Happy Labor Day!

L-R: Jeremy Fry, Brian Bottke, Robert Fry from a 3GR in 2012

Happy Labor Day!

Today I am taking a day off from serious blogging and hopefully am out on a gravel road somewhere. It is Labor Day, and here in the USA, that means it is the last "national" holiday until Thanksgiving Day in late November. 

This is the traditional "end of Summer" weekend with a Monday off for a lot of folks here, so there is somewhat of an intensity to the proceedings for many people. 

I plan on taking it easy, with the exception of my ride plan, which I hope is successful today. You'll read all about it here soon.

I hope that you all have a wonderful day whether you are taking the day off or if you are somewhere working. I;ll leave you with today's image which is taken from a gravel group ride I used to put on called "3GR". It wasn't the first "gravel" group ride, but it was one of the first that was intentionally done only for the enjoyment of riding gravel. 

Cheers! Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

The 3GR

 In celebration of the twentieth year of this blog, I have a few tales to tell. This post is one of them. This series will occur off and on throughout this anniversary year, I hope to illuminate some behind-the-scenes stories and highlights from the blog during this time. Enjoy!

A revamping of the longest running blog header here for the 20th Anniversary Year.

Gravel group rides are a dime-a-dozen these days and are attended by up to 100 riders weekly during the season, in some cases. Group rides are also a featured activity ahead of many of the biggest gravel events as well. Group rides and gravel go together like pie and ice cream these days. But at one time, it was not like that. 

Back at the end of 2011 I had an idea. I needed to get out and ride on gravel roads more, but it always seemed as though my reviewing responsibilities were getting in the way of doing anything on gravel. I'd have to visit Ingawanis Woodlands, or get out in George Wyth State Park to work on 29"er things. I was part of a website that reviewed 29"er bikes and gear back then called "Twentynine Inches" and I also reviewed other gear for a site called "The Cyclistsite". If gravel was to become a part of my riding, I would have to be very intentional about making it happen.
 

The "Wolf Creek Wall" West of Traer, Iowa.

I decided in the Winter of 2011/2012 to start doing a weekly gravel ride. I decided it should be a group ride. I was excited about this gravel thing, and I wanted others in the area to join in the fun. I had already put on seven Trans Iowa events by this time and there were many popular gravel events all around at that time like the Almanzo 100 and Gravel Worlds. There were a ton of smaller "pop-up" type events like the Moonlight Metric, the Farmhouse Classic, and a new format called the Renegade Gentleman's Race that first occurred in 2011. 

I figured it was high-time to do gravel on a weekly basis. So, I announced on this blog that every Saturday morning during the season that I would do a 40-ish mile gravel group ride. I decided that I needed to start the ride in Cedar Falls because I had gotten push-back about starting rides in Waterloo back then. The plan was to end the ride at a coffee shop for some fellowship time. 

A Level B Road South of Traer Iowa.

I was excited, but it seemed as though not many others were as excited as I was. I would get two, maybe three folks to show up for this and almost all were Trans Iowa connected riders. I guess it made sense, but at times this was disheartening. Was it me? Was gravel still seen as taboo for bicycles around here? I did not understand it. But I also did not stop trying. 

This dog ran 3.5 miles with me before something caught her nose and she was gone.

Not every ride was a bummer. There were a lot of good times and I got to know a few folks better. There were down times, like the time I had to move the ride out of Cedar Falls due to their city festival called Sturgis Falls Days. I moved the ride to Traer, Iowa but no one else showed up. I rode anyway and ended up having an excellent adventure that day.

Oh! Yeah, about that name - "3GR". That stood for "Gravel Grinder Group Ride". Three "G's" and an "R". 3GR? Ah...... I thought it was clever!

Anyway, I announced the rides on the blog here and afterward gave a ride report for each one. I did this for three years straight. Then after getting nowhere with participation I let it rest for a year, 2015, before doing a final year of 3GR rides in 2016. I think the most people I ever hosted on a 3GR was maybe ten. Most of the time it was three to four riders. I did a handful of solo 3GR's as well when no one showed up. 

