion—and the mechanic could see the problem right away. The wheel is mechanically sound, but the inner fabric of the front tyre had failed, leading to a bulge.

At least that was a much cheaper and quicker problem to fix—and I could have just replaced the tyre myself but the labor charge at Goldfinch Cyclery to do that was only $15, and I was happy, with my wife’s encouragement, to save 30 minutes of my life at that price.

Well, those minor blips didn’t prevent me from biking in recent weeks. I rolled just over 228 miles in May, compared to 159 miles in April. My miles are slowly building, and I hope that they will jump substantially after I recover from my second heart procedure that takes place in July. We’ll see.

The Fancy Beast, my mountain bike, on freshly mowed mountain bike trail in Marion. A nice surprise.

Life can bring you unexpected challenges and unexpected pleasures, too. For example, on a recent ride June 11, I rode my mountain bike, intending to use the mountain bike trails that split off from the Boyson Road Trail near my home.

Those mountain trails can be a bit challenging—they don’t have any dramatic features, so I don’t mean they are a challenged because they are designed with challenges as some mountain bike trails are—but the trails are not mowed very often and the encroaching plant life in the woods can make a ride a bit difficult. That was pleasantly not true on this day—the good surprise is that the trails had obviously just been mowed and were wide open and fun to ride.

June 16 bike ride down to Prairie Park Fishery--suprise! My usual route is closed, as short trail by the river is not open due to construction of a new biking bridge over the Cedar River. Well, OK, a major new biking attraction is coming. I'll live with riding a different route.

Yet, surprise, there is so much utility work going on in the Boyson Road area that I have not been able to repeat that ride due to difficulty accessing those trails. Mow ’em and then close ’em—bah, humbug.

What Marion gives, it also takes. Another recent example: Our neighbor city to the east has established, in recent years, a major bike trail that leads from my neighborhood all the way through Marion to the countryside east of town. The Grant Wood Trail, not long ago, was just a grassy stretch in the county rideable only on a mountain bike. In recent years, the county has paved several miles and added a grand new bridge. The city of Marion, in the meantime, has constructed a connecting trail and extended the Lindale Trail with two new fancy bridges.

Now, one can ride a road bike all the way from Council Street in Cedar Rapids out to Waldos Rock Park in Marion and beyond on nicely paved trail (well, one short leg on a quiet county road, but still, it’s an easy, paved ride).

I was aware that Marion has worked on a fancy upgrade to their City Square Plaza, which is directly across the street from the new Grant Wood Trail route, so I decided to ride there last week just to see what the plaza is like. It’s very nice. Marion’s treatment of the bike trail, however, has gotten a little weird.

Climbing play area seen at newly renovated Central Plaza in Marion (above and below).

Right across the street from the fancy new plaza, two blocks of the recently created bike trail have been designated as pedestrian-only zones. Well, I can sort of understand. I always thought the downtown stretch of the new Grant Wood Trail was a little awkward, taking bike traffic on a sidewalk directly in front of both the public library and City Hall.

Riding there always made me feel a little weird. You do have the alternative, once you near the Westside Diner, to go south one block and ride down that street until you get past downtown, a route I use whenever I think pedestrian traffic might be heavy, but that alternative route is neither marked nor designated for bikes.

On the one hand, I think the pedestrian zone downtown makes sense. On the other, I think Marion should mark and sign and declare a “bike boulevard” for the alternative route one block south (and on the connecting streets that they want bikers to use). I think the need for the alternative route is obvious, and I’m a little miffed city planners who created the bike trail in the first place didn’t anticipate the need for another route before putting up “dismount bikers” signs.

If the Grant Wood Trail shoots all the way through Marion, as it now does, then let bikers ride it and mark where they should ride. If the city does not want them riding on the walkway downtown—fair enough, I understand. However, create and show me the alternate route. Otherwise, you made a new, nice, fancy long trail and chose to knock a hole right in the middle of it.

Harrumph.

Honestly, I can’t get too mad at the city of Marion. Like Cedar Rapids, the city has invested a lot in recent years to become more bicycle friendly, and I appreciate that. This just seems like an obvious, foreseeable flaw in that overall nice pattern.

