Country Views: 4th Of July Ride

Escape Route: Sergeant Road Trail.

I usually go for a July 4th ride every year to celebrate the fact that I can go for a July 4th ride every year. Freedom. It's nice to have that ability to go places without being constrained by a government or what have you. 

Anyway, this year I was not all that sure I could move about freely because storms were forecast and well, I don't want to be a lightning rod. 

So much for freedom, eh? The weather rules! 

And the weather ruled for sure. It was beautiful on the 4th, and rain did not come into play until Sunset, well after I was finished up with my riding. The only niggle I had with the weather was with the stiff Southwesterly wind. 

I found my old Stars and Stripes jersey which I wore on RAGBRAI in 2002. I still can wiggle into it, so I wore that, my Stars and Stripes buff on my head, and my new Mint socks. They are really great socks, by the way, and no - I did not get them for free. I just really like them.

It was hovering around 80°F and the wind was something around 20mph, so I went South first and decided to do my "Tour of Southern Black Hawk County" loop. I took the Noble GX5 so I could further experience those new WTB tires I just got not long ago.

The gravel was mostly like this for all the gravel on  the 34 mile loop.

This hill on Aker Road reminds me of the hills in Nebraska around Lincoln.

The long slog into the wind was going well because I decided not to burn my matches on the flat Sergeant Road bike trail. That allowed me to not have to stop all the way down until I reached Quarry Road where I wanted to look at the radar. We had rain forecast at a pretty high percentage and I could see thunderheads off in the distance to the West and North. I didn't want to commit to the full route unless I felt secure that I was not going to end up in the midst of a thunderstorm. 

Oh! And by the way, the weather service finally took Black Hawk County off the drought list. That hasn't happened in a few years. So, any extra rain we were going to get was bonus moisture. In some cases, it wasn't wanted moisture. 

The view from the bridge on Quarry Road looking North back up Aker Road.

The first "corn height check".

It is kind of a tradition with these 4th of July rides for me to find a spot to gauge the corn growth by contrasting it with my bicycle. When I do this I have to be careful to find places where I am not trespassing into a field or on property belonging to a farmer. I will only go as far as the edge of a ditch to get these images. Maybe that's pushing the boundaries a bit, but I mean no harm and I leave things as I find them. 

Anyway, the corn has been kind of all over the place for height this year. But lately, with all the rain and higher humidity, the corn has really taken off. My first check was a spot where the corn was only so-so, but obviously well above "knee-high", as the old saw goes. 

Chasing that long rocky ribbon.

Corn Height Check #2: Now that's impressive!

As I turned onto Quarry Road to go East I realized that this was a great day. Now the wind wasn't such a bother, coming at me from a quartering tailwind sort of way, and the gravel was fantastic. None of that rubble from ditch to ditch for miles as it had been down this way for the last couple of years. 

I felt pretty good too, and I was very thankful for that as I had woke up feeling awful, truth be known. This was turning out to be a right awesome ride and no rain was in sight after all. That said, I could look North and see some tall thunderheads off in the far distance. Rain was falling somewhere in Iowa, but not in Black Hawk County on the 4th. 

Looks like rain up North, but it never got close to me.

There were some clouds way off in the Southeast as well.

The gravel continued to be awesome with the exception of the last mile I was going South on Aker which had fresh gravel in short stretches. The recent rains have kept the gravel hard packed and the base firm, so the riding has been a lot better so far everywhere around Waterloo, but especially so South of town. 

That's an old rock quarry to the left. In fact, there is a quarry at each corner of the intersection ahead.

I made it up the hill where Quarry Road gets its name. There are four rock quarries filled with water now, as the quarries ceased to be mined years ago. The odd thing is that the one on the Northwest corner of Quarry Road and Dysart Road has had all the tree cover removed from around it. Now I can clearly see the water in the old quarry as I ride by. Did I see this is going to be a County park soon? I thnk I saw that somewhere.... 

Foulk Road

McKellar Road.

I made an interesting observation on this ride. I saw only two American flags being flown with no other indications that it was the Forth of July. And isn't 2024 an election year? You wouldn't know it out here in the country around Waterloo, nor would you know that driving around town. The utter lack of any political signage is amazing. Come to think of it, those annoying text messages have all but ceased as well. 

I rode through what was a notoriously "Trump" neighborhood on this ride. In 2020, you'd have thought this was Trump-central. There were signs, flags, banners and what not all throughout that neighborhood. This year? Nothin'. Nada.... No sign of support at all anywhere. 

No other commentary about that from me other than, "That's kinda weird". 

Corn Height Check #3: Again - Impressive!

This corn is ready to tassel out any day now.

So, I ended the ride doing mostly bike path from Evansdale to Waterloo and then a few oddball streets back to the house. I got a comment on my Stars and Stripes jersey from a local guy who was telling me I should "go home". Not sure what that means, but it wasn't meant in kindness, that's for sure. 

Weird year this year. At least the ride was fantastic, and I was in the Sun the entire ride as well. No rain! Time now to mount some tires and do a bit of switching around. Stay tuned....