In Which I Contemplate Past and Future

Sunset on late day ride, seen at bridge on Lindale Trail crossing 7th Avenue (the main street) in Marion, Iowa. It was warm Thursday, but quite cold Dec. 31!

Well, biker friends, I did fall short of my goal, by more than I expected.

My goal for 2022 was to ride my bicycles 3,000 miles. I finished with a 9-mile ride today, the final day of the year.

It was a bit shorter than I was hoping. Rain and snow were in the forecast for mid-afternoon, and I left home late morning, intending to get 3 hours of riding in before the weather turned. But 10 minutes from home, little pebbles of ice and hard drops of cold water pelted down from the sky.

I was on my way to the New Bo neighborhood. It’s New Years Eve, and I wasn’t sure whether my favorite bike shop would be open or not, but checking was an excuse for a ride. I have a flat tyre on my hybrid bike and was seeking a new tube.

My luck was not good. The shop was closed, and after 9 miles of intermittent cold drizzle and ice, I was feeling all done.

My wife texted me to ask if I wanted a ride. We had planned to go out for an afternoon lunch anyway, a sort of last hurrah of 2022, so I agreed to the rescue. So she came, I loaded my bike into our van, and we went out for lunch and then home for a nap. Exciting ways to celebrate New Year's Eve.

End of 9-mile ride at New Bo Market in the New Bo area of Cedar Rapids. Water and ice are not a biker's friend. But I got a hot chocolate at the market while I awaited rescue, so all was well.

With today’s ride, I totaled 104.25 miles for the month of December. It was my lowest monthly total for the year, but then again, it was a winter month, a month of many family events and the month where I spent a week under the weather—the only time that happened in 2022. My highest monthly total was 490.6 miles in June.

Well, 2022 was a decent biking year. I came less than 250 miles from a 3,000-mile goal, which means I got more than 90 percent there.

And I think 3,000 miles in a year is not unreasonable. My miles when down in July, but 2022 was the year of my 40th wedding anniversary (celebrated in summer) plus the summer when a daughter moved, which involved us having guests in July and August.

I am hoping for more rides in 2023, weather willing and health willing. Since I fell short by 10 percent this year, lets assume I can do 10 percent better as a goal in 2023, especially if I ride part of RAGBRAI. So, to wrap up 2022, a year when new trails opened and I enjoyed 90 percent of 3,000 miles, I now set a new goal for the new year. For 2023, I aim not just to ride 3,000 miles, but to ride the missing miles from 2022—so my 2023 goal is 3,300 miles.

And, somehow, I feel pretty confident I can make it. New Year’s Eve, it's a time of thinking about renewal and possibilities and hope.

In Which I Appreciate An Old Bike

Dec. 27, 2022--Parked at Waldo's Rock Park, east end of Marion, Iowa. The Fancy Beast, the perfect bike for today's ride.

If the Fancy Beast were human, I think it would be getting its driver’s license about now. I’m not 100 percent sure of it’s age, because my oldest son acquired it as a perk of an internship at Microsoft in Seattle when he was in college at Iowa State University. But I think he graduated from high school around 2003, which means the internship maybe was in the summer of 2006, which would make the Fancy Beast, my Raleigh mountain bike, about 16 years old.

Well, whatever. It has been bitterly cold lately in Iowa, so my biking has been rather limited. Today, however, the temperature flirted with 20 Fahrenheit, and the wind chill actually made it into positive numbers above zero.

In short, it was cold, but not the impossible 30-below wind chills we had just before Christmas.

Me during photo stop at Waldo's Rock Park, selfie made with phone. The appropriate look for an Iowa biker today.

The city where I live is not great at snow removal. It tries, but somehow Cedar Rapids seems consistently less effective than its associated smaller towns—we live between Marion and Hiawatha in a northern peninsula of Cedar Rapids, and many times in a snowy winter, a quick jaunt east to Marion or west to Hiawatha will confirm that street snow removal is possible to do more efficiently. Well, to be fair, CR is a much bigger city and sprawls a lot, too—many, many more miles of a greater variety of streets cannot simplify snow plowing.