Well, back to summer rides. Despite the current heat. which is keeping me off my wheels this weekend, my bike rides have been very enjoyable. We’ve had some rain, but most days, even the wet ones, have not been rainy all day long, and we’ve had a fair amount of warm, but not hot, sunny weather, too.

Iowa is in its most beautiful month. For bikers, June is busting out all over. Catalpa have bloomed and faded. Orange Tiger Lilies are growling (or trumpeting). Common Milkweed is moving into its pink, perfumed firework phase. The world in Iowa is a very good place for those of us who choose to roll on two wheels across this planet.

A few images from mostly May bike rides but also this one from April 29. Daffodils in bloom near my hybrid bike parked in rack behind Warde Hall, were my office what when I had an office. Retired now.

Bike parked at Lafayette during May 3 ride. That ride was a bit more than 20 miles and I was pretty spent the next day, leading to a warning from my wife to watch the miles. She's an RN and I generally find her medical advice worth listening to.

Phlox in bloom on trail north of Robins during my one ride up to Lafayette May 3.

May 4--I always lock my bike, even on campus. You never know who or what will be interested in it. As far as I can tell, the tree rat did no damage.

May 31--Peony in bloom near bathroom building and playground at Lowe Park.

Even if some of us must limit our rolling, a bit. Still, I have ridden 179.72 miles in the first 21 days of June, which probably means I will likely top the 228.9 miles I rode in May. I was hoping retirement meant more miles on the bike, and that is a path I seem to be on.

This year, the path I am on does not mean RAGBRAI miles, because I can’t currently roll 50 or 60 miles in a morning, at least until the ticker gets straightened out. Still, how has biking been in Iowa these past six weeks?

Filled with surprises, good and not so good, but overall, quite glorious.

Cone Flower in bloom at Prairie Park Fishery on June 16. Here, above and below, some images of things I saw during June bike rides.

Deer seen munching on a tree leaf near Boyson Trail June 11.

Cone Flower in bloom at Hanna Park, see on June 10 bike ride.

Ride down to Cedar Lake via CEMAR Trail, stopping by Mount Calvary Cemetery to say hello to Sisters of Mercy there.

June 2 bike ride down to Cedar Lake.

In Which I Anticipate More Shade

April 13--Ride on Grant Wood Trail east of Marion. True sign of spring, Dandelion in bloom by trail.

Spring comes from the ground up in Iowa, and for weeks, the grass has been slowly turning green, insects have started to appear, the early flowers have been in bloom—and now spring is slowly rising up, as it does. Lilacs and small trees such as Redbud and Crab Apple are in bloom. Some larger trees—maples, for instance—have been fuzzy with the new season for a while, but the Oak and Walnut and Catalpa have been snoozing through early spring.

No more. Young Oak are showing tiny new leaves, and even their older, slower cousins have swollen, greenish looking buds.

April 17--Bluebell by trail near Menard's.

Snake on the trail, March 28.

April 17--Eagle glides over bike trail--I'm stopped to make images of the Bluebells beside the trail.

And as spring has slowly been taking hold, my biking is slowly getting better. I have not done any 40-mile nor even 30-mile rides yet, but riding 10 miles is no longer an ordeal for me. On Palm Sunday, I actually rode 20 miles in my most epic ride to date. My first outdoor bike ride after heart surgery was March 17, and in March I rode a grand total of 36.18 miles. April come she will—it’s the 28th so April is not quite over, and I have rolled 144 miles across my small corner of the planet.

My incision still bothers me at times. I do still get more easily winded. But as April has grown warmer and spring has entered its mid phase—well, I can tell I am stronger. I have for many years been an old, slow biker, but I was ridiculously slow in March. I feel that my speed has significantly picked up as April has gone on—not back to where I was before heart bypass surgery in January, yet it is still good to see my riding improve. And it is good to see spring, and I anticipate that shade will be coming soon as the tree canopy gains itself.

April 22--Ride down to Cedar Lake, new construction area.