Looking back on the 3GR I would say that it was a pioneering effort. I don't think anyone else in the area picked up on gravel group rides until 2018. And ironically I think those folks thought they were the "first" in the area to do that. Crazy if true, but it doesn't matter....

The point is that the gravel riding thing was always a big deal here on the blog despite my - at that time around 2012 - being known as "That 29"er guy" and anything relating to gravel riding was not very well known about me back then. 

Personally the 3GR was very gratifying in that I got to know several people fairly well through doing that. I got to ride gravel roads which don't exist anymore or that are truncated due to major highway projects since those days. I also got into pretty decent shape a few years there, and it really helped me out in many ways. 

Of course, now a 3GR would be impossible for me to do with having this Saturday morning job at the Collective. That said, I would do a gravel group ride thing again if I could find the time to get that in. My current schedule just doesn't work for getting along with other's times to ride.

Country Views: Solo 3GR Reprise

It looked a lot warmer than it was, but it wasn't bad.

With Saturday looking to be the best day out of the weekend, I decided to get out and do an old route that I haven't ridden in a few years. This route was first ridden out of Cup Of Joe's/Tourists Park in Cedar Falls, Iowa, but then I modified it to start and end in Waterloo. It was the Waterloo version of the route that I did.

Of course, I am speaking about the old "3GR" route which came from a ride I instigated in the Spring of 2012. The acronym stood for "Gravel Grinder Group Ride"- Three "g's" and an "r", get it? . I started it because I wanted to do more gravel riding again, get into better shape, introduce the locals to gravel riding, and I wanted to see more of the area around where I lived.

Well, I did that weekly through 2012, '13, and then took a break in '14. I brought it back for 2015 and 2016 before retiring the ride. It was difficult to get any traction beyond a few friends over the years, and in the end, I didn't see anymore folks getting interested in gravel riding. Of course, about two years later everyone around here figured it out and now we have a ton of folks gravel riding. Welcome. We've been doing this for years.......

Anyway.... I hadn't done the 3GR for a while since in 2017, I think it was, they closed down the Ivory Road bridge and that was kind of a critical piece of the route. Sure, I went that way a few times anyway, but it wasn't looking like Bremer County was in any hurry to repair or replace the bridge, so I went looking elsewhere after they tore out the old bridge.

Since then I heard through social media that there was a new bridge, so I figured on doing an old fashioned 3GR just to see what it was like. The day started out with near record cold temperatures, so I didn't get going until 9:00am, which in reality was only a half an hour past the old 3GR stating time anyway. So, it was more like a 3GR than not. In fact, there were some 3GR's where no one showed up, and I rode alone. So, I guess you could say it was exactly like some versions of that old ride!

Heading North. The gravel was easy, the wind was at my back, until I got into Bremer County!

It was a beautiful day out, with a tad bit o breeze to start out with.

Fortunately the gravel was in "hero" condition going North and the winds were at my back, but it wasn't very breezy. Then I crossed into Bremer County and it was a different story. The gravel looked as though it had been put down Friday, and it was deep and chunky! The wind was picking up too by that time.

No real farming going on that I saw. Most of the corn is planted. I suppose beans are next up. 

Several fields had corn sprouted.

I went by Denver and not much has changed there, by the looks of things. I did note that the County road C-57 was super busy! I haven't seen traffic on that road like that since...... well, I don't know when. Not sure what was up with that.

Feel the burn. Entrance to Ivanhoe Road at HWY 63.

I met an energetic hunting dog shortly after taking this image. Fortunately its owner was at hand!

I turned West finally, crossed Highway 63, and entered one of my all-time favorite roads, Ivanhoe Road. By the way, for anyone that cares, this road, and the one mile stretch of gravel east of HWY 63, and most of Hilton were part of Trans Iowa v3's course. Anyway, I was thinking about that as I rode today, remembering Ira Ryan's midnight cruise through here and how Marcin Nowak was in hot pursuit, catching Ira after chasing for nearly 250 miles. That was pretty exciting. It would have been cool to have had images of those guys on this road, but alas, there are none to share since our photographer for the event stopped taking images at sunset Saturday of that T.I.

