In Which I Ride 10 Miles Before The Storm

Deer munch in a harvested field at Lowe Park, Marion.

Today, my sons who were visiting over Christmas left to go home—one flying to San Francisco, the other driving to Ames.

It was a cool, cloudy day, but I wanted to get a bike ride in today, if possible, because we are supposed to get socked by a nasty winter storm Monday. The only question is: How much will fall as ice and how much will fall as snow?

For a biker, a secondary question is: For how many days will streets and sidewalks remain slick?

Anyway, we had an exciting time dropping Jon off at the Waterloo Airport this afternoon because the ticket dispenser at the entrance to the airport parking lot would not dispense and the gate would not go up so that we could park. After a time, because the parking lot is not that big, Jon just elected to walk across to the terminal. I hope the rest of his journey on this busy travel day was less eventful!

Anyway, we got home about 3:15, and by 3:45 I was pulling Argent out of the garage. I had replaced my bike’s broken pedals with a spare pair we had from a long defunct bicycle. That job was done before Christmas, but this was my first ride on my pedlal-replaced bike.

Tennis court at the end of the trail. My turnaround point.

We had encountered some moisture falling from the sky on the way home from Waterloo, but that must have been a random passing cloud, because the nasty isn’t due until later tonight. I was lucky, the sky stayed cool and mostly cloudy, but also dry for my ride.

I decided not to use the Boyson Trail, because I figured that limestone surface would be mushy with recent rains, so I rode into Marion and headed up to the bicycle trail that goes to Lowe Park. There were a couple of people walking on the trail, but otherwise I had it to myself. The wind was biting, but the ride was nonetheless decent.

Two views of grassy-wildflower area near east end of trail. For a cloudy day, it was an interesting sky.

I stopped to take a few photos to show the stark beauty of the park in December, and also to flip on lights.

It wasn’t yet full dark when I got home around 5 from a 10-mile ride. That’s good. There may be a winter storm on the way, but light is also slowly returning to this dark corner of the globe—and that foreshadows better biking in the future, if not this week!