In Which CR Biker Celebrates Earth Day

Magnolia in bloom at MMU.  Not that you have to be a biker to see it, but I did notice it first as I rode my bike by this morning.

The magnolia next to Warde Hall is starting to bloom, along with daffodils at MMU and in my own slow gardens.

It sprinkled on me this morning as I rode in, but since it’s Earth Day, I felt sort of honor bound to bike, if possible. It was possible. We’ll see how I feel about the gamble this afternoon, but despite the sprinkle, it was clearly a spring ride—a sweater was plenty. No jacket or glove.

I also saw that Des Moines has released its logo for the overnight RAGBRAI stop this summer—I got the logo via RAGBRAI’s Facebook post. I’m not sure that either the town or the ride are the “world’s greatest,” a slogan that makes them sound a little like the "world's best" coffee in the movie “Elf,” but I like the logo and it puts me in a RAGBRAI mood.

The unfolding flowers are a reminder of warmer weather to come—and that one reason to bike is to have a closer daily connection to the changing seasons. And the Des Moines RAGBRAI logo is a promise of the upcoming great biking event of the summer. Maybe it is the world's greatest.

From: http://ragbrai.com/2013/04/19/ragbrai-events-village-will-showcase-des-moines/ this is the Des Moines RAGBRAI logo.