Country Views: De-Hazed

Escape Route: Waterloo's vast network of alleys.

Regular readers might remember a post from a few days ago where I had to lower expectations for a ride in the countryside. The day was super-humid and hot anyway, and it would have been, mostly, a miserable time. Well, they say good things come to those who wait. That "good thing" came in the form of far cooler and less humid weather on Tuesday. 

Monday I had ride support duties for the Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective on a trail in Readlyn, Iowa. It was brutal. The temperature was in the upper 80's and with humidity it felt like 100°F. The sky had a hazy, not well defined look to it where you knew it was thick and sticky out. It was a day where if you were to take a shower you'd start sweating the moment your came out of the shower. 

Overnight from Monday into Tuesday a cold front dropped down across Iowa and the temperatures when I awoke on Tuesday were in the lower 60's with a brisk Northwest wind and a spritzing of mist was falling from the skies. The skies were de-hazed. It looked crisp and defined. It felt like something in the upper 50's outdoors and the contrast was amazing. Later in the day the mist was to clear out but the Northwest wind was sticking around. Highs were forecast for the mid 70's. Perfect weather for Summer!

Young Road

Things cleared up enough to get a little Sun

Things started out being mostly cloudy, but on into the ride the clouds became thinner, yet still big and puffy, which made for a nice time in the country. The wind out of the northwest was hurrying the clouds along which made shadows fly across the rolling hills in an ever-changing pattern of light and dark. 

The roads were really pretty good. There was loose gravel, but it had been sorted into lanes by traffic, or reduced in chunkiness by the grinding of passing wheels. The resulting dust made for a very dirty bicycle afterward!

She wasn't about to yield!

Chicory!

I was startled as I was climbing a roller on an Eastern section of Young Road by a doe just standing at the crest of the hill in the middle of the road. She stood there, staring me down. I wanted her to clear the way, and not startle her too badly, so I stayed put where I noticed her. I grabbed my camera, at which point most deer would scurry off seeing the movement, but she held her ground. 

I actually got several shots of her, then I started whistling and talking in a calm voice, but nothing was persuading her to move off that hill! Finally I clipped in and started rolling slowly toward her at which point she turned-tail, spurning the gravel into the air, and trotted off down the other side of the hill never to be seen again. That was fun! 

Oxley Road

I had a plan to roll Eastward to a point past Canfield Road, which is paved, and see how I felt then. I was bucking a bit of wind going this way which made me think that the wind had switched from the Northwest to North-Northeast. Hmm.... Going North would be hard. I was riding the Honeman Flyer single speed. I didn't want to overdo things and I also wanted to make it back before suppertime. 

I ended up heading North on Oxley Road, then jig-a-jog over to Nesbit Road, then three miles to Newell Road and a left turn back toward Waterloo. That wind was a bit stiff! I wasn't mad about turning out of it, I'll tell ya that much!

Some late-blooming Day Lillies hanging on in the North ditch of Newell Road.

Barclay United Presbyterian Church

The turn out of the wind made riding more fun and less work. I noted a lot of wildflowers along Newell. Day Lillies, Chicory, prairie roses, prairie sunflowers, and some others I don't know the names of. And that pesky invasive, the wild parsnip, was running wild out there this year. Nasty stuff that! Don't ever touch it! 

I was out close to two and a half hours, maybe a bit more, and had a great ride. I saw a total of three adult deer and one fawn, no traffic out on the gravel at all, and no dogs at all. That last point was weird, but nice. 

We are supposed to be a bit less hazy, humid, and hot for the next week. I will have to see if I can squeeze in another country ride soon.