In Which I Scout A Short New Trail

The Boyson Road end of the new trail that heads east from the Boyson Trail, meandering along a creek there.

There is a new creek trail taking shape in Marion, a trail that heads east off of the Boyson Trail. I’ve seen the ends of it, one at Boyson Road near 10th Street, the other at the Boyson Trail.

I was taking a quick ride tonight. For context, I did some gardening on a warm day Wedneday, and I think I got myself a bit dehydrated. My plan was to walk with my wife to a diner a bit over 2 miles from our house, and then go on a bike ride.

But the morning was already getting warm, and although the diner breakfast was excellent, my right knee didn’t appreciate the walk and was sore on the way back home. Instead of hoping on my bike, I hopped on a couch and spent much of the day napping.

Well, it was 90 out there, and I just don’t do heat as well as I once did.

Tunnel under Alburnett Road leads to city park. I don't recall it's name--my wife calls it "the park on Alburnett," while to me, since I use Geode to bike there, it's the park on Geode. Getting there will be more pleasant with this nice bike trail leading there.

Anyway, the day was ending and it was near 8 in the evening when my wife got the itch and wanted to go out for a walk. She already knew I wasn’t going to walk with her—I can’t walk as fast as she does and my knee was already bothering me.

“Are you going on a bike ride?” she asked me.

It had not been my plan—the sun is going down at 8, but I figured what the heck. I have lights, I could avoid streets for the most part, and why not get a few miles in? I ride the Boyson Trail a lot because it’s near my house, but I figured the familiar was better as the light would be fading. I turned on my lights, headed up Devonshire to Boyson and then went over to the trail.

Biking along the new trail.

Where something a bit unexpected happened. They have opened the new trail. I decided to take it. It leads to a city park on Geode Street we like to take a grandson to sometimes, and then terminates at Boyson Road. All told, it’s probably about a mile along a creek bed. It curves a bit and includes a few rises and dips, but it is a nice little trail, even late in the day.

So I scouted it and enjoyed it, and also rode a bit on the Boyson Trail. All told, I did 7.31 miles, not bad for starting at 8 p.m. For July I have 217 miles, compared to almost 491 I did in June—not sure my July miles will beat my June ones, after all. My year to date is 1,524.62.

Another view of new trail.

In Which We See Nature from the Trails

The Linn County Trails Association asked for some trail images on their Facebooks page, and I posted a few images there, which I hope they enjoy.

Here are some of my favorite nature images of the past year, images I made during bicycle rides on trails in Cedar Rapids. These include the ones I posted for the trail association and a few others.

I don't know if any are what the associate wants--they don't really show the trials, but they do show the beauty you experience if you ride the trails:

In Which I Hit the Dusty Trail

Sundown, Indian Creek seen from bridge on Boyson Trail.

On this day, my wife and I have been married for 37 years. It’s almost scary to me that a person born the day that we said “I do” would today likely have children in middle school, but there it is.

She fixed French toast for breakfast and we went to Red Lobster for lunch. We went to a school and listened to a grandchild recite some poems and then came home and took naps. It’s been a good day.

When I got up from the nap, my wife was still asleep. We had discussed whether I would go on an afternoon bicycle ride, and she encouraged me to go. I’m not expert on marriage, but I believe one key to one that lasts is respecting each other as separate people, and my wife is a treasure partly because she usually says “go” when the question is whether I should ride.

From MapMyRide on my phone.

She gets some time to herself that way, too, so it’s a win-win.

I decided today to ride the mountain bike. During Tuesday’s ride, my feet got rather uncomfortably cold—my bike shoes are not exactly insulated. I wanted to ride with boots today. I could have done so with any of my bicycles—the ones with clips have two-sided pedals that allow for riding with regular shoes, too.

But for today’s ride, I was toying with the idea of riding down the Lindale Trail to the Boyson Trail. That limestone trail is a bit rutted right now, given recent mushy conditions. I thought it would be cold enough today that the trail would be frozen and hard—it was—but also a bit too rough for the road bike or the hybrid bike.

