Sept. 28--I arrive on campus early (to grab student newspaper). Pretty, cool morning, frosty in low areas, although up on the hill, it's mostly dewy.
Sept. 28--Frost in low grass by C Avenue bridge--first frosty morning.
Sept. 28--Early in the ride--I've stopped to make image of frosty grass. Wearing winter jacket. Have not had to wear it consistently, it's warmed back up to sweater-sweatshirt weather, but it's time is coming.
We’re in a bit of a drought in Iowa, and one of my other interests is gardening, so I sort of would like more rain to fall from the sky, please. Not Ian rain, but still, some moisture.
But as far as the biking part of my life, well, dry and fall equals just about the best biking of the year. Makes me look forward to the time in a few years I’m retired, and I have to bike now to potentially be in shape to bike then.
It’s a burden that, in this wonderful weather, I’ll gladly take on.
Sept. 19--Late afternoon sky at Waldo's Rock Park, Marion, alone the Grant Wood Trail.
Sept. 9--Morning sun at C Avenue Pond, Collins Aerospace.
Sept. 22--Late day sun at Blairs Ferry, seen on ride home.
The morning of Sept. 28, the temperature dropped into the 30s. It was not cold enough to be a hard freeze, but frost formed on some roofs and low grassy areas. It was the first morning where I felt the need to drag out my winter biking jacket.
I don’t mind wearing that. It means weather is growing cooler, and while winter may sometime get a bit too cool, for me, cool-weather biking is comfortable biking.
Sept. 28--Pausing by C Avenue Pond on first frosty morning--Argent, my road bike, and shadow.
Sept. 19--In bike rack by Warde Hall. Earlier this month, I was parked by Basile Hall and had a bit of a walk to Warde--not very convenient when I wore biking shoes. The bike rack is sideways to the sidewalk, it was moved a few days later. Honestly, I sort of liked it this way, it felt like I was not parking in the Hostas this way.
Sept. 19--Deer on Lindale Trail. Be a little careful on this trail, there are deer living there that just don't care about a bike.
Sept. 30--Clarence in bike rack at Warde Hall. Rack moved back to its previous location.
I’ve used all three of my bikes, but most of my recent rides have been via my road bike, Argent. In the past, I always thought of my hybrid bike, Clarence, as my main commuting bicycle, but the bags that fit the back rack of that bike wore out. I do have a bag, currently on Argent, that would fit on the rack on Clarence, but since I use my hybrid bike to tow a Tag-A-Long, I would have to remove the new bag to hook it up. It’s more convenient to just leave the bag on the road bike.
Can’t say I’m hating the change. While I like the hybrid bike, I admit the lighter road bike is more fun to roll along on.
So we’re past the equinox. The dark is just now growing longer than the light, which is not bike convenient. But the cool is pretty cool to ride in, and I’ve been having lots of fun. It’s been warm enough—just a few light frosts with no freeze, and although you can tell it’s fall, the foliage over all hasn’t moved into late autumn mode.
Well, we’ll get there, the brown months. For now, I roll along in the quiet, pretty, dry autumn. I hope, if you’re north of the equator, you’ll enjoying this change of seasons. Total miles in September: 273.49. Total miles year-to-date: 2,191.06.
First ride on Sept. 4--Clarence, my hybrid bike, at new trail that will extend Lindale Trail to the west.
Second ride--The Fancy Beast, my mountain bike, at Waldos Rock Park (that's Waldo's Rock, a boulder dumped by a glacier, in the background).
Third ride--Argent, my road bike, on Cedar Valley Nature Trail north of Hiawatha. I'm almost back in town again, I think this is when I stopped to make images of a snake.
OK, I implied on an earlier post that I was unsure about riding my birthday this year, and I was.
But this Saturday I purchased new tyres and installed them on two of my bikes. So Sunday they wanted to go somewhere, and I obliged.
Worn back tyre on Argent. Time for a new one, which I got Saturday.
Clarence has the worn tyre blues. Front tyre needs a change.
Saturday after visit to bike shop--new tyres (and a little pump to take with me on rides).
Besides tyres, I got this little pump Saturday. I tested it when changing the tyres, and it's much nicer than most frame pumps. I put it in a bag on Argent, have the bracket to hold it on The Fancy Beast, and use this bungee when taking it on Clarence.
