In Which I Visit a Hub and Ride my Coming Age

Attending volunteer orientation at Chain Reaction Bike Hub in Cedar Rapids.

I went on a journey last weekend, with the goal of riding my birthday. Each year, my goal is to ride the number of miles that I turn old on a day in the month of my birthday—August. For logistical reasons, I did things differently this year—more on the birthday ride, soon.

But first, another recent biking adventure. It was at some community event, I’m not sure exactly what (I’ve been to several this summer), but not long ago, I paused at a booth where someone was giving out information about Chain Reaction Bike Hub.

Their mission seemed pretty cool to me—to repurpose bikes, selling them at a reasonable cost, and donating some to local agencies for people in need. It seems a way to make bicycling more accessible by putting quality bikes in the hands of anybody. So, I put my name and email down on their list, and received an invitation to a volunteer orientation, which I attended Wednesday, Aug. 14.

At the event, I met two leaders of the organization. They described how Chain Reaction Bike Hub receives donated bicycles from individuals and from the local Solid Waste Agency. The bikes are evaluated—not all are worth fixing. If a bike goes into the “reject” pile, it’s disassembled and any useful parts kept, while the rest is recycled, so besides providing bike transport to more people, the Hub is also preventing more materials going to the landfill.

Refurbished bikes are available for sale, with shop hours being Wednesday 4 to 7 p.m., Thursday 9 a.m. to noon, and Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. They are located at 1010 Third Ave. SW.

Anyway, I’ll have to think of when I can volunteer—I told them that I would be more available after the school year, but hope to get a bit involved even before I retire.

It seems like a good group with an important goal. I aspire to be more engaged with them in the future. Read more about them here and here.

On a bike ride Aug. 13, pausing to make image of Eagle roosting in a large tree on the other side of the Cedar River.

Meanwhile, my birthday is coming up. I turn 66 years old at the end of this week. I was hoping to do my annual birthday ride this month, but it’s been both crazy busy, and, honestly, I’m not the rider I once was. In that, I really, really struggle with rising early. I’m doing a little better with that now that my final year as a university faculty member is underway, but August has just been very packed.

Yet, on Saturday, Aug. 17, I thought maybe I was ready for my ride, except I didn’t get a very early start. At my age, 66 miles would take all day, and it was close to 10 when I was ready t head out. My wife hinted that maybe riding 66 miles in a weekend could count this year. I thought that wasn’t crazy talk, but thought I would give the ride my best shot that fine day.

Flat tyre on road bike. I got the flat Aug. 17, although I made this image early in the morning (7 a.m. or so) when I was getting ready to fix this.

So, I headed out, riding to the Lindale Trail, planning the first leg of my journey to be out to Waldo’s Rock Park in Marion. And just after I crossed Lindale Road, about 1.5 miles from home, my bike started to make an odd noise, a sort of thump-thump-thump. I was just thinking I should check it, when there was a soft pop followed by a woosh.

I stopped, hopped off, and checked my tyres. The front one was clearly and quickly deflating. So I had a 1.5 mile walk back home.

And it was getting well past 11 a.m. Do I fix the flat and take my lightest bike on my journey, or do I use my hybrid bike, heavier and slower but with air in its tyres? I decided I was in the mood to ride, and although I felt a little like Tom Hanks in “Apollo 13,” (we just lost the moon), I decided to just enjoy the ride I could do rather than fret over the ride I had imagined.

The backup bike I used for the bulk of my riding on Aug. 17. Getting ready to start riding it that day.

And I rolled over 30 miles that day, getting about half of my birthday ride. I decided my wife was right—I knew what the rest of the month would present, and with school starting, this year a split ride would have to count.

The next day, Sunday, I awoke early and fixed the flat on the road bike. Looking back, the 20-minutes to swap out the tube (I don’t know what I rolled over, but there was clearly a small tear in it) would have been a good investment on Saturday, considering that I roll just enough faster on the road bike that I would have picked up more miles. Anyway, I rode to church in the morning, came home, changed into biking gear, and took off. I rode in the Boyson Trail area, headed up to Lowe Park and then cut over to the Cedar River Trail.