Anyway, while it was warmer today, I faced the question of whether it was wise to ride on slick streets. I decided to stick to the C Avenue sidewalk and head south to the Lindale Trail. If it had not been plowed, well, it would be a sign for me to make it a very short ride. I didn’t feel like attempting the snow-covered side streets.

Heading home on Grant Wood Trail in Marion--snow is blowing across the trail. It was a south wind, a warmer day than others recently, but still cold enough and windy enough that some snow was on the move.

The passage along C was indeed a bit dicey, but the sidewalk had been cleared enough that I was able to shift down, ride slowly and make it up the C Avenue hill. When I got to Walgreens, I was in for a slightly nasty surprise as the store hasn’t cleared the latest snowfall from its sidewalks at all.

But the parking lot was passable, and I took it. The short street leading from it to the trail was a snowy mess, but I only had to cross it and start riding on the trail.

Where I was in for a pleasant surprise. During a short ride before Christmas, a dusting of snow had not been cleared on the Cedar Rapids part of the Lindale Trail, although Marion had cleared its portion of the trial.

Today, well, clearly the trail had been plowed. There was still snow on it, but the kind of intermittent snow cover one has on a sidewalk after a snowblower is used. On The Fancy Beast, it was a bit of a slow ride, but not really a dicey one—I pretty much could pick out pavement and only had to cross a thin layer of snow now and then. Easy-peasy if a bit slowsy.

Low afternoon sun seen over Lininger Park as I ride back south from Boyson Road.

Bike trail at Lininger Park.

Approaching Lininger Park.

Stubble of corn field seen from Grant Wood Trail.

I had started my ride at about 2 p.m. My wife, a daughter and three grandsons were going shopping to a book store, and I decided to ride my bike while they shopped.

It was a cold ride and my feet were not particularly happy with my life decision. But I wrapped a scarf around my face and had my full winter layers on, so despite some chilled toes I was not unduly uncomfortable.

And the sunshine, while not warm, was refreshing to be out in. I didn’t fly along the trail, more like a slow slog, but I just kept heading east. I didn’t have a goal in mind—I figured when I got to city’s edge, the trail would be uncleared (the county doesn’t remove snow from bike trails—and I don’t really mean that to be a complaint, I don’t really expect them to, it’s just a reality that a city park department can deploy more resources in a smaller area than a county, with both a smaller set of park employees and many more miles of trail, can).

Anyway, I got to Highway 13, where one side of the underpass is labeled “Linn County” and the other side “City of Marion.” I figured it would be the turn-around point, but I was in for another pleasant surprise. The park department of Marion Iowa has plowed the Grant Wood Trail (where does the Lindale Trail become the Grant Wood Trail? Honestly, I don’t know, but at the east edge of Marion, you’re clearly on the Grant Wood Trail) all the way to Waldo’s Rock Park.

Where the city plowing ends on Grant Wood Trail--bike at turnoff to Waldo's Rock Park.

Basically the same view as above, different camera, slightly different angle, longer lens.

Looking across frozen pond at Waldo's Rock Park.

I paused to make some images there and then headed back west. I turned down to the Boyson Trail and rode the new creek side trail up to Boyson Road. It was getting past 3:30 in the afternoon, and at this time of year it’s growing dim. And I figured once the sun started to touch the horizon, the air wouldn’t feel very warm. So instead of continuing all the way past Linn-Mar High School to Tower Terrace Road, today I turned back and rode home.

It was a farther refreshing ride. Even if it was very slow—going slower than usual on my slowest bike—the only bad part was when I got back to the street in Cedar Rapids at the end of the Lindale Trail. There was a bit of soft dirty road snow covering a layer of slick, compact white sow—perfect slipping conditions and I did indeed slip.

Hawk that I had seen sitting in tree launched into flight. On new creek trail in Marion Iowa (what is this trail actually named?).

Hawk in flight.

Where I first saw the hawk, moments before it jumped into the air and flew directly over me.

Group of deer in field beside trail in Marion.