I got the hybrid bike out early, went to church, and then added about 15 miles by swinging down to Cedar Lake and stopping at campus before going home.
This first ride featured some nice sights—in particular, pelicans, which visit us twice a year headed north (spring) or south (fall) were visiting Cedar Lake this Sunday. Very nice.
Here and next images, pelicans on Cedar Lake.
Hybrid bike at Cedar Lake.
Before the lake, I checked out the new trail that is being built to take the Lindale Tral farther west into Cedar Rapids. It’s a short trail going nowhere right now, but should be tied into the Lindale Trail yet this fall.
Paved part of new trail heading west of Lindale Trail.
Same trail, but looking east at incomplete part.
Noelridge Park--people walking dogs are not the most dangerous thing on two legs you might encounter.
After the lake, I paused at the Plaster Athletic Complex to watch a bit of baseball and softball. Then I rode to the main campus of Mount Mercy University, where I work, and on campus, I was pleased to spot several monarch butterflies on Swamp Milkweed by the library. And I made some images of the Grotto, just because it was there.
This, and next image, caterpillars on campus.
Bike at Plaster Complex.
Softball.
Baseball.
After I got home, I was hatching the plan. If I rode all three bikes today, could I do it? It’s just that 17 was a chunk of miles, and 64 didn’t seem that far way. I was checking out some new routes, and I have intended for a while to ride my mountain bike to Waldo’s Rock Park to check out some grassy trails. I suppose they are for hiking, but I figured the mountain bike could navigate them.
Grassy trail through a natural flower meadow at Waldos Rock.
I was taking a very RAGBRAI approach to riding my birthday—dividing the ride into segments where I got a treat in between each segment. Only the “town” I kept visiting was my own home. All of the riding I did on the mountain bike added another 17 or so, so I was up to 34 miles—I exceeded Bon Jovi, I was more than halfway there.
The lunch break was a while—I fixed myself a feast (home-style thick cut potato chips and tuna salad wraps), figuring I was burning some calories. And I paused to swap some things around on my bikes—put on a new bell and some new lights my wife got me for my birthday. It felt like the bikes should have their birthday swag for birthday rides. The lunch break, by the way, was between the hybrid bike—Clarence—and the mountain bike—The Fancy Beast.
New bell on The Fancy Beast.
New lights on Argent.
After the ride to Waldo’s Rock, I had another break. What with one thing and another, it was getting a bit late, but I only had 30 miles to go. And the final bike, Argent, is my road bike, the bike on which I can move the fastest.
Of course, I had already moved myself 34 miles, and I’m never a racer, so “fast” is a relative term. I rode north on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, figuring if I went to Center Point and back, I would be close to my goal. I didn’t make it. It was cloudy and dim, and by the time I got close to Schultz Road (10 miles north of Hiawatha) I was worried about riding the trail in full dark, so I turned back.
Turn-around point on ride north, 10-mile mark just short of Schultz Road.
Where you wondering if you would see the snake? Yes you would. It crawled off into the grass, scared, apparently, of a photographer although my bike seemed to have made no impression at all.
But a 20-miles round trip on the trail, plus the few miles I rode to get to the trail, meant my goal was in reach. I had to do some deliberate indirectness, some inefficient moving around in the neighborhood north of Boyson Road between Council Street C Avenue, but I thought getting a few extra miles in the full dark of night was smarter on lit city streets than on a dark rural trail.
When I turned on to Devonshire Drive for the final half mile, I didn’t quite have enough distance. In the area of Devonshire north of Boyson, there are some planters in the middle of the street, and anybody looking out their window then might have wondered at the crazy old man who, at about 8:15 p.m., kept circling those planters. I was getting the couple of tenths of a mile I was missing.
Sunday ride.
Is it a bird? A plane? No, it's my Labor Day ride.
And when I got home, I had 0.19 miles more than I needed—but then again, I was a few days after my 64th birthday, so maybe I needed to exceed 64 miles just a bit. With a 10-mile journey today, I’m at 99.54 for September and 2,017.11 for the year so far. But mostly, let's recall that I made it 64!
