Aug. 12--Bike parked by new bridge near Cedar Lake.
When did the new bike trail bridge over the creek that feeds Cedar Lake open?
I don’t know for sure, but the detour on the Cedar River Trail north of the lake has changed—coming from the lake, the route now goes down a road to a new street bridge that crosses the trail. I was taking the trail north at that point (I had ridden down to the lake via H Avenue), and before crossing the new street bridge, I turned right and crossed the new bike trail bridge over the creek.
It’s very nice, a foreshadowing of the new trails near Cedar Lake that aren’t open yet but are being constructed. I crossed the bridge on one of the longer rides of summer 2025—a 17-mile ramble that took me to the Mount Mercy University campus before I continued to Cedar Lake.
A bunch of images from Aug. 12 ride. As I rest at Cedar Lake mid-ride, I watch a Stork that was fishing in the lake.
Monarch butterfly on Thistle flower near Cedar Lake.
Aster, fall flower, on Mount Mercy University campus.
Pausing on MMU campus.
Cone Flower in garden near Basile Hall on MMU campus.
For various reasons, summer 2025, the first summer of my retirement, has not featured the usual summer distances of bike riding. I didn’t, for example, participate in RAGBRAI this year. I had a heart bypass operation in January and a follow-up procedure in July.
In August, four grandchildren from Minnesota were visiting for a week. That precluded any long bike rides that week for me—but the good news is that one of my bikes has a Tag-A-Long seat, and a 7-year-old grandson was very happy to put it to use. Sadly, other events and very hot afternoons constrained those rides a bit, but nonetheless, most days that week we headed out for at least a few very pleasant miles together.
July 26--Deer on Lindale Trail are pretty socialized to bikers. Fawn lets me get pretty close to make this image.
Bike on Lindale Trail July 26. Note milky sky, it's been a wet summer but also a hazy one; sometimes the haze, from Canadian forest fires, has limited biking.
Anyway, back to my lake sojourn on Aug. 12. I missed one day riding last week due to yardwork—mowing and clearing weeds. But in the past four days of the week, I used all of my bikes.
On Aug. 12, I rode Argent, my road bike, on the longest ride—the 17-mile cycle to campus and the lake.
On Aug. 13, I rode my mountain bike, The Fancy Beast. It’s been wet lately. I planned to ride the Boyson Trail, the paved and unpaved parts, on a day that would turn too warm for this old man to ride in the afternoon. So, I went on a late morning ride, which went well, but the mountain bike trails beside the Boyson Trail looked too muddy, so I stuck to the main trail. The ride was about 8 miles, but given the heavier bike and warmer day, felt like it was as much work as the 17-mile ride the day before.
July 29--another day, another deer. I know it's farther away,but I like this image of the Lindale Trail.
Reflecting ball in Lowe Park seen on July 27 bike ride.
I skipped riding, as mentioned, for the Aug. 14 yard work day. The forecast was for hot, humid weather after this day. It was too bad to avoid riding on Aug. 14, but it was good to get the yard work done, too.
On Aug. 15, the afternoon was forecast to feel like 100 degrees, which dictated a shorter morning ride. I was going to ride part of the unpaved Boyson Trail again, but it had a bit more time to dry out and I decided that Clarence, my hybrid bike, would be a good choice. It turned out to be a 10-mile ride where I headed up behind Linn-Mar High School on the Creek Trail and road part of the Boyson Trail, too.
My biking goals have become modest in 2025. I’m accepting, for now, of shorter rides, although I’m hoping the 17-mile ride, accomplished with no problems, is a sign of longer sojourns coming as soon as the weather improves. However, I’ve already decided it’s OK to take several days to ride my birthday later this month.
I turn 67 later this month. Maybe by next year, 68 miles in a day would be a doable goal. For now, I’ll just be happy to roll 67 miles over several days and be satisfied that I can keep rolling.
As of Aug. 19, I have 851.02 miles for the year. I’ve ridden 85.46 miles in August. July’s miles totaled 112.16.
Aug. 15--I have some Goldenrod planted in my garden--it's a great late-season flower that feeds pollinators as fall is setting in. This is not in my garden, however--Goldenrod by Boyson Trail seen during bike ride.
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!
Hosta flowers near bike rack--with my road bike parked in background. Tuesday morning on campus.
Fall 2021—the semester commutes are almost a daily thing. now I worked from home Thursday, but otherwise this was a commuting week.
The weather has been very dry and warm in Iowa, which makes for pleasant morning rides and rather hot afternoon ones. I have been using my hybrid bike, mostly, which is perfect for this purpose, although on Wednesday I rode the road bike.
The mountain bike awaits winter.
As I’ve been riding to work this week, early students—athletes and some first-year students and residence assistants—have been moving to campus. It’s good to see some additional bicycles in bike racks.
Wednesday--my bike parked in rack near Regina Hall.
Maybe, some interested students will want to revive Mount Mercy University’s Bike Club. I hope so. These precious days of bike riding weather should be shared.
Meanwhile, the organizers of a local effort to create a new bridge and improvements to a local lake announced that they have met their goal to raise—via donations and public money—the $20 million to make the project a reality. Construction will take several years, but once again, bike trails are growing and improving in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Hazy sunshine on Monday morning as my biking week begins. I rode every day this week.
Sorry, West Coast. I wish you were not burning. Even more, I wish Ruth Bader Ginsburg was OK—but that’s probably a topic for a different blog.
This week was full of disturbing news. At least it was also filled with nice weather for a bike commuter. Our sunrises and sunsets were pretty, even if the reason is sad.
Lots happened this week, at least not all of it was bad. The giant pile of brush in front of my house was cleared away. Many streets on my commute are still constricted by derecho storm debris, but the piles are slowly melting away as trucks trundle away with tons of wood.
This week, I saw an egret and a pelican together on Cedar Lake. I saw the sun prettily reflected in the C Avenue pond. I enjoyed morning glories smiling at me from a yard near Kenwood School.
So here is my week in biking, present in images I made:
Hazy Monday morning sunshine on MMU Rohde Family Plaza.
Tuesday, I think. I have serious morning glory envy.
Geese at Kenwood School, far from any water. Not sure what the plan is.
Street sign on side street--not sure these are official signs.
Favorite place to shoot morning sun--C Avenue Pond at Collins Aerospace.
Bike on C Avenue, waiting to cross Collins Road.
On Tuesday, they had started to cut away fallen ash tree in front of my house. As I leave for morning bike ride to work, trucks pulling up to haul pieces away.
Morning shadow. Note equipment by C Avenue loading brush.
And I get home Wednesday. Sidewalk is a mess and broken in places, equipment damaged retaining wall by my driveway--but the big tree is gone. Progress.
Thursday morning, truck removing debris near MMU campus.
Took long way home Thursday afternoon...low sun at Cedar Lake.
Above and below--I've seen egrets and pelicans before, but not together. Cedar Lake Thursday afternoon.
Friday morning--work closes sidewalk on C Avenue where I usually ride--moved into street before start of bike lane.
Debris removal Friday morning on Prairie Drive a few blocks north of MMU.
Street felt a little small Friday morning.
I pause before riding up The Hill at MMU. Tree rodent on utility pole does not appreciate the company. It was chattering very angrily at me.
Friday morning biker shadow.
C Avenue pond Friday--another day, another sunrise.
Leaving for home Friday afternoon. Interesting sky.