This is one of the tree above, seen a few minutes before beside the bike trail.

Ducks in creek along Boyson Trail--ponds all frozen, but some running water is still open.

But, I was on The Fancy Beast. Going slow. I’m lower on that bike anyway. The slip was inconsequential, I simply had to put my foot down and skid to a slow stop. Getting going again took awhile as I was still in bad conditions, but I was stubborn and rode rather than walked the bike to the Walgreens parking lot, where conditions improved.

I thought, looking at the bike computer, that it was a 14-mle ride. But once at home, when I checked the connected app on my phone, it turned out it was a 13.97 mile ride. Whatever. Maybe tomorrow, when it’s supposed to get well above freezing, I may repeat the route and ride a bit more and pick up that missing 0.03 miles. So far for December, 72.91 miles, with 2,720.32 for the year.

I am not going to make it to 3,000. But I should easily top 2,800 miles for the year, and that’s not bad. Thank you, Jon and Matt, son and son-in-law, previous owners of The Fancy Beast, who allowed this old man to take custody of this sturdy little bike. I appreciated it today.

Fat tire biker seen on Boyson Trail, a bit fancier than the Fancy Beast. I only saw a few walkers and this biker, but the people I met on the trail seemed to all be in good moods. It's nice to be out in the winter world again.

In Which the Winter of Illness Pounces

Dec. 14--It had been wet earlier, but my late afternoon, the sky was starting to clear. Late ride, sky seen near east end of Lindale Trail.

Dec. 14--Late in the ride, heading towards home, view of setting sun from Lindale Trail farther west in Marion, Iowa.

There was a recent New York Times story about how crummy New Yorkers are feeling.

It’s not just COVID19. Nor flu. Nor RSV. It’s all three plus other viruses making many in the Big Apple frequently miserable.

I feel your pain, urbanites. Here in fly-over country, the winter of 2023 is also making its mark and blocking my biking goal for the year. Just under 300 miles to go, but a big winter blizzard and freeze is headed this way, starting tomorrow.

And, right when I wanted my miles to pick up, the winter crud struck.

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, I felt a little wonky, but checked my temp in the morning and I was OK. I taught two classes, but was fading, and cancelled the third. By the afternoon, I was feeling weirdly tired. Tired is not unusual for me in an afternoon—I am old and am a frequent napper—but this was different. Unable to function tired. And a headache started.

That night, I checked my temperature at bedtime, as my head was still feeling sore. I don’t recall the reading, but I do recall the result—a fever. Which over the next few days would rise regularly, each day. I would start the morning with a normal temperature, but by evening I was hot blooded, flitting about 102. Tylenol and Advil became my daily routines.

Dec. 5, maybe? Morning light at C Avenue Pond.

I was sure it was THAT virus. After two years of evading that wily new infection, I figured the jig was up and I had joined the legion of ’VIDers. But Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning I took home COVID tests, with the result always being negative.

Maybe flu? Except a headache and fever was not accompanied by any general aches nor respiratory symptoms. I don’t often suffer from flu, so I’m no expert, but I just didn’t think it was that.

With my fever, I was missing some decent biking weather. We’ve had some wet days this December, but there was a bit of dry. Yet, there’s something about a 102 temperature which keeps one inside, even on relatively warm December days.

On Monday, I tossed in the towel and sought the wisdom of my primary medical provider. Let me tell you, a doctor’s office test for flu and for COVID-19 involves swabs that are way, way more uncomfortable than a home test. But the results were consistent with the home test results. Not only did I not have THAT virus, I also didn’t have influenza, either. So a blood test was in order, which proved negative for all the infections they could test for, but also indicated a pattern consistent with a viral infection.

Great. I’m the first victim of the previously unknown CR Biker Disease. Or just one of the many viruses that are making this winter such a wonderland.

Anyway, there wasn’t much that could be done. Stay hydrated, use the pain meds without exceeding the 24-hour limits, and wait it out. My doctor called me on Tuesday to ask how I was doing, and the answer was “not very well.”

This was during finals week at the university where I teach. Well, at least one skill the pandemic taught us professors is was how to quickly whip up an online test when one is called for.

