In Which There Is New Pavement

Near Thomas Park--Trail Closed sign, but more pavement beyond it.

There is mixed biking news from my small corner of the cycling planet: One of my favorite trails will be closed for a time this summer. The Cedar Valley Nature Trail, which one can ride from Hiawatha to the suburbs of Waterloo, will be closed now and then between Center Point and Urbana.

True, I don’t ride to Urbana all that often—maybe 2 or 3 times a year—and the run to Center Point is enough of a ride for me most days. But no longish ride to Waterloo this summer, it looks like. There are good things coming—the trail is being closed for improvements that will yield a paved route all the way to Urbana, which I will like.

Meanwhile, the Lindale-Boyson trail complex remains not accessible. The Lindale Trail in Marion has been closed for months due to a large bridge project. In addition, derecho damage tree removal and a paving project related to plans to tie this trail to one leading to central Cedar Rapids means the nearest, and in the past, most-used, bike trail is not accessible to me.

Other end of the pavement, my bike Clarence at the T intersection where paving ends near Menards.

Another view of Trail Closed sign, showing location just north of bridge by Thomas Park.

Gravel at end of the paving seems rougher than limestone surface was--are they planning to pave here, too? I hope ....

After riding to the south end of the trail by Menards, I take street route back home. Using sidewalk on busy street, I pass over the trail on the bridge. Someday, I'll get to ride on the paving beyond the closed sign.

The first nice summer day when I have time, I’ll have to ride down to Solon just to enjoy a long ride.

Recent rides have featured some fun treks with grandchildren. Now that the back wheel of Clarence, my hybrid bike, is fixed, I’ve been using the Tag-A-Long seat. We were watching three children while their parents went to a race out of town, and Sunday, a granddaughter and I pedaled over to their house to let the dogs out. Then we met the rest of the crowd at a park, where another granddaughter got a ride.

Later, my 5-year-old biking buddy rode. And Wednesday, on the day he graduated from preschool, we spent part of the afternoon biking to a park and then to his house. After dropping him off, I left the Tag-A-Long at home and rode out for a cool, cloudy solo ride. I headed over to Marion and cycled through some neighborhoods, taking a roundabout to cross the busiest road and end up by McDonald's.

Tossing stick into C Avenue Pond during Wednesday afternoon ride (above). Below, same grandson, images from Sunday ride including geese by C Avenue Pond.

We never rent one, but grandson loves to "window shop" a video kiosk during bike rides.

 No, a Big Mac was not the goal—the MD is near the school track, which is accessible to the south end of the Boyson Trail via a foot bridge. I cycled across the bridge and ended up on the newly paved end of the trail. The trail, for now, ends at Thomas Park. At the other end, it terminates in a T with some rough gravel near Menards. But riding concrete where I was  used to limestone was a dreamy experience. There is a little rise by a Frisbee golf course—I used to think of it as “the hill” on this trail, in quotes, because honestly it wasn’t all that much when one was riding on limestone. It merely required a bit more care because not-flat limestone means watching for ruts.

On paving, I simply glided over “the hill” without changing gears, cruising like I was on a flat. I’m sure in wind I would be shifting, but still…

It was a nice foretaste of better rides to come. It’s not pleasant to have trails I enjoyed in the past closed, but the expansion of biking infrastructure in the years before I retire will, I hope foreshadow my using bike tyres a lot once I reach that stage in life.

And paved trails are the best. It will make parks easier to get to while dragging grandchildren on the Tag-A-Long!

In Which Birds and Bees and Air in Tyres

Morning ride on Thursday--pausing on C Avenue. I'm on The Fancy Beast mountain bike due to the threat of rain, although despite the wet pavement, I didn't really get rained on that day. I stopped to remove several nails from the bike lane.

On Tuesday, my wife had a request. When I went to work in the morning, it seemed too wet to ride, and my wife aske me to drive the Kia van rather than the Nissan Rogue.

Because there was a bike in the van and she wanted it out. Last week, we retrieved my hybrid bike Clarence from my daughter’s house, where the latest flat had stranded it—luckily I had gotten my 5-year-old grandson home before the tyre suddenly went flat.

So, in the afternoon, I drove down to Goldfinch Cyclery in New Bo.

It was a misty afternoon following a wet morning. I had to wheel the bike about half a block—there’s no parking spaces next to this bike shop—and my biggest challenge was trying to open the shop door while holding a bike with one arm and a big umbrella with the other. A shop employee saw me and helped hold the door.

Then I was greeted by a sweet young lady whose name I forget. She listened to my problem, then said I could either leave the bike—or wait 15 minutes or so and they would probably have it fixed right away.

