CR Biker: In Which The Old Mountain Bike is a Star

Thursday, October 14, 2021

In Which The Old Mountain Bike is a Star

Sac and Fox Trail today. Beautiful sunshine.

Today’s 28-mile ride was a bit longer than I expected. I thought it would take me about two hours to ride the Sac and Fox Trail. It’s a 7-mile trail, but I had to ride to it and come home after it.

I often start at the south end, ride north, and then head home. The north end is closer to my area of town.

But I knew there was road construction in the roads near the north end, and I was riding the old mountain bike. The Fancy Beast is best for rough ground, but it’s heavy and slow compared to my other bikes, but I was not really wanting to climb the Cottage Grove hill on this bike.

Project blocks street that would lead to trail. It took me a bit to find the detour. Not matter, it was a nice day to ride back and forth for a while.

Going down the hill? Sure.

Getting to Cottage Grove in the first place involved some back-and-forth, as I had not ridden that way since Cottage Grove was torn up at First Avenue. It took an hour for me to find my way to the north end of the trail.

And I still wasn’t sure what I would find there. The woods had been torn up in the derecho last year, and I had seen plenty of notices about volunteer projects to clear this trail. Plus, there was the question of the condition of the trail after a wet start to October.

But it had been so dry before October that I thought the ground probably would absorb yesterday's rain well enough for the trail to be OK.

And it was way more than OK. It was the kind of ride filled with an exhilarating change in attention, to the close details of the trail at many spots, dodging ruts and puddles. And yet, pausing now and then to see the sky, the scenery, the gorgeous way Iowa can look on those few fine fall days where no day seems more beautiful. Here are a bunch of pretty nature images from the ride, post continues after the images:

Frog statue in park at north end of trail.

Maple tree at north end of trail starting fall colors.

Vulture circles over trail.

Looking up at fall colors on Sac and Fox Trail.

Flowers blooming in woods beside Sac and Fox Trail.

Cedar River seen from trail.

Ride, see something, pause. I had planned this partly as a photo safari anyway, and to capture the spirit of the day, I found myself using my bike as a picture prop, so I ended up with a bunch of trail-bike images.

At one point, I came around a bend and practically was face to face with a doe, munching some plant. She dropped the plant from her mouth, but did not move. I stopped, got out a camera, and shot portraits of her. Then, from the woods behind her, a smaller deer, possibly a yearling, bounded, up, and suddenly the pair were on the move, flashing their white tails, leaving me to ponder that encounter.

Well, hello doe. Let me make your image.

Profile of the trail doe.

Deer crossing trail.

The closest deer is the young one who showed up. The tail of the larger doe is seen at the right of the image.

I made good time, although the ride was proving longer than I had anticipated. I never slipped while on my bicycle, although once, when I was making images of my bike, I stepped into what I thought was a dry waterway and discovered very soft mud. When I stamped my feet to clear some mud, my right knee was very tender.

Sorry about that, knee. But you still served me well, and even if that pain was only halfway through a 28-mile ride, you were OK when I was riding and even allowed me to take an evening stroll with my wife.

Well, cool. It wasn’t a good day. It was a great day to be on the Sac and Fox Trail, rolling across the planet on an old, but serviceable mountain bike. Images post-Sac and Fox, followed by images of the start bike, some selfies and a map of today's ride:

Milkweed seeds along Cedar River Trail.

Mural on building beside Cedar River Trail, viewed from the side trial along the levee, leading to the site where the bridge is slated to be built in a few years.