Aug. 18--Have not seen many Monarch butterflies this year, but I saw this on along the Cedar River as I was riding from Cedar Lake to home. I was in a hurry, but I have to stop for Monarchs.

On Sunday, Aug. 18, my grandson and I are parked so he can play for a bit in area beside art museum at Lowe Park.

Waldo's Rock Park on Aug. 17. Got sprinkled on a bit--it was just not fated for me to do full birthday ride this day.

I rode north to Robins and turned around. While I was hunting for miles, I also knew that a daughter and grandson had gotten back from a short trip to Milwaukee (he’s a big baseball fan and the Dodgers were playing the Brewers there, although his beloved Dodgers didn’t win that game). We had arranged that he and his mom would join us in the afternoon for a meal, but didn’t specify exactly when. Well, I rode form Robins down to Cedar Lake, when I got a call from my wife to come home for lunch with the Dodgers fan and his mom.

We enjoyed a visit, and he wanted to go play with his grandparents at a park. We decided that he would pick up his bicycle, we would meet at Lowe Park and do some riding together. So I rode my bicycle to the park, my wife drove the van with the grandson, daughter and bicycle in it. We met at the playground, and he and I rode a loop around the art building before heading back to the playground where he played. As the afternoon wore on, my wife suggested ice cream at the Freeze in Marion. I was calculating my miles, and figured if I rode my bike there and then home from there, I could reach my mileage total.

That’s what I did. On Aug. 17, I rode 32.27 miles (1.5 on my road bike, the rest on the hybrid). On Aug. 18, my morning church/post-church solo ride added up to 22.99 miles. The afternoon post-lunch ride was 13.76 miles—in two days, I rode 69.02 miles, exceeding the 66-mile goal. It wasn’t exactly my traditional birthday ride, although in recent years I’ve always tackled this goal as a sequence of rides anyway; I just usually have time to complete all rides on the same day.

So far this year, I’ve rolled 2,064.68 miles. Over 314 of those have been in August. The month is not over yet—but I work all this week so that’s the bulk of my rides in the eighth month of this year, 66 years after I entered this biking life. On my actual birthday, this Friday, Aug. 30, my small RAGBRAI team should gather. Part of Team Joe is my sister Brigid, who was born on my fourth birthday, so Friday will be a special ride even if it’s doesn’t quite reach 66 (or 62) miles.

Aug. 20, hybrid bike parked by library at MMU. I've been riding my road bike to work most days, now that school has started, but I have better lights on the hybrid bike, and I knew it would be twilight by the time I rode home this day.

In Which I Find a West Side Route

Saw this woodpecker on an owl figure, carved from a stump of a tree, across the street from Mount Mercy University on an Aug. 8 bike ride.

Another image from that ride--just parked my bike in a nearby bike rack.

I’ve had some recent biking adventures: Riding some distance on a tandem with a grandson (“some distance,” to an old man, being over 10 miles), hitting the Sac and Fox Trail on my mountain bike after getting supplies at a bike shop to fix my road bike, and cracking one of the great mysteries of Cedar Rapids bike riding. That mystery: How can you get from the east side of the river, where I live and do most of my biking, to Morgan Creek Park on the west side without any scary rides on narrow roads with high speed limits?

I’m happy to report that, weeks before the second half of “the ride that is not RAGBRAI” by Team Joe, I’ve found a doable west side route. More on that coming.

But first, a flat tyre. It was very hot on Monday, Aug. 5, but my plan was to ride my bicycle to the office and get some work done for the upcoming fall semester. I had recently returned from Des Moines for the first half of the ride that is not RAGBRAI, and had some recent warm-day riding experience, although the heat was way more intense this Monday. Still, I did not anticipate a long ride and was deliberately going to take it slow.

I started out, but as I climbed the hill on C Avenue, the bike started to feel odd. Was I succumbing to the heat? I stopped, and felt the back tyre.

