In Which It’s a Gray, Cold, Beautiful Day

Grey day in Iowa. A blackbird was yelling at me--they get very territorial during nesting season--but flew off when I got my camera out.

North on Cedar Valley Nature Trail--at least the cloud cover has interesting shapes.

Argent parked at Lafayette. 12 miles into the ride, and the tube is still holding air.

Looking west from the trail as I ride south back towards Hiawatha and Cedar Rapids.

The cold drops of rain felt a bit like pellets, blowing in a stiff breeze. Not frozen, but a bit painful to my face.

The up side is that there were not many of them. It was cool, in the 40s, and windy, which made it feel cold. Grey clouds and a headwind greeted me as I headed north.

And it was a beautiful day.

It has been a while, friends, since I last reported my biking adventures. It is just the way my life is in April—the semester starts heating up and time becomes more precious.

But even if I have been too preoccupied to document my biking adventures, they continue. As of today, I’ve ridden a bit over 720 miles this year. In March, I totaled 248 miles, compared with 157 last year in March. My goal this year is 3,300 miles, and I know, the year is 1/3 over and I’m not 1/3 of the way there. Not a problem, most of my miles most years are in the summer when school is not in session, and being ahead of where I was last year makes me feel I’m in good shape.

And I have been doing a GHC on most rides—a GHC is a gratuitous hill climb, something I do to prep for RAGBRAI. And for the past fortnight, those GHCs have been on my bike least useful for climbing hills—my old mountain bike.

Above and below, rode some extra miles home April 27, stopping by Cedar Lake.

Ironic, to me, that the mountain bike is worst at a task its name implies it should be good at, but that bike is heavier and slower than my road bike or my hybrid bike. I think my hybrid is the best hill climber, although, because it’s lighter and so much faster on flats, the RAGBRAI bike will be the road bike.

On April 14, I was zooming along on the road bike, headed for home, when I hit a pothole by Kenwood School. My back tyre became immediately flat. Since my hybrid bike was already out of service—I had discovered a broken axle when trying to put the back wheel back on after mending a flat several week ago—so I was down to one bike. And, just as I have not had time to write about biking, I have not had time to avail myself of the services of a bike shop to ease my woes.

On Friday, a Lavender Ceremony, honoring LGBTQ+ graduating seniors, was held at the graduate center, located two miles and a stiff hill climb from the main campus where I teach. And I went there to support the students, riding my Fancy Beast old mountain bike.

Even with two of three bikes out of commission, I have been riding miles and climbing hills.

April 14--Bike by Kenwood School, 1.5 miles into a 3.5 mile ride. Back tyre flat. At least it was a nice, warm afternoon for a 2-mile hike pushing the bike home.

The flat tyre.

Bird watching while I hike home.

Today, I decided I needed to get the road bike back. While I am willing to ride the mountain bike, it is not the steed for longer rides. So, I loaded the two back wheels of the two broken bikes, drove to NewBo and had a conversation with a mechanic at the bike shop there.

I was not sure what was wrong with the hybrid wheel, and it was nice, in a way, to confirm that axle was actually broken—it means I hadn’t done anything wrong when I tried to put that wheel back on, failed, and scattered a lot of ball bearings in my garage.

The wheel could be repaired, but it is old and worn and it is just about as cheap to order a new wheel, so that’s what I did. By next weekend, probably, the hybrid bike will be on the road again.

As for Argent, my road bike, the only reason I took the second wheel to the shop is that size is listed on the tyre in black lettering on black rubber—hard for me to read, impossible for me to record my usual way of noting bike tyre sizes, by photographing then with my cell phone.

As the mechanic was inspecting the hybrid’s crippled wheel, another employee helped me get two tubes—on to put on, one to carry. Getting ready for RAGBRAI—I have a pump with me now and a spare tube, too.

April 24--Hard freeze this morning. C Avenue pond on a chilly morning.

April 24--Dry Creek Valley is gray with frost.

April 24--Ice on the clover in my front yard. (I planted the clover, it's not a weed).

Anyway, I had an interesting experience when I got home. I hate changing tyres on my road bike, but I happened to read the detailed instructions on the tube box. It said to put one side of the tyre on the wheel, then partly inflate the tube and put it in the tyre, then work the second edge of the tyre onto the rim.

In the past, I had put the tube inside the tyre and then worked the tyre onto the rim. And hated it. This time, I followed the directions, and damn. I still do not like changing tubes on a road bike, but if you follow the directions that come with the tube, it’s a whole lot easier.

Well, it was about 3:30 in the afternoon. But I had a new tube on my road bike’s back wheel, what was I to do? I went inside, put on bike shorts under my blue jeans (yeah, I know, totally against the biker code, but I do not give a hoot—it was cold in Iowa today) and donned, for the first time in two weeks, my biking shoes.

It was grey, chilly, damp, and I headed out. I decided to ride north on the Cedar River Trail, heading to Lafayette.

April 13--Pretty spring sunset seen on my commute home.

April 13--Sunshine on C Avenue Pond.

April 12--Windy day, bike blown over. No harm done.

The sprinkles, nasty as they were, were very intermittent. I was on my road bike, headed into a stiff headwind, comforted by the knowledge that a headwind on the way out is a tailwind on the way back in.

It worked out that way. The ride felt great. I had to head a bit south on the trail to add a little distance—the ride to Lafayette and back is typically under 24 miles but I was determined to get to 25 miles.

I did. And it is spring. Sometimes chilly, often windy, sometimes sunny, but biking weather is getting better. In two weeks, school will be over and longer rides can begin.

The future is so bright I have to wear shades. For a little while, anyway, today. Then I took them off.

It was too cloudy for shades. And yet, still a nice day.