In Which I Contemplate Triple Digits, Deer, RAGBRAI

Lindale Trail late in the ride--light growing dim, rode today with all of the lights on The Fancy Beast shining.

I plan to ride to work on Monday, the final day of January, but squeezed in a quick late afternoon ride today just as insurance.

Because I wanted to top 100 miles this January, and was very close. I rode 6.79 miles on the nearby Boyson and Lindale trails with the mountain bike. It was cloudy today, and I didn’t start until after 4:30 p.m. Thus, I rode with lights in on a gradually darkening trail.

But I finished in about an hour, and although it was getting dim, never was full dark on this ride. I encountered groups of deer twice, so we interrupt this fascinating biking saga for a rather long interlude of many, may deer images:

Deer, part of a group of eight or so,south part of ride. More:

 

Deer me! Thanks if you're still with me. Got a bit carried away there, enjoyed watching the deer and making there images. Anyway, besides lots of pictures of Bambi, I reached my goal for January. The loop I rode totaled 6.79 miles, giving me, as of today, 105.83 miles—almost 6 miles over my goal for the month. That leaves a bit less than 2,900 miles to go for the year.

OK, it's another deer, group of four on Lindale Trail. Lucky for you, patient blog reader, the light was too dim to make many images.

Dim evening light on Lindale Trail. Grey, cool time, but starkly pretty, too.

Will any of those miles be on RAGBRAI? That would be nice, although I still don’t know what my personal or the pandemic situation will be by that time. My wife and I are hoping that we can travel this summer, and we sort of have two years of pent up traveling to make up for. Between that, and the potential for kids and grandkids to finally be able to travel to meet us, squeezing RAGBRAI into the schedule may be difficult.

But I like the route, which was announced Saturday. It’s a northern ride—northern Iowa is hillier than most of the state, and pretty. The ride usually has a 100-mile optional day, although this year it’s just a “regular” day. I don’t know for sure if I’m up to 100 miles in one day this summer, but I’ve ridden centuries before, so it’s possible.

2022 route, from RAGBRAI.com.

Mostly, I’m interested in the last few days. The last time RAGBRAI ventured this far north and ended in Lansing, I got an eye infection mid-week and had to drop out. By all accounts, the ride into Lansing was extremely challenging—steep hills—but also gorgeous.

Well, hills I can usually handle. I would like to see the scenery in far northeast Iowa—rougher than most of this gently rolling state because the last round of glaciers tens of thousands of years ago didn’t grind down the hills there.

Family has to take priority, and I’m iffy on attempting the whole week. Yet, I would like to be there, if possible. And a few RAGBRAI day would sure contribute to making the 3,000-mile 2022 goal.