Over 1,200 Miles and One Glove Later …

Today was, some ways, a good ride, and not great in other ways.

In the “not great” category, I lost a glove at the Hiawatha Cedar River Trail bike rack near the restrooms. Don’t know how—stopped for a snack after riding 30 miles, and when I put everything back on, I was down a glove.

Also not so great—I had ambitious plans to ride 60 miles—I was going to go 15 miles north (done) and then another 15 south. But the sky clouded up, I heard rumbles of thunder, and I headed home. The day became briefly slightly sunny again, so I did the Boyson Trail near home (and the Brentwood Hill) so I topped 40 miles for my ride—and exceeded the week’s training goal, but, still, 40 is not 60 miles.

Still, I’m glad I went on a longish ride even if not as long as intended. And today I topped 1,200 training miles in total.

The trail was blocked by a fallen willow, a very large old tree, near Center Point, so Blackie rode me for a while as I scrambled over the trail. For some reasons, dragonflies were congregated near the fallen tree, looking a little upset.

I’ve never been bothered by dragonflies. Although predators, they do no harm to humans, so there’s not reason I should be bothered by them, but you think they would look scarier to people. Somehow, they don’t.

Of course, I saw one being fed once to baby birds at the Center Point train depot—and as you can see, mama and papa must have been catching quite a few dragonflies. The birds are ready to get their learner’s permits, hand out in moody groups, start dating and leave their socks all over the floors.

I also didn’t bring Flat Catherine. Not snubbing her, just felt I wasn’t really going anywhere new. As it turns out, I also wasn’t going to as many old places as I thought.

I wore biking shorts for the first time today. Odd feeling, and my butt still got sore—but not as sore as it would have without the shorts, so they are good RAGBRAI investment. Still need to get a new mirror, a spare inner tube and various other supplies.

RAGBRAI is getting close!

UPDATE: The night after I wrote this, Audrey and I were going to head out for a walk, and I suggested we walk on the Cedar River Trail in case we could find the glove. We stopped in Hiawatha, and I looked around where I knew I had lost the glove. Audrey took off, to where I didnt' know--but it turns out she was checking the trail map kiosk, figuring that if someone found the glove that is where they would put it. Turns out to be good thinking--I'm again a two-gloved rider! And I walked with Audrey over to Dairy Queen were I rewarded her by letting her buy both of us Blizzards.

Hawkeye CC? Or Area 51? You Decide….

At first glance, it seems like a normal Iowa community college campus, newer than many, probably nicer than most.

Still, on July 7, as I bicycled in the neighborhood of Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, Iowa, I asked myself some nagging questions. And came to some odd conclusions.

Come with me, for a bit, down the rabbit hole…

Item 1: Flat Catherine was not with me. Maybe the calming influence of that Sisters of Mercy symbol would have kept my fevered brain from kicking into overdrive. But I biked this adventure without her, as she resides in my briefcase and I forgot to grab her before heading north. Forgot? Or under the mysterious mind-altering influence of some conspiratorial powers?

Item 2: I downloaded a Waterloo trail map, so I could be planning my biking route while Audrey taught an Advance course on the HCC campus. The idea was that I would ride trails in the cities while my wife taught. But the map showed a dashed line—trail under construction—along a street that turned out not to exist. Hmm. Was the map wrong? Or is there something sinister going on?

Item 3: The inexplicable oval of asphalt. Looking at HCC’s official web site map, what you don’t see is what is just north of campus, accessible from path that leads by Building 13 (of course). It is a mile-long oval of asphalt, surrounding a mowed field of no purpose, beside a spooky corn field.

What is this oval? Why are there two soccer goals, one in place as if teams would play soccer on a half-mile field, the other apparently used (not successfully) to block bike traffic to the trail?

I didn’t have a lot of options for my ride, so I just circled the oval and circled and circled. The day was drawing to a close, and, as tall corn will, the field on the north of the track gave me the creeps. I kept seeing bugs poised on the corn leaves, and I recalled news stories about tiny drones that the Pentagon is developing.

Then, I thought of the HCC logo—a hawk clearly being extruded from some plastic molding machine like Dairy Queen soft serve. A hawkbot! As I came to this realization, a red-winged blackbird perched on the western soccer goal and squawked at me. A bird or a bird bot? I pondered as I rode, when suddenly a helicopter flew overhead.

It was all adding up.

Clearly the grassy area in the oval was some sort of landing strip. Clearly, the feather by the crumbled pavement showed where bot battles had been fought. Clearly stains on the oval of asphalt were not human blood, but alien bot blood. As I photographed the stain, two “flies” landed on my leg and attempted to extract DNA samples. I fear that they may have succeeded.

You might think me a bit overwrought. But the next day, the plot thickened. I was riding my bike to work along the Cedar River Trail when I encountered a south-bound train. Southbound! From Waterloo?

There were all sorts of mysterious signs on the train, but one large tank car was truly chilling—it wasn't Union Pacific or even Canadian Pacific, my friends. It clearly said “Government of Canada” and was labeled in both English and some suspicious looking foreign froggy tongue.

And there was another tank car, covered in colorful graffiti, that was more simply coded with the sign of the foreign invader.

A maple leaf.

Blame Canada! Maybe the bug bots and bird bots were all part of a Canadian conspiracy?

If you’re reading this, check up on me. See more photos on Facebook, unless the Canadian Secret Service gets there first. My life could be in danger.

Or not.

An Eerie Ride with Flat C

I wanted to get to 60 miles for the week before the day was out, and had spent most of July 6 packing up the student newspaper office at Mount Mercy University.

When I was done, it was 6:30 in the evening.

I was tempted by the Sac and Fox. I have not done it in the very late afternoon before, but I also had not ridden it recently--and I just printed off Flat Catherine this morning, and she wanted to see someplace new.

So I took her for a ride. Headed to the Cedar River trail via J Avenue, and turned south. At 6th Avenue, I leave the trail and head north to 6th Street, where I turn east. You can cross 8th Avenue, a busy street, at a light there, and continue until 6th Street turns into Otis Road. After you pass the big Cargill plant, the road goes right by the Cedar River. Even before you reach the factory, it’s not a busy street, and after the factory, it’s a cool in-town country road.

We continued east until reaching Cole Street, and then took Cole to the south end of the Sac and Fox Trail.

It was just getting dusky when we got there, but still sunlight. I was toying with the idea of turning back, but Flat C hadn’t been on the trail yet, so I went ahead.

It was one of my fastest transits of the Sac and Fox. In the woodiest areas, the trail was settling into evening shadows, and for the first two miles or so, along the river, there was nobody else on the trail. I did not want to be on the trail in the dark, so I rode pretty quickly, although my speed on this trail is always slower than on others due to the trail's conditions.

After we passed the delta of Indian Creek, however, signs of humanity returned in the form of more trail users, and very late in the trail, the sun was shining again, which was nice.

It was a slightly eerie ride in the woodsy parts of the trail, but still pleasant. I did have to watch it a bit more on the soft spots—be careful if you bike the Sac and Fox, you’ll enjoy it, but only if you avoid being tossed by the loose places, and there are several of those.

At the north end of the trail, there’s a frog statue that someone keeps decorating for the seasons. I posed Flat C with the frog. By how it was almost 8, and I had to flip on my lights during the ride home.

I did make it to 60 miles. More photos on Facebook.

Trailer Tales, Or 2 Hard-Won Miles

Well, I didn't do the Sac and Fox today (and did not print off flat C yet, either). My July 4th biking adventure was to assemble and attach a trailer to my bike.

As you can see, despite an almost total lack of mechanical aptitude, I got the job done (although my daughter Katy probably did more than half the job).

Tristan and Nikayla were over for supper, and got to take the first ride in the trailer. I think they enjoyed it. Tristan made a few unhappy noises now and then, but I think it was crowded and warm with his big sister by his side. When we got home, he was the one who was willing to try to climb back in for another ride.

Anyway, the trailer won’t go on RAGBRAI with me, but pulling the grandkids may help get me in shape! The first ride was only 2 miles, but they were a muscular 2 miles. Wyatt borrowed Audrey’s bike and tagged along, and I’m not sure he’s ever experienced a bike moving that slowly before.

The first trailer ride, thought short, was fun. More photos on Facebook. And we’ll see what Lizzie thinks of being towed when I see her post RAGBRAI.

Where Will Flat Catherine Ride?

She could go on RAGBRAI, and she probably will.

Mount Mercy University has created a character, flat Catherine, in honor of Catherine McAuley, founder of the Sisters of Mercy.

Read about her in The Gazette, and download her for your travels.

Anyway, while I have not printed her yet, I’ve obviously downloaded Flat Catherine so she can experience RAGBRAI training and the ride.

If I get around to printing her before today’s ride, she might experience the Sac and Fox Trail …

Mama Bird is not Amused

A bird was perched with a dragonfly in its beak in the eave of the train station at Center Point, so I grabbed my camera and snapped.

The results, sadly, are a bit blurry, but you can see some babies in the nest.

Cate and I rode north to Center Point today, which added up to a 30 mile ride on a warm, but not terribly hot, summer afternoon. I have not gone beyond that point north yet, but hope to soon...we didn't have time on July 2, but may later.

I'm only 5 miles shy of the goal this week, with one more day left. Sadly, Cate won't time time to ride today, and I hope to do something fun with Audrey, but I should get a ride in today. Where to? Maybe I'll do the Sac and Fox ...

The Question of Shoes

No ride today—we were busy doing other things and it was darn hot, anyway.

So, today’s bike blog post is about shoes.

Shown are most of the shoes I own—excepting bedroom slippers and one very grungy pair of gardening sneakers. The question is, which are the RAGBRAI shoes?

The flip-flops are the only ones that I haven’t biked in. Yes, I have commuted to work wearing the sandals. But, no, not RAGBRAI were. The flip-flops will likely get to commute in luggage—I figure a pair of shower sandals would be a good idea, given the number of fungus-infected feet that might be sharing showers on a 16,000-person bike ride.

The dress shoes are out.

So the real choice is between the white sneakers and the brown sneakers. I usually wear the brown ones to work—they are my most comfortable shoes. They seem like a logical choice.

I tend to wear the white shoes for longer walks. They are stiffer shoes, and provide a bit more support. They don’t bend as the brown ones do. That might make them better for a long bike ride.

But the brown ones are best for just hanging around or short walks between beer gardens.

So the real choice is between brown and white. Any suggestions?