Ivanhoe Road was once a stagecoach route from Denver to Waverly Iowa. It also may have been an early Native American trail.

The old railroad trestle bridge carries the bike trail now days. Ivanhoe passes right underneath it.

I love that the road goes by some cool things you don't see everyday on Iowa gravel roads. There is a working dairy farm. Those used to be commonplace, but are rare now. Then there is the railroad trestle bridge which now carries the bike trail from Waverly to Readlyn. That won't always be there, by the way. Someday that bridge will be beyond repair, and I would not be surprised to see the bike trail routed to an at grade road crossing.

The road then goes through some hilly area, especially once you get on Hilton, and these are some of the tougher hills in area. Oh, but before you get there, you would pass the "hoarse dog" tied to a lead near where Hilton starts its short East-West section. That dog has been there barking at me when I go by for more than a decade. I was surprised to see it was still alive- and that it could still bark! 

 

The new bridge on Ivory Road.

I finally reached the new bridge on Ivory Road. Boy! Is that a fancy bridge or what? I was surprised at how nice it is. It certainly is a far cry from the rustic old thing that once was there to carry us across that part of Quarter Section Run.

Then I finished out the route with not much else exciting to report other than seeing a place that must have had about two dozen Guinea hens which were out on the road and in the ditches not far up the road from the new bridge. Otherwise I was just trying to beat the crosswind until I got to Bennington Road, which provided a few miles of relief until I got to Burton Avenue where I cut the route to head back to Waterloo.

Yep! Four hours on the nose, probably 40+ miles, and really tired legs later, I had done the 3GR course. It was a good reprise of that old ride which was the first organized gravel group ride in the area after Jeff Kerkove's famous ones he did in the early 00's. I may have to do that ride again soon. Maybe in reverse!

Country Views: Solo 3GR Reprise

It looked a lot warmer than it was, but it wasn't bad.

With Saturday looking to be the best day out of the weekend, I decided to get out and do an old route that I haven't ridden in a few years. This route was first ridden out of Cup Of Joe's/Tourists Park in Cedar Falls, Iowa, but then I modified it to start and end in Waterloo. It was the Waterloo version of the route that I did.

Of course, I am speaking about the old "3GR" route which came from a ride I instigated in the Spring of 2012. The acronym stood for "Gravel Grinder Group Ride"- Three "g's" and an "r", get it? . I started it because I wanted to do more gravel riding again, get into better shape, introduce the locals to gravel riding, and I wanted to see more of the area around where I lived.

Well, I did that weekly through 2012, '13, and then took a break in '14. I brought it back for 2015 and 2016 before retiring the ride. It was difficult to get any traction beyond a few friends over the years, and in the end, I didn't see anymore folks getting interested in gravel riding. Of course, about two years later everyone around here figured it out and now we have a ton of folks gravel riding. Welcome. We've been doing this for years.......

Anyway.... I hadn't done the 3GR for a while since in 2017, I think it was, they closed down the Ivory Road bridge and that was kind of a critical piece of the route. Sure, I went that way a few times anyway, but it wasn't looking like Bremer County was in any hurry to repair or replace the bridge, so I went looking elsewhere after they tore out the old bridge.

Since then I heard through social media that there was a new bridge, so I figured on doing an old fashioned 3GR just to see what it was like. The day started out with near record cold temperatures, so I didn't get going until 9:00am, which in reality was only a half an hour past the old 3GR stating time anyway. So, it was more like a 3GR than not. In fact, there were some 3GR's where no one showed up, and I rode alone. So, I guess you could say it was exactly like some versions of that old ride!

Heading North. The gravel was easy, the wind was at my back, until I got into Bremer County!

It was a beautiful day out, with a tad bit o breeze to start out with.

Fortunately the gravel was in "hero" condition going North and the winds were at my back, but it wasn't very breezy. Then I crossed into Bremer County and it was a different story. The gravel looked as though it had been put down Friday, and it was deep and chunky! The wind was picking up too by that time.

No real farming going on that I saw. Most of the corn is planted. I suppose beans are next up. 

Several fields had corn sprouted.

I went by Denver and not much has changed there, by the looks of things. I did note that the County road C-57 was super busy! I haven't seen traffic on that road like that since...... well, I don't know when. Not sure what was up with that.

Feel the burn. Entrance to Ivanhoe Road at HWY 63.

I met an energetic hunting dog shortly after taking this image. Fortunately its owner was at hand!

I turned West finally, crossed Highway 63, and entered one of my all-time favorite roads, Ivanhoe Road. By the way, for anyone that cares, this road, and the one mile stretch of gravel east of HWY 63, and most of Hilton were part of Trans Iowa v3's course. Anyway, I was thinking about that as I rode today, remembering Ira Ryan's midnight cruise through here and how Marcin Nowak was in hot pursuit, catching Ira after chasing for nearly 250 miles. That was pretty exciting. It would have been cool to have had images of those guys on this road, but alas, there are none to share since our photographer for the event stopped taking images at sunset Saturday of that T.I.

Ivanhoe Road was once a stagecoach route from Denver to Waverly Iowa. It also may have been an early Native American trail.

The old railroad trestle bridge carries the bike trail now days. Ivanhoe passes right underneath it.

I love that the road goes by some cool things you don't see everyday on Iowa gravel roads. There is a working dairy farm. Those used to be commonplace, but are rare now. Then there is the railroad trestle bridge which now carries the bike trail from Waverly to Readlyn. That won't always be there, by the way. Someday that bridge will be beyond repair, and I would not be surprised to see the bike trail routed to an at grade road crossing.

The road then goes through some hilly area, especially once you get on Hilton, and these are some of the tougher hills in area. Oh, but before you get there, you would pass the "hoarse dog" tied to a lead near where Hilton starts its short East-West section. That dog has been there barking at me when I go by for more than a decade. I was surprised to see it was still alive- and that it could still bark! 

 

The new bridge on Ivory Road.

I finally reached the new bridge on Ivory Road. Boy! Is that a fancy bridge or what? I was surprised at how nice it is. It certainly is a far cry from the rustic old thing that once was there to carry us across that part of Quarter Section Run.

Then I finished out the route with not much else exciting to report other than seeing a place that must have had about two dozen Guinea hens which were out on the road and in the ditches not far up the road from the new bridge. Otherwise I was just trying to beat the crosswind until I got to Bennington Road, which provided a few miles of relief until I got to Burton Avenue where I cut the route to head back to Waterloo.

Yep! Four hours on the nose, probably 40+ miles, and really tired legs later, I had done the 3GR course. It was a good reprise of that old ride which was the first organized gravel group ride in the area after Jeff Kerkove's famous ones he did in the early 00's. I may have to do that ride again soon. Maybe in reverse!

Going Backward

Escaping the city was made a tad bit more difficult due to flooding.

Saturday the weather straightened out and it was one of those perfect Fall days. Glorious. Low humidity and the clear air with a touch of that cool crispness which will only increase over time as we get nearer to the end of the year.

I decided to get out and try to put in a decent length ride. Now, for me anyway, that is something over 40 miles. I deem anything less as a "short ride" and I am often less than satisfied with rides of that length. I need to work on that......

Anyway, I got out the "Bubblegum Princess" and prepped for a journey out into the country. I had been thinking that I was getting a bit bored with the same routes all the time. I needed to do something different. I didn't leave time to research a route and make cues, so I was in a bit of a bind. Rides I know from memory are the same ones I was trying to avoid this time! What to do? I figured I could ride the planned Geezer Ride route which never happened, but I wasn't thrilled about that direction. Then it came upon me what I should do.

