Turkey Burn Report: Part 1

Escape Route; Out of the darkness....Into the Light!

My Thanksgiving actually happened on Wednesday because all members of my household family had that day off this year. So, Thursday was a wide open day for me. It also was going to be the best day for the weekend to ride out in the country, but even then, it wasn't "awesome", despite the brilliant sunshine. A stiff Northwest wind kept the "real-feel" down into a pretty chilly range, and out in the open areas it was a brutal headwind if you were going North or even West. 

And as well, I had no gumption to attack the conditions to knock out the metric century goal in one ride. So, I made up my mind after much going back-and-forth to do a big push on Thursday and a few smaller rides sprinkled throughout what became a much chillier weekend. 

Plus, I had to get more time on that Tumbleweed Big Dipper bar, so I came up with a plan to hit the Washington-Union Access trail and then some gravel on the way back into town. The Washington-Union Access is Northwest of where I live, but much of the way out I would be hugging the Cedar River and staying in the woods, out of the wind. 

It isn't yet 2:00pm at this point and it looks like the Sun is setting! Well....at this time of year, it is!

 

The new bike trail along Center Street in Cedar Falls. (Old HWY 218)

The Singular Gryphon, with its big 2.8" tires, was like a floaty magic carpet ride on the way out. Those big tires would be a huge asset on the Washington-Union Access trail coming up. This trail has been a fire road type corridor for decades that not many people utilize in their riding. I first heard about it way back in my college days when I overheard some UNI football players speaking about using it as a training run course. 

I first went up it back in the 1990's on my MTB bikes, but since then I don't hear a lot of chatter about people using it. Fortunately it has received a bit of attention from the County as it has been maintained better than it had been in the early 2000's. 

The trail starts at this inauspicious looking gate. Beyond it is where Adventure begins!

Looking back here. Right off the get-go you get this very rocky section.

 There has been a bit of maintenance done quite recently that mitigates the former severity of the rocky section which I usually would have to dismount for. Loose, baby head sized river-washed limestone boulders were strewn across this section and if you had a full-suspension rig, yeah maybe then. But I wouldn't risk it on a slow-roll, such as it is, on a full-rigid bike previous to this new situation. Still, you never know what is underneath that carpet of leaves! 

The Washington-Union Access Trail is pretty wide and smooth in spots.

I made some navigational errors starting at this beautiful meadow

My original plan was to find the intersection of the Ford Road Access Trail with the Washington-Union Access Trail. I had been on the Ford Road section from Ford Road about a month prior to this ride, and it was looking to be in fantastic shape. However; I was snookered into following a trail that turned out to be a dead end instead. 

The Sunlight was running out and making circles in the forest was not on my radar. I was a bit frustrated, but I wasn't through making gaffs just yet. Not long after I rejoined the Washington-Union Access Trail I saw a sign that said something about the Cedar Valley Savanna Project and a fresh-cut trail that led off in the general direction of the Ford Road Access. 

That was a complete disaster as it was a trail so new that it had a thousand sticks and branches laying in the bumpy, tractor-tracked up trail which was a recipe for a sheared derailleur if I ever saw one. Fortunately I extricated myself without any damage to myself or machine. But not before I had probably wasted another fifteen minutes chasing a trailhead I never found. 

Back to the main trail! Time was running out on this day!

Coming back out of the Cedar Valley Savanna Project trail which was a total dead end for me.

This field marks the ending of the trail on the North side. Those woods are where the Washington-Union Access is located.

The Sun was Westering and I needed to get a move-on. I was smart enough to have a full lighting kit with me though, so I was only really concerned with getting back into the city environs before I lost all Sunlight. 

Plus, I would have the benefit of a fairly stiff tailwind all the way back home, and I was looking forward to that. I figured I might even claw back some of the time I lost going in circles trying to find that Ford Road cut-off. 

Riding alongside County C-57. I stayed on the gravel shoulder.

And now the tailwind section starts! Ford Road looking South from C-57.

I reached C-57 just East of the bridge over the Cedar River which marks that river's confluence with the Shell Rock River. Just a bit further upstream on the Shell Rock is where the West Fork of the Cedar River joins the Shell Rock River. This entire area was once a large hardwood forest and a gathering place for Native American tribes in the past to do their Summer hunting. This went on until the late 1850's until the last of the Ho-Chunk people quit coming there due to the encroachments of European settlers which began hacking back at the Big Wood for lumber, farmland clearing, and road construction. 

It was the Native Americans which gave this area its name, "The Turkey Foot", because the waterways formed a sort of "turkey footprint" on the land. Now it has become a popular riparian area and a place where Americans now build their rural "McMansions". 

Another new "McMansion" going up on the North side of Ford Road.

The shadows grow long on Ford Road

Ford Road was in excellent condition for fast gravel-travel. I pushed the pace to try to beat the Sun before it set and get back to Cedar Falls, at the least. I was pleased with my pace as the Sun seemed to linger on the horizon.

That round, dome shaped building is the Cedar Falls Ice House Museum. Yes- it is an old surviving ice house.

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church stands awash in the last glow of Thanksgiving Day, 2023.

I made it back into Cedar Falls. The Sun was setting, but I turned my tail light and head light on low anyway. I suspected not many motorists would think a cyclist would be out at that time of day on a Thanksgiving. 

I quickly rode along darkening city streets and bicycle trails. Maybe I would make it back before it got really dark. That tailwind really helped me out! I was thankful for that for sure!

I encountered an abnormal amount of people on the Trolley Car Trail, and amazingly, each group or individual was walking a dog. Weird! I must have hit the jackpot on dog walkers. 

A last ray of Sunlight strikes this graffiti art. As seen on my way through Cedar Falls.

The Sun finally sets just as I crossed Black Hawk Creek, a half mile from home.

I rounded the corner to see my home just as it was getting dark enough to have to have the lights on. I was able to squeeze every last bit of the day out enjoying that ride, for the most part. Those minutes lost scrambling around on fresh-cut trail notwithstanding. It was a great nearly four hour adventure, and I figure it left me with about half the mileage to go on a metric. (I should have run a GPS, but I didn't!)

Let's see in tomorrow's post if I am able to chew into that deficit some more.