And so I wheeled the Fancy Beast out of my garage around 3:30 this afternoon. And, when I got to the trail, it was indeed good to have the wide mountain bike tyres. It was another cool winter ride, but the insulated boots did keep me more comfortable.

The ride was a bit shorter today, but it was still pleasant. Day 2 of Christmas break. On Day 3, I’ll cycle to campus to get some work done—maybe using the road bike, since it should be warmer tomorrow. That way all three bikes get used this week.

Two more views from this afternoon's ride--trail (above) creek (below).

In Which Final Rides Feature Heat

Rental bikes downtown July 18. Getting across downtown was a challenge today--the trail is diverted by construction and the Third Street bike lane was also closed. Almost all east-west routes were closed.

Hot, hot, hot! A bubble of hot air has settled on Iowa, a with high humidity and highs in the 90s, it has felt like triple digits.

Of course, long bike rides are over before RAGBRAI. I did ride Tuesday and Thursday, but shorter rides. I did some hills Thursday—going up the MMU hill three times, but not doing lots of miles.

And today I was home by early afternoon.

Am I ready for RAGBRAI? I feel ready. The packing is going OK, and it remains to be seen what I leave behind. I’m not sure how much I will blog during the ride—I had thought of bringing a laptop, but my wife is persuasively arguing against it, because in the past I have not had much time or opportunity to use the computer, and it’s bulky and inconvenient to carry.

So I think I may try a few, short phone posts—we’ll see. Anyway, my back is half packed, I have a spare tube on the bike, a new bottle of chain lube and a readiness to go. RAGBRAI, here I come!

Hot rides this week featured some pretty sights along the trails:

Duck on Cedar Lake July 16.

July 18--Pond on C Avenue in the morning.

Lowe Park flower July 16.

Milkweed at Lowe Park July 16.

July 18 at Lowe Park, dragonfly.

July 16, young bunny by Cedar River Trail.

Monarch on trail July 16.

In Which Phlox Flowers On A 20-Mile Ride

Phlox in bloom this afternoon along Cedar River Trial near Cedar Lake.

Well, I have not matched my Monday total yet. I only rode 8 miles on Tuesday—my regular commute to and from Mount Mercy University. I was hosting a dinner that night for students on the newspaper staff, so I didn’t have a chance to add many miles.

This afternoon, around 4, I loaded a final exam into my briefcase and put it on my bike. It is “bike to work week,” and another faculty member was locking up her bike as I was getting mine ready to go.

Two views of bikes in Warde Hall rack. Francis in the middle.

Rather than head directly home, I went down to Cedar Lake and then headed north on the trail. I also rode briefly on the Boyson Road trails, so that I could climb the Brentwood Drive hill and also reach my goal today.

The goal was 20 miles. And I made it. I probably won’t ride tomorrow, due to rain, but at least it looks like I’ll bike four of five days this week—not too shabby.

No more finals, just piles and piles of grading. And after graduation this weekend, I plan to work most of next week, partly to get caught up on organizing a fall series on the legacy of the Vietnam war.

So it was a pleasant break on this cool, slightly breezy spring day, to ride those 20 miles. Honeysuckle and phlox are in bloom along the bike trails, and many people were out enjoying the trails.

Indian Creek from bridge on Boyson Road Trail.

In Which I Have Two Fun Animal Rides

The deer family Relena and I watched on my first bike ride today.

Animals were the theme of the rides today. My daughter planned to donate blood, and we watched her children for a while this morning—they left after lunch.

Anyway, as I had hoped, I managed two short bike rides, totaling 10 miles together, with two granddaughters.

Relena, who is 1 ½ years old, went first. She was pretty excited by almost everything, but deer were the theme of her ride. We rode down the Lindale Trail and turned north when we got to the Boyson Road trail. Several deer crossed the trail in front of us in the open meadow area. When we got to Boyson Road, we turned back on the branch trail that leads across the narrow bridge over Dry Creek.

After crossing that bridge, we came again to an open area, and a whole deer family—mom and her two offspring—were munching grass. Relena squawked excitedly, and the two fawns bounced over nearer to mom. Mom herself was pretty indifferent. We paused to peer at the deer briefly, and then went on.

After I got home, I took Amelia for a slightly longer ride. Relena got 4 of the 10 miles, Amelia got 6. This time we turned south and simply looped back to the Lindale Trail when we were done.

We saw lots of birds, including a goldfinch that paralleled us for 30 yards to so, pausing as if to wait for use to catch up and then going ahead. There were lots of dogs, too, but no deer this time.

Still, it was a very nice ride on a gorgeous day. A sunny day after a cold night in early autumn—that, I think, is when Iowa is at its best and ought to be biked in.

Maybe they should have a special RAGBRAI in mid-September just for retired people? They can wait nine years or so to set it up, but then let me know and I’ll be there.

In Which The Evening Sky Steals The Show

Tuesday sky, view one. Seen from bridge in Otter Creek area. It was, see sign below, apparently a troll bridge but I crossed with ease. making me Big Billy Goat Gruff. By the way, why didn't Big BBG save everyone the hassle and just cross the bridge first in the first place?

I didn't bike on Monday of this week, because I was out of town helping a daughter prepare to move to England. I’m sure what she’s doing is pretty scary for her right now, but I’m proud of her.

Anyway, I got back to town around noon Tuesday and spent part of the afternoon unloading the truck. After that my wife had some shopping to attend to, and said to me, “why don’t you take a bike ride?”

Well, why not? The late afternoon was mostly cloudy but clearing, the weather fine, and I was anxious to get some miles in. So I hopped on The Beast and was off.

I was trucking along pretty fast on the Beast and paused at a parking lot before the 4-mile trail mark to drink water and take this photo of a a Fancy Bike style tube someone has decorated the bench with.

I looped around the neighborhood so I could do the Brentwood Drive hill climb (good RAGBRAI practice), and then headed off to the Cedar River Trail, turning north this time to see how far I could go in a limited period of time.

Pretty far, I think. I went on beyond Lafayette to the end of the paved surface. I was on The Beast, so I didn’t have to turn back at that point, but it was getting late, and the sky wasn't sure whether it wanted to rain on me or not, so I headed back towards town.

I made pretty good time. Between the extra couple of miles to climb the hill, the ride to and from the trail and the ride to just past the 10-mile marker north, I think in a few hours I did 30 miles.

Sun nears horizon and just starts to clear cloud cover as I head south on trail back towards city.

On the way home, I stopped over at Cate’s. She kindly agreed to give me a ride to the Tour the Raccoon Ride that we’re doing this weekend, and we wanted to see how well The Beast will fit on her car’s bike rack. Very well, as it turns out, and I’m hoping that creates some odd karma that causes the bike shop to call me Friday and say Francis is fixed, since I now know I’m ready to ride The Beast if need be.

We’ll see. The way home from Cate’s was a dusky ride, but I have put lights on The Beast and proceeded home.

Just about a mile left on the trail, sun sinking low, sky looking very pretty.

Wednesday was a day of more limited miles—a regular commuting day, for the most part, and Thursday was a gardening day and a day to prepare for a daughter and her family who are staying with us on vacation (they live in England but are here for a while).

Anyway, even if I wish I could have taken more advantage of good biking weather this week, it was good to get those 30 miles Tuesday. And the sky, as often happens on a mostly but not fully cloudy evening, was pretty nice to view.

Now if we can just get rid of those gnats …

OK, probably not the safest thing to do--photograph a gnat on your arm as you bike. The ground is moving pretty quickly there, big guy. Put the camera away and watch the trail.

In Which We View Fish And Rescue An Asian Lady

On a trail bridge over Dry Creek. I think Amelia is enjoying the morning ride.

My son-in-law was headed to the Des Moines area for a race today, so my wife asked my daughter this morning if she and the kids wanted to come over. We were to go to the gym first, and then pick up two of the kids at dance class—my daughter and her oldest daughter and youngest daughter would then join us after dance class.

Audrey suggested that I put the toddler seat on my bike and ride it to the gym in case Amelia was willing to go for a ride. Then, after we exercised, my wife would drive to the nearby dance academy, while I biked.

When we got there, we asked Amelia if she wanted a bike ride. She grinned, but didn’t answer. So, I took her out of her car seat and put her by the bike, and began to put her helmet on. She’s not a shy little girl—if she didn’t want a ride, she surely would have let me know at that point.

Apparently, she was willing to ride. I finished getting her ready, strapped her in the toddler bike seat, and off we rode.

On the way back to my house, we came to Walgreens. We could either go left and head down C Avenue directly home, or go right and go down the Lindale Trail to the Boyson Trail. I asked Amelia what she wanted to do. I figured if we went on the trail, it would only be for a short ride, because it was cool and she didn’t have a sweater on.

By now, she had rediscovered language. “Trail,” she said. So we went right.

Along the way, we passed a girl jogging, a couple walking a dog and heard several birds. Then, when we reached the Boyson trail, traffic picked up a bit, and we saw a few more walkers, joggers and bikers.

I headed north right away, figuring I would take take the short leg of the trail to Boyson, rather than riding the whole trail, which would have taken an hour or so. When we got about 2/3 of the way to Boyson Road, we noticed a middle aged woman with a mountain bike stopped, looking at her chain.

We stopped. “Is your bike OK?” I asked.

The lady smiled at me, and mumbled something about her husband, gesturing north along the trial. English was clearly not her primary language, but from my bike, I could see that her chain had jumped off the front cogs. When that happens, a chain can get pretty tightly caught, but it didn’t look like hers was. I thought of taking Amelia out of the bike seat, but that would take a while, or of asking the lady to hold my bike for a minute, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get her to understand that I was intending to fix her bike. So, I just hopped off my bike, and with my right hand I grabbed the central bar of my bike, holding it and Amelia steady.

With my left hand, I first pushed her rear derailleur forward, taking tension off the chain. Then, I ran my first finger along the chain, until I looped it around the front cog. With a quick flick of my finger, her chain was pulled out of the area between the cog and her bike frame, and now rested on her cog.

She looked a little startled, but knew enough English to say “thank you.” Amelia had no comment.

Then, I hopped back on my bike and continued north. When we got to the bridge over Dry Creek, we turned to stop at the bridge for a few minutes, because I knew Amelia loved watching water. Luckily, there were lots of fish visible in the still pool of water under the bridge. It’s been dry lately, and there Is not much flow in Dry Creek, but that probably concentrates the small creek fish in the remaining pools of water, which made watching them easy and entertaining this morning.

After a few minutes, I crossed the bridge, turned around and headed for home. I was on Sussex when my wife texted to let me know we were going to Skype with my daughter who lives in England. We made it home just in the nick of time.

So, we had time to both rescue an Asian lady and watch some fish. That makes for a pretty good ride, which I think Amelia enjoyed almost as much as I did.

In Which The Trail Goes Ever On

The connector trail between Prairie Parks Fishery and the Sac and Fox. This is the end near Sac and Fox--about to head back to Prairie Park Fishery.

Well, not forever. Longer than it used to.

We had a good day today—lunch with Katy and her kids, swimming and then a bike ride. I also got the lawn mowed, but have not put the lawn furniture back. Don’t tell my wife.

My sister summoned me to help her fix her bike, but she apparently fixed it before I was able to get other there, which is OK. Hope it’s working well.

Anyway, after the mid-day visit with daughter and grandchildren, and finishing the mowing, it was close to 5, but since this is Ben’s final day before heading back to Ames, we decided to go for one more bike ride. Since he had not been there before, I suggested we go down the Cedar River trail through downtown, and then head off to the Prairie Parks Fishery, a city park that is along Otis Road.

Otis Road is a nice ride because the street is right there next to the Cedar River. The river flooded earlier this summer, and some damage is evident—most notably, a closed boat launch before you get to the fishery park. But the road was fine, as was the park and its cute little lake trail.

And, surprise, surprise, the connection between that trail and the Sac and Fox trail has been completed. We didn’t try the Sac and Fox—no time and I don’t know what shape it’s in after the river floods plus Jon's road bike would not be the best choice for that trail—but it’s nice to see how easy it is now is to get from the fishery trail to the longer trail.

On the ride back home, we went on the east side of Cedar Lake, which took up past the “Sag Wagon,” a new restaurant. We didn’t stop, but their bike rack looked pretty full. I’ll have to try it some time.

