Country Views: Solo 3GR Reprise

It looked a lot warmer than it was, but it wasn't bad.

With Saturday looking to be the best day out of the weekend, I decided to get out and do an old route that I haven't ridden in a few years. This route was first ridden out of Cup Of Joe's/Tourists Park in Cedar Falls, Iowa, but then I modified it to start and end in Waterloo. It was the Waterloo version of the route that I did.

Of course, I am speaking about the old "3GR" route which came from a ride I instigated in the Spring of 2012. The acronym stood for "Gravel Grinder Group Ride"- Three "g's" and an "r", get it? . I started it because I wanted to do more gravel riding again, get into better shape, introduce the locals to gravel riding, and I wanted to see more of the area around where I lived.

Well, I did that weekly through 2012, '13, and then took a break in '14. I brought it back for 2015 and 2016 before retiring the ride. It was difficult to get any traction beyond a few friends over the years, and in the end, I didn't see anymore folks getting interested in gravel riding. Of course, about two years later everyone around here figured it out and now we have a ton of folks gravel riding. Welcome. We've been doing this for years.......

Anyway.... I hadn't done the 3GR for a while since in 2017, I think it was, they closed down the Ivory Road bridge and that was kind of a critical piece of the route. Sure, I went that way a few times anyway, but it wasn't looking like Bremer County was in any hurry to repair or replace the bridge, so I went looking elsewhere after they tore out the old bridge.

Since then I heard through social media that there was a new bridge, so I figured on doing an old fashioned 3GR just to see what it was like. The day started out with near record cold temperatures, so I didn't get going until 9:00am, which in reality was only a half an hour past the old 3GR stating time anyway. So, it was more like a 3GR than not. In fact, there were some 3GR's where no one showed up, and I rode alone. So, I guess you could say it was exactly like some versions of that old ride!

Heading North. The gravel was easy, the wind was at my back, until I got into Bremer County!

It was a beautiful day out, with a tad bit o breeze to start out with.

Fortunately the gravel was in "hero" condition going North and the winds were at my back, but it wasn't very breezy. Then I crossed into Bremer County and it was a different story. The gravel looked as though it had been put down Friday, and it was deep and chunky! The wind was picking up too by that time.

No real farming going on that I saw. Most of the corn is planted. I suppose beans are next up. 

Several fields had corn sprouted.

I went by Denver and not much has changed there, by the looks of things. I did note that the County road C-57 was super busy! I haven't seen traffic on that road like that since...... well, I don't know when. Not sure what was up with that.

Feel the burn. Entrance to Ivanhoe Road at HWY 63.

I met an energetic hunting dog shortly after taking this image. Fortunately its owner was at hand!

I turned West finally, crossed Highway 63, and entered one of my all-time favorite roads, Ivanhoe Road. By the way, for anyone that cares, this road, and the one mile stretch of gravel east of HWY 63, and most of Hilton were part of Trans Iowa v3's course. Anyway, I was thinking about that as I rode today, remembering Ira Ryan's midnight cruise through here and how Marcin Nowak was in hot pursuit, catching Ira after chasing for nearly 250 miles. That was pretty exciting. It would have been cool to have had images of those guys on this road, but alas, there are none to share since our photographer for the event stopped taking images at sunset Saturday of that T.I.

Ivanhoe Road was once a stagecoach route from Denver to Waverly Iowa. It also may have been an early Native American trail.

The old railroad trestle bridge carries the bike trail now days. Ivanhoe passes right underneath it.

I love that the road goes by some cool things you don't see everyday on Iowa gravel roads. There is a working dairy farm. Those used to be commonplace, but are rare now. Then there is the railroad trestle bridge which now carries the bike trail from Waverly to Readlyn. That won't always be there, by the way. Someday that bridge will be beyond repair, and I would not be surprised to see the bike trail routed to an at grade road crossing.

The road then goes through some hilly area, especially once you get on Hilton, and these are some of the tougher hills in area. Oh, but before you get there, you would pass the "hoarse dog" tied to a lead near where Hilton starts its short East-West section. That dog has been there barking at me when I go by for more than a decade. I was surprised to see it was still alive- and that it could still bark! 

 

The new bridge on Ivory Road.

I finally reached the new bridge on Ivory Road. Boy! Is that a fancy bridge or what? I was surprised at how nice it is. It certainly is a far cry from the rustic old thing that once was there to carry us across that part of Quarter Section Run.

Then I finished out the route with not much else exciting to report other than seeing a place that must have had about two dozen Guinea hens which were out on the road and in the ditches not far up the road from the new bridge. Otherwise I was just trying to beat the crosswind until I got to Bennington Road, which provided a few miles of relief until I got to Burton Avenue where I cut the route to head back to Waterloo.

Yep! Four hours on the nose, probably 40+ miles, and really tired legs later, I had done the 3GR course. It was a good reprise of that old ride which was the first organized gravel group ride in the area after Jeff Kerkove's famous ones he did in the early 00's. I may have to do that ride again soon. Maybe in reverse!