It was soft, squishy, not what one wants a bike tyre to be. It was losing air, so I walked the bike home and decided the universe was telling me it was just too darn hot that day to ride.

On Tuesday, a grandson was spending the day with me. It was still warm, but not as hot, so we mutually agreed to a ride using the tandem bicycle. We rode to the Lindale Trail, and then used the new Creekside Trail off the Boyson Trail to head north, ending up at Lowe Park where the grandson played and I sat and watched him play (not completely, there was some grandson-grandfather play time, but also some grandfather sitting time, which I am grateful for). After lunch, later that afternoon, we again got the tandem out and rode to the Freeze in Marion for some refreshment.

Deer doesn't care as grandson and I ride by on tandem bike. Or stop to make an image of indifference.

It was a good day and two nice rides. The first was longer, just over 10 miles, but the two together were close to 19 miles—quite a lot of miles, thank you, on that heavy, old tandem bike.

On Wednesday, I decided I wanted to ride the Sac and Fox at least once before summer ends, so I loaded up my road bike and my mountain bike in my old Kia van. I was taking the road bike down to Goldfinch Cyclery to get a new tyre and a couple of new tubes (taking the bike because I wanted them to verify I was getting the correct tyre and tubes), then I drove to the north end of the Sac and Fox Trail.

It was a perfect day for riding that trail. The heat of Monday was gone, and Wednesday was a beautiful day. Recent rains made some parts of the Sac and Fox a little rough, especially down by the river, but what the heck, I was on my mountain bike anyway. I rode over to the Prairie Park Fishery, rested, and snacked a while, and then headed back. On the return journey, rather than sticking strictly to the trail, I rode a couple of the side mountain bike trails that snake through some woods, with some pleasant open glens included, where I paused to make images.

Flyers were a theme of the ride. At the Prairie Park Fishery, a hummingbird briefly buzzed me, pausing as if it were trying to figure out the intruder in its world. It sped off before I had a chance to grab my camera. I had a similar photo failure on the Sac and Fox. I saw several Swallowtail butterflies, but only one Monarch. It, too, flew off before I could photograph it.

Still, as you can see, I did capture some of the pretty flyers. And, anyway, I had the pleasure of going for a leisurely ride along some pretty trails.

Swallowtail butterfly along Sac and Fox trail.

Blue Swallowtail.

Flowers in a sunny clearing along mountain bike trail off of the Sac and Fox Trail.

The kind of day it was, sunshine on Mountain Bike Trail.

Here and below--views along the Sac and Fox Trail.

I did a bit of bike maintenance on Thursday, fixing the flat on the road bike and replacing a broken bell on the tandem bike. After that, I rode to campus to test the new tyre (and also do some work), so I was ready for an adventure on Friday.

I had a plan. Recently, I had ridden my bike out to Morgan Creek Park, a very nice county park on the south side of town, west of the river. Getting there from where I am was a bit of a nightmare, at least on bicycle. Then, I rode to Ellis Park and then up Edgewood. I headed west, but ended up on narrow roads with 35 mph speed limits—not the sort of place CR Biker is comfortable rolling.

But, I knew that the Cherokee Trail on the south side of town provides a safe route to that park—the problem was, how do I get to the trail from the Cedar River? I tried to do a bit of planning pre-ride, wishing I had a big city map to help. Remember maps?

Bell on tandem broke, so I replaced it with bell from road bike and put the bell at right on road bike--shimming it with piece of the leaky inner tube I had removed from the road bike.

New bell on road bike.

Just changed tube and tyre and put wheel back on road bike. Bought two tubes so I can carry one with me on rides.

Anyway, the pdf versions online weren’t all that easy for me to read, but I got the idea that my plan was workable. Rather than riding to Ellis Park, if I cut south earlier, I should find a more bike-friend route to the Cherokee Trail.

Honestly, one of the reasons I was planning this adventure is my wife had given me a coupon for a free beer at Big Grove Brewery. She’s gone for a while—helping a son and daughter-in-law with a newly born grandson—and I decided I would use the coupon and try the new Cedar Rapids location of the brewery for lunch.