Aug. 21 (this and next three images). I bike ride down the Lindale and Grant Wood Trails on the final Sunday before school begins. Late day ride, pretty evening. Pond at Waldo's Rock.
A running cloud puppy.
Golden late sunshine on the pond at Waldo's Rock Park.
Golden hazy light as sun nears horizon, seen at the new bridge into Marion.
Evenings are coming a bit earlier these days—not super early, but the change in light is becoming obvious, and I’m using lights on my bikes a bit more. I’m also enjoying the pretty light of the low late sun.
This week, my wife got me a new bike bells and a set of fairy lights for a bike for my birthday. And I got myself some new tires and a portable pump. That doesn’t sum up my birthday entirely, but it was a good biker birthday on Tuesday.
And a bachelor one, too. My wife, who is retired, was visiting a grandson and his family in San Francisco on Aug. 30, the day I turned 64. (She left the gifts at a daughter’s house, where I went to celebrate.)
And no, since my birthday was a school day, I didn’t ride 64 miles. I’m not sure if I will do that this weekend, or not. Maybe I can count all the miles ridden this weekend towards that goal?
Anyway, the Iowa weather has turned dry. Grass is crunchy, trees look a bit sad and high summer, a time when the greens are a bit less vibrant and you can see signs of approaching fall in reddening Sumac and enlarging orb webs, is upon us.
It’s generally good biking weather, although, unlike my wife, I am not retired, so my time on two wheels has been a bit constrained by the reality of work. Still, I finished August with 335.33 miles, have ridden 20.05 in the first two days of September, and have 1,937.62 for the year.
In this week’s biking development in my corner of the world: There is a trail I often ride, the Lindale Trail, that heads from Cedar Rapids into Marion to link with the Grant Wood Trail. I posted pictures on this blog of the two new bridges they’ve constructed to joint the cities, but one stretch of that route has been a limestone stretch, less then a mile, but mushy when wet.
Given the plans to enlarge Marion’s trails and link them to Cedar Rapids, I always thought it was a bit odd that this one bit of limestone was left. I figured sooner or later, they would put up “trail closed” signs and, something like six months later, the trail would open.
I was wrong. Not about them paving it, but about the time frame. They coated that section with blacktop in two days. Whew.
Roundabouts are featured on the transit of Marion, and they are a bit dicey. You approach them with traffic headed your way behind your back, at an odd angle. I have to train myself to come to a full stop before crossing traffic, and it feels way more awkward that going through an intersection. Honestly, I'm not one of those drivers who hates roundabouts--I don't love them either, just am neutral on the whole "are roundabouts Satan's traffic control?" question. Just getting acclimated to them on my bike, and hoping no injuries are sustained as I get used to them.
Anyway, the new trail blacktop and getting used the roundabouts were features of a Sunday ride Aug. 28.
Aug. 28--Another Sunday, another view of pond at Waldo's Rock--a bit early this time, and shot with my cell phone since I didn't carry a camera on this ride.
Riders about to cross onto new asphalt on newly paved stretch of Lindale Trail.
A small part of the new route through Marion is on a bike lane--with roundabouts at each end.
Crossing the street here at the roundabout involves an awkward left turn. Takes some getting used to.
Trail east of Waldo's Rock has its first layer of asphalt.
As of a week ago, on Aug. 28, this stretch of trail was still closed. The asphalt that is there does look like the first of several layers, there is a clear drop where it meets the rest of the trail. But pavement is coming!
The new side trail that leads north from the Boyson Trail past Lininger Park has been closed for a week—why, I don’t know. But I’ve observed asphalt being applied on the Grant Wood Trail east of Waldo’s Rock park. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll bike out there and see how the project is going. And maybe I’ll turn around and ride 50 more miles.
After all, I recently turned 64.
Getting ready to bike home on my final day of being 63, Aug. 29. I am being watched.
Aug. 31--And now I have been 64 for the second day. New pavement on Lindale Trail looking more at home.
Aug. 31--This new trail has not been open very long. Closed? Why?
Sept. 1--A young September deer on Lindale Trail.
Sept. 1--Mom, peeking from the woods, eyes photographer.
Earlier in my Sept. 1 ride--fawn leaping into woods off of Marion Trail, the little side trail west of the Boyson Trail. Don't know if the trail has a name.