So, OK. I hung around the shop, grabbed some chain lube and a couple of pants bands (a product labeled “Ankle Biters”). It turns out the rim tape I had purchased at another bike shop was just a little too wide—and its up curled edges were biting into the tubes until each failed.

As advertised, the repair took only about 15 minutes.

Wednesday was damp again but there was a break in the weather about 7 p.m., so I took Clarence out for a quick post-rain ride. The tyre still held air, which was nice, and I headed up the Brentwood Drive hill, thinking I might head out towards Lowe Park.

But when I got the hill, a Eurythmics song was being too well enacted in Iowa—here comes the rain again. I turned around and rode back down the hill. And when I got the bottom, the rain seemed to be ending. So I headed up to the Lindale Trail, rode it, stopped to shoot some images of phlox in the woods, and rode up to the C Avenue pond.

The ride was only 4 miles or so, but it felt good to celebrate the bike being back in a appropriate way.

Cloudy sky, sometimes bringing raindrops, on Wednesday ride.

Wire spider in power lines on C Avenue. Don't know what this is for.

New band on pants for Wednesday ride.

Tyre on Clarence before Wednesday ride--inflated.

 The night was a little weird, what with sun and sprinkles and wind. As I watched a bumble bee in the phlox, I was also hearing an early owl greeting his day in the woods as day faded. The birds and the bees among the trees--sights and sounds from both day and night mixing in a pleasant quick bike ride.

I pause to make some flower images on ride. Here are a few, including final one that I took in my driveway at ride's end.

I had at least one more day of work this week on Thursday, but ended up riding the mountain bike just due to, again, with rain threatening.

I include in this post some images from Monday, when I rode the mountain bike home taking the longer Cedar Lake route.

Cedar Lake on damp spring afternoon.

Biking this week in Iowa has been dodging the drops. Still, I hope I have a bit of dry time this weekend. Maybe I can take a grandchild or two out for a spin with Clarence and the Tag-A-Long seat.

Let the good times roll!

In Which A Tree Blooms and I Contemplate Mortality

On a cool spring morning, on C Avenue, I pause on morning bike ride to make image of flowering tree.

My morning paper, The Gazette, has had some reminders of mortality lately. I read about a famous Chicago architect, dead at age 81 after he was hit by two vehicles while on a bicycle ride. (I can't find the wire story The Gazette ran, but here is a Chicago Tribune account).

Closer to home, a bicycle rider in Coralville was killed last month by a teen driver who was both using social media on a cell phone and speeding at the time. The Gazette story.

I don’t aspire to expire in the saddle, and if I’m still rolling at age 81, I hope to die in my sleep rather than on the road. But I have had a few reminders on my bike rides lately that the world is a dangerous place. Today, on the way home, a right-turning car at the corner of C Avenue and Collins Road was ready to rev and turn in front of me, despite me making eye contact and having the right of way in the walkway (with a walk light on). He paused and I passed on, but luckily I didn’t also pass on.

The day before I had a rever ecounter, not exactly a reaver, but not pleasant. A rever is a BUT driver who gratuitously revs just as they pass. Sir, if I had a Big Ugly Truck, I would do a better job of having a functioning muffler.

Anyway, despite reminders of mortality, this dry spring is turning into a wonderful time for a bicycle commuter. I don’t much need lights anymore. My hybrid bike still needs to go into the shop to have it’s chronic back flat problem attended to, and I still haven’t had the road bike serviced.

Yet the Fancy Beast abides. I’ve noticed my speed on it has picked up a bit lately—I sometimes finish my half-hour commute in 25 minutes. I have no theory why, except maybe the luck that some days have not been windy. I've also been enjoying the new spring growth--along C Avenue, several of the new trees planted there are in bloom.

So, despite the right-turn danger demons and the noisy BUT drivers, I’ll still keep rolling through the 'verse. Stay safe out there.

In Which I Play Catch-Up During Spring-Summer

April 21--The Fancy Beast on the Rohde Family Plaza as I arrive on campus after a sunny, pleasant morning commute.

Iowa in late April, early May: We had frost last night. A week ago we had several days where the sunny temperature flirted with 90. It’s been a dry spring, and on my biking commute to campus, I note that the grass is starting to shift from it’s fresh, lush green spring hue to the more dull look of high summer.

August is in the air, even if we’re not even there. Rather than our usual spring, we’re having a spring-summer season.

May 7--On Friday ride home, I stop not far from campus to enjoy the spring blooms beside someone's walkway.

I’ve not been chronicling many recent bicycle adventures, due to the regular spring semester sprint to May. I have maybe four years left in my working life, and, if God and health are willing, I look forward to some springs where I can roll around the planet taking in the springtime sights at a more leisurely pace on longer bicycle rides.

