In Which I Enter Dark Times with a Light Heart

Enjoying the last night of late light Nov. 4--my bike parked at Mount Calvary Cemetery. I rode there because site of Sisters of Mercy graves is very peaceful and beautiful at sunset. Sisters founded university where I teach.

Nov. 4--Low sun at Cedar Lake.

Low sun behind Sisters of Mercy graves, Mount Calvary Cemetery, Nov. 4.

Winter is coming.

I’ve never seen “Game of Thrones,” but even I haven’t escaped that line. Winter really is coming. We’re into mid-November now, nights have a definite chill and the world is turning brown. Fall is late this year, but still the trees are emerging from their leaf coverings and the drab look of the sleeping landscape is taking hold.

It’s still a good time for biking—not winter cold yet, although I’ve used my riding hat and gloves a lot more recently. But last weekend was the time shift, and rides home from work are starting to require lights as darkness falls around 5.

I’ve had some pretty fun rides in the past week, encroaching winter notwithstanding. Last Saturday, I rode briefly to campus, and took the First Avenue route just to capture the low sun at Mount Calvary Cemetery. After picking up some files on campus, I headed down to Cedar Lake, one of the best places to enjoy the late afternoon light.

And it was late, maybe close to 6, because I hadn’t turned the clock back yet.

Nov. 4--Gull flies over Cedar Lake, lit by late sun.

Nov. 4--Smaller south lake by Cedar Lake--pelicans seen from bike trial.

On the first day of Standard Time, Sunday, my wife and I went over to Des Moines. There was a family baby shower that my wife and daughter were attending. Meanwhile, I visited with my son, his son, his wife and the other daughter’s son (so, two grandsons). My son in Des Moines has a  young child who needed a nap, and my son needed one, too—so while he was reading stories in the hope of inducing sleep (which, thankfully, worked out) my daughter-in-law, my older grandson and I embarked on a bike ride.

The Des Moines family lives on the south side, and it turns out there is a route along ride-able residential streets to Grey’s Lake. I attached the Tag-A-Long seat to the hybrid bike, which I had brought just in hopes of taking a ride, and we were off.

My daughter-in-law just recently learned to ride a bicycle, in her adulthood, but rides well. And she was faster than me—then again, almost all bikers are. In my defense, my hybrid bike is not my fastest bicycle, and I was towing a grandson. Sometime, I’d like to go on a longer ride with this daughter-in-law when I’m riding my road bike and not towing anybody.

There were some hill climbs on the way to Grey’s Lake, but we had a pleasant ride around the lake, and then stopped at a park to let the grandson run around. It was funny, he was complaining about his legs being tired on the ride, but when we got to the park, he was zooming around at peak speed.

Nov. 5--Warm afternoon in Des Moines Park, but trees do look like mid-fall.

Nov. 5--Grandson enjoying park in Des Moines.

Well, to be fair, you do use different muscles biking than running, and the grandson normally spends a lot more time running than biking.

It was a pretty day, and the ride totaled just a bit more than 6 miles. A short ride, but a ride nonetheless on a day when I was out of town.

Next time, Stefani, I hope we can ride together for a bit more distance.

I have passed a milestone on the way to my 3,300-mile goal. I’ve rolled more than 3,000 miles—as of today, I have 3,035 miles for the year, 62.8 miles in November.

Nov. 10--Bike traffic on a cool fall afternoon, Lindale Trail, on my bike ride home.

Darkness comes earlier, now. Nov. 6, look of the sky at Mount Mercy as I start my bike road home.

In Which the Witch of November Comes Early

Oct. 30--Ready for morning bike ride, first ride in full winter gear.

Oct. 30—the eve of All Hallow’s Eve—and I was getting ready to ride my bicycle to work.

Two days earlier, I rode on a cold, windy Saturday, and planned to put in more than 20 miles but gave up and came home and rode just a bit over 14 ½ miles. I had planned to ride north to Lafayette, but my feet were letting me know that my bicycle sandals were totally inadequate, despite warm socks, when I got out to County Home Road, so I sat for a minute, ate my Lafayette snack, and turned back.

I rode again Sunday, a shorter ride, and it wasn’t as windy, so despite being cool, it was OK. But Sunday into Monday true cold weather, a genuine hard freeze, settled into Iowa. The witch of November came stealing a bit early.

So Monday was my first long johns commute—the first day of riding with warm winter boots, long underwear, my biking hat, my hood, coat and gloves.

Oct. 28--Cool bike ride, colorful Sumac bush beside Cedar Valley Nature Trail in Robins.

There had been some frosty nights by Oct. 28, and few flowers were to be seen--but a few still hang on.

Yet, it was still a good day to ride. Even with a temperature in the 20s and wind chill in the teens, I was OK. Partly, it was because it was a north wind I’d been feeling, and most of my commute involved riding south.

Cold weather bike season came for a visit. It didn’t really stay long, as the first days of November, according to my weather app, will feature cool nights, but not the bitter cold that visited us both Oct. 30 and Oct. 31.

Well, I get more miles in during the warm months, and I do like the flowers and butterflies of that time of year. I’ll still ride some miles during the chill months, too.

Must be the warlock in me. I wasn’t ever that scared of witches.

As of Oct. 31, I had 235 miles for the month. I finished October with 2, 972 miles for 2023, just 328 from my 3,300-mile goal for the year. November is here now, and I missed riding Nov. 2 because I had a blood draw that morning (routine checkup blood tests for an old man), and didn’t have time for biking. But on Nov. 1 and 3, I managed commutes that totaled 14.6 miles. Not bad for a cold, old man.

Sunset Oct. 23 sunset, seen on bike ride home. More night rides coming as time change is this weekend.