Friday News And Views

Coming to Iowa City. If you are interested in learning the ropes about gravel- GO!

How To:

So, maybe you've heard about this gravel road stuff, and you'd like to know more. Maybe you know someone who isn't in to it- yet- but you think they would love it. Well, check this out then.

It is "a friendly clinic on getting more comfortable riding gravel", according to the Facebook event page for this. The route won't be overly long, and it will be led by Trans Iowa finisher (and finisher of other great gravel events), Andrea Cohen. She will be sharing great tips on what to look for out there in the country and help you from making mistakes that would turn a potentially great ride in to a slog.

Hit the image above to make it bigger, all the important fine details are there. For questions or comments, send an email to birdsofafeatheriowa@gmail.com and get ready to have a great day on the bike.

The flowers were poppin' on the 4th.

Flower Time:

Okay, this period of Summer might be one of my favorite times to ride gravel. Yes......it can be brutally hot and humid, but that's the price I'm willing to pay for the show. The show of Summer flowers.

I was kind of under a time constraint when I did my 4th of July ride, or I would have gotten a zillion images of ditch flowers. Purples, yellows, oranges, and the occasional reds, pinks, and white flowers were everywhere. There are no boring roads in July in Iowa, if you like flowers.

I had to stop just past my resupply point to quaff my malty beverage and that's how I got the image of the "tiger lily" you see today. Otherwise I would have no flower images. I don't typically take them from the bicycle, preferring to get up close and personal, not a far away shot with no detail.

So, don't be surprised if I have a post coming soon entirely of flowers. You long time readers already know I do that though! No surprise to you, I am sure. Anyway, if you love wildflowers,this is the time to go get a look.

Searching for the right roads....

GTDRI Update:

My ride on the 4th was supposed to be a partial recon ride, but I got off track, and the aforementioned time constraints were a part of that as well. This weekend will be taken up mostly by a trip with my son. However; I do have some open time Sunday, which I may be able to use. If I do, I'll probably resort to using the truck for recon.

I hate to do that, but to get the recon done by the end of the month, well, I may need to get the route looked at by means of my truck. There are a few question marks that I need to check out. One in particular that I think is a "C Maintenance Road" and not all Level B.

I have done the route draft, so that's solidified, it is just making sure it actually exists. That's kind of important given the number of miles of Level B I have stuck in the route. I have done GTDRI's in the past with parts of the route not reconned so I actually have some fun with it, but a lot of this route is all new to me. I don't feel comfortable inviting folks to a ride where this many roads may have issues.

So, expect a recon report at some point on the route and I'll have some images to share to go along with it. I still may ride a portion of it, but I probably won't get away long enough to do the whole route by bicycle. Maybe.....but maybe not. We'll see.

Okay, have a great weekend and get some riding in!