Country Views: Labor Day Ride

Escape Route: N.Y. Roll's truck in Dysart, Iowa

August was a total bust for me and riding. Either it was blazing hot with "feel like" temperatures over 100°F, or it rained every day, or both on the same day. This has to be one of the hottest, wettest Augusts in memory. 

N.Y. Roll and I were supposed to go on a ride on Saturday, August 29th, but of course, it rained.  Bah! So we rescheduled for Labor Day, and as it turned out, it was one of the best days in weeks here. 

N.Y. Roll devised a route in Tama and Benton Counties he called "B Road Culture", in reference to these counties being in the top-three for dirt road mileage in Iowa. It was to be 40 miles, and we started a little before 9:00am from Dysart, Iowa, a small town about 23 miles South of Waterloo. 

It was cool, with a breeze from the Southeast, and threatening skies when we left. In fact, it looked like rain was coming in. I was game as long as it was a rain event with no lightning. 

Note: There will be a LOT of images in this post and more than a few "Barns For Jason". 

Heading out of Dysart. You can see the dark clouds in the West.

 

This wasn't looking good. Yes....N.Y. Roll went without a helmet on purpose. 

N.Y. Roll asked if I wanted to join him in a helmetless ride. I declined. Not that I wouldn't ever do that, but Mrs. Guitar Ted deserves some respect here, so.... Nuff said about this. Please direct any responses concerning helmet wear to N.Y. Roll! 

The further we went South the better the skies looked. 

Barns For Jason #1

I chose to ride my pink Black Mountain Cycles MCD for the ride. N.Y. Roll's dirt road idea made me decide to choose wider rubber and the MCD has those Schwalbe G-One Overlands on it. These are the same tires I used in Nebraska. I set the air pressures at about 35-ish psi fron and rear. However; as we were riding along I thought the rear tire felt really soft. Like not a 'squishy' soft, but the gravel was being erased by the tire's damping at this lower pressure. Hmm... I kept thinking I need to check this out next time we stop, but we weren't stopping much, so....

 

Stopping for a 'nature break' at the first Level B Road we encountered (I forgot to check the rear tire!)

Hey! Wait a minute! I've seen those monuments before!

As we reached the first Level B dirt road, N.Y. Roll pointed out a couple of fancy, cast cement property marking columns. He then wondered aloud if we were anywhere near that place which was once a farm and had all these weird monument columns in the yard. We had come across those on a Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational years before. 

Sure enough, we came across the same place! We briefly stopped and reminisced about that old ride, then we hit the gravel again, heading due South. Those monuments were cast cement by a couple of men who grew up on a farm which was once located here. They were artistic expressions, nothing more, but the way these look and how they are arranged around the property is kind of curious. It doesn't take much to think there might be some deeper meaning here. 

Images taken from the road. We did not trespass here. 

 

Barns For Jason #2

The gravel was a bit loose and finding the right lines to ride was paramount to getting less resistance. The further South we went the hillier it got. We were entering into a slice of the "Bohemian Alps" of Iowa. So named because of the Czech heritage around these parts and the hilly terrain found in Tama County. 

I was holding my own, but once I realized it would be up-down-up-down a lot here, I started to measure my efforts a bit more. Plus, I hadn't been on a longer ride for quite some time . 

 

The hills were working me. I was sure happy it wasn't blazing Sunshine and 90 degrees out or I know I would have been toast! As it was, I was laboring along but still not too badly. N.Y. Roll was so far up the road here I almost lost sight of him. 

We were on the long Southern leg of his route, but soon we would start a stair-stepping path East and South for a bit. I looked forward to the relief from a straight shot for miles. Once I caught back up with N.Y. Roll he assured me the climbing would ease up a lot later into the route. 

A surprise find. A roadside gravesite. 

 

N.Y. Roll said this was marked as a Level C Road on maps. We did not ride this.

We came up on a small clearing in the South side ditch at one point with a sign that said "Roadside"and two tombstones could be seen high up above the roadside. We decided to stop here and investigate. 

The graves were for two people, but we don't know the name of the elder of the two as the top of that headstone was broken off which likely had the name of the deceased on it. The graves dated from the late 1860's and 1870's. Most likely these were original settlers in the area. Pretty amazing to see these gravestones and the site still exist.  

Right about this time I remembered to check my rear tire. Indeed, it was very soft! I decided I'd pump it up with my SILCA Tattico hand pump. This was going smoothly until I unscrewed the head and it pulled the valve core out with it! Bah! Now I had NO AIR! 

N.Y. Roll offered up his mini-compressor pump, and once I had the valve core threaded back into the valve he pumped it up to....we don't know! It felt firm, so.... Off we went! 

Barns For Jason #3

 

The dirt roads were super-smooth, dry, and had a little 'cocoa-powder' to them.

By this point in the ride we found ourselves on a long Eastward stretch. N.Y. Roll was disappointed because the county map he looked at indicated this stretch was dirt road after dirt road. Instead it was just gravel. But it wasn't bad, the scenery was great, and the big climbs were behind us. There were two consecutive miles of Level B at the end of this stretch though.

Another stellar dirt road. There were two miles straight of this at the end of the Eastward leg. 

 

Finally there was more Sun than clouds, the wind got stronger, and the heat was turned up!

We reached our turn North and there were more dirt roads. We also had a pretty stiff Southern wind at our backs now. The roads were rolling and on the downhills you could coast at around 20mph or faster and on the flats you could do almost 20 easily. 

I kind of pushed myself and it bit me in the end, but there were some factors which played into this. One: I had been working out my shoulders and arms to strengthen my bad shoulders. So, I already had sore muscles to start. Second: I mowed the lawn the day before in some nasty humid conditions. This both amped up my shoulder pain and I was likely fatigued going into this ride. Third: I needed to eat! 

Look at that black dirt!

 

Barns For Jason #4

There were several dirt roads which were fast and fun. The dirt was so dry it was like cocoa powder on top of a firm base. Level B road riding is generally at its best in August, then up until the harvest. After that time the dirt roads are packed with harvesting equipment and after that, they have a lot of field trash on them, generally speaking. 

Barns For Jason #5

 

Level B after Level B! This was a fun section. 

At one point I think we went four miles on dirt, which was fun, and a bit rare in Iowa. There were so many great dirt roads on this back half that I have to say N.Y. Roll put together a really good route. Well.....if you like dirt roads. 

By the end of this long section my batteries were getting low and my right shoulder was in some pretty intense pain. We had to stop under the shade of some trees so I could cool down and take it easy for a few minutes. 

The view from our stop on a shaded Level B road. 

 

This downhill was steep and fast!

We finally moved on and after a few miles or so we contacted the Old Creamery Trail. This trail runs from Dysart to Vinton, Iowa, with a midway town of Garrison thrown in there. Once we reached this trail it was railroad grade until we got to the end. I'm not a big fan of rail trails because there are no coasting opportunities. I like rolling terrain better, but hey! If you are a rail trail fan, good on you! We have lots of them in Iowa. 

Lots of the Old Creamery Trail is shaded.

 

Half a mile to go!

The Old Creamery Trail is pretty rustic. You'll find ruts, sticks, and you'll have to dodge tree branches and weeds in Summer. But I like it a lot, for a rail trail. It was just that I was more than ready to be done with this ride and because of my shoulder pain I was not loving life there at the end. But I was happy I went on the ride. I need to push myself and - well, with our weather of late, you gotta take it while its there to be taken. 

We did just that. Thanks N.Y. Roll for the invitation to ride! 

NOTE: A Press Release