Back when I rode mountain bikes almost exclusively, we used to do this thing where we would ride our typical loop backward. Then it became a "new route" because everything was backward and reversed from "normal". Climbs were descents, lefts were rights, and descents were climbs. Plus, you saw the route completely differently. You noticed things you had passed by a million times and hadn't seen before.

I decided to employ this scheme and ride the old 3GR route clockwise instead of anti-clockwise, which was the way I had always ridden that route. I couldn't believe I hadn't tried it the other way before. Now that said, there were parts I had ridden both ways, but much of it I hadn't, so I was excited to try this out.

The fields are turning gold and brown, and the sky was marked with wispy clouds.

I headed out of town North with the goal of using Burton Avenue to get to Bennington Road which was a way we would sometimes come back into Waterloo. Great idea, but getting there wasn't made easy by the major flooding of the Cedar River, which cut off several lower lying streets to my use. I eventually worked my way through some strange to me neighborhoods and linked up with Burton. Heading North, I then realized I was bucking a head wind.

It won't be long before the harvesters will be busy in those fields out there.

The ride out on Burton to the gravel confirmed that the wind was going to be a factor. I couldn't tell just then exactly what direction it was coming from, but my thoughts were that I should have an easier time of it on the way back in. That was great, as I typically would have chosen to ride out into the wind first anyway. Then also, I wasn't trying to push super hard, or hard at all, since I didn't want to undo the good rest to the legs which I had gotten. Shift early-shift often, and keep things chill.

Barns For Jason

I turned onto Bennington Road, going West, and then I knew it was going to be rougher than I thought. The wind was coming out of the Northeast. More East though, as I was flying with little effort going West. Bummer! Maybe coming South would be a crosswind. I just settled in for a long ride of grinding it out. Two miles of easy West and then it was North up Streeter Road.

Now Streeter is hilly, and coming North I had to grind a long, long grade we generally coast down. Fresh gravel made the grind tougher. Steady as she goes! Make a rhythm and stick to it. The climb wasn't too bad, and I ended up on the false flat going across the county line. The dark smudge on the horizon ahead was the Denver Hills, and the road seemed to drop off to nothingness as I approached.

Looking back at the closed bridge on Ivory Road. I took this shot over my shoulder!

The sign said "Road Closed Ahead", but somehow we gravel riders interpret that to read "Adventure Ahead!" Ha! Well, I knew that Ivory Road has a closed off bridge, but the approach has been half bulldozed away, not sure why, and my friend Tony had reported that the road was washed away in a couple of sections due to the recent heavy rains. I was on the lookout for this as I descended into the creek valley.

Nasty section of washed away gravel road. You wouldn't want to hit that at any speed! 

The washed away section was nasty. Pretty deep drop off and into big, loose, baby head limestone. No good way to navigate through that, but fortunately there is a bit of margin to the West side which is ride-able. After that it was up, up, and up. The climbing section was beginning! This part leads you to a left turn, up a big grinding climb which bends to the right, then a right turn on Hilton and the big rollers going by the Boy Scout Camp.

Where gravel is born! The gravel quarry is located in the Denver Hills east of the Boy Scout Camp

Those rollers are steep! Then you come out to a bit less steep rollers but it doesn't stop with the up/down until you finally reach the hard right hander and then the turn where Hilton goes back North, only the route goes East and straight ahead. It's at that very point where there is a staple of the 3GR route I haven't written about here.

That would be the small dog tied to a post outside of a dog house. He's been there for years. He barks and goes berserk every single time I've ever ridden by there. Poor thing! He's barked so much his voice is hoarse. I've a mind to cut the critter loose and set him free, but my friends with "dog knowledge" say that's as bad as tying him up forever, so, I don't know about that idea. Anyway, it's amusing and heartbreaking all at the same time.

So, then it was straight East and into the teeth of that wind. It was okay, just a bit slower going and I had to take it easy up the longer grades which feature into Ivanhoe Road. But right before I made it there, I stopped to take a rest and to take in the beauty of the area with all those leggy, yellow flowers waving in the breeze. This would have been right at the corner of Ivanhoe and Ivory. Just before the passing under the trestle bridge which used to carry a rail road, but now carries the bike path from Waverly to Readlyn.