But the explore would come first. I headed south on the Cedar River Trail, crossing the river at Third Avenue. Then I headed west along the river—using bike lanes downtown, and a sidewalk trail after that. When the trail got to Ellis Boulevard, I turned the other way. One rides west to the park, but I headed east—which means, unlike the road to the park, I was on a stretch of Ellis Boulevard with a bike lane. I got to O Avenue, another street with a bike lane, and headed south.

O Avenue turned out to be a mixed blessing. The pavement is nice—the street seems to have been repaved in recent years. But, especially headed south, it’s a bit hilly. Still, I rode for several miles, before decided I had probably gone too far. I did my best to consult maps on my phone—and identified 11th Street as the place where I should turn west. I had to backtrack to get there, and not for the last time, as it turns out.

O Avenue--good pavement, nice bike lane, some ups and downs--still, way, way better than narrow roads with higher speed limits.

I took 11th for a while, then turned on another Avenue (I rode on both I and J, I used one on the way there, the other on the way back) to reach 13th Street, which I took until I ended up behind the Johnson Avenue HyVee store. Johnson Avenue is a very busy street on the south side of town, but is also a street that has a bike lane—so I turned west and rode for quite a way—until, unexpectedly, it was suddenly there, the Cherokee Trail!

From there, I followed the trail signs (part of the “trail” is just residential streets, but they are marked as bike routes and aren’t busy) to Cherry Hill Park.

That was as far as I was going on this explore. It was midafternoon now, I was hungry, and the coupon for the beer seemed to be gaining in importance. I knew from previous experience that the ride from Cherry Hill to Morgan Creek is an easy trip along a short stretch of trail and a longer stretch on bike lanes, so I knew the explore had been a success. After a short rest, I backtracked.

By the Cedar River on Friday ride--a hawk, I think, circling overhead several times. It decided I had too many calories.

Friday turned out to be just a little cool. Even in the afternoon, fire at Big Grove Brewery was pleasant.

And got confused at O. See, the problem is I have almost zero innate sense of direction, and since I had ridden along O too far and come back, both directions looked familiar. I was trying to ride towards the river, and I turned the wrong way. Fortunately, while directionally a numbskull, I can read numbers on side streets. Would they be going up as I approached the river? My logical brain said “no.”

Besides, I seemed to be going uphill more than down—and one would think, no matter where one is, if you’re headed towards a river, the elevations on your ride should generally be downhill.

So, a couple of blocks later, I turned around. And I really appreciated the difference heading towards the river made on O Avenue; I still had some ups and downs, but more downs, and I do like the downs on my bike rides.

Big Grove Brewery turned out to be a pleasant stop. Some staff from Mount Mercy, the university where I teach, were hanging out, and I joined them. I had a pulled pork sandwich, with came with a scoop of red cabbage slaw on it and a side of fries, both of which I enjoyed. I washed it down with the free beer, and free beer just always tastes great.

So, Team Joe., a question: On part 2 of our ride, will we aim for Morgan Creek Park and the new trail to nowhere that is there? It would be a mostly “street” ride, but with some nice trail parts. And there is always Big Grove Brewery to celebrate the ride at. The total ride would easily top 40 miles (mine was about 32, but again, I stopped at Cherry Hill Park), and would have more hills than our Des Moines rides, but no big hills.

We will see what the team thinks. I’ll have to find an excuse this fall to head out to Morgan Creek again, just to practice this new route. I’m slowly learning you, strange land west of the river.

As of Aug. 10, 134.5 miles for the month, 1,884.64 for the year. Maps of two of my rides:

In Which Elusive Flyers Finally Cooperate

Team Joe in tunnel between Grey's Lake and Waterworks Park.

Well, the first half of the ride that was not RAGBRAI was quite fun. My sister Cate and I went to Des Moines to meet with the rest of Team Joe: my delayed twin Brigid (born on my fourth birthday) and her husband, Eldon.

