Ride For Jacob Report: Part 1

First things first: The Ride For Jacob was a big success. Not in terms of numbers, but in light of why we were riding. It was an expression of love and support for me and my family. All in honor of Jacob Stevenson, who would have marveled at the attention given this ride. 

I thank everyone out there who were not at the ride for your thoughts and doing your own rides, which I know were being done in honor of Jacob. I thank all twelve riders who showed up Saturday to ride with me. I was, and still am, very grateful for all of you. 

Thanks also to Rob Evans, Kevin Fox, and Dan Buettner for sharing images with me which I am using in these reports.  

So, now let's get into the day and the stories which became what made the Ride for Jacob such a success. The ride was attended, as mentioned, by twelve folks. We had Dave, Justin, and Tony from Waterloo. There was Rob, Dave, Doug, and Jackie from Nebraska. We also had Kevin Fox from Nebraska. There were two from the Twin Cities area, Jason and Tom. We had two from Des Moines including Dan and Steve. With myself included we had 13 riders total. 

Escape Route: Right through those shrubs!

My day started out really early when Minka, our cat, barfed up a hairball and woke up Mrs. Guitar Ted. She was not pleased and the ruckus caused me to be pretty much wide awake from that point onward. 

I ended up getting out of bed at 5:00am and having some breakfast. Two eggs and some cheese on top. Then I got dressed and ready to hit the road over to Big Woods Lake.  I was riding my Singular Peregrine Mk4. I almost took the Fargo Gen ! because I had a message from Jason Boucher that he was coming down. Jason was the one who let me have that Fargo I have now, so I kinda feel obligated to ride it when he's going to be around, but the Singular ended up being the call. 

I stepped outside at 7:20am to ride over to Big Woods Lake and the North parking lot. I figured on it taking close to an hour to get there at an easy pace, so that would be about right for the 8:00am start. The weather was odd. Very humid, but on the cooler side, with very little wind. It seemed almost foggy. My camera lens was prone to being covered in moisture it was so humid. You can kind of see that in my "Escape Route" image here. 

I don't know if it was excitement about the ride or what, but I ended up arriving at Big Woods Lake by 7:00am! I thought I'd sit in the shelter house there but the mosquitos were too bothersome, so I sat on a wooden post alongside the parking lot edge instead, and I waited for the first arrival. 

About a half an hour later the first rider showed up. It was obvious who it was by the very distinctive bicycle on the roof rack. A red Soul Craft with red anodized appointments. It could be no one else but Dan Buettner from Des Moines! 

Image credit: Kevin Fox - who is not shown here.

 Soon others rolled in and by about 7:50am everyone that was going to show up had done so. I assembled the riders and gave them my usual "fatherly advice" speech, and ended it by cutting myself short and saying"...Well, you guys all know what to do!" We had the group photo and then we rolled out a few minutes past 8:00am.

Heading up Symons Road

The jack ass and two horses were very interested in our passage

Heading out toward Mount Vernon Road, where the gravel would start, I was surprised to find Symons Road was just chip sealed. Fresh chips are almost like riding on gravel. To boot, Symons Road was a gravel road at one time, and I had ridden it back then. So this was a pleasant surprise, to me, and almost a throwback to the old days. 

Instead of doing the route like last year where I went North up Burton Avenue, we went up Leversee Road instead. I hadn't ridden up Leversee in many years. It's a nice road to ride. It was capped off with a jack ass and some horses which were running with us a bit. Then we zigged and zagged over to our first stop in Janesville at the very busy Kwik Star convenience store. 

Heading toward Janesville. Note the fuzzy image due to all the humidity

Gathering outside the Kwik Star in Janesville. Image by Kevin Fox

The stop at Janesville was nice. I did not go inside, but a few of the others did. A while goes by and then we started out for Shell Rock by heading West out of town over the Cedar River. The road is pretty flat here and there was fresh gravel which was quite dusty as well. My tires were white with the dust. I assume the moist air was partially to blame for the dust sticking to the tires. 

Jason (L) and myself leading the group out of Janesville. Image by Kevin Fox

 

Heading up to new-to-me roads.

Last year this section past Janesville is where I totally messed up in terms of navigation. I missed a turn which would have taken me on some new road along the Shell Rock River. Then I missed a turn-off to Shell Rock. This landed me on Highway 3 and then a not very pleasant run into town on that highway's shoulder. 

Now I have to take a minute to go over my latest GPS failure. You know me, dear readers! I have no good luck with GPS navigation! So, back at the start, I had my GPS on to measure the mileage out to the Big Woods Lake parking lot. It was a little over 8 miles. I then selected the Ride For Jacob route in the ride history and tried to load it. Only it would not load. So.... After N.Y. Roll told me he thought I did not have the Iowa maps loaded (!!), I just opted to start a new ride and record that. All was well. 

Until....

Just outside of Janesville the Wahoo went "WAHOOO!" and flew off the mount! I stopped and Tony fetched it for me. Looking a little worse for the wear, I stared down to see it was on some new page. I tried getting back to start a new ride but it would not do my bidding. So, frustrated, I decided to shut it off, stash it in my jersey pocket, and enjoy the ride. As long as I was with friends who had the route, well everything would take care of itself.  (Note: I checked the Wahoo out afterward and it said I had done a 20+ mile indoor workout. Nice...)

Okay, back to the story....

The roads I missed last year were super-cool! Image by Dan Buettner

 

I'll be hitting up these roads again soon!

The bit of road on the East side of the Shell Rock river was outstanding. I am so sad I missed that turn last year now! The road I took last year was so boring compared to what we rode Saturday! Some riders could be heard saying they thought the route was really a good one and were remarking on this stretch of road in particular. 

The turn off to Shell Rock was pretty decent as well. This was much better than going alongside the highway! Once we arrived in town we went off route a little bit to find our next Kwik Star convenience store and a bit of rest. We were making great time. It was not even noon yet! 

Not bad for shooting no-look over my shoulder!

 

The final bit before getting into Shell Rock, Iowa.

So, the ride was going very well and everyone was having a good time. Even my GPS nightmare couldn't affect me on this day. The weather was a huge blessing as we were comfortable and cool-ish all the way into Shell Rock. Had the Sun been out? I don't think we'd have had every rider finish the day. Or we may have cut the route short. Hard to say, but I'm glad we didn't have to do that! 

I'll leave you with one last shot for today.... 

Any guesses as to what this is? 

 Tomorrow the report continues with the Shell Rock stop and onward to Cedar Falls. Thanks for reading!