Ivanhoe Road looking Southeast where it goes underneath the trestle bridge.

The passing of Highway 63 was met with another long grade to get up against the wind. I was looking forward to going two more miles to Navajo Road and getting out of the blast. I was fairly sure that heading South would be easier than going East on this day! However; remember when I said that going backward on a route can sometimes show you things that you missed going the other, "usual" way? Well, when I got to Midway Road, where we used to come off going North and turned right, against the way I was coming, I looked North and saw something I never noticed in maybe a hundred times of going up here. Cemetery headstones in a field! Was there a rural church just north of the intersection? Why hadn't I ever noticed this before? Well, I had to turn North, even though I hadn't meant to go that way at all.

Once the sight of a German church? Most likely, yes.

I saw the cemetery gates and I knew I had to "bag" that photo. I have been doing this for the last few years. Everytime I come across one of these rural cemeteries with a gate, I get my bike in the middle of it and snap off an image. This one was unique for the big, empty space before the cemetery proper.

I hypothesize that this empty space was where a church once was. Many rural churches had the cemeteries in the rear of the church, or off to one side or another. In the back is most common with Lutheran churches in this area though. This being an obviously German cemetery, it most likely was Lutheran. Some online sleuthing turned up that there was a church in this location. The church was founded in 1861 and moved to Denver, Iowa in 1902. According to a plat map of the township dated 1894, St. Paul's's also had a school on premises as well as the church building proper. That would account for such a large, empty space here today.

I love history! (And being able to look stuff up in the innergoogles). But, back to the story of the ride....

A patriotic themed barn quilt as seen on Sage Road.

Once I left the cemetery I headed North and caught the bike path going East again. I couldn't just go a mile North, as that is Highway 3, so I would have ended going a minimum of two miles North and at least five miles round trip to get back on route. But I wasn't in to seeking out many more miles, so I bailed off on the bike path. That led me to Navajo Road and back on track, headed Southward.

Headed home......

The Southward direction I was headed in was easier, thankfully. I was cruising along at a pretty decent clip, but my legs were feeling tired after pushing up hills, grades, and against the wind for most of that. I decided to just head straight down Sage Road to Airline Highway, make a right to Moline Road, then left the rest of the way into Waterloo. Before I got far though, I had a dog encounter. Two dogs came out from a farm yard, one a grizzly looking old yellow lab and the other looked to be a mix of a Boxer and American Terrier. Both were the same size. The Lab was barking with a weird, higher pitched, slightly fuzzy sounding voice and the other dog was just looking as if it would rather play than fight. My worry was with the yellow one.

As I stopped the Lab got behind me, which is generally what a dog does when it is afraid and sometimes they will snip at you from behind becuase of their instinct. This one just sniffed and barked though. The other dog actually approached me from the front and looked as if it wanted to be petted. It licked my shin and my hand but as the other dog was barking it seemed unsure what to do. Finally the owners came out and the situation was diffused, but the yellow dog wasn't ready to let things go.

I eventually got away with apologies from the farmers and a nice wave goodbye. Then I made my way back to Waterloo with no further incidents. Once back in town though, I had to re-route due to a train parked across 4th street. That tacked on a couple miles so I ended up with 44 plus miles on the day. It was a good ride, and my legs were glad it was over.

That's a great start to my getting ready for the ICGravel event coming up on October 27th. Hopefully I can get in a lot more rides like this.

Going Backward

Escaping the city was made a tad bit more difficult due to flooding.

Saturday the weather straightened out and it was one of those perfect Fall days. Glorious. Low humidity and the clear air with a touch of that cool crispness which will only increase over time as we get nearer to the end of the year.

I decided to get out and try to put in a decent length ride. Now, for me anyway, that is something over 40 miles. I deem anything less as a "short ride" and I am often less than satisfied with rides of that length. I need to work on that......

