In Which I Ride Final Winter Miles

Arriving at work March 8. I take the hill route rather than the "easy" route that loops behind Warde Hall and has less of a climb. Pretty morning, snow looks nice with a blue sky.

I hope I didn’t jinx it. The theme of this week on a bike in Iowa is “it ain’t over yet.” Winter, that is.

Friday was especially cold, a day in which I had to resort to the full winter outfit—not just jacket, biking hat and hood, mittens—but also long underwear under jeans, two pairs of socks, warm scarf around my neck.

The actual morning temperature was in the teens, but the wind chill hovered just above zero (again, I don’t know what this is rational temperatures where water freezes at zero, but it’s way, way under zero to any Celsius-using readers). The afternoon was not much better—it was in the 20s by then, but the wind was howling from the northwest and was a very cold headwind most of the way home.

We had snow to start the week, yet it was clear enough Sunday night for an early evening ride to Lowe Park. Sunday night into Monday, several inches of snow fell, so I didn't ride that day. I missed riding Wednesday because I had to pick up a grandson from school in a nearby town that afternoon.

Yet snow was in the forecast Thursday until almost Thursday itself, when it turned out the storm tracked south, we saw a few flurries and I rode my bike.

Tuesday’s ride was particularly pretty. A sunny day, the fairly fresh snow had not melted yet, and in fact, fog had frozen on the snow. I enjoyed making some images on the way to work that morning. And that afternoon, it was nice enough to seek a few extra miles, so I rode the CEMAR trail under First Avenue before heading home.

C Avenue Pond Tuesday morning.

Ice on grass near Kenwood School. Noted frozen ice on grass and snow there, as well as pretty morning light, many more Kenwood School images below.

March morning shadows at Kenwood School. And below.

Corona snow? Spikes on little snow mounds, Kenwood School.

Grass is turned into ice feathers, poking through the snow at Kenwood School.

Afternoon ride, heading home after spin on CEMAR trail. Looking up at Warde Hall from Priarie Drive, if you look closely you can see hawk sitting on its nest on the cupola of Warde Hall.

Pretty March sunshine, riding by Collins Aerospace.

Riding by Kenwood School.

It's spring break, but I won’t get many rides in early in the week. I have a trip to Chicago planned, sans bicycle. By the time I get back to Iowa, all of the snow will be a memory, as days in the 40s and 50s will have melted most of the white stuff away.

Is this finally the start of spring? It’s still early in March. Snow in April is not unusual in this climate and has even been known to fall very early in May. But warm should become more common than cold, and I can hope that the long underwear can be folded and put on the top shelf and wait there until December.

We’ll see. This month, through March 11, 56.68 miles, 321.83 miles on the year. And from March 6 and 11, 25.61 miles.

Start of the week's ride--Sunday evening ride (before Monday's snow) to Lowe Park.

Leaving work on Friday, Warde Hall loading dock.

Felt like a brave biker going to work on two wheels on a cold, wintery Friday. But I was not the only one--seeing someone else's bike near Warde Hall.