Country Views: Paint Shaker Ride

Escape Route: Hess Road from Hawkeye Tech College

A teacher cancelling a class was the catalyst for the latest "Country Views" ride Thanks to my son's humanities teacher, he only had one class on Thursday, and since he doesn't quite have his license yet, I am "The Driver". His one and only class was about an hour and a half long, so I figured that sticking around was better than making another round trip. And if I was sticking around, why not go for a ride? 

So, plans were made, I got dressed for a ride, and I grabbed a bike and threw it in the truck bed. After I dropped off my son at Hawkeye Tech, I switched out shoes, slapped on the skid-lid, and rode off about a quarter mile to Hess Road and South out into the country. 

It was another banger of a day. Beautiful blue sky smeared with high cirrus clouds being hurried along on a Northwestern wind. But we have had an injection of cooler, Fall-like air, so it was a bit chilly, actually. Enough so that I felt it best to wear a vest over my jersey, and I was glad that I did.

I got dusted by a large garbage truck

More evidence of harvesting here.

I had in mind to do a loop, but I ended up doing a sort of out-and-back thing instead. This was due to the fact that I was riding South of Waterloo, and yes.....it was deep, chunky, loose gravel again! I wondered if the County had maybe gotten a pandemic stimulus check for road maintenance that they needed to burn up. I dunno.... Something is different this year.

I chose the Noble GX5 for this ride.

Hess Road was bad, and I was hoping that my return trip on Hammond Avenue would be nicer, but....of course, it wasn't. Actually, it was worse, if that is possible. My hands were getting shaken like I was holding a jackhammer, or trying to control a hardware store paint shaker. It was nuts how rough the gravel was. 

The thing which I found sort of ironic about all of this was how much less this struggle with the gravel South of town has become since the beginning of Summer. While the conditions haven't changed much at all, I think my attitude about this has, and as a result, I found myself smiling at one point during the ride.

I was riding, and all of a sudden it struck me that I was going along at a pretty good clip, despite the deeper loose gravel, and all the while going into the wind. Huh! Yeah, it would be nice to have smoother roads, but I was now in a mental space where it wasn't a drag anymore to be doing this. Again- I was out riding! That was all I needed out of this deal. Rough, deep gravel? Okay. So be it......

Check out that solid carpet of loose gravel!

Maybe there is a reason that the rides I have been on this year have been the way that they have been. I know I have learned to be appreciative of every one of them and to be less of a complainer. So the road is trying to shake me and my bikes to bits, but I am still here and riding. 

And that is a good thing.