In Which I Contemplate the Train

Besides four songs, I almost forgot this video: Saturday’s ride featured us passing a train in downtown Cedar Rapids as we rode home after lunch.

I like the natural sound in this video, which gives a sense of how loud these are. I’ve been stuck by trains before, but we were lucky this time. I think the train was still adding cars, because it rolled slowly east into downtown, and we were on its south side. It blocked all the intersections for cars, but allowed us to roll parallel to it.

And as we neared the west end of downtown, the train began rolling backwards towards the railyard there beside the big Quaker Oats plant.

So it felt like the train was just escorting Team Joe on our final ride.

In Which The Best Bird Proves Elusive

Hey! Look here! I have feathers! Lots of feathers! Hey! Up Tom Funk You Up!

Thursday was a 20-mile day. I had a full agenda on campus, plus a daughter’s birthday party to attend, so I’m feeling pretty good about squeezing that many miles in.

The second-best bird spotting of the past 24 hours occurred on the morning hill ride. For some reason, the top of Mount Brentwood includes “Turkey Road,” a track between houses at hill summit that is favored by the large wild birds living in the woods along Dry Creek. It’s not all uncommon to see groups of these huge dinosaurs roaming across Brentwood Drive at the top of the hill, but Thursday morning there was a bit more entertainment to be had.

It must be “that” time. A tom was following hens around, gobbling like a lounge singer, strutting, poofing out his tail feathers. It almost seemed like the was saying, over and over, “how you doing?”

The girls did not seem impressed.

I took the slightly longer trail route home for the afternoon ride, and kept hearing a train approaching from the south. I was hoping to get across 42nd Street before said train arrived and blocked my way, and I was lucky or quick enough. No close call or train dodge involved (in fact, I will gladly wait for a train rather than take any chances), as I was well north of the street when the rail cars started passing me by.

It was a long train. I paused at the Collins Road underpass to shoot some images of it, primarily the graffiti that some train cars collect (in the location that I like to call the “art gallery” due to the graffiti it collects).

I thought the train was cool, although not as cool as the turkeys. And neither was as cool as an unrelated bird sighting this morning. As I was getting ready to write this blog post, a quick movement caught my eye. I glanced out my office window, which is screened by a tall lilac bush. A hummingbird passed between the bush and screen and paused, hovering not two feet from me. Of course, the quick little bird (a female, I think, because she was not very colorful) was gone before I could grab my camera.

No hummingbird images, but three train pictures. Rolling art.

With Raccoon Ride, It Will Approach A 2 Century Week!

Wednesday--train briefly delays ride. I rode down to Kirkwood to meet Cate and ride back.

Wednesday--Cate pointed out this mural, which is just adjacent to trail in downtown CR.  I had not seen it before, but it's right by the trail--hidden by trees.  Cate says it's a leftover from a big downtown Grant Wood art project several years ago.

Solo ride today--went to my office, then took trail downtown, and then headed over to Prairie Parks Fishery.  Rode there and came back.  Was a lot of Union Pacific odd maintenance contraptions all over the tracks downtown, and the trail parallels the tracks.

Map of Raccoon River Valley Trail, from raccoonrivervalleytrail.org.

Well, blog fans, I’m off on a new adventure and probably won’t update until next week …

It’s been quite a week.  Besides being on TV, I’ve also set a new training mark for miles.  I rode 50 Sunday, 20 Monday, 30 Wednesday and another 25 today—meaning I’m already at 125 miles, and I have a 55 mile or so ride set Saturday—so I’ll get to 180 miles this week.

The Saturday ride is the “Tour the Raccoon” ride along the Raccoon River Trail from Des Moines to Jefferson, sponsored by the Des Moines Cycle Club.  I’m going over to Des Moines with my sister Cate, and meeting my sister Brigid and her husband Eldon for this ride.

We’ll do the ride, stay overnight in Jefferson (well, Cate is staying in a motel in Boone, but nonetheless …) and ride back Sunday.  The ride is the full length of the trail, which is over 50 miles, so besides approaching 200 miles this week, I’ll get more than 50 on the first day next week.

Good RAGBRAI training.

It will also be hot, which is another good RAGBRAI simulation, but it will also be trail miles, not the rolling hill, road miles that RAGBRAI involves.  Still, while hill training is important, the name of the game is mostly miles, and this ride this weekend will help gain me those.

I’m also just looking forward to hanging out with my sibs and sib-in-law, too.  Eldon and Brigid will probably be on the trail before Cate and I get started Saturday, since we have to deal with baggage and they’ve already handled that issue—but I’m sure we’ll have some time together, too.

Anyway, on my Wednesday and Thursday rides, I saw a lot of railroading in downtown CR—a train briefly delayed the joint ride north from Kirkwood that I was doing with Cate Wednesday, and there was lots of work going on along the tracks Thursday.

Such is summer … dodging roadwork, drinking from the water backpack in my front basket, learning to handle the heat …