Brown Season: Black Crows Ride

Escape Route: Moline Road North.

Wow! What a difference a week makes. Last week this time we had several inches of fluffy snow and temperatures in the 20's. This week we're cruising in the 50's, it's Sunny, and the wind actually isn't howling. 

I figure we're about two to three weeks ahead of schedule, weather-wise. The snow is, for all intents and purposes, gone at this point. The roads are, as "Tomcat" commented a day or so ago, bone dry already. I mean waaaay tooo dry! It's really pretty alarming, to be honest. 

So, I managed to slip away for a couple of hours yesterday when it was 50+ degrees out, Sunny, and just crazy nice out. The wind was out of the Northwest, and it wasn't bad, but I was working harder going North. Oh yeah....I left town from Gates Park and went North first. I didn't know how far I would go, so I just kept a steady pace against the wind and pedaled.

Lots of crows North of Waterloo yesterday.

A couple miles away and I came across a bunch more crows.

I kind of wonder if I didn't catch the crow migration from Waterloo to the surrounding rural areas yesterday. Every late Fall the crows descend upon Waterloo and live and roost in the city in various places until the snow is gone and the weather warms up in Spring. We have hundreds of crows roosting in a nearby green belt not far from where I live and those same crows haunt a cemetery a couple blocks from me where I test ride my bicycles and walk for exercise in the Winter. 

There are literally hundreds of crows in this cemetery where I go often and while that may seem creepy to some of you, I kind of like these birds. Well, I may be a bit of an odd man out in that though. Many despise the crows as they tend to roost in trees downtown and leave copious amounts of excrement on the pavements. It is pretty gross..... But I digress. 

This South facing Weeping Willow was turning green at the ends already!

My mid-90's Cycle Pro handle bar bag festooned with a Sterling Silver temple bells necklace.

The roads were really pretty smooth, hard, and very dusty. That made my bells on my bag jingle-jangle. This is the handle bar bag I used on my second self-supported tour which you can read about by looking for the "Touring Series" tab under the header. Anyway, I am using it again now to test out the Scoutset Handle Bar Rack* which I am reviewing on RidingGravel.com. I forgot how cavernous that bag is. I cannot imagine stuffing it full!

A brief stop for some pictures of review stuff.

A tributary of Crane Creek which is off to the East of Schenk Road here.

I stopped once on Schenk Road to grab some images and drink some water. It was very quiet out there. No birds at all. I was a bit shocked by this I figured I'd at least see some Red Winged Blackbirds by this point. They usually come around at about this time of the year. 

The Northern reaches of Black Hawk County on Schenk Road

I ended up feeling pretty good and went all the way to the county line. This would leave me enough time to get back to the house and get ready for work later on in the afternoon. By the time I reached Marquise Road I was ready to ditch the constant Northwest headwind. Just a mile West and I'd turn back on Sage Road and things would get a lot easier. 

Riding a mile down the county line.

 

Looking West down Bennington Road as I passed by.

It must have been blowing pretty good because the tailwind was glorious. I was soft pedaling and going at a pretty decent clip. No need to push it too hard. Several cars went by in this stretch and I forgot that I was out on a weekday. Things are a bit different when you are not out on weekends!

New paint on the Big Rock of Big Rock Road.

 I was glad to get out on such a rare early March day. It rather reminded me of what the weather is typically like for the Gent's Race. (Registration is open HERE) The temperature, the winds, even the roads I was riding were very "Gent's Race-like". That's probably a good thing too, as I am going to be doing that event this year. It is the last year it is being held, and I really do not want to miss that.

It will, in all likelihood, be the only gravel event I do all year. At least from an "officially formatted, paid-for entry fee type of an affair. Since I work on Saturday's now I really feel that I cannot abuse my new job by wanting a Saturday off every month or so. And, I only work three days a week, so it isn't like I could afford to take days off anyway. Also, there's that other thing hanging out there that may take another weekend off my schedule. 

Anyway, I'll have lots of time to ride, it just won't be aligned so that I get to ride with anyone else, is the way it looks for now.

* The Standard Disclaimer applies to the Scoutset Handle Bar rack.