Anyway, I got out the "Bubblegum Princess" and prepped for a journey out into the country. I had been thinking that I was getting a bit bored with the same routes all the time. I needed to do something different. I didn't leave time to research a route and make cues, so I was in a bit of a bind. Rides I know from memory are the same ones I was trying to avoid this time! What to do? I figured I could ride the planned Geezer Ride route which never happened, but I wasn't thrilled about that direction. Then it came upon me what I should do.

Back when I rode mountain bikes almost exclusively, we used to do this thing where we would ride our typical loop backward. Then it became a "new route" because everything was backward and reversed from "normal". Climbs were descents, lefts were rights, and descents were climbs. Plus, you saw the route completely differently. You noticed things you had passed by a million times and hadn't seen before.

I decided to employ this scheme and ride the old 3GR route clockwise instead of anti-clockwise, which was the way I had always ridden that route. I couldn't believe I hadn't tried it the other way before. Now that said, there were parts I had ridden both ways, but much of it I hadn't, so I was excited to try this out.

The fields are turning gold and brown, and the sky was marked with wispy clouds.

I headed out of town North with the goal of using Burton Avenue to get to Bennington Road which was a way we would sometimes come back into Waterloo. Great idea, but getting there wasn't made easy by the major flooding of the Cedar River, which cut off several lower lying streets to my use. I eventually worked my way through some strange to me neighborhoods and linked up with Burton. Heading North, I then realized I was bucking a head wind.

It won't be long before the harvesters will be busy in those fields out there.

The ride out on Burton to the gravel confirmed that the wind was going to be a factor. I couldn't tell just then exactly what direction it was coming from, but my thoughts were that I should have an easier time of it on the way back in. That was great, as I typically would have chosen to ride out into the wind first anyway. Then also, I wasn't trying to push super hard, or hard at all, since I didn't want to undo the good rest to the legs which I had gotten. Shift early-shift often, and keep things chill.

Barns For Jason

I turned onto Bennington Road, going West, and then I knew it was going to be rougher than I thought. The wind was coming out of the Northeast. More East though, as I was flying with little effort going West. Bummer! Maybe coming South would be a crosswind. I just settled in for a long ride of grinding it out. Two miles of easy West and then it was North up Streeter Road.

Now Streeter is hilly, and coming North I had to grind a long, long grade we generally coast down. Fresh gravel made the grind tougher. Steady as she goes! Make a rhythm and stick to it. The climb wasn't too bad, and I ended up on the false flat going across the county line. The dark smudge on the horizon ahead was the Denver Hills, and the road seemed to drop off to nothingness as I approached.

Looking back at the closed bridge on Ivory Road. I took this shot over my shoulder!

The sign said "Road Closed Ahead", but somehow we gravel riders interpret that to read "Adventure Ahead!" Ha! Well, I knew that Ivory Road has a closed off bridge, but the approach has been half bulldozed away, not sure why, and my friend Tony had reported that the road was washed away in a couple of sections due to the recent heavy rains. I was on the lookout for this as I descended into the creek valley.

Nasty section of washed away gravel road. You wouldn't want to hit that at any speed! 

The washed away section was nasty. Pretty deep drop off and into big, loose, baby head limestone. No good way to navigate through that, but fortunately there is a bit of margin to the West side which is ride-able. After that it was up, up, and up. The climbing section was beginning! This part leads you to a left turn, up a big grinding climb which bends to the right, then a right turn on Hilton and the big rollers going by the Boy Scout Camp.

Where gravel is born! The gravel quarry is located in the Denver Hills east of the Boy Scout Camp

Those rollers are steep! Then you come out to a bit less steep rollers but it doesn't stop with the up/down until you finally reach the hard right hander and then the turn where Hilton goes back North, only the route goes East and straight ahead. It's at that very point where there is a staple of the 3GR route I haven't written about here.

That would be the small dog tied to a post outside of a dog house. He's been there for years. He barks and goes berserk every single time I've ever ridden by there. Poor thing! He's barked so much his voice is hoarse. I've a mind to cut the critter loose and set him free, but my friends with "dog knowledge" say that's as bad as tying him up forever, so, I don't know about that idea. Anyway, it's amusing and heartbreaking all at the same time.