By Wednesday Dec 14, your biker correspondent was feeling a bit more human. I actually went on my first ride in a week late that afternoon, riding the Lindale Trail, the new leg east of C Avenue and the older branch heading into Marion. I was missing the work Christmas party I had been looking forward to, but didn’t think joining an indoor crowd on the first day I felt OK after a week-long illness was the kind thing to do.

Dec. 14--Golden late afternoon light shines on my mountain bike at the Milwaukee Road bridge on the Lindale Trail.

Dec. 14--Sunset at Milwaukee Road bridge.

Between family holiday trips, frantic grading catch-up days (it’s very inconvenient to fall ill with 5 classes of grades to get done) and winter getting a bit more determined to be inhospitable, biking has been mostly nixed more me, for now.

And here we are, 11 days from the end of the year, with a bomb cyclone (a weather term for a really, really nasty winter blizzard and cold snap) headed our way for Christmas. I managed 61.28 miles so far in December, despite the week off courtesy of the CR Biker Virus. My longest ride was 14.56 on Dec. 14. Year-to-date is 2,708.69. I have some hope of getting a few more miles in, but 300 more? I am pretty sure I won’t make my 3,000-mile goal this year.

Oh well. May 2023 be filled with more riding. I’m grateful to be in the land of healthy again, waiting for the storm to come and go. And I’ve enjoyed the miles this year, even if I had hoped for more.

In Which I Try a New Lion Trail

Feeling good riding the new trail behind Linn-Mar High School.

I could not resist the cheap pun—dad jokes, right? When I posted an image of today’s bicycle ride, a selfie on Instagram, I captioned it: “New bike trail behind Linn-Mar High School is quite nice, I’m not lion.”

Because, of course, the school’s teams are the Linn-Mar Lions.

Anyway, earlier this year, a new trail leading from the Boyson Trail to Boyson Road in Marion opened. A new crosswalk was painted at Boyson and 10th Street, and a bit north of the intersection, there’s a new crossing light that takes the trail across 10th Street.

I had not ridden that new leg of the trail behind the high school before today. This afternoon, seeking a break from grading, I decided to go on a quick bike ride.

I got the mountain bike out. There are some short mountain bike trails off of the Boyson Trail, and I was just in the mood, since the ride would be short, to ride those trails. One is “easy” and the other “also easy but not quite as easy,” and I rode them both.

Bike parked in twilight at end of mountain bike trail near Boyson Road.

Bike at end of mountain bike trail, pretty light.

And then decided to explore the new trail behind the high school. It was getting to twilight, and I turned on my lights and headed north.

My chilled cheeks and cold toes weren’t that happy with my decision, but I carried on.

The crossing of Boyson feels a bit weird. It’s just a crosswalk at a busy interstation that, to me, has needed a traffic light for many years. Adding a bike trail to that already overloaded intersection feels a bit strange, but at 4 or so on a winter afternoon, traffic was light.

On 10th Street about to ride on new trail. The walkers are the nice people I chatted with.

New bridge on new trail--nice view.

Another view of the same bridge.

I crossed 10th and came to the new trial. I paused and made a few images there. A nice couple was out for a stroll, and told me that they walk that trail daily.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. The trail went under 29th Street and beside the track where the Linn-Mar football stadium used to be. The trail crosses a creek several times, and winds its way through pretty woods. It’s not a long trail, but it’s nice, and it does go all the way to Tower Terrace Road.

It can give me a way to ride with a grandchild to the playground at Indian Creek School, and also can be part of a loop to the Lowe Park Trail via Tower Terrace Road.

Here and below, views seen from the trail behind Linn-Mar High School, Dec. 3, 2022.

Well, that was nice. Cold, but nice. I got to chat with the my walking trail buddies several times—once, they passed me while I was on a photo pause, and the next time was when I had gone to the end of the trial and came back.

At one point, the new trail was dug up, but I was luckily on the mountain bike and could easily navigate the bare ground beside the hole in the trail.

