Country Views: Boulders, Flowers, & Birds

Escape Route: Cedar River Bike Paths

Time to ride on Sunday in the morning, so I headed out with no real ride plan. I just looked at the weather app which said the wind, at that moment, was out of the Northeast, so that's the direction I headed. Exactly where I was going? No clue. 

It was a victory of sorts just to get out of the house. Lately that has been a problem for me. I just don't feel all that motivated, or.....it's hard to explain it. But the thing is like a barrier. Once I get outside and on my bicycle and pedaling, it seems to let go of me. It's just getting over that barrier that seems to be hard lately. I can't quite put my finger on it......

So, that's why I didn't have a route planned, and I didn't know where I was going for certain. I just knew the first order of business was to get out of the door. Once that happened I could figure it out from there. And when I subconsciously aimed my bike at the Cedar River's South-side bicycle path, I guess that's when I figured out just where I was going to go. It would be a big chunk of pavement to get to Young Road, but now I was committed.

Headed out of Evansdale toward Elk Run Heights. This amounts to a "bike lane" here.

Through Elk Run Heights and up to my turn-off, you have to deal with gravel shoulders, or be on pavement.

The infrastructure for cyclists through Evansdale and to Elk Run Heights is pretty primitive, but you can get out of the lanes of traffic if you have an MTB or a gravel bike. It isn't pretty, and there are plenty of bits of glass and rough, broken up pavement and gravel, but you can string a route together to stay out of the way of traffic. Which, in these suburbs of Waterloo, is advisable.

Even then you aren't safe 100%. I was coming up on an intersection, using the marked bike lane in Evansdale, when a motorcycle, coming up from behind me, dive-bombed ahead of me into a corner, turning right in front of me. Okay.....cheeky, but no foul, really. But on his tail was his buddy on another motorbike that tried to follow through. Fortunately, for him and I, I was aware of this move at the last minute, and I braked as he had to veer way outside into the other lane of traffic to avoid me as I was now in the intersection. 

Wow..... I'm not even sure what else to say about that except that was a really dumb decision on his part that almost caused a bad outcome. Good thing I was on the ball right then, or.......

I lived to see gravel again.

Not sure what these are, but they are purple, and that's my favorite color.

Eventually I made it to Birdland Drive and turned left, and then that turns into Young Road, and that goes to gravel, and then I was out of harms way for the time being, in terms of motorist who might make sketchy decisions. Whew!

Glacial erratics are commonplace in Iowa. I see many on my rides.

Sometimes they are small enough that farmers can move them, like these along the fence line.

Sometimes they are enormous, like this dump truck sized one, and farmers till around them.

I have noted several times when folks come to ride in Northeastern Iowa, they remark about the large stones they see sometimes off in the fields or along fence lines. These are rather commonplace here and they are glacial erratics- stones scraped up from the North by the ancient glaciers that once blanketed North America and when those sheets of ice and snow retreated, they often would drop these large boulders behind. They are a constant reminder of the ancient history of the land. 

The day lilies are out in big numbers right now in Iowa.

 

Not all the lilies I see are orange, but most of them are.

You know it is mid-Summer when the day lilies are at their height

The flowers are coming in pretty strong this year, and I am here for it. Day lilies are the predominant blossom you'll see right now, but chickory, clover, and prairie roses are out there now too. Pretty soon the cone flowers will add to the splendor of the prairies and ditches. 

A hawk soars in the air after I spooked it off of its perch.

This hawk stood resolute, however, despite my passing by.

It was also good to see something other than the Red Winged Blackbirds in the skies out there as well. The Red Tailed Hawks are out hunting now, and I did see a couple of them. Those little devils, the Red Winged Blackbirds, they had a rough day in terms of harassing me. The winds were too contrary for them to mount much of any opposition to my passing. All they could do was cluck and whistle at me as I rode by. Fine with me! 

It was a good two and a half hours of pedaling. I went at a pretty decent pace and felt a lot better about things once I did get home. I felt extremely grateful for the opportunity to ride, and despite running into a brief shower as I got back into Waterloo, it was a great ride. 

Don't let yourself be imprisoned by your feelings and just take the few steps you can towards the positive. I'm glad I did that. It isn't easy, but the rewards can be great. 

Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions.