Fall Views: Hazy Daze

Escape route- The Cedar Valley Nature Trail.

 Recent Western fires have affected our air quality here in the Mid-West this week. The results haven't been as bad as what has been reported in the West, but we are affected none the less. I can feel my throat is a little scratchy, like I've breathed in some smoke. Yikes! This is not a good thing, but I went out anyway to bag a few odds and ends in my quest to get all the gravel in Black Hawk County ridden. 

The roads I was in search of this particular day were all in close proximity to the Cedar Valley Nature Trail. This trail runs into down town Waterloo, after changing names, so I hopped on the paved recreation trails and went Southeastward along with the lazy flow of the mighty Cedar River. My first left turn off the trail would be on Shaulis Road, which would then take me to a couple of really backwater gravel roads most folks would never consider riding. Weiden Road was my first gravel of the day. 

Weiden was a split affair with its middle section being chip seal and its southern end being a combination of narrow gravel and Level B Road. It is one of the rare Black Hawk County Level B's and I would bag two of those types of roads on this ride. The road was not only a split affair surface-wise, but it was bisected by the CVNT a few times as well. There are a few folks living back in there and they apparently are not afraid of sporting Trump signs. I saw more than a few on that road! 

Much of the gravel I rode was fresh, ground quite finely, and was deep and dusty. This is Weiden Road. 

 

At the Northern terminus of Weiden Road there is a gate with this sign on it.

I made the Northern terminus of Weiden Road and then doubled back and stayed left to get in the next gravel road on the list. That would be Rottinghaus Road. This road also parallels the CVNT for a short bit. I actually never noticed it when I road the CVNT this way. 

Now I have to explain that I have been on some of this before with N.Y. Roll. We did a ride about a year and a half ago now down this way in early March. It was still snowy and icy in places, and I wasn't paying attention to road surfaces and where we were exactly. So, I've done some of this before. I think Rottinghaus Road is part of that previous ride, but just to be sure, I did it again. 

Barns For Jason

The Southern end of Weiden Road comes off Washburn Road and goes by a grass airfield.

Rottinghaus Road bends South and becomes Golinvaux Road. There was a nice barn off to the North right where the road turns South. I took Golinvaux to Washburn Road, a paved road running out of Gilbertville to the East, and went to the other end of Weiden Road and headed back North. 

Weiden Road is a Level B for a good mile, I'd say, on the Southern end.

While Weiden Road is dead flat, the recent rains made for some mud holes and ruts I had to dodge!

After this I hopped back on the CVNT towards Gilbertville. Once I got to this village I headed over to the next gravel road I needed to tick off the list. A bit of Fenton Road, which runs East out of the Northern side of Gilbertville was next up. This road is truncated by I-380 eventually. I'd seen the end of it from a car several times and wondered where it went to. This was the day I'd find out. 

Fenton Road was much hillier than anything else I'd ridden so far!

Heading East, I met the maintainer. Uggh! That could only mean one thing- freshly graded gravel! And it was. It was deep, loose, and the only packed in part was where the grader's wheels had tracked the road. Of course, I pretended to be a rail car and stuck to the compressed bit of tread mark from the grader. 

Not only this, but it was much hillier! Well, to be perfectly honest, I'd been scrambling around in the flood plain of the Cedar River most of this ride previously, so any elevation changes were notable! That said, Fenton has some steep rollers. Good thing I didn't have far to go, because this was another forced out-and-back section. 

The truncated end of Fenton Road on the West side of I-380.

The last road, and another Level B section!

After returning to Gilbertville, I headed back Northwest toward my next and last bit of road to bag on this day's quest. That would be Mc Kellar Road. This road runs off Weiden, and pretty much right where the CVNT crosses it is where the intersection is. Mc Kellar runs due West from there and "T's" into Foulk Road. Perfect! I headed down this Level B which was pancake flat, like most everything besides Fenton Road. 

It's not often that you see irrigation equipment in Iowa, but this land is very sandy here and drains fast.

The Big Green Tractor Company represent!

I found McKellar to be a very unusual road. First off, it is a Level B Road, and as I have said, that is in itself a rarity in Black Hawk County. Then this road is really sandy, with big, fist sized rocks embedded into it all over the place. Finally, it runs along a field which is irrigated, and that's not usual for Iowa. So, despite the road being flat and straight, it had interest for me anyway. 

A New Holland in Waterloo? Imposter! 

 

I saw this sweet Barracuda in front of Diamond's Auto Body in Evansdale on my way home.

Well, with McKellar nicked off the list of to-do's I headed for the shed. I figured I covered about 30 miles on the trip. It was really nice that I had time to take in Fenton Road because that one was going to be hard to fit into a ride. This trip had a lot of paved riding, but there was nothing to do for it. The way some of these gravel roads lay out I simply have no choice but to use paved roads. 

Using the Cedar Valley Nature Trail (CVNT) was a nice thing, but I really am not cut out to ride miles and miles of rail trail. This sort of riding drives me nuts. Flat, limited views, and it just grinds you down. I admire those of you that like these sorts of trails, because I really have trouble enjoying cycling when I am on them. I know....... I'm not quite right. But I'd rather ride a Fenton Road all day than a flat-ish recreational trail converted from a rail road line any day. At least around here. 

The next trip will be to mop up more Eastern Black Hawk County gravel on my list. Stay tuned......