It was getting dark by the time I got back to the Lindale Trail, but I went across the bridges and turned back when I got to the sidewalk at the end of that trail. By doing that, I was able to squeeze in 10.4 miles. Not bad for a late-day winter ride, and I’m sure I’ll be visiting the new trail again!

Map of Dec. 3, 2022 ride.

In Which Grandchildren Join the Rides

Nov. 28--After a warm Thanksgiving, it has turned colder, frosty grass seen at Collins Aerospace on Monday morning bike ride to work.

Nov. 28--Monday afternoon, ready for bike ride home with lights on.

We had a lot of family at our house for Thanksgiving—more than a dozen people packed into our modest home, enjoying two turkeys.

That day, I didn’t ride at all. But the day before and the days after turkey day featured rides, usually with grandchildren.

A young grandson who has just moved to Minnesota thinks it’s his grandfather’s duty to take him on at least one ride daily, and, honestly, grandad is not upset at that expectation.

Nov. 23--On Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I rode to work in the morning to catch up on some grading. Took a bit of a detour on the way home and headed down the Lindale Trail. After crossing the two bridges there, noticed this toupee-wearing shark beside the trail.

Nov. 23--Another nearby shark.

Nov. 23--My making images of sharks does not go unnoticed. Neighborhood watch at work on Walnut tree.

So the tag-along seat and Clarence, my hybrid bike, got several rides in. The longest was 9 miles.

On that 9-mile ride, the bike-happy grandson actually rode with my youngest son, as his son (the youngest son’s son, the grandson isn’t of reproductive age yet, absent cloning), rode in a bike trailer towed by me on my mountain bike, The Fancy Beast.

Of all the rides I did around Thanksgiving, that 9-mile one was the most challenging. The Fancy Beast is not my fastest bike anyway, and the almost-2 grandchild in back is rather large for his age, a bright, tall, solid, happy boy who could be heard chortling with glee anytime I was headed downhill.

The other grandson—the one who was my bike buddy most days—kept up a constant chatter, commenting on the sights, asking questions, telling tales. He always does that, any ride with him is guaranteed to be a communication workshop.

Nov. 26--Rode bike to Huntington Ridge Park on C Avenue with another grandson to meet family for some find weather post-Thanksgiving outdoor play. Milkweed seeds seen there.

Nov. 28--Rode down the trail to first roundabout in Marion on my way home. City Christmas lights seen there.

For another ride during the Thanksgiving season, I got the ancient tandem out of the garage and rode it with a tall granddaughter. She’s 11, but looks more like 13 because she’s a sapling, a thin, tall girl—one of two older sisters of Mr. Chatterbox biker.

I’ve ridden the tandem with that granddaughter before—and she’s a pretty good natural tandem rider. On a tandem bike, the two riders have to function as a team and must communicate about things like when to pedal and when to coast, when stops are coming up and when to launch the heavy two-person cycle into motion again.

That tandem ride went well.

As November comes to a close, winter is again taking hold. Today it was quite cold—the morning commute was at 18 degrees Fahrenheit, but with a stiff wind that yielded a wind chill of zero. Definitely a day for the long underwear and a scarf.

At least around Thanksgiving, we had been blessed with some warmer days, which made the rides with grandchildren a real pleasure.

Nov. 23--Warmest day of the week, sun low at 3:24.

Nov. 23--Morning views (above and below) of C Avenue pond at Collins Aerospace.

I finished November with 199.34 miles for the month—not bad for this time of year, but a little down from October. For the year, I have 2647.41 miles—about 350 to go to reach my goal for the year.

The weather in the final two weeks of the month, especially in the days after my semester ends, will got a long way to determining if I make it.

We’ll see, but I aim to enjoy the attempt!

In Which I Have My Own Trails

Nov. 17--Bike on campus after cold morning ride. Some flurries, but all-in-all, I could have ridden road bike.

Nov. 18--Walked my bike across the C Avenue Bridge. Rode the road bike today, not a bad move.

One reason to ride the mountain bike on Nov. 19. Parked on snow by trail bridge. Trail has been cleared, but there is a layer of the white stuff, which makes wide tyres nice.

