Brown Season: Ride Edited

Escape Route: Hoff Road

 Well, technically speaking, it is still Winter, but what I am looking at is early Spring here. "Shoulder Season", some call it. I say it is "Brown Season" because everything is dead and some shade of brown. Anyway, the point is, it sure doesn't look like Winter, so I am calling this here little ride report a "Brown Season" report. Winter could come back, sure, but so far it is looking more and more like Spring around here.

Sunday was the primo day for riding, but I had other things going on. I missed a 50+ degree day and Sun. Monday was great, by anyone's February standards around here, and so I left for a ride in the morning with a temperature of 36°F and a stiff Easterly wind at 20mph with gusts up close to 30mph. 

Hey! I'll take it. The thing is, I was in a mind to do some longer miles, but that all changed once I got out into the teeth of that wind. My thought originally was go to ride the North parts of Black Hawk County, but the wind direction made me change my mind and I ended up departing from Prairie Grove Park again. I thought maybe I would retrace my route I took with Ben last Fall, but again- that wind! I decided it best to edit my ride on the fly.

New bottles to test and that Redshift Sports seat post there as well.

I ended up chasing the rural garbage truck for a bit there.

One of the new wrinkles to my 2022 and beyond (maybe) is that I will be doing a lot more weekday riding as opposed to weekends like most folks. Already I have run into something I never see on a weekend. A rural garbage truck! Apparently they do things 'old school' for waste removal yet in Black Hawk County. The truck was operated by two men and they hand-loaded the bin with the refuse they were picking up. Kinda like the old days when I was a kid, only the one guy that wasn't driving was always hanging off the back of the truck. 

Is that a hint of something green in that field to the right? I think it is!

Going East was......brutal. It was about as bad as it gets. Cold, rough, and I was barely moving. But I was moving, and steady pace would get me to Ansborough and I figured I could turn South there. When I reached that corner it was as if a giant took his big hands off my handlebars, and instead of feeling that constant push-back, I could move freely again. 

So, another edit was coming. I had already figured on not going East anymore, but going South was no picnic, despite the freedom of movement. In fact, I was thinking I might get blown over if the wind were to gust suddenly. So, I ended up cutting off to the West and man! Was that ever easier!

Storm clouds gathering in the North.

The first dog of 2022 was a chaser!

I wasn't too sad about doing a short ride after all. At least I got out, found out a few things, and got some exercise and a bit of a mind scrub. I also discovered we now have a new four-footed creature to deal with on Aker Road now. 

I heard the little pipsqueak first, then I saw the frantic movements of a black, furry, four-footed devil in a cow pasture. He was sporting for some fun, and was in a mood to chase, but he was hemmed in by the fencing. Not to be deterred, the dog headed for a break in the fence, (running away from me to get there) and then around and onward!

The little mutt made a beeline for me, but I could see that his angle of attack was way off. (This isn't my first rodeo) and so I decided it was time for some 'dog-sprints'. I wound up the drive train and saw that I had a good jump on the creature, so I hit the big ring and off we went.

The dog came out on the road alright, but I waited for a bit to put in a big effort, and when I pulled away a bit, the dog gave over. Whew! I was running out of gas too, so I was pleased to see that I had outrun the ankle-biter. So, if you are North of Wasburn Road on Aker this dog is at the farm on the East side of the road just North of the intersection. 

Don't say I never told ya anything......