In Which I See B&W and Dam Photos

I wasn't really planning, at first, for the first bike ride of 2015 to be the kind of adventure it turned out to be.

I had a new Canon PowerShot camera with me, one that my wife and I purchased so she would have a decent portable camera to take to England later this month. And it was after 2 in the afternoon when I headed out. Somehow, the low sun and the new camera said “black and white” to me, and I decided to my mission for this ride was to take some photos that would look good without color.

As it turned out, late in the ride as the daylight faded (I didn’t get home until 6), I shot some sunset images that I really like in color, so I’ve posted a slide show on YouTube that I’ll include in this post of the color pictures

I also took a number, however, that I thought worked well in black and white. I posted those grey images to flickr, and will put in a link to that flickr album.

It was windy and cool, with an air temperature near 30 but wind that made it feel much colder. But I was pleasantly surprised to encounter some walkers, joggers and other bikers on the Cedar River Trail. I went west to the trail via the Noelridge Park route, and considered going to Ely. As it turned out, taking photos meant that by 4, which I already decided was a sane turnaround time, I was just barely on the Hoover Trail, and I stopped at the first bench I encountered, had a light snack and turned towards home.

It was fully dark by the time I got past Cedar Lake on the return journey. Some of the emptier sections of trail felt really dark, but I plodded along.

Headed south on trail, crossing Cedar River. One of the black and white photos.

The new Canon performed very well, I thought—focusing when I zoomed, taking decent images in very low light.

I missed shooting a pair of deer who bounded across the trail not more than 10 yards in front of me. I didn’t notice any eagles on my journey, although I saw a photo on flickr today by another Cedar Rapids photographer of an eagle that is here now.

Turnaround point--Francis by trail as I sit on bench.

I did notice a beaver dam near the trail a bit south or east of the Mt. Trashmore area. I was mildly amused because there is a “trespassers will be prosecuted” sign right in the midst of the pond the animals formed with their little dam.

I hope the sign did not apply to them.

Shot view of the moon after shooting beaver dam.

Anyway, it’s my first post of a new year. Happy biking to all of you in 2015. In 2014, I did end up topping 3,000 miles by a bit more than 40, although my mileage figures are pretty rough estimates. Still, I think 2014 was a good biking year.

Early evening sky shot just after I crossed Cedar River on the way home.

What will 2015 bring? More adventures on two wheels, I hope!

Estimated miles per month biked in 2014. Peak is RAGBRAI month.