Fall Views: Coffee Outdoors

Escape Route: The Green Belt

 Friday I took my camp kit and some other stuff out on the Black Mountain Cycles MCD to do a final test on the Old Man Mountain Elkhorn Rack. I decided an 'out-and-back' trip for some 'outdoor coffee' was something I could fit into my schedule okay. So Friday it was and I hit the streets over toward the Green Belt for a short run out to the lake out there. 

I hadn't been out to the Green Belt in ages, so I didn't know for certain what I'd find. That said, by this time of the year the City has usually cut a path through the woods in preparation for Winter and the hikers and XC skiers that they cater to. Sure enough, when I crested the dike and dove down into that sweeping left hand bend, I found that to be true. 

The trail was dry. As in really dry. The Green Belt is fast and smooth when it gets like this, and it was perfect for the 700 X 47 Teravail Rutland tires I was running. It might seem like a gravel bike is a strange choice for single track, but in this case, a mountain bike - a modern day, up to the minute design MTB - would be 100% overkill in terms of capabilities. No need for anything here that a modern 'low-slack' hardtail offers. 

The City of Waterloo's solution for crossing the feeder creek into Black Hawk Creek.

N.Y. Roll had told me that the City had "fixed" the crossing of a feeder drainage to Black Hawk Creek from a adjacent marshy/low lying/backwater area that often gathers water and then drains it off through a few drainages to the Black Hawk Creek. One of these has perennially been an issue in that it has often eroded more deeply and thus has often become a challenge to cross. This occurs at a point where the dike for the Black Hawk pinches down close to the creek itself and then has a 90° corner which then accommodates and helps define this low lying, marshy area. 

The crudely made "Missouri Crossing" (low water crossing), is done in a manner which I feel won't last in a high-water episode. For one thing, that gravel will erode and get washed away as this drainage can often generate some pretty high velocity current through here. But we'll see. It's good for now, obviously, and it works so that you don't have to dismount to cross. 

Typical Green Belt single track

Out near the "Green Belt Lake".

The Sun was out and not a cloud was in the sky. The temperatures were in the upper 60's and it was dry and about as perfect as it gets in Iowa. A truly glorious day for a bicycle ride. That said, at my age I have a right eye that does not like dazzling lights or shadow to light in quick succession. Riding single track here under a bright Sun gets you that dappled light effect, almost like a strobe light at times, and I just cannot ride at the speeds I used to through here safely due to how I see things ( or don't see things!) now days. So, I was going along at a moderate pace and taking it easy.

This looked like a fine place to have some coffee outdoors.

 

Fire it up!

I ended up finding an old picnic table along the shoreline of the "Green Belt Lake". We always used to call it "Martin Lake" since it was off Martin Road, but names have a way of getting changed for things around here with absolutely no regard to local nomenclature and history. I'm fine with "Green Belt Lake", it's just a thing I've noted about place names around here through the years. 

A little pour-over action and then......

...Cheers!

The coffee making session was successful, for the most part. I need to modify my penny stove a bit, but it worked fine after I got it lit. I enjoyed a fine, strong cup of coffee sitting under a bright Sun on a cracker of a day. But after a bit it was time to head home and grab some lunch. So I packed up my things and not leaving any trace, I was off again on the pink BMC. 

Yes- There is single track in this jungle!

On the way back I chose one of the several 'bandit" trails I am aware of that exist throughout the Green Belt. This one is a bit of a short cut from the lake to the main Green Belt trail. It never gets mown, and I am not aware that anyone maintains this one. This trail just seems to be pretty low maintenance. Weedy, yes, but always rideable. 

A funny thing happened on the way out of the Green Belt. The exit/entrance is at the foot of the dike, and I was so lost in thought when I got there I didn't know where I was for a second when the single track petered out! Ha! This isn't gravel where you can pretty much get into a trance and still find your way! Single track demands your attention! 

It was a successful ride. Coffee outdoors was had, a first on my own, by the way, and that is a shame. I need to do this a lot more.