All in all, the ride was a shade over 22 miles. I had a new light on my bike, but didn’t need it because it was still light when we got home. I’ll have to ride the hills tomorrow, and maybe check on the Sac and Fox sometime before RAGBRAI.

In Which Moving Water Fascinates an Impish Passenger

Amelia watches the water on one bridge.

A different bridge. The water is so beautiful.

View of Indian Creek from bridge on Krumboltz trail.

A day after the epic journey to Ely with Cate, I took a shorter journey, a quick ride of the trail system near my home.

Well, quick is an exaggeration. Amelia, who was slightly miffed she didn’t get a ride Thursday when Tristan rode on my bike home from C Avenue Park, got a morning ride with me. She was bundled up—it was in the lower 50s Friday morning—but I think she stayed comfortable for the whole ride.

She has clearly made herself at home on the bike. For one thing, she is much more ornery now, definitely a sign of comfort in that girl. She would spontaneously grab one of my arms and shout “got you!” Or reach up to my torso and wiggle her fingers, shouting “tickle, tickle, tickle!” Or, sometimes, just lean her head way back so I could get a clear view of her face as she stuck her tongue out at me.

And she had a new routine on this ride. At every bridge we crossed, we had to stop and watch the water for a while and talk about what we were seeing. Maybe it’s my fault for telling her before the ride that we might see hippos, but she was pretty excited by ducks and fish.

Even with the pauses and the cool air, it was a very nice morning to be on the trail with a tickling, grabbing, tongue-sticking, little, ornery passenger.

In Which The Frozen Yogurt Is Tempting, But …

Trail we road on was named after this guy.
Mr. Cedar River.

I passed it up because I was in a hurry to get home—the grandkids are staying over night tonight.

Anyway, my sister Cate invited me to ride to Ely today, via the Cedar River and then the Hoover trail. She mapped the ride at something close to 38 miles, and since I subsequently rode my bike to C Avenue Park and back, I’m claiming it as a 40-mile day. Not exactly RAGBRAI—and there certainly were not enough hills to be like RAGBRAI, although we did climb the Bowman Woods hill at the end. Still, a good practice day.

Cate brought along energy shots, which proved fortunate. I started to black out a bit over halfway through the ride, and we paused and I took one of her shots, which helped a lot. I think I may have been partly dehydrated, and I plan to dig the camelback out again soon. I had water with me, but could not reach it conveniently during the ride, and we did not stop much.

Despite that incident, the ride was very pleasant. We didn’t get much talking done, as we couldn’t hear each other well, but it’s still good to ride with someone. Cate suggested we stop for some frozen yogurt at an ice cream shop near the trail, which was a good idea, but that's when I passed up that plan to get home a bit sooner.

I’m already committed to a ride tomorrow, too. After Cate and I rode, as I mentioned before, I went up to C Avenue Park to meet Audrey and the grandchildren. Tristan wanted to ride the bike home, and I had put on the child seat just in case, so he got his wish. Amelia was slightly distraught, but satisfied with a promise of a ride tomorrow.

As Ben noted, I seem to have two future bikers in the Sebers family. All in all, it was a very good biking day.

Some Ducks And Other Wild Things

Why does the baby duck cross the park drive?  Clearly, to get its image in my blog ....

Happy Fourth of July! We celebrate the letter our ancestors sent to the king of England, telling him we weren't going to eat scones or drink warm beer any more.

I went on two short rides today. In the morning, I did the Boyson Trail in Marion on my way home from the gym. I did the same trail again in the evening, when I went on a ride with my son-in-law, and then he and I rode over to Noelridge Park to meet more family members there.

It was warm in the morning, hot in the evening, but they were short rides and I didn't overdo it.

The theme of the evening ride was “Where the Wild Things Are.” I was telling Brandon (my son-in-law) that I had seen deer often on a new stretch of the trail, and he had just replied that he also often saw turkeys during his rides near Monticello, when a turkey strutted across the trail maybe 30 yards in front of us.

