Country Views; Mudslinging

Another gorgeous Saturday

Another Saturday, another bell ringer of a day. Sure....it was really windy from the East, but it wasn't beastly humid, way too hot, or raining. That's three Saturdays in a row. I'm betting that will about do it for that streak, but I'd be happy to be completely wrong about that.

I decided to do a bit shorter ride since I had to take care of some business mid-day and then hang out with the family in the afternoon. So, a short two and a half hour morning ride was done. I also had to finish up reviewing the Hutchinson tires on my Fargo Gen I, so I took that bike out and headed South.

The temperatures were barely into the 60's when I left so it was very comfortable. Bright Sun was everywhere with barely any clouds to be seen. As I said, a stiff, gusty East-Southeast wind was about, but hey! I'm okay as long as I can pedal. 25mph winds or no. The wind was enough from the Southeast that going South wasn't easy. But this wasn't going to be an all-day ride either, so I was okay.

My objective was to go see if I could ride Petrie Road's Level B section from the West to the East, then go over to Ansborough and back looping toward Waterloo again. I started from the house, so there was a fair amount of pavement and alleyways in this route. The recent heavy rains from the tropical storm, Cristobal, maybe would make that dirt road out there impassable, but there was only one way to find out- that would be to go ride it if I could. 

Petrie Road's Level B section looking in from the West end.

 Long time readers all know about Petrie Road. It is the nearest, good, section of Level B Maintenance road to me. I ride it often. It was also featured in Trans Iowa v12 just before Checkpoint #2. Unfortunately the day of that Trans Iowa this section was a cakewalk. Boy! I sure wish it would have been like it was Saturday!

I'm walking on the grassy section here about five feet above the road way, still in mud!

I had to walk to this point before I could ride again.

I got about 30 yards in on the West side before I had to get off and walk. I was in the South strip of grass, which eventually becomes a two to three foot wide grass choked 'shelf' hanging about five feet above the road bed. Even up off the sticky, cake-like muddy road bed, I was stepping in wet mud. The only thing keeping me from sliding off into the mire below was the vegetation.

Grass nearly chokes out the double track near the East end of Petrie Road's Level B section.

Crops sprout forth on a terraced field off Petrie Road.

Eventually I exited that muddy strip and then continued onward to the East up and down rollers until I reached Ansborough and then out of the blast of Easterly winds. Along the way, any farm on the South side of the road provided a wind break. These came at intervals which proved to be beneficial to my climbing the rollers, which was nice. Especially since the gravel was deep and freshly laid out here.

I don't think I've ever photographed this barn from the South side.

Freshly cut hay drying in the Sun. The smell of it was strong here.

The ride was a success. I got a good two and half hour ride in, I got my final information I needed to complete my tire review, and I enjoyed the communing with nature I got to engage in. Good 'head-clearing' time. That said, I think it is high time I replaced the drive train on the ol' Fargo. Signs of wear and tear are rearing their head. Worn parts, outside the drive train, like cables and housing, also need attention. No surprise. I have drug that bike through a few knotholes, so it is amazing it works as well as it does.

Good thing I have a few other bikes to ride in the meantime!

Country Views; Mudslinging

Another gorgeous Saturday

Another Saturday, another bell ringer of a day. Sure....it was really windy from the East, but it wasn't beastly humid, way too hot, or raining. That's three Saturdays in a row. I'm betting that will about do it for that streak, but I'd be happy to be completely wrong about that.

I decided to do a bit shorter ride since I had to take care of some business mid-day and then hang out with the family in the afternoon. So, a short two and a half hour morning ride was done. I also had to finish up reviewing the Hutchinson tires on my Fargo Gen I, so I took that bike out and headed South.

The temperatures were barely into the 60's when I left so it was very comfortable. Bright Sun was everywhere with barely any clouds to be seen. As I said, a stiff, gusty East-Southeast wind was about, but hey! I'm okay as long as I can pedal. 25mph winds or no. The wind was enough from the Southeast that going South wasn't easy. But this wasn't going to be an all-day ride either, so I was okay.

My objective was to go see if I could ride Petrie Road's Level B section from the West to the East, then go over to Ansborough and back looping toward Waterloo again. I started from the house, so there was a fair amount of pavement and alleyways in this route. The recent heavy rains from the tropical storm, Cristobal, maybe would make that dirt road out there impassable, but there was only one way to find out- that would be to go ride it if I could. 

Petrie Road's Level B section looking in from the West end.

 Long time readers all know about Petrie Road. It is the nearest, good, section of Level B Maintenance road to me. I ride it often. It was also featured in Trans Iowa v12 just before Checkpoint #2. Unfortunately the day of that Trans Iowa this section was a cakewalk. Boy! I sure wish it would have been like it was Saturday!

I'm walking on the grassy section here about five feet above the road way, still in mud!

I had to walk to this point before I could ride again.

I got about 30 yards in on the West side before I had to get off and walk. I was in the South strip of grass, which eventually becomes a two to three foot wide grass choked 'shelf' hanging about five feet above the road bed. Even up off the sticky, cake-like muddy road bed, I was stepping in wet mud. The only thing keeping me from sliding off into the mire below was the vegetation.

