Thursday, April 01, 2010

Dusty Roads

I did Trans Iowa recon again yesterday, (full report to be posted Saturday) and I saw some awesome roads and scenery. I love this part about putting this event on. I get to go drive roads I wouldn't normally ever consider, and I find stuff I never knew about, which inspires me to want to ride more.

I am pretty pumped about it, and the thing is, I can't say anything now without giving too much away about the course. I'll comment on it all later this summer, and maybe I'll even ride some of this stuff too. Like the B Maintenance road pictured here. It isn't on T.I.V6, but I had to stop and look longingly at this wonderful old pathway. I would love to ride this, and I would have any other time, but time is so short, and we have so much recon to do yet that all I could afford to spend was a few minutes staring down this quiet back road. (You can click on the pic to really get a good look if you want to)

Stuff like this makes me want to quit my job and just ride dusty roads for weeks at a time. Too bad the pay isn't much for that job! And the thing is, there are some beautiful views tucked out of the way in this state. No wonder they called Iowa "the beautiful land" back in the day. You wouldn't know if all you've done is sped down the interstate. Nope! This stuff is out of the way on roads to nowhere. You have to "turn over a few rocks", as it were, to find the gems.

Get out and explore some of your own "back yards". You might just find your eyes opened and your jaw slack a few times at what you discover.

Happy trails!

4 comments:

Ari said...

That is part of the reason we love coming out to do the t.i. we are blessed and spoiled to have so many hundreds of miles of gravel. In europe most gravel roads are dissapearing quickly.
ari

mw said...

our singletrack is dry...for the most part...around these parts.

Al said...

Yes it was dusty out there. I had to go to LaCrosse yesterday, so I planned a side trip to Iowa. Rode the course for TI3 between Decorah and just south of Waukon. Saw some bald eagles and red tail hawks. I also saw some snow on a b road that came accross on my ride back to my parking spot.

MG said...

lookin' good... yeah, we're rockin' singletrack here. it's full-on in-season.