But a dry spring is a good one for riding a bike to work. And for others rides. Last weekend, I hitched up the Tag-A-Long seat and took a 5-year-old grandson to a playground while his mom and his grandmother went furniture shopping. It was a second or third tube on that bike’s back wheel in just a couple of weeks, but it had held air for several ride, so I had hopes that this dry spring of excess flat tyres was a mere memory.

Sadly, no. We rode to a nearby school, played there, were met there by mom and grandma, and then grandson was sad when it was time to go. I suggested he ride on the bike home, which perked him up, and so we did.

May 2--We arrive at Bowman Woods School on bicycle. Not sure why 5-year-old grandson thought a victory dance was appropriate for a 1-mile ride. Tyre not flat yet.

Just as I pulled into his driveway, the familiar noise and wobble hit. Flat tyre. Again. I’m thinking it’s time to take the hybrid bike to a shop and let the pros have a crack at that back wheel. Maybe it’s the wrong type of tyre. Maybe there is a flaw in the rim or tyre that I keep looking for and not seeing. I don’t know, but I am tired of the new tyre that won’t stay inflated.

Well, the road bike still has to got to the shop, too. Thank goodness for the trusty old mountain bike, oldest (besides a much older tandem) and slowest of my bikes. It had a flat earlier this spring, too—but since then, the new tyre and tube on the Fancy Beast have been just fine, thank you.

Well, it’s been a while since I wrote about my biking adventures. I’ll probably post a bit more regularly this summer—after the semester ends. Here is a gallery of the not-chronicled rides:

April 21: Some images from daily commute, pond on C Avenue and closing of C Avenue bridge for a few days for some utility project:

 April 22--Some road work, mostly images from quick ride to Lowe Park in Marion.

 

April 28--Late work on campus leads to view of full moon:

Not sure of Date: Going on group bike ride (with grandson, wife and daughter, not all bikes shown--an earlier ride to Bowman Woods School to play)

In Which A Near Star Shines and Hides

April 17--Clarence at Cedar Lake near sunset.

April in Iowa: This one has been a nice once, although freezing temperatures and even a small chance of snow are in the forecast for next week. This time of year can be breezy, cool, cloudy, sunny, warm, cold—whatever weather you want, might get it in April in Iowa.

The week started with some late commutes from work, due to my role as an advisor to a student newspaper.

April 11--Bike on Rohde Plaza, MMU (above and below) as I have some late commutes.

Then, most of the week was windy and cool. I rode Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The weather was nice Thursday, but I was also scheduled to go off campus for my second Bill Gates microchip implant, so I rode in with my wife. Friday I had arranged to work from home anyway, anticipating my body would be a bit wonky as its immune system fought the false coronavirus foe.

As it turned out, I was lucky. I did feel very tired and had a mild headache, but that was it. Chip enabled. Body restored. A fortnight to the fullest available immunity—with the caveat that nobody knows for sure yet what that means.

Saturday was a gorgeous day that mostly I did not spend in the saddle. In the morning, a grandson was finishing a sleepover. Then it was my least favorite day all all—New Car Day. Our Dodge Dart had been smashed while it was parked, and the insurance rental was returned on COVID-shot day, so here we were, test driving unpleasant hunks of metal with four wheels. We bought one. It’s OK, but nowhere near as fun as any vehicle with a derailleur.

And there was the front parking, the area between the sidewalk and the street. Last year, a large ash tree was knocked down by the derecho storm, and when the city came to cut and remove its tree, their equipment (and the tree) had pretty much stripped the lawn and left it there an uneven mess.

So Saturday I was playing with a spade, moving dirt, spreading around some new topsoil, planting grass and clover seeds (I’m not sure why people freak over clove and try to get ride of it—it’s a lawn seed one can buy, makes pretty little plants that have nice flowers, feeds the bees—I’m a clover planter, not a clover fighter). My wife aided me, but the effort took some hours.

Well, it was done by 6:30, and the day was still gorgeous, another sunny day in this otherwise cloudy week, so I got Clarence (my hybrid bike) out and took a quick spin down to Cedar Lake. The detour on the trail is still there, but now one can circle the lake, which is nice.

It was getting dark and I was running with lights by the end of the ride. Still, even on this too busy Saturday, a ride was nice. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, a health crisis due to an accident was brewing in the narrative of a loved one, and that put a sad punctuation on an otherwise nice Saturday. Be grateful for modern medicine—it can be a literal life saver.

Note: Discovered on May 8 I had not posted. And the health crisis was not mine, but a relative, and although recovery is a long road, the person in question is doing well.