In Which Three Rides Aren’t Quite Enough

Image of sky seen from Marion Library as I wait for other Bookworms June 2.

I didn’t exactly make my biking goal this weekend—in total, I rode about 45 miles.

The weekend started with the Bookworms on Bikes ride, meant to go from the Marion Library to the Iowa City Library, passing by the Hiawatha, Cedar Rapids, Ely, Solon, North Liberty and Coralville libraries on the way.

The weather forecast was a bit dicey, with a 40 percent chance of rain midmorning, with a greater chance later in the afternoon.

Still, a small band of us—Michael Miller, Laura Runkle and I—met before 7 a.m. at the Marion Library and headed off on the ride. We rode over to the Boyson Trail, then took the Lindale Trail to some roads behind Target to reach the Cedar River Trail and pass by the Hiawatha Public Library.

At that library, I checked the weather radar on my phone. It looked like a big band of rain was headed our way.

We continued south towards downtown Cedar Rapids. As we circled Cedar Lake, it started to sprinkle.

But, while it remained unusually cool, the sprinkles eased off as we pulled into the farmers market in downtown Cedar Rapids. The Linn County Trail Association was offering some free snacks for National Trails Day, and I was happy to grab an extra muffin. My co-riders grabbed some breakfast and then we conferred.

Nice man giving out information at LCTA booth. I am glad to say CR Biker joined the LCTA this year.

The radar picture continued to look bad, and we decided it was not worth it to attempt the ride to Ely, so the ride this year got cut off early.

We split up, and I headed to a popcorn stand—since I was going home early, I thought I could bring Audrey a treat she likes, so I got some kettle corn. And after I purchased it, realized I was riding my road bike, not the hybrid bike with the nice big bags in back. How would I carry the corn?

I emptied the right side of my small bike bag. There I had the snacks I brought for what was to be a more than 50 mile ride, and I stuffed them in my pockets (thank you, fashion trend that decreed old men would wear ridiculous cargo shorts). As it turned out, while I could not then zip the pocket closed, I could insert the popcorn snugly enough that it would remain on the bike as I rode.

Bike on the way home--stuffed with popcorn. Yes, I shot this while riding.

I returned home.

My ride totaled about 25 miles, but I reached 30 for the day when we took a bike ride after supper with a 2-year-old grandson who was staying with us overnight. Today was dedicated to a different set of grandkids, but this evening I managed to squeeze in a quick 15-mile ride up to the city park in Robins.

A few evening sprinkles, but grandson wanted a ride, so my wife and I took him on a 5-mile ride in our neighborhood after supper. C Avenue Pond reflects interesting evening sky June 2.

I also climbed the neighborhood hill several times.

All in all, I had hope to ride more than 45 miles this weekend, but still, 45 is 45.

And it never really did rain Saturday, not that morning nor later. The rain gods were teasing us. Images of Sunday ride:

On trail in Hiawatha, headed north. Late sunshine on trail.

Sun going town in countryside between Hiawatha and Robins.

I rode Cedar River Trail to the Cedar Valley Nature Trail only as far as side trail that leads to Robins park. Snake on that side trail--first snake sighting of the year!

Crossing creek as I exit Robins to return to Cedar Valley Nature Trail.

Heading south, sun dipping below horizon.

Top of Bowman Woods neighborhood hill--Venus in the sky.

In Which I Ride a Hot Ride, Scout a Poor Shortcut

Crowd at farmer's market. Warm day for first one.

Seven Sisters Road, you did not seem to be a friend of mine.

The first farmers market of the season in downtown Cedar Rapids was today, a very hot summer day.

But it wasn’t too bad when I started out before 9 a.m. The ride downtown was fairly pleasant. Lots of bikers were out today.

My wife and I had thought of biking down as a family with two daughters and a grandson, but decided, wisely, I think, that the day would prove too warm for that kind of ride—so, instead, most of the family drove while I rode.

With grandson at farmers market.

The farmer’s market was warm and crowded, but fun. We got some candy at a shop downtown, and also visited the Cedar Rapids Public Library.

The ride home was much warmer, but not terrible. It was, for such a hot day, a decent ride.

And the biking news gets even bigger. We had checked on bikes at Cranky’s, a shop in Marion that is going out of business. We found a hybrid ladies bike that Audrey liked, but it was on hold for another customer. Well, today we got the call that the other customer backed out, so we went ahead and picked up the new bike. My wife rode it home and noted that it was quite light compared to her other bike.

