In Which Spring New Tyre Season Continues

Spring bike ride shadows. On a Sunday late afternoon ride, above and below.

In case you missed a brief note months ago, I spell “tyre” the British way on this blog just to honor British bike technology---they invented the rubber tyre, so, just on this blog, I use their spelling.

I’ve biked in England and I really like to do that there—maybe someday I’ll bike in London, which is one of my favorite big cities. All of my British biking has been around Norwich, the city were my oldest daughter and family reside.

Anyway, back to Iowa. Snow is possible Sunday—we may be grazed by a massive winter storm that will be much more serious off to our west. The weather is turning wetter and cooler for a while, just in time for spring break.

Spring shadows in later afternoon on March 7 ride.

March 7--as far north as I go. Need a bit more melting.

Next week is break at the university where I teach. I have a mountain of back work to get done, so it’s not really a week off for me—still, I will have time for, I hope, my first longish ride of the year. There will be some sunny days next week.

The spring rides will go better if I fix my bike. I made the switch from the Fancy Beast, my winter beater mountain bike, to my hybrid bike Clarence now that it’s warm enough for warm socks to keep my feet OK on the rides to work. As I noted in the previous post, last Saturday I took some grandsons for rides using the Tag-A-Long seat hooked to Clarence.

March 8, parked by library Monday morning. I figured hybrid bike rides are the new norm. Until the next day, when I had a flat tyre.

Then, last Sunday, I used an hour I didn’t have and rode my bike to the Cedar River Trail, where I then headed north towards Robins on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail. I didn’t plan to go far, but went a bit less far than I had planned, as I ran into snow still covering the trail. So it was not hybrid-bike friendly. I bet it has all melted by now, so I may try a northern ride next week.

I enjoyed my commuting ride Monday, but on Tuesday afternoon the back tyre of Clarence was flat. I don’t often get flats, and this was the second in recent weeks. I don’t know if the combination of derecho last summer and the abundant snow this winter has left more puncture crud on the streets, although honestly I just think it was poor luck (and worn tyres).

I called my wife, but her phone was off, so Tuesday afternoon I started walking the bike home. It’s 3.5 miles. I made it about a mile when I called her again, and this time she saw her phone light up. She told me to stop strolling since I was by a park she could easily find, so I waited. It had been a cool walk, and it was proof of concept that, in a worst case scenario, I could probably manage this commute route as a walk should there be no rescue available, but it would be a long walk.

So I felt lucky for the rescue. And I’m back on the mountain bike for now, although I’ve already purchased the new tyre for the hybrid bike.

Still, I only drove once this week, due to rain. The crocus and snowdrops are in bloom, the dark is still longer than the light but the nearest star is shining longer and from a more direct angle. Spring! Spring bike rides! Worthy of an exclamation point or two.

Three views of mountain bike from March 11 ride. Parked on a grey morning (above) and afternoon views (below).