It was cold in Iowa on Nov. 19—very cold for this time of year. It was a day that would not have been out of place in the dead of winter rather than late fall. The temperature struggled to approach 20, but the wind helped make up for that by not struggling so much to reach 40 mph.

So the wind chill flirted with zero Fahrenheit.

I had missed two days biking this week due to snow. I had commuted on wheels Thursday and Friday, however. And I am babysitting a daughters dogs, so I decided to head out on my mountain bike. My plan was to ride the Boyson Trail area, and then decide whether to continue to her house or return home and drive there.

Started my Saturday ride heading west on the new section of trail headed west from Lindale Trail. It was very cold going that way, but it proved I could ride that direction. And Blair's Ferry Road is now all open, as far as I can see--new trail project done?

Another view of bike on bridge in late afternoon, sun going down.

Although it's cold. I think mountain bike looks at home on mountain bike trail.

Heading home on Grant Wood Tail in Marion, enjoying Christmas lights at West End Diner.

Getting ready to walk bike across bridge.

Well, it was too cold to do the whole Boyson Trail complex, but I did have my mountain bike, so I indulged in the easy mountain bike trail by the main trail. It was a bit bumpy—frozen, uneven ground. Still OK to ride at slow speed on a mountain bike. And I always ride a slow speed.

I took the new creek trail out to Boyson Road. I knew that the cold wind was blowing from the west, and I was headed east, so if I continued on to my daughter’s house, I would face a very challenging ride home.

What the heck. YOLO. I went for it.

And. Wow.

That was a cold ride home. Still, I had my full winter regalia. Warm boots. Two pairs of socks, the outer one being thick winter ones. Long underwear. A t-shirt, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a warm sweatshirt, wind-cutting jacket, mittens, a scarf, a biking cap under the jacket’s hood. All in all, my face did get very uncomfortable and I had to ride in a lower-than-usual gear as I climbed a 40-mph wind “hill,” but the ride was doable.

I took the Grant Wood trail home. The new bridges there are like the C Avenue bridge—covered in snow and ice, so I did walk across the curvy new bridge. The Milwaukee Road bridge, which is straight and shorter, I did ride slowly—although, given the choice to live my life again, I would have walked that, too.

I did see a possum on the trail in the dim light on the way home. I was expecting maybe to see deer, but none were out. Only mad dogs and Englishmen may go out in the midday sun, but only CR Biker is crazy enough to ride the trail on a super chilly day like today.

No other bikers were in sight. I felt like I owned the trails today, like they were made only for me. Delusional, I know, but if my grip on reality were strong enough, would I have been out there to begin with? My only other human contact were two dog walkers that I encountered—even when it’s cold, a dog has to be walked. Which, by the way, is one reason that I have owned one dog in my life, and am done with that phase, thanks.

I made it home, only mildly frozen. My wife, who had been out all day visiting a different daughter and helping her with a house project, had made a nice hot dinner of shrimp, french fries and green beans. It was just the ticket to warm a chilly biker.

Above and below, stopping to make images on mountain bike trail off of Boyson Trail. I didn't have to worry about blocking bike traffic on this cold day!

The rides to work Thursday and Friday were quite cold, too. To be honest, we’re just at the edge of when CR Biker would give it up—zero Fahrenheit, whether actual or in wind chill, is generally as low as I go. But the weather is to return to a more seasonable range in coming days, and I don’t regret my cold rides this week.

I rode almost 47 miles this week. There are six weeks left in the year, and I am 438.36 miles short of my 3,000-mile goal. I had been thinking I would have to aim for 100 miles a week to get it done, but that’s not the math. I will have to do more than 47, but if I managed a bit over 70 miles in each seven days I could get there.

So far this month, 113.57 miles. So far in 2022, 2,561.64 miles. With 438.36 miles left to reach my goal, it’s way too early to either claim victory or give up, but I don’t feel like I’m in a bad place.

Well, we’ll see if I make it. In my mind, I’m already a winner.

Or crazy. You be the judge.