Country Views: Dave Squared

Escape Route: I-380 to Cedar Rapids

 Several weeks ago I was made aware of an opportunity to share a ride and perhaps get a podcast in with Dave Pryor. Dave is the co-founder of the unPAved of the Susquehanna River Valley event in central Pennsylvania. I've known Dave since the early "twenty-teens" and I have interviewed him several times already, but we'd never really spent any significant time together. 

Dave had an opportunity crop up with his day job that was to send him to Marion, Iowa, just a stone's throw from Cedar Rapids, and he'd signed up for Gravel Worlds as well. He wanted to squeeze in some time on the Sunday after Gravel Worlds to meet up with N.Y.Roll and I. 

So, the plans were laid and everything came together to allow for me to get down there and ride with Dave, and since N.Y. Roll's first given name is also Dave, I think the title to today's post should be self-explanatory. 

So, there ya go.... 

Dave's bike still sporting his number plate from Gravel Worlds.

 

We rode from the heart of Cedar Rapids down this paved bike path to Ely, Iowa.

Our adventure started with some great grub we procured from the NewBo Market. Then we repaired to Goldfinch Cyclery to hook up with Dave. I can highly recommend both places and they are very close to each other in location as well. Goldfinch is a stellar shop, and I enjoyed poking around in there. Thaddeus and the rest of the crew were super nice and confirmed our planned route was a good one. They have a lot of gravel routes figured out down that way, so check in with them if you're ever in the area. 

The first hill on gravel. Welcome to Iowa, Dave!

What a great day for a ride!

The bike path scene in Cedar Rapids is serious business. I saw far more people out than I ever do around Waterloo or Cedar Falls. Sure, Cedar Rapids is a big city, but they've got us beat hands down from a vibrant cycling community perspective. 

Once we got close to Ely, we peeled off the bike path, rode a big hill into the edge of town, hung a downhill to the left and off into gravel. The first hill was a doozy and here I was on my Pofahl single speed! Grunt!

New roads to me means one thing: Barns For Jason #1

Big hills were the order of the day on gravel.

I wasn't of the understanding that this part of Iowa had such big rollers, or I'd have brought the Standard Rando v2, most likely. As it was, I was getting hammered by these hills. I haven't spent a lot of time on a single speed on big rollers in a while and it showed!

Barns For Jason #2

The prairie sunflowers reminded me of last year's Gravel Worlds in places we rode Sunday.

Fortunately "The Daves" would stop and allow me to compose myself after a few of the nastier climbs. I was appreciative of that, and I knew I was dragging a bit, but hey! I was having fun.

The last big climb brought us up to a ridge where we could look out for miles. That's Ely in the distance.

Barns For Jason #3

The route alternated between paved and gravel sections. This close to such a big city, that is not a surprise. There weren't many cars, as I recall, not until we got within a few miles of Cedar Rapids again, so it was all good. The views were spectacular though. 

A nice, twisty section of gravel that went mostly down was a welcome relief.

Barns For Jason #4

We eventually descended down to a chip seal road which was hard up against the Cedar River. We took this toward Cedar Rapids until we reached the same bike path we'd taken out of town. That led us back to the car.

That wasn't the end of the goings on though. Nope! We went then to Dave Pryor's motel room and proceeded to have a great podcast recording session. This should get released soon, and I'll likely put the link up in a future "FN&V" soon, so stay tuned for that coming up. 

Thanks to Dave Pryor for making the time for us after having to ride Gravel Worlds and drive five hours to meet us.