April 18--Near Tower Terrace Road on Creek Trail--Beaver swims in pond.

Late afternoon sunshine near south end of Boyson Trail April 2.

April 26--On mountain bike trail off of Boyson Trail.

Bike parked near bridge, April 26 ride.

My rides have been mostly on nearby bike trails. Weather and time have not been kind to my work plans, and while I rode to campus Sunday for an art reception, I have not yet resumed regularly commuting by bicycle.

There are only 3 weeks of the semester left. And if weather cooperates, campus is well within my range now. The miles there aren’t as flat as my trail rides near home. Yet, while I don’t want to tackle any big hill yet, I’m sure the small rises between me and Mount Mercy University are doable.

Like spring, I’m warming up. I’m getting to be a stronger biker. And that’s been a nice trend.

Am I ready to ride to campus? Yes. Rode there April 27 for an art reception.

In Which Four Rides Exceed 20 Miles

March 24--Spring break has ended and classes at Mount Mercy University began this morning. When I saw the sun making this daffodil outside the library shine in the morning sun, I regretted not having a bicycle in a nearby bike rack. But that time isn't quite here yet, even if it is coming.

One week of bicycle riding plus a day. Monday of last week was the first ride that I took this year—due not to winter, but to a heart bypass operation I had in January.

Today, the next Monday, was ride four. That first ride 8 days ago was just over 2 miles, and today I cycled 8.2 miles. The ride today was notable for another reason, too—I rode from the Lindale Trail to the Boyson Trail, and returned the reverse way—to get from the Boyson Trail to the Lindale Trail, I had to climb a modest hill.

Granted, I climb a little hill on C Avenue to get from my house to the bike trail in the first place, but this trail hill feels like a more substantial, slightly steeper, climb. It is not a mountain, not a big hill at all—but still. I feel pretty good about biking 8 miles—a pretty big increase in my ride mileage—and adding an extra incline into those miles, too.

March 24--Some big utility project in Marion means the north end of the Boyson Trail is closed for now, and limestone area of the trail is quite rutted. I have not been on my mountain bike yet--my rides so far have been on the lighter road bike--but I did miss the mountain bike today. Still, most of my route today was paved, and even if the trail was rutted, I just slowed down and was careful and didn't have any problems.

I know 8 miles is a nothing ride to any serious biker but my theme for 2025 is simply to return to biking, to slowly build my stamina without injuring myself and to enjoy rolling across the planet again.

In the past, say fall of 2024, I rode a bicycle to work most days. I have not done that yet in 2025. Riding to work requires an early morning start and a commitment to bike back home when I am tired in the afternoon. Once I start, I still won’t be able to do it every day—I have cardiac rehab every Tuesday and Thursday and need to commute by vehicle on those days so I can drive to those appointments—so any bike commuting in spring semester will have to be Monday, Wednesday or Friday.

March 18--Second ride, a bit over 3 miles--my wife and I drove to a park in Robins next to a bike trail and did a bit of afternoon riding there. Still moving slowly, still a little shaky, but completed ride two.

It's also complicated by medical advice to avoid prolonged exposure to less than 40-degree air. I am not sure that guideline is really as important as it was in the weeks immediately following my surgery—but still, I’m waiting for somewhat better morning weather before I take that first ride to work.

On the other hand, the 8 miles I biked today is a bit more than a ride to and from work, by the most direct route, would take. My two-way commute via the shortest route adds up to a bit over 7 miles. And on riding to work there is the issue of climbing—there are more rises on the ride to work, no huge hill, but several places where I would need hill-climbing gear.

I’m working my way back to bike commuting. I’m not quite there yet, but I am getting close. Maybe that will be in next week’s biking report—it depends on warmer morning weather, but as March goes on, the chances of good biking weather do go up.

I hope wherever you are, if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, that you are starting to enjoy spring rides. Slowly, I am, too. So, for 2025 I have just over 21 miles—not a huge number, but much bigger than zero. I feel good about being back on two wheels and I look forward to adding more miles as time goes on.

March 21--Pretty spring day on Lindale Trail, which has been my go-to place for these first rides of 2025.