In Which I Ride a Hot Ride, Scout a Poor Shortcut

Crowd at farmer's market. Warm day for first one.

Seven Sisters Road, you did not seem to be a friend of mine.

The first farmers market of the season in downtown Cedar Rapids was today, a very hot summer day.

But it wasn’t too bad when I started out before 9 a.m. The ride downtown was fairly pleasant. Lots of bikers were out today.

My wife and I had thought of biking down as a family with two daughters and a grandson, but decided, wisely, I think, that the day would prove too warm for that kind of ride—so, instead, most of the family drove while I rode.

With grandson at farmers market.

The farmer’s market was warm and crowded, but fun. We got some candy at a shop downtown, and also visited the Cedar Rapids Public Library.

The ride home was much warmer, but not terrible. It was, for such a hot day, a decent ride.

And the biking news gets even bigger. We had checked on bikes at Cranky’s, a shop in Marion that is going out of business. We found a hybrid ladies bike that Audrey liked, but it was on hold for another customer. Well, today we got the call that the other customer backed out, so we went ahead and picked up the new bike. My wife rode it home and noted that it was quite light compared to her other bike.

Also, in the early evening, we decided to drive down to Solon to check on an idea for the Bookworms on Bikes ride. The county road form Ely to Solon is the most dicey part of the 50-mile ride from the Marion Public Library to the Iowa City Public Library (passing libraries in Hiawatha, Cedar Rapids, Ely, Solon, North Liberty and Coralville). It is a narrow, windy stretch with little shoulder. I looked at the map and noted two gravel roads would provide an alternative, so we checked them out.

I’m afraid my idea is probably not good. Seven Sisters Road curves into Polk Road on a rather nasty hill. Besides that, both Seven Sisters and Polk seem to be rather loose gravel—maybe OK for a mountain bike, but not a hybrid or road bike.

The one minor bonus is, based on my car odometer, the gravel route is about one mile shorter than the paved route.

Polk road. This is actually a nicer stretch, there is a nasty hill with plenty of loose gravel. I do not think this will work as a biking route.

Despite that, 4 miles of dicey gravel is probably at least 3 miles too many. I think the Bookworms should stick to the main road for now—and by next year's ride, maybe the next stretch of trail will be ready.