In Which an Old Bike Combines with a Lake Tour

Cedar Lake today.

Most of the images on this post are taken in late afternoon at Cedar Lake, one of the finest places in Cedar Rapids to view sunsets. I rode down there Monday and Thursday.

According to the forecast, our AWOL winter, which visited us in late fall but has been AWOL since, is returning at the end of this week with attitude. The snow blower got clogged and stuck last time I tried to use it—I may find out if it’s working again soon.

Well, we had this week. Yesterday, it was cold and I was in a hurry, so I drove, but I’ve been biking most of the week.

Three rides on four days of class in January is not bad.

On Monday, I rode the hybrid bike—my usual commuting bicycle—and took time to ride down to Cedar Lake in the afternoon on the way home.

Morning light Monday (above) Cedar Lake in the afternoon (below).

I repeated the lake ride again today, and it was even more gorgeous. We had rain at midday, but just briefly. I had ridden my oldest bike today (not counting the tandem which dates to the disco era), the mountain bike my oldest son got years ago during a Seattle summer internship.

Maybe it was because today was the final day of classes this week, maybe it was just the upbeat mood I was in, but I felt like the old mountain bike was flying this afternoon. I didn’t have the good camera with me, but images from the point-and-shoot still turned out pretty—the cold day yesterday meant that, in 50-degree weather, the lake was covered in thin ice. After the rain, the clouds had started to thin out, and at sundown, the lake was incredibly gorgeous.

Monday, there were just a few people at the lake. There was much more traffic there today—walkers and joggers enjoying a day that would have been at home in April.

Besides the lake looking so appealing, there were other pleasurable aspects of the ride. At the lake, as I completed my circuit and was about three-fourths of the way round the body of water, an eagle appeared from the east and quickly swooped to the west. It didn’t linger, and I regretted not having my good camera and long lens, but was fun to see.

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, actually a bird, eagle, having crossed the lake ahead of me, disappears in the western sky, probably headed to the Cedar River.

And later on, about halfway up the trail towards home, as the light was really starting to fade, just east of me on the rail line like that parallels the trail, a group of three deer were loitering, maybe 20 yards from me. I stopped, got out the camera, and snapped a few images, which seemed to bother them not at all.

Oh deer!

It was nearing dark as I rode down 42nd Street, headed to Noelridge Park to cross it and go behind the middle school. I paused briefly in the park to admire and shoot the wolf moon, later also snapping its reflection the C Avenue pond at Collins Aerospace.

Goodbye, faux spring. As a gardener who planted plenty of milkweed seeds and spring bulbs in the fall, I don’t mind having some winter this year, but I will miss the bike rides if the streets stay snowy and messy for a while. It will be nice when spring returns for a longer stay.

The moon in the park (top) and reflected in the pond (middle). Light fading in the night sky (below) as I wait to cross Blairs Ferry Road.