Brown Season: Downhill and a Tailwind to the End

Croxton Road

 Well........it's over! I've completed "The Quest", and just in time! Winter returned over the weekend and the Spring-like temperatures of Thursday are now a distant memory. I'm glad I have that wrapped up for many reasons, but not the least of which is that it would be infinitely more difficult to ride longer section of gravel out in the open now. I'm very glad I don't have that to worry about!

So, a lesson learned which I will now share. Last Summer I was out in Eastern Black Hawk County on one of these quest rides and I looped through Jesup Iowa and headed out of town South and West to catch the end of Young Road and eventually find my way back to Waterloo. Well, as fate would have it, I rode right past Croxton Road. I knew it had to be an 'out-and-back' section of road as it went South straight towards Highway 20, which is a limited access highway. I figured I'd get back to that, besides, I hadn't studied the maps to even realize that Croxton Road was there or how I might make it work into another route. It wasn't on my radar that day anyway. So I rode straight on by. 

Big mistake!

But not only that, I had a second chance to bag it last month and I passed on that opportunity. Now Croxton Road was a pox on my brain. A short crumb of gravel left out there dangling that now I was going to have to make a special effort to go ride. What a pain! I should have just knocked it out when I first saw it, and you wanna know why? The kicker is that it is all of a quarter mile long! 

Gah! Oh well. I had to take my medicine and drive all the way out there, hop on my bike, and within about ten minutes I was done with that one. Then it was on to the last loop. The last bit of 'The Quest' that was left out there. It was a loop which would have about eight miles of road that I had to bag yet, plus another 3/4's of a mile I needed to get nearby. These were close enough together that I could combine it all into one bigger ride. 

The end of Croxton Road was right on Highway 20 near Jesup.

The stub end of Miller Creek Road that is East of HWY 218

After dealing with the mistake of ignoring Croxton Road I went to an access off the Cedar Valley Nature Trail just North of Ripple Road which I could ride to and take Ripple Road over Highway 218, go West to Cotter Road, North then to Miller Creek Road, and then east to bag the road as an out-and-back. Then I would retrace my steps to Cotter Road and find Quarry Road Eastward to Kline Road, which began my 'new-to-me' section. 

Now when I reached Miller Creek Road, I'll be danged if that Eastward section wasn't chip sealed! Arrgh! Once again, the State DOT map was wrong. I went to Highway 218 anyway because the last tiny bit East of the highway was gravel and I bagged it and went on my way. 

Miller Creek Road's terminus East of Highway 218.

Barns For Jason #1 - This on Kober Road

The wind was up out of the South, and unlike the previous day, this time the wind was significant. The flags were standing straight out and rippling fiercely, so whatever that wind speed is, that is what it was. All I know is that the wind was tough to ride against. But this route direction was chosen so I would dispense with the rough part first. I just needed to be patient and 'eat my broccoli'. Dessert would be served later. 

Kober Road looking into Benton County in the distance.

Barns For Jason #'s 2 & 3: This is at the corner of 14th Ave & 50th St. Dr in Benton County.

I jig-a-jogged over to Kober Road and then south through to Benton County where I could take the next Westbound road and return North, eventually coming out on Kline Road in Black Hawk County. 

Barns For Jason #'s 4 & 5: This round barn on 50th St. Dr. One of three made of ceramic tiles thought to have been sold by James McQuilkin of the Johnson Brothers Clay Works. 

Kline Road looking North

Once I rounded the corner down in Benton County I could get the benefit of the big Southern breeze. But that also meant that it would feel much hotter and the air temperature was soaring. When I started out at Croxton Road it was still nippy. In the upper 30's. But by this time the mercury had soared up into the low 50's and it would scrape 60 before the end of the ride. I had to find a way to ditch my heavy Bontrager windbreaker. I already had removed my gloves by this point. But where to stow this stuff? I had only a Bike Bag Dude Garage Bag and nothing else. 

I dug around in the top tube bag and found an old ByKyle junk strap from Trans Iowa v5, I think! I have a few extras of those, anyway.... I also had several rolled up Velcro straps from Giant bike builds which I had saved, rolled up into tiny balls, and stuffed into that top tube bag. Who knows when you'll need those! Well, that 'when' was right now! 

It was super dusty out there, as you can see by the 'contrail' left by a semi-tractor trailer which had just passed on a crossing road.

Barns For Jason #6 and #7 on Kline Road

I rolled up the Bontrager windbreaker as tightly as I could. I "X" wrapped it tightly with the straps and then with my last one I hung it from the handle bars in front of the head tube. Perfect! With the ear flaps in the 'up' position on my Walz Caps wool cycling hat, I was ready to take on the final miles of this ride, and of "The Quest" overall, which lay before me.

An unmarked cemetery just a bit west of LaPorte City on Kline Road. 

It doesn't look like much, but this is a downhill on Ripple Road, the last gravel of "The Quest".

I had a mahoosive tailwind and so it didn't take long, or much effort, to clear the rollers and get back to Ripple Road, my final descent to the CVNT and then just a short mile back to the truck. Ripple Road ends on a dirt two-track before it reaches the recreation trail, and as I went through a bit of a depression in the road, I heard a "SNAP!" and then my saddle felt all wonky. I thought at first the saddle clamp had rotated and that my saddle was severely 'nose up' now. But when I stopped I saw that I had actually snapped the seat post!

Well, that's the end of the line for that Specialized C-GR post!

Dang! I was sure glad THAT never happened out in the middle of nowhere! I don't know how many gravel miles I've put on that post this Summer, Fall, and now Winter, but it has been a LOT. 

Anyway, this meant the last mile plus was done standing up. At least that was on flat rec trail! Looking back, if you had to break a seat post, this is how you'd want it to go. It didn't snap off, it didn't cut me, it didn't leave me with 30 miles to go, and "The Quest" is over. How about them apples?

Well, I didn't buy the post new, I bought it used and only for $35.00, so I don't have a warranty and I got what I paid for out of it and more. No hard feelings, but it does raise some concerns about carbon fiber seat posts again. This will be the second one I've broken. Some posts are better than others, so I don't know that it is 'carbon' necessarily, but when carbon fails...... Yikes! 

Anyway, this is about finishing up "The Quest", not about a stupid seat post! Yes! I am finished! I cannot say I had any standout feelings about finishing up as I rode in, pre-breaking post. I did laugh out loud at one point when I thought about how ridiculous this whole ruse was. Ride every gravel road in the county? Ha! What a dumb idea! Or was it? 

I'll have a post following where I will look back specifically at my thoughts and feelings concerning this crazy idea. There I will share my thoughts more fully about completing this deal and what I have learned from doing it. So, for now I am free of this burden I created for myself. It kind of took over my 2020, but......what else was I gonna do?!

Stay tuned for the final look at The Quest.