So, then it was straight East and into the teeth of that wind. It was okay, just a bit slower going and I had to take it easy up the longer grades which feature into Ivanhoe Road. But right before I made it there, I stopped to take a rest and to take in the beauty of the area with all those leggy, yellow flowers waving in the breeze. This would have been right at the corner of Ivanhoe and Ivory. Just before the passing under the trestle bridge which used to carry a rail road, but now carries the bike path from Waverly to Readlyn.

Ivanhoe Road looking Southeast where it goes underneath the trestle bridge.

The passing of Highway 63 was met with another long grade to get up against the wind. I was looking forward to going two more miles to Navajo Road and getting out of the blast. I was fairly sure that heading South would be easier than going East on this day! However; remember when I said that going backward on a route can sometimes show you things that you missed going the other, "usual" way? Well, when I got to Midway Road, where we used to come off going North and turned right, against the way I was coming, I looked North and saw something I never noticed in maybe a hundred times of going up here. Cemetery headstones in a field! Was there a rural church just north of the intersection? Why hadn't I ever noticed this before? Well, I had to turn North, even though I hadn't meant to go that way at all.

Once the sight of a German church? Most likely, yes.

I saw the cemetery gates and I knew I had to "bag" that photo. I have been doing this for the last few years. Everytime I come across one of these rural cemeteries with a gate, I get my bike in the middle of it and snap off an image. This one was unique for the big, empty space before the cemetery proper.

I hypothesize that this empty space was where a church once was. Many rural churches had the cemeteries in the rear of the church, or off to one side or another. In the back is most common with Lutheran churches in this area though. This being an obviously German cemetery, it most likely was Lutheran. Some online sleuthing turned up that there was a church in this location. The church was founded in 1861 and moved to Denver, Iowa in 1902. According to a plat map of the township dated 1894, St. Paul's's also had a school on premises as well as the church building proper. That would account for such a large, empty space here today.

I love history! (And being able to look stuff up in the innergoogles). But, back to the story of the ride....

A patriotic themed barn quilt as seen on Sage Road.

Once I left the cemetery I headed North and caught the bike path going East again. I couldn't just go a mile North, as that is Highway 3, so I would have ended going a minimum of two miles North and at least five miles round trip to get back on route. But I wasn't in to seeking out many more miles, so I bailed off on the bike path. That led me to Navajo Road and back on track, headed Southward.

Headed home......

The Southward direction I was headed in was easier, thankfully. I was cruising along at a pretty decent clip, but my legs were feeling tired after pushing up hills, grades, and against the wind for most of that. I decided to just head straight down Sage Road to Airline Highway, make a right to Moline Road, then left the rest of the way into Waterloo. Before I got far though, I had a dog encounter. Two dogs came out from a farm yard, one a grizzly looking old yellow lab and the other looked to be a mix of a Boxer and American Terrier. Both were the same size. The Lab was barking with a weird, higher pitched, slightly fuzzy sounding voice and the other dog was just looking as if it would rather play than fight. My worry was with the yellow one.

As I stopped the Lab got behind me, which is generally what a dog does when it is afraid and sometimes they will snip at you from behind becuase of their instinct. This one just sniffed and barked though. The other dog actually approached me from the front and looked as if it wanted to be petted. It licked my shin and my hand but as the other dog was barking it seemed unsure what to do. Finally the owners came out and the situation was diffused, but the yellow dog wasn't ready to let things go.

I eventually got away with apologies from the farmers and a nice wave goodbye. Then I made my way back to Waterloo with no further incidents. Once back in town though, I had to re-route due to a train parked across 4th street. That tacked on a couple miles so I ended up with 44 plus miles on the day. It was a good ride, and my legs were glad it was over.

That's a great start to my getting ready for the ICGravel event coming up on October 27th. Hopefully I can get in a lot more rides like this.