Also, in the early evening, we decided to drive down to Solon to check on an idea for the Bookworms on Bikes ride. The county road form Ely to Solon is the most dicey part of the 50-mile ride from the Marion Public Library to the Iowa City Public Library (passing libraries in Hiawatha, Cedar Rapids, Ely, Solon, North Liberty and Coralville). It is a narrow, windy stretch with little shoulder. I looked at the map and noted two gravel roads would provide an alternative, so we checked them out.

I’m afraid my idea is probably not good. Seven Sisters Road curves into Polk Road on a rather nasty hill. Besides that, both Seven Sisters and Polk seem to be rather loose gravel—maybe OK for a mountain bike, but not a hybrid or road bike.

The one minor bonus is, based on my car odometer, the gravel route is about one mile shorter than the paved route.

Polk road. This is actually a nicer stretch, there is a nasty hill with plenty of loose gravel. I do not think this will work as a biking route.

Despite that, 4 miles of dicey gravel is probably at least 3 miles too many. I think the Bookworms should stick to the main road for now—and by next year's ride, maybe the next stretch of trail will be ready.

In Which a Fruit Angel Appears at a Library

Crossing Lake Macbride on way to North Liberty on Bookworms on Bikes ride.

I forgot to look at my computer for a final tally, but I believe the Bookworms on Bikes ride added up to the low 50s somewhere—52 to 54 miles, all told.

It was a fine day, hot in the afternoon, for a RAGBRAI-like bike ride, and this ride lived up to that experience. I woke up early, had a nice breakfast, and was a bit slow getting out the door, so I was worried that I would miss the start of the ride. As luck would have it, I arrived at the Marion Library just at 7 a.m.

And I was early. After a few minutes, Michael Miller and Laura Runkle showed up. Mike is the ride organizer. We were a small crew, but Mike took a group picture with the library as a background to post on his Facebook group page, and we were off. We rode to the Boyson Trail, Lindale Trail, then the behind-Target route to get to the Cedar River Trail.

After a second library-group photo at the Hiawatha Public Library, we continued along the trail to downtown Cedar Rapids.

The first city farmer’s market was underway, and the Linn County Trail Association ran a bike parking booth at Greene Square. We parked, visited a vendor fair at the Presbyterian Church, and headed over to the Cedar Rapids downtown library for bookworm photo op number 3.

It was getting warm. We were facing a bit of a headwind, although not enough to be a problem. If anything, as hot as the day turned out, having a bit of a breeze was a net plus—it wasn’t enough to make biking too difficult, and the breeze helped cool us a bit.

A co-worker of Mike’s joined us on the trail south of the river, so we were a band of four bookworms.

We watered up at the Ely City Park. Ely was the first open library on the ride, and we had a pleasant chat with the librarian before moving on.

The ride form Ely to Solon was as expected—the scary part of the ride, on a narrow and busy county road.

Well, we made it to Solon. Then headed out to North Liberty—still riding on county roads, but this time with a nice paved shoulder. It was around noon, and the day was sunny and hot.

And the ride started to get hilly. After the first crossing of Lake Macbride, the road headed up a hill that was longer than it looked—it snaked through some bends, so when you thought you were at the top, you were mistaken. It was hot by now, and humid, and I was definitely the tail end of the ride. I was feeling pretty spent by the time we rolled into North Liberty.

In Iowa towns, libraries are important civic institutions—not just information equalizers by providing books to all, but also centers of activity. The earlier libraries had been closed, but starting in Ely, on a fine, hot summer Saturday, community libraries were busy hives of activity.

With at least one angel.

North Liberty was ready for us. Mike had contacted the libraries on the route, and North Liberty had a “welcome riders” sign out, some chilled water bottles ready and a plate of cereal and granola bars. That was good enough, but after we had been there for a few minutes, one of the front desk librarians went to a back room and returned with fresh fruit kabobs and little banana sandwiches.

Clearly, she was the fruit angel. On a hot summer bike ride, her appearance was almost mystical.

Just like that, the fruit angel appears. And the fruit was good.

Actually, as she explained, the library had just finished a stuffed-animal sleepover program, and these were leftover snacks that children had not consumed at the end of the event.

Anyway, the greeting at North Liberty was much appreciated. After that was a trail ride to Coralville.

This little bookworm-library ride has started small—only four bikers on this first ride. But RAGBRAI started small, too, and I hope it continues and that many more bikers will have the pleasure of meeting a fruit angel in North Liberty.

Coralville Library lobby.

After the Coralville Library, with the worst of the hills behind us and only a few miles to Iowa City, plus blessings in our bellies from the fruit angel, the final leg of the ride, despite the heat, passed pleasantly. When we got to the university area in Iowa City, a big art festival was in full swing, so we had to walk our bikes the last block to the Iowa City Public Library.

