Geezer Ride- Spring Edition '17

Last Fall's Geezer Ride.

During late 2014 I had an idea, (yes, one of those things that gets me in trouble!), and I proposed a "geezer ride", to invite all new-to-gravel people to come out and try a slow, no-drop ride on gravel. It was, by all accounts, a success to the point that I was encouraged to continue putting them on.

So, in 2015 and 2016 there were two Geezer Rides each, and the first Geezer Ride was back in the Fall of 2014. That makes five so far. Today I am announcing Geezer Ride 6.0- Spring Edition '17.

Last Fall I did a solo ride which took in four counties in the local area- Black Hawk, Grundy, Butler, and Bremer Counties. I dubbed it the "Four County Tour". This will be the Geezer Ride for this coming Spring. I will give an overview of the ride and some basic details here today, but if you are interested, stay tuned to the Geezer Ride page for updates.

From last Fall's Four County Tour

The ride will start and end in Hudson, Iowa. I will pick a starting point later, but it will likely be downtown. We will eventually end up back in Hudson afterward and hopefully be having a few adult beverages. Anyway, it is the in between part that will be where the real fun happens!

I will have to do a recon ride or two to sus out the exact route, but my initial feelings are that we will go West into Grundy County first, take in Dike, Iowa, then head North. This will bring us to Butler County. The terrain is mostly gently rolling hills interspersed with long flat runs. Then there will be a bridge we will cross, (Image above), which we will eventually come back to cross again. It is the only bridge on gravel across this river for many miles.

Now here's the part I am not 100% sure on yet. I could take the route into and out of Shell Rock, Iowa easily enough, but how many miles do I want this Geezer Ride to end up being? In the past I've tried to limit this to around 40-ish miles, but subsequent rides have crept up in mileage with no one really complaining. Add to this that most of the route isn't all that hilly, and I am toying with doing a metric century. (63-ish miles) I don't know just yet, but I will decide after I do the route on my bicycle this Spring.

This could make the route. If so, expect a big climb!

At any rate,we will end up in Butler and then Bremer Counties, looping back around, possibly going in to, and backtracking out of, Janesville, or maybe by-passing Janesville to the West and then coming back pretty much straight South, with a detour to cross the aforementioned bridge again.

Then we'd go back to Hudson, obviously, and have a social time. So, that will be a fun route with rural churches, cemeteries, small towns, and we could cross several bigger streams. Then the question is when? 

Picking a date to do something like this- likely an all day activity- is going to disappoint someone, because Spring is a crazy time of Mother's Day, graduations, weddings, not to mention several big gravel road events all over the place. So, if I pick a date that makes you unhappy, don't be surprised. I realize someone is going to be upset, but that's the way things go. Know this- I am picking the date based upon what works for me. Ya know.......because I am organizing the ride, so I should probably be there, don't cha know.

With that said, and a look at May, I am thinking Saturday May 13th, which is Mother's Day weekend. If I hear enough yammering, I might be convinced to switch it to the weekend before, but that is one week after Trans Iowa, so I am not real motivated to do that weekend. Just so you know. The next weekend, the 20th, is Almanzo, and I will be there supporting that event as part of RidingGravel.com.

Okay, stay tuned for details coming soon........