In Which I Ride a Few Windy, Unrecorded Miles

Setting out--no mittens, no coat. It was nearly 50 degrees (U.S. degrees, that is sweatshirt weather).

Winter came back to Iowa today. However, rain that had been in the forecast for today did not materialize by midday, and although it got very windy, it was also quite warm.

As I write this, it is 14 degrees with a wind that creates a wind chill of minus 6 (that, by the way for non-U.S. readers, is Fahrenheit, in your world, that’s an actual temperature of minus 10). But I am seated in my family room with slippers on and a heater blowing on me.

At around noon, I had finished some morning chores and decided to take a quick spin before the cold front blew through. It was grey, windy and cloudy, with a chance of rain. Because of that, and because I was thinking of riding on a limestone trail, I decided to take the Fancy Beast, my old mountain bike.

Riding up C Avenue meant dealing with the actual and the wind hill at the same time. Still, I didn’t have to wear winter coat nor mittens, and bike control, even with my left index finger in a splint, was easier today. Having one immobile finger complicates shifting gears less when the fingers aren't all together in a mitten.

As I rode up C Avenue, I felt some droplets in the air and worried the ride would be very short, but the sky started to clear a bit when I got to the Lindale Trail and turned east onto the trail. The wind from the southwest that had been fighting me became my ally, and I flew along.

Lindale Trail. Not sure it was the best day for a spin--tree branch blown onto trail.

I rode through a Marion neighborhood to the short side trail west of the Boyson Trail. Because it has been dry for several days, I was hoping the trail would be semi dry—my original plan was to ride this trail, plus part of the Boyson Trail, and end up retuning home down the Lindale Trail again.

Well, you know about the best laid plans of mice, men and over-optimistic bikers. The trail was a mushy mess, and I felt a bit guilty adding some ruts. It would have been impassible on the hybrid, so at least I had a bike that I managed to slog through the mire on. At times, I rode on the grass beside the trail, which was firmer than the trail, but there were many spots where passage required the soft trail ride.

Back tyre and the rut in the trail it made. Sorry about that. Trail should freeze hard tonight and may be more ride-able tomorrow, although also much colder. By the way, it's my style to use the UK spelling of tyre on this blog because the American spelling just looks tired, and the Brits invented this kind of tyre so should be able to name it.

Well, I made it. And when I got to Boyson Road, I decided my trail time was done. So I rode west on the Boyson Road bike lane and turned into the residential area north of the road.

I used the crosswalk to Huntington Ridge Park on C Avenue, circled the park and then headed home.

By the time I got to the park, sunshine was coyly peaking out through holes in the clouds. However, the wind did not let up, and I think the temperature was starting to fall.

Still, the ride home from the park was fine, even if it was into the chilly wind. I don’t have a holder for the GPS computer on the mountain bike, so I just rode these miles unrecorded.

Which is OK, I think. Pedaling is the point, and before winter crashed into town this evening, I got a few miles in. Probably 4 to 5.

The Fancy Beast at Huntington Ridge Park on C Avenue as we get a bit of midday sun. You can tell I planned only a short ride--no water bottle.