All in all, it was an interesting ride. Besides angelic library hosts bearing fruit kabobs, the ride included iconic Iowa events—from the farmers market in Cedar Rapids to the art fest in Iowa City. Seeing so many public libraries was a nice reminder of how important they still are to their communities. Even in the internet age, libraries matter.

So, may the Bookworms bike ride continue and grow in popularity. I don’t know what Mike has planned for the future, but I hope today’s ride was the start of something. More photos of the ride on my Facebook gallery.

Crossing Iowa River, above. End of ride, below. And then I rode back to UI Law School where I met my wife, daughter and grandson.

In With May Passes with 45 More Miles

Two views of my bike at Schultz Road heading north to Center Point--right on the edge of smooth new paving 

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On June 1, we had a house full with seven grandchildren. It was a chaotic, wonderful day. And it featured a mostly satisfying set of bicycle rides, except for one unfortunate spill.

We planned a picnic in the park. With nine people in the house, our group exceeded the carrying capacity of our minivan (yes, a VW microbus would have come in handy), so we planned to use “the bike bus” (Clarence with toddler seat and Tag-Along) as a second vehicle.

On the way to the park, the oldest granddaughter rode the Tag-Along, with the youngest grandson in the toddler seat and the oldest grandson on his own bicycle. On the way home, a younger grandson rode the Tag-Along, but otherwise our band of bikers was the same crew. Our route from Willow Park to home involved riding a short way on a quiet street, turning down a sidewalk for a half block, going through a parking lot, and then turning right to head along the Boyson Trail to the Lindale Trail.

When we got to the right turn from the stub of a trail leading from the parking lot to the Boyson trail, my oldest grandson was going just a bit too fast and turned his bike just a bit too abruptly. BAM!

If you’ve never spilled on a bicycle, one of the odd things about the experience is how quick it seems. I’ve been in car accidents before, and in those, it feels like time slows down. Not so with a bike accident—maybe it has something to do with the odd physics of the balance required to keep a bicycle upright, but when something messes that physics up, you go from elegant balance to sudden smashing in less than the blink of an eye.

So, always wear your bicycle helmet.

Fortunately, no cranial damage was threatened by this spill, but my grandson did get some nasty lacerations on his knee. Fortunately, he was still able to continue riding, so we headed home, where my wife cleaned and bandaged the knee.

Anyway, that was the low point of what so far has been a very good biking week. As you know from my previous post, I rode 60 miles with my sister on Memorial Day. On Wednesday, the final day of May, I didn’t have the time to try to equal those miles, but I did climb the Bowman Woods Hill four times—twice in the morning on a ride to the gym, and twice in the afternoon in the start of another ride.

I had about 9 miles on the day from the morning, when, fairly late in the afternoon, I did my two hill climbs and then headed over to the Cedar River Trail ride it north to the Cedar Valley Nature Trail. Before Wednesday, I had only been to Lafayette once this year, and I wanted to aim beyond it. I knew they recently paved the last three trail miles to Center Point—and I was curious to see the newly reconstructed trail section.

So off I rode. I was on my road bike (I rode Argent all day Wednesday, which was nice because that means I have a pretty good mileage count). I reached the Hiawatha trail head about 4 p.m., and didn’t want to be out late, so I tried to make good time.

Three views of the new stretch of paved trail to Center Point. Wednesday was a bit breezy, but still a gorgeous day for a bike ride.

There was a bit of wind, so I did hunker down now and then into the pushed-over position the road bike handlebars allow. I paused briefly in Lafayette—by the time I go there from my house, I had been on the bike for close to an hour—and then after my break, I pushed on to Center Point.

Well, the new trail sure is new—smooth and fine. The ride used to feel a bit woodsier, with underbrush encroaching more, but they cut it back a bit when they did this paving project. The three miles between Schultz Road, where paving used to end, and Center Point passed quickly. The blacktop became cement in Center Point itself.

After a rest there, I headed home. I made it by about 6:15, which means I rode 26 miles in just over two hours. That’s not exactly a land speed record, but for an old man like me who is, frankly, a very slow bike rider, that is a good pace.

My bike parked at the rail depot in Center Point. Note the cement trail. Also, below, two views of the improved road crossing at Alice Road, one of the busiest road crossing on the trail. The rest area in Lafayette is still an outhouse, but it's a much nicer, newer outhouse. There has been lots of work done north of Cedar Rapids on this trail!

