In Which A Birthday Ride Reaches Its Goal

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!