In Which The Switch To Spring Is Thrown

Me, after morning ride Thursday.
Note beard ice.

Lets hope it stays thrown. I’m ready for spring biking.

I biked four days this week—Monday, Thursday and Friday commutes to work, and Saturday a longer ride, partly to go to a Mount Mercy-Habitat for Humanity house build.

The coldest day was Thursday, when the air temperature was well below zero, but I rode anyway. And despite the frozen beard by the time I got to campus, my full winter regalia worked decently, and I did not regret the ride.

It was much more pleasant by Friday, and pretty warm on Saturday. Many more people were out on the Cedar River Trail Saturday, which felt like the first really spring-like day in Iowa.

Well, another winter, knock on wood, over. For biking, it was not as bad at the Great Long Winter of 2014. February was indeed cold this year, but March, although it started frigid, is warming up much earlier.

And I have to note that, in my experience, the streets of Cedar Rapids have been cleared much more efficiently than I am used to. I have had to change to my commuting route a bit, as some of the quieter streets I would normally bike on are too ice and snow covered—but F and E avenues, and most other streets, have been reasonably cleared.

I've complained about Cedar Rapids snow removal before, but not this year. So, thanks CR. Keep up the snow plowing.

Lennox Avenue NE on Monday. I have not tried to ride on it since. But, overall, streets have been better than par this winter.

Same day, drive leading to central campus at MMU. Facilities department has done excellent snow removal this season. And more CR streets look like this than look like the one above, and that has not bee in the case in the past. Not sure what the city is doing differently, but I hope they keep it up.