My one regret is that I had not changed into biking shorts before the evening ride. I don’t usually wear them for shorter rides, but for this afternoon ride, which totaled more than 30 miles due to the trips to and from my house, extra padding would have saved me some discomfort.

Odometer at end of ride.

Still, part of RAGBRAI training isn’t about the legs or the lungs. It’s training your rear to simply bear your weight on a bike seat for an extended period of time. In that sense, I suppose the Wednesday ride was a success.

I’ll probably get another ride in tomorrow, but I won’t aim for so many miles. The Bookworm ride, from the Marion Public Library to the Iowa City Public Library, is set for Saturday. Watch the Facebook page for any adjustments to the starting time—there may be some weather related issues on Saturday that could have an effect on time—and I hope to see you on the trail Saturday!

And wear a helmet.

In Which I Ride a Sunset Ride

Morning sky on Monday, May 22. Interesting clouds.

My sister uses an app called “Map my Ride,” so I know on one day recently, she biked for more than 30 miles.

For me, the spring semester finally ended Tuesday, and Wednesday I was on campus to meet a prospective student—so today is the “first” day of summer bike riding for me. Nonetheless, I did manage to get in about 20 miles Wednesday.

I rode to campus in the morning damp, but luckily it was light sprinkles. I was riding post rain. I left campus around 1:15 p.m. for a dentist appointment, and then headed directly home. I did go down the Lindale Trail to get behind Bowman Woods hill, and cycled up it twice on the way home.

I don’t have a computer on Francis, and I don’t have mobile data on my cell phone, so I’m guessing the rides totaled about 10 miles.

They grey, cool, damp day slowly started to change. After supper, my daughter and grandson retired about 7:30 p.m., and I looked outside to note a tiny sliver of sky in the west. So I decided to head out on a sunset ride, with a goal of getting 10 more miles in for 20 miles total on the day.

I picked the trail in Marion as a convenient target, and got Argent out of the garage. The early evening light was pretty as the sun started to peak out of the tiny sliver of bare sky. I turned on my lights and, for the third time Wednesday, climbed that Bowman Woods hill.

As you can see, by the time I got out to Tower Terrace Road, the sun was in full mode, giving us a few minutes of sunshine on that damp, cloudy day. Just because it was an option on the point-and-shoot camera I had with me, I took a panorama view of the intersection.

Headed up 3 Street to Tower Terrace Road in Marion, panorama.

A "normal" view of the same spot. Pretty sunset after cloudy day.

So far this week, the riding has been spring cool rather than summer warm. I wore a jacket Tuesday morning due to the damp, which feels a bit odd late in May. Today, the forecast is for a high of 70, which will feel nice after the days in the 50s we’ve had lately.

But, I’ve been on my bike, and I actually rode over 11 miles in the evening ride. I noted that they have added a new trail at Lowe Park, which I didn’t ride, simply because I don’t ride unfamiliar routes in low light.

I’ll have to check it out soon. Now that summer riding season is here.

Final note: Don’t forget June 3! Bookworms on Bikes ride is coming up soon--that will get me more than 30 miles in one day!

Riding loop around art gallery building at Lowe Park--sky just after sunset framed by the outdoor stage there.

In Which We Think of Sunny Rides To Come

Sun on Rockwell-Collins pond this morning, clouds
are headed away.

Mike's logo for bookworm ride.

I’ll spare you the obvious Beatles song—but it was sure nice this morning to cycle in weather that, while cool, looked much more like spring.

As I write this, it’s a minor tragedy that I am indoors. A rainy Wednesday has given away to Sunshine Thursday, and a bicycle commuter says hooray!

Which puts me in mind of sunny, warm rides to come. The MMU Bike Club plans to ride this Friday, our first nice springtime ride. Join us, MMU! Meet at 4:30 at Lundy.

And the planned bookworm biker ride from Marion to Iowa City is still in the works. The Facebook group organized by Michael Miller for “Bookworms on Bikes” is now public! Check on it to get updates--the 50 miles or so ride should be late May or early June.

The news on RAGBRAI is good. I haven’t convinced Team Joe that this is a good “ride all the miles” year, but the band is back together and then some.

This year, Jon is coming out from San Francisco to ride—and he will be joined by his lovely wife Nalena Santiago in her first RAGBRAI.

And Last week, I put Clarence to good work, using toddler seat and Tag-A-Long to cart grandchildren to and around a playground. The weather is going to be nice this weekend, so we’ll see how much riding we do then—quite a lot, I hope!

Warm weather! Time to find the sunscreen and bug repellant and put them to good use!

Another pond view--ducks cross the reflected sun. And at the end of the ride, below, MMU daffodils.