Two Longish Rides In A New Biking Shirt

My new MMU biking jersey.

Well, I’ve come over to the synthetic side.

I’ve not sexy and I know it.  I’ve an aging, slowly expanding, grey-haired, formerly middle-aged man heading into my twilight years.

But, I bike, which might extend my twilight years and at least guarantees I’ll enjoy them more—I bike because I like it.

Anyway, for years bikers such as David Ard and Will Kirkland and Bob Naujoks have been wearing these weird neon-colored things whenever I’ve encountered them on the trail—fibers not found in nature, colors too vibrant to be seen without safety shades.

Me, I’ve favored cotton Ts.  Until this year.

When Mount Mercy made biking jerseys available this year, I decided to go ahead and buy one.  This week, for the first time, I wore it, twice.

OMG.  OK, I look terrible.  I’ve avoided biking shirts because I have one of those bodies that loose clothing was invented for.  On the other hand, I’m long past the age where I care all that much about what I wear, and despite the form-fitting nature of the biking jersey, I’ve already helped picked out on of my Father’s Day gifts.  A second biking jersey.

Yes, blog fans, it’s taken CR biker a long time to learn what others have known for a while—mankind invented fibers not made by God just because they are more comfortable to wear in hot weather.  Those redonk (I’m using this word, Brigid, just in  your honor) shirts breath and take away moisture and feel so light and good compared to soggy, heavy cotton.

I went on a longish (over 50 miles) ride on Wednesday, but got a flat.  Thursday, I rode with a small MMU group—Sarah and a nice alum who I don’t know—to Ely, a ride of around 30 miles, when you factor in my added ride home.

For both rides, I wore my new MMU jersey.

I hope it doesn’t depress enrollment at MMU, seeing that logo on such a LARGE rolling billboard, but I like the shirt.

On another topic:  Final notes from Des Moines bike ride.

I didn’t blog about food, yet.  A topic near and dear to me, which might explain why polyester gets so stretched on me.  We ate at three places:  PJ’s, the Highway 66 Grill and the Uptown Café.  The final two were in Jefferson, PJ’s is on the way in some small town between Jefferson and Waukee.

I enjoyed them all.  The Highway 57 sandwich at the 66 was a huge pork fritter with Swiss cheese and Heinz 57 sauce.  Yum.  Breakfast was the Uptown was a grand way to prepare for a 20 mile headwind.  And I had a Reuben one day and an Italian sausage sandwich the other day at PJs.

Both days featured grand biking eating.  That, along with the scenery, is a good reason for a ride along the Raccoon River Trail.

Final notes:  Some photos from my Wednesday ride.  I did "the trails," riding to Prairie Parks Fishery and the Sac and Fox.  I think I might skip the Sac and Fox in the future because I got another flat tire.  It seems I get a flat every time I ride that trail. I love that trail, but not the flat tires!

View of Cedar River from my lunch table at Prairie Parks Fishery.

The lake at Prairie Parks Fishery.  View from the trail.  More bikers need to find this park.

Sac and Fox.  Despite soft sandy spots and flat tires, you can see why I really like this trail.

The frog statue at the end of Sac and Fox.