Gravel Ride Picture Report

I thought about ranting on the gubmints suggestions to cut spending for bicycle infrastructure and alternative transportation, but I figure that no matter what they do, I'm gonna ride my bicycle. So, instead of getting all worked up about that, I went for a ride out on the gravel.

Today, I'm going to just do mostly images, and few words. Here we go....

One bike, One speed, Open road.

You know, I just figured I would go out for a nice spin on the gravel. It's nearly always vacant, and folks out here will actually wave at you and smile, for the most part.

Mount Hope Church on Mt. Vernon Road

So, I wheeled along the rollers and went where ever I pleased. It was hot, humid, and I just stuck it on a steady pace. I felt pretty dang good too. I have to admit, that surprised me.

Tiger Lillys In The Ditches

Wild flowers are out now in droves. I will always appreciate summer because flowers are one of my favorite things about this time of the year out on the gravel roads. I picked these roads to ride now because I know there will be flowers.

Humid Haze

It was one of those days when any breath of wind was greatly appreciated. In fact, the breezes were really quite nice. However; when they died down from time to time, you could feel the heat press in around you.

A Weathered Old Farm House

I went by an old farm house I really like. It sits up on a grassy, tree lined knoll and has a great view of the land to the east. It just seems attractive to me, although it is absolutely enormous. Way more house than I would ever need! It's fun to find these cool old homes out in the country.

The road's namesake

I decided to stop a bit at the corner of Big Rock Road and Sage Road. Yep! There is a big rock here. An enormous erratic sits right on the corner, like it was planted there on purpose. What is amazing is that its position just happened to be where the surveyors laid out corner on the original grid for this part of Iowa.

Leaning Against The Big Rock

Well, I ended up getting about two hours in of sweaty, steady single speeding. I was pretty pumped to find out that Saturday and Sunday's riding had no ill effect upon the knee. I think I am over 90% on it, maybe 95+% of normal or slightly better.  That's good. I still can not kneel on it, and it feels tender right in the middle of the knee cap if I push down on it, but hey! It works yet, and I'm getting around just fine.

There. That was much better than some ol' rant now, wasn't it?

Hope ya'all had a great weekend too.