On Aug. 1, we drove to Des Moines in the morning. Then, we headed over to a nearby city park and unloaded my bike and their tricycles. We were headed west to Clive, along what Brigid told me is one of the oldest bike trails in the Des Moines metro.

The day was warm, but not terribly hot, and the twisty trail had plenty of shade, so it was a nice ride. We first rode to an artificial suburban lake in Clive, then turned back, stopping for lunch at B-Bop’s. After getting back to the park, we headed east, but the trail was closed not far from the park in that direction—recent rains have flooded some bike trails in Des Moines.

Team Joe trikers Aug. 1 at lake in Clive.

Goat along trail in Clive.

The next day was predicted to be hotter, and it was a very warm Friday. We drove to Slater this time, planning to ride to the west end of the High Trestle Trail. Along the way, several large Swallowtail Butterflies appeared, one flitting along with us for 20 yards or so. I was hoping it would pause on a flower and I could make its image, but no dice, it veered off into the trees and disappeared from view.

Well, never mind. That was the pattern for the first two of these large butterflies seen on the ride, but butterfly number 3 (or butterfly one or two simply appearing again), did exactly as I hoped, and posed for me to make images.

Then, when we got to the bridge, there was a blue Swallowtrail in the trees beside the overlook, and some other butterfly sucking up salt or something from the rail of the overlook.

The cooperative butterfly by the High Trestle Trail.

My sisters with statue of RAGBRAI founder in Waterworks Park.

They knit in Woodward. Three of the trike riders in background are hungry Team Joe members riding to bar for lunch.

On the railing of High Trestle Trail Bridge, butterfly snacking.

Hot Friday afternoon, new connector trail west of Woodward. We've just turned around at point where trail is closed--the full trail should be open later this month, our Des Moines team members said.

Another view of butterfly on rail of overlook, High Trestle Trail.

The day was quite uncomfortably warm, but we fortified ourselves with lunch at the Whistlin’ Donkey in Woodward. They are adding a connector trail that is supposed to go 9 miles west of Woodward to another trail (which, I’m not sure, I don’t know Des Moines area trails that well), and after lunch we continued west to inspect the new trial.

It was closed maybe 2 miles or so west of town, so we turned back. In Madrid, on the return journey, we rested and got iced coffees or smoothies, depending on our desires (caffeine for me).

July 20--Lindale Trail (new part west of C Avenue). It was a wet July, got a ride in before evening storm.

Coneflowers seen at north end of Creek Trail off of Boyson Trail. Seen on July 27 bike ride.

On July 29 in bridge area of Lindale Trail, seeing a vulture high in a tree beside the trail.

The ride from Madrid to Slater was very, very hot. It’s a most sunny stretch of the trail, and the summer sun felt quite warm on this humid summer day. Before I knew it, we were back at Slater and ready to head to our Des Moines base.

Where there was the great bratwurst incident. Our hosts stopped at Target to grab some brats for supper that night, and my sister announced her intention to warm them in the oven.

I told her I was a bit surprised she didn’t simmer them in beer and fry them, and she looked at me as if I were suggesting something radical and new. My other sister backed me up—the beer method is a pretty traditional Midwestern way to cook bratwurst, and my sister agreed to try it.

Well, I don’t know if they are converts, but my brother-in-law and delayed twin agreed the results were pleasant.

Saturday, we talked about a final ride after brunch, but it was again very hot and we decided on a ramble on foot, visiting Grey’s Lake and Waterworks Parks.

It was a pleasant first half and 50 miles of the Ride that Is Not RAGBRAI. RINRAGBRAI will continue Labor Day Weekend in Cedar Rapids—locals, what trails are must-sees for our visitors from the west?

I finished July with 326.21 miles for the month. Most of this month’s 51.69 miles were on RINRAGBRAI because my road bike developed a flat tyre less than half a mile into a commute to work this morning, and I took the hint from the universe and drove on a very, very hot day, figuring that cooler weather and more biking miles are coming this week. So far, 1,801.83 miles on the year.