Later, on the new rail line trail headed towards C Avenue, a deer calmly walked across the trail in front of us. It was too far away, maybe 50 yards or so, to even tell for sure if it was a buck or doe, but it was still a deer encounter.

Finally, at the park, we met the family at the duck pond and saw lots of cute baby and mom ducks.

Well, shucks. Despite the heat, the rides were pleasant.

I've done well this week, I figure I have more than 100 miles already, but today was a lighter day. We'll see what tomorrow brings—but tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter than today, so I doubt it will bring any long ride ….

Me and Mini-Me Try Some New Trails

Father's Day, Tristan and I read for our ride in our matching bike vests.  Not quite matching--his closes better than mine!

Well, the Father’s Day biking news is that the trail situation in my neck of the woods is looking much improved.

Tristan has a new bike vest.  Audrey has been looking for a vest like my bike vest, and found one that she thought could be cut down and reworked.  Katy did the sewing, so now Mr. T can be a bike Mini Me.  He was pretty excited to wear the vest today, and readily agreed to a ride, so we headed over to the Boyson Road Trail, where we made some pleasant discoveries.

The city of Marion has snuck up on me with two new trails.  Last year, there were a branch trail off of the Boyson Road trail that went through the Frisbee gold course and then petered out.  That trail has been extended all the way to Highway 100.  You can see Menards up a hill at the end.  There are some nice woods, a fairly long bridge over Indian Creek and an as-yet unexplored other branch along this trail.

Mr. T and I crossed the bridge at Thomas Park—the one that leads to the athletic fields—just because Mr. T likes to cross the bridge.  Then we rode to the end of the trail and turned around.  I was curious to see if the side trail had been extended and asked Mr. T if he would like to ride on a new trail.

He would and we did.  And I was pleasantly surprised at how far we went.  The new trial is probably as long or maybe even longer than the Boyson Road trail, and it was a very pleasant route through meadows, and woods, and over a new bridge.

It ended abruptly like it wanted to go under a bridge of Highway 100, and I wonder if it will be extended.  It’s not terribly far from there to the Sac and Fox Trail—will these trails eventually connect?

Anyway, on the way down, I noticed the barriers where they have been building a new trail along the railroad line that leads to Walgreens on C Avenue have been removed, so again, after we headed back north on the Boyson Road Trail, I asked Mr. T if he wanted to try another new trail.

Of course he did.

And the whole trail, in Marion, is done!  We could walk to the Boyson Road trail and follow the rail line back.  We always could, but it used to be that the old rail line was a bit hard to manage because it wasn’t a finished trial, and the hillside was hard to climb to get to the line.  Now, a gradual incline from the rail line to the Boyson Trail has been installed.

Well, I knew that they were working on a new north end of the trail, which makes the whole thing more accessible from my Cedar Rapids neighborhood.  I didn’t expected the rail line trail to be done so soon—nor did I have any idea how much new trail was lurking behind the branch that began near the golf course.

And no flat tire!  It will be a nice new trail ride for shorter RAGBRAI practice runs.

First Trail Ride of the Spring on Feb. 1

Ducks on stream that feeds into lake. The trail with snow nearby, but non on trail.

I wondered, before leaving work, whether the trail would be blocked in places by snow and ice. Yet, the streets were mostly clean on the way in, so I decided to take a chance.

Well, it was fine. A bit damp in a few places, got a bit muddy near Quaker Oats, but by and large the trail was clear. There were a number of other bikers, walkers and joggers out today, too—and even some fowl.

It felt good to be on the trail on a semi sunny afternoon, and it felt a bit like I was taking my first training ride for RAGBRAI.

Geese and Ducks were enjoying the open waters of the stream that feeds into Cedar Lake, a large polluted pond near downtown Cedar Rapids. The south part of the lake is open, too, and many birds were there.

All in all, a slightly mushy but pleasant ride, especially for Feb. 1. Clearly, bike seasons is underway—for how long, I don’t know. I overheard a man at MMU say, as he strolled across the central plaza at MMU, that “we’ll pay for today.” Yeah, he could be right. But then again, maybe 20 degrees above normal just won’t be that odd this year in Iowa.

Which is great on Feb. 1. On Aug. 1? Not so much ….