Grass nearly chokes out the double track near the East end of Petrie Road's Level B section.

Crops sprout forth on a terraced field off Petrie Road.

Eventually I exited that muddy strip and then continued onward to the East up and down rollers until I reached Ansborough and then out of the blast of Easterly winds. Along the way, any farm on the South side of the road provided a wind break. These came at intervals which proved to be beneficial to my climbing the rollers, which was nice. Especially since the gravel was deep and freshly laid out here.

I don't think I've ever photographed this barn from the South side.

Freshly cut hay drying in the Sun. The smell of it was strong here.

The ride was a success. I got a good two and half hour ride in, I got my final information I needed to complete my tire review, and I enjoyed the communing with nature I got to engage in. Good 'head-clearing' time. That said, I think it is high time I replaced the drive train on the ol' Fargo. Signs of wear and tear are rearing their head. Worn parts, outside the drive train, like cables and housing, also need attention. No surprise. I have drug that bike through a few knotholes, so it is amazing it works as well as it does.

Good thing I have a few other bikes to ride in the meantime!

Country Views: Some Rustic Trail

If you've never been beyond this gate in Black Hawk Park, you need to go!

A long time ago, back when I first started in the bicycle business, I heard about a trail that UNI football players used for training runs. It was long, went North along the East side of the Cedar River, and came out at Washington-Union Access. I was intrigued, but it took me a while before I ever went on this old, rustic trail.

When I did, I found rocks, two-track, a pathway through the trees hard against farm fields on one side and the Cedar's backwaters on the other, and another trail near the Northern terminus. It wasn't hilly at all, but it was about as far removed from society as you could get anywhere in Black Hawk County.

I never did this trail as a regular thing, as I wasn't into gravel back in the 90's and riding back the way I had come was, meh! I've never really liked to do that. But the Ford Road Access kind of made it "okay" and a bit of gravel back to Cedar Falls was fine, on occasion. Then the gravel bug bit me and I started visiting this trail as a part of a loop I could do once in awhile. It still wasn't a "regular" thing for me, but I do like to do it. It really isn't a gravel bike friendly trail though, so I usually don't do this trail on anything under 2" tires. Last time I had been out there I roached a free hub body on my old Hope hub, so that's been a couple years now.

Well, about two weeks ago I was sent some tires ahead of a release date which I could not talk about until today. They are from Hutchinson and are 2.3"ers called the Kraken. I put them on the Gen I Fargo and went in search of this old, rustic trail again.

You pretty much are greeted by two sections of rock gardens almost immediately after the gate.

I knew there would be rocks, but I didn't know they had been changed to rocks! I managed to get halfway through the first set before I decided that biffing here would result in a bad contusion, or worse, and no one needed that during these times, if ya know what I mean. No need to be a hero. I got off and walked the rest of the first and all of the second stretch of big rocks. These rocks are there to prevent the trail from being gullied out during our regular flooding. These rocks looked to have been added recently, since I'd never seen such big rocks here in years past.

It can be rather beautiful back on this trail.

Later on you go by a few farm fields and pastureland. 

The rocks don't last long and the trail goes to rough dirt two-track or single track in a wide mown section along a fence line on one side and a line of trees on the other. It's really peaceful and I didn't see a soul. I did see an owl, a hawk, a couple of deer, and a lot of awesome views.

This is near the Northern end of the trail.

Time to eat, apparently. Moo!

I managed to get out at C-57 where there is construction going on for a new bridge. This has blocked off the access to the Northern terminus of the trail, so I had to do a quick hike-a-bike over a plastic erosion barrier. A bit of pavement and I took a left on Ford Road towards Janesville. I had to do a mile on the old HWY 218, now just called "Center Street" by the locals, since the road has been bypassed, and then a quick left back on gravel into the small village itself.

Farmers were gearing up for planting.

Barns For Jason

Eventually I was rolling through Janesville and it was as if everyone was gone. It's so weird now with this "stay at home" order. No kids out, a few cars, but otherwise, it was as if the village was dead. I got through town and left on C-50 going East, then I took the first gravel road South, which was Garden Avenue. I had thought about going up and taking in Ivanhoe Road, but I had already been out three hours and needed to head back to the shed so Mrs. Guitar Ted wouldn't be too worried.

Rock pile on Marquise Road.

Tilling up the Earth. You could smell the freshly turned dirt in the air here.

All the way up I was working a pretty stiff Northerly breeze. But after I reached Burton Avenue, it was all tailwind all the way back home. That was nice as this marked the longest ride of 2020 so far. I didn't keep track of the mileage but I figured it at around 40 or so, given that the Washington-Union Access trail was slow and Burton Avenue was blazing fast with the wind.

St. Paul's on Burton Avenue.

It was about as perfect a day as one could ask for in April.

Burton Avenue has a few big sections of fresh gravel that are really gnarly. Deep and chunky! I was sure glad I had on these new Hutchinson tires as they sucked it up and were really stable in that loose stuff. It was also pretty dusty, but not crazy dusty. The wind pretty much kept it down, but if we don't see any rain soon it will be really bad with the dust real soon.

It was about 4 hours on the nose, actually a bit more, but I'm not counting exactly. It was really fun. It was really normal out there. A different universe compared to Waterloo, with the notable exception of Janesville, of course, which was a stark reminder of the times we are in now. But man! Was it nice to get away and just ride a bicycle without having to worry about passing people far enough away and all that is going on with social distancing.

Hoping to get out again Wednesday. Stay tuned......

Country Views: Some Rustic Trail

If you've never been beyond this gate in Black Hawk Park, you need to go!

A long time ago, back when I first started in the bicycle business, I heard about a trail that UNI football players used for training runs. It was long, went North along the East side of the Cedar River, and came out at Washington-Union Access. I was intrigued, but it took me a while before I ever went on this old, rustic trail.

When I did, I found rocks, two-track, a pathway through the trees hard against farm fields on one side and the Cedar's backwaters on the other, and another trail near the Northern terminus. It wasn't hilly at all, but it was about as far removed from society as you could get anywhere in Black Hawk County.

I never did this trail as a regular thing, as I wasn't into gravel back in the 90's and riding back the way I had come was, meh! I've never really liked to do that. But the Ford Road Access kind of made it "okay" and a bit of gravel back to Cedar Falls was fine, on occasion. Then the gravel bug bit me and I started visiting this trail as a part of a loop I could do once in awhile. It still wasn't a "regular" thing for me, but I do like to do it. It really isn't a gravel bike friendly trail though, so I usually don't do this trail on anything under 2" tires. Last time I had been out there I roached a free hub body on my old Hope hub, so that's been a couple years now.

Well, about two weeks ago I was sent some tires ahead of a release date which I could not talk about until today. They are from Hutchinson and are 2.3"ers called the Kraken. I put them on the Gen I Fargo and went in search of this old, rustic trail again.

You pretty much are greeted by two sections of rock gardens almost immediately after the gate.

I knew there would be rocks, but I didn't know they had been changed to rocks! I managed to get halfway through the first set before I decided that biffing here would result in a bad contusion, or worse, and no one needed that during these times, if ya know what I mean. No need to be a hero. I got off and walked the rest of the first and all of the second stretch of big rocks. These rocks are there to prevent the trail from being gullied out during our regular flooding. These rocks looked to have been added recently, since I'd never seen such big rocks here in years past.

It can be rather beautiful back on this trail.

Later on you go by a few farm fields and pastureland. 

The rocks don't last long and the trail goes to rough dirt two-track or single track in a wide mown section along a fence line on one side and a line of trees on the other. It's really peaceful and I didn't see a soul. I did see an owl, a hawk, a couple of deer, and a lot of awesome views.

This is near the Northern end of the trail.

Time to eat, apparently. Moo!

I managed to get out at C-57 where there is construction going on for a new bridge. This has blocked off the access to the Northern terminus of the trail, so I had to do a quick hike-a-bike over a plastic erosion barrier. A bit of pavement and I took a left on Ford Road towards Janesville. I had to do a mile on the old HWY 218, now just called "Center Street" by the locals, since the road has been bypassed, and then a quick left back on gravel into the small village itself.

Farmers were gearing up for planting.

Barns For Jason

Eventually I was rolling through Janesville and it was as if everyone was gone. It's so weird now with this "stay at home" order. No kids out, a few cars, but otherwise, it was as if the village was dead. I got through town and left on C-50 going East, then I took the first gravel road South, which was Garden Avenue. I had thought about going up and taking in Ivanhoe Road, but I had already been out three hours and needed to head back to the shed so Mrs. Guitar Ted wouldn't be too worried.

Rock pile on Marquise Road.

Tilling up the Earth. You could smell the freshly turned dirt in the air here.

All the way up I was working a pretty stiff Northerly breeze. But after I reached Burton Avenue, it was all tailwind all the way back home. That was nice as this marked the longest ride of 2020 so far. I didn't keep track of the mileage but I figured it at around 40 or so, given that the Washington-Union Access trail was slow and Burton Avenue was blazing fast with the wind.

St. Paul's on Burton Avenue.

It was about as perfect a day as one could ask for in April.

Burton Avenue has a few big sections of fresh gravel that are really gnarly. Deep and chunky! I was sure glad I had on these new Hutchinson tires as they sucked it up and were really stable in that loose stuff. It was also pretty dusty, but not crazy dusty. The wind pretty much kept it down, but if we don't see any rain soon it will be really bad with the dust real soon.

It was about 4 hours on the nose, actually a bit more, but I'm not counting exactly. It was really fun. It was really normal out there. A different universe compared to Waterloo, with the notable exception of Janesville, of course, which was a stark reminder of the times we are in now. But man! Was it nice to get away and just ride a bicycle without having to worry about passing people far enough away and all that is going on with social distancing.

Hoping to get out again Wednesday. Stay tuned......