Guitar Ted's Ride For Jacob: Part 2

Escape Route: Bike path to Westfield Avenue

With all the preparation work done and a decent night's sleep, I awoke at 6:00 am to feed the cat and get ready for the big ride. I had laid out most of my gear for the ride the evening before, so things would go smoothly, because sometimes I get paralyzed by choices. This eliminated being delayed by some decision on a jersey, or whatever.

I ate my traditional peanut butter and dried fruit sandwich before leaving. I had a maple syrup packet with the bike, along with a meat stick, and a small jar of mixed nuts for nutrition on the road. I was thinking I might stop somewhere to pick something up, so I packed light on the food.

I had two electrolyte supplements along on this ride. One, a bottle of stuff Jacob had purchased for himself, and my remaining Elete additive. I had six water bottles, and again, I could stop for refreshing of these, but I was hoping not to have to do this.

Geared up and out of the door at 7:00am, I was set to head through Waterloo to the North on Burton Avenue. I was hoping to beat the heavier winds forecast to hit around the noon hour. If I could attain to Janesville by around 11:00am or so, I figured I would have a leg up on the wind, and after Shell Rock it would become a tail wind. That was the plan, at any rate!

The Sunlight made a cool shadow pattern on the bike path on San Souci Bridge.

I don't think I've been out this early on Burton Avenue North before. 

Once I reached Burton Avenue I started getting into the rollers that are out there. I noted I wasn't getting up them very fast, but the gearing seemed right, and the long crankset kind of dictated a certain cadence, which was working really well. The breeze was a constant at what I would say was about 10mph at this point, so nothing I couldn't handle.

 

St. Paul's Church steeple glinting in the morning Sunlight. 

The temperature was almost chilly. Since the ridiculous heatwave and high humidities we've experienced,were so brutal, this Fall-like blast was welcomed, if not a bit of a shock. Any cooler and I would have felt under-dressed on this ride, but only because I am acclimated to the extreme heat and humidity we've had up to this point.

The odd bit of traffic out there. I probably had maybe three cars pass me out in the country all day. 

 

There are some tall rollers out near Janesville where you can get some pretty decent views. 

At the East Janesville Church I turned Left onto Marquise Road, which is the border road for Black Hawk County and Bremer County. I saw two roadies heading North up Wagner Road, a paved road, when I was crossing it. I saw another gravel cyclist heading East on Marquise as I was going West. We both waved but I kept pedaling. I headed West on Marqusie until I reached Garden Avenue and then I was forced to turn Right and go up to the County blacktop. This is the only way into Janesville from the East now that HWY 27/218 has truncated all the East/West gravel roads between Cedar Falls and Janesville.

Barns For Jason #1

Barns For Jason #2

Getting into Janesville, I decided to see if the bathroom was open at the park alongside the Cedar River just before crossing on the pedestrian/cycling bridge there. I saw a blue porta-potty in the parking lot and made a beeline to it. This was good, and when I had finished up I was off again heading due West across the bridge and then onward to a right turn on Dakota Avenue.

The Cedar River was flooding on Saturday morning.

Heading North up Dakota Avenue

Okay, I was heading up Dakota Avenue and the plan was to go North further than I ever had before on this road to catch some diagonal gravel roads which shadowed the Shell Rock River on the northeast side. The road I was looking for was 260th, which I was to make a left on. I normally never ride this going North,, as I usually come into Janesville from the West on most of my gravel travels. 

Wait a minute! This looks familiar!

Been here before. Time to see what went wrong!

Well, I saw a sign for what I thought said 260th, but with my OAES (Old Ass Eye Syndrome), and the bright Sunlight, it was really hard to see the "5", which meant I turned on 265th, not 260th. Note: Had I bothered to either have figured out mileages between turns or had drawn up a map, maybe this wouldn't have happened.

But no harm, no foul! Once I reached the West Point cemetery, I stopped and realized I could rejoin the route after a few more miles and all would be back on track once again. So, with this little snag figured out, I was off once again heading North.

Crossing the Shell Rock River......again! This was good.

 

 

Highway 3 West. Not good! You can discern the water tower for Shell Rock in the distance here. 

I was heading North on Atlas, which got me back on track. Now I was looking for a Left hand turn on Grove. I was feeling it should be coming soon, and just then I saw a sign in the distance. With a hopeful push on the pedals, I tried to see if this was my turn, or not.

When I approached the sign, it said something to the effect of Scenic Road....blah, blah, blah.... " Obviously not it. I pedaled onward. I came across a 238th Street. Nope! Kept pedaling North. Then I saw a "T", or at least I knew Atlas was ending. It was a forced Left and up a steep hill to the next right turn, and this was marked as Aspen Avenue. Gah! Where was Grove? 

I ended up at Hwy 3, and it was then I realized I was waaaaay off course!I should have turned on 238th, which then turned into Grove, but I miswrote my own cue, so I did not do this. 

Dang it! I missed both cool roads I was so looking forward to riding on. I guess I'll have to make a trip back again to check those out someday. But at the time, this was not on my mind. I was trying to figure out how to get to Shell Rock without backtracking, or taking HWY 3. In the end, I just gave in and rode the gravel shoulder the two miles into Shell Rock and figured I'd just have to take my lumps. 

There was still a long way to go. Tomorrow I will get into the final half of the GTRFJ.