Congrats! You're invited to chafe and sweat!

Good news, blog fans. CR Biker is apparently going on RAGBRAI.

The Register stated on its web site that it would announce riders May 1, but when I checked at 10 p.m. April 30 ,,, well, the screen shot tells the story. I'm in!

Still waiting to hear from Jon--the whole reason I decided to finally do RAGBRAI is because my son is coming home to do it.

I've been wanting to exercise more and lose weight, this should help me to do it. And an MMU group is planning to do a day of the ride, I hope I see them.

Anyway, I've been hoping for this news. It's a bit scary to finally get it, but here we go!

UPDATE May 1: As important news often travels, word came by Facebook and was good. Jon is in too! He suggested a 30-mile ride to celebrate--excellent idea, but my schedule today might not allow it. Still, I'll make a point to ride some, and we're both riding this summer!

What is so cool about biking?

That's right, Fun Fruits are cool. That's a shot from Easter Sunday, my grandson Tristan enjoying some fruit snacks.

Biking is cool, too, though Tristan is too young for it. I attended a reception tonight at the official president's residence for Mount Mercy University, located about a mile from the MMU campus. Rode my bike there, which means I got the best parking place.

So what was cool about biking in Cedar Rapids today?

• The weather. It was cool (and damp this morning, although dryer and nicer going to the prez res and coming home).

• Parking. I didn't want to leave old blackie out in the morning mist, so I walked my bike into my building . My office is at a dead end stub of hallway, so I was able to simply park my bike outside my door. Try that with your SUV.

• Wearing a light that blinks on your head. Small children, in particular, seem to like it. It wasn't today, but one time when I was biking I heard a young boy, probably around 3, explain to his mother "he's got a light on his head!" Yes child, I do. How cool is that? Freaking awesome.

Rain, Rain, Go Away?

As a blogger, I’m a bit divided. I write a general, garden-theme blog at Wordpress—crgardenjoe.wordpress.com—and this biking blog.

One of my blog IDs doesn’t mind rain, unless it gets really excessive. For a gardener, wet is better than a drought.

But for a biker, rain is not too helpful. Now, I know if I get into RAGBRAI, I may have to ride in some rain, but I don’t commute when it’s wet. Both too uncomfortable, and too dangerous.

Anyway, I did get 10 miles in today, commute to and from MMU. And I was sprinkled on in the afternoon, but got home before the rain really started.

From the looks of things, I’m driving tomorrow. Hope to be back in the saddle later this week.

Lucky 13 Photos From 20 Mile Ride Today

Today, I rode my bike out to the 7 mile marker on the Cedar Valley Nature Trail and back again.

From my house, it took me 25 minutes to get to the Boyson Road trail head, about the same time it takes me to ride 5 miles to Mount Mercy. So, let’s conservatively say that I rode 3 miles to get to the trail, 7 miles out and back and another 3 home. Voila! 20 miles!

It took me 2 ½ hours, which is pretty darn slow, but I timed the first few trail miles carefully, and I was going at 12 miles per hour (5 minute miles). At that pace, why did it take so long? Well, the trail is not paved after about 4 miles, and recent rains left the limestone path a bit mushy, so I’m sure I slowed down. I’m also sure I sped up at the end, because the wind favored me heading south and I rode in 15^th gear, which I had not used headed into the wind, but the slowness of the mushy trail more than made up for the wind-enhanced speed.

I stared on the trail at 5:27 and returned to the zero mile marker at 7:05. Obviously, I fell behind the 12 mph pace. I was hoping to approach 15 mph, because that would mean a 75 mph RAGBRAI day would be a 5-hour ride, but I’m not riding that fast.

Anyway, pace is not as important as endurance. My back is pretty stiff and my butt is not happy with me right now, but I’m thinking my legs, in particular, my knees, may be able to survive RAGBRAI if I keep pushing the distance.

Of course, I don’t know if I’m in RAGBRAI yet, but I’m getting ready just in case! The day was a bit breezy, cloudy and cool when I rode, but I’m sure glad to have this trail handy.

Sadly, lots of trees have been mowed down on the stretch I rode in preparation for paving work. Then again, I have to admit that my ride kind of showed the need for asphalt on that part of the trail!

I hope sometime in early June maybe Cate and I can ride to Urbana. That would be a 13 mile trip there, for 26 miles on the trail or around 32 overall from my house. About half an easy RAGBRAI day.

Notes on photos:

First one is zero miles as I start the trail.

Second is six mile marker, where I first considered turning around.

Third, a robin yelled at me at the six mile marker while I was thinking of turning back, so I felt duty bound to go on for another mile.

Fourth, the seven mile marker where I did turn around.

Fifth, this sign amused me. No matter how fast you ride your bike, I think you could tell that there is a tunnel up ahead in plenty of time.

Sixth, a view of the next tunnel (headed south now). Requires no warning sign other than a generic wildlife one, I guess.

Seven—mushy trail north of five mile marker.

Eight—another reason ride took a bit of time—stopping to take all these photos. For this one I dismounted (yes, it’s my bike). Some of the county equipment that is ripping out trees to get ready for paving a stretch of the trail.

Nine—some removed trees left neat stumps. Others looked like they used dynamite to cut them.

Ten—mushy trail on Otter Creek bridge. Don’t know why, but it surprised me the deck of a bridge would be so mushy.

Eleven, looking west at Otter Creek.

Twelve-one mile marker, almost back to end of trail. Sumac grown here where power lines cross trail, somehow this photo captures both the beauty of nature and the bleakness of this particular day. I’m fond of Sumac, not poison Sumac but the generic, harmless bush commonly found in sunny forest glades in Iowa. It has attractive foliage and interesting fruit.

Thirteen, just for my plant fans, a final look at some Sumac near mile marker one.

Well, I survived the ride. I’m ready for more journeys!

RAGBRAI explained

Hmmm. Doing serious research into the RAGBRAI culture.

Anyway, actually, I saw this video on a Des Moines Register blog while I was doing research on the Iowa 2010 Caucuses, and this is much more fun than any political contest in which any lame people take Donald Trump seriously.

Old Tree, New Buds

My commute this morning was a bit unusual. It was a wee bit chilly, but really not too bad. That wasn't the unusual part--I had a class scheduled to tour The Gazette in downtown Cedar Rapids.

I stopped at my office first, and then headed downtown. I left about 45 minutes to get to The Gazette, and it turned out, via the Cedar Valley Trail, to be a 25 minute trip from MMU. So I had a bit of time to kill and took these photos in Greene Square Park, which lies sort of between The Gazette and the Trail.

One photo is an aluminum art "thing" that was installed in 1999. Next is some very young buds on a very old tree--what looks like some sort of pink infection is just redbud buds on a gnarly old trunk of a redbud tree that has far exceeded that tree's normal lifespan in this climate.

One the way back to MMU for my next class, I had to pass through quite a bit of construction and detour. I came back through the Evil Empire (Coe College), and ended up parked for my next class at Busse Library.

To get back to my office, I biked down to The Pit and back up the hill near Warde Hall. So this morning, I biked up Mount Mount Mercy three times.

That counts as something for RAGBRAI training.

Wear Your Helmet. Jawohl!

Photo shows WWI German helmet I photographed at Liberty Memorial World War I Museum in Kansas City in December. My bike helmet doesn't look that cool, but I bet it's lighter and more comfortable.

Ben had a potential near death experience recently. He reports he was riding a friend's bicycle in Ames, when a car failed to stop before making a right turn directly in front of him. It basically nudged him, forcing an unplanned right turn.

Ben and the friend's bike are fine, but to me, the scary part of the story is that Ben was not wearing a bicycle helmet. My bright boy who is contemplating adding pre-med to his math and biology majors, and who has studied two languages in college, could have lost it all at once.

Yikes.

When I was much younger, in the early 1980s, a sister-in-law of mine was hospitalized with a serious head blow resulting from a close encounter with a street drain cover in Davenport, Iowa. Since she suffered that head trauma, CR Biker has been pretty consistent.

When I bike, I wear a helmet. Just as I would not think of driving a car without wearing a seatbelt, I won't ride a bike without a helmet. Human skulls were not built for falls form 7 feet up at speeds in excess of 15 mph.

Ben wants us to bring him his bike when we see him this weekend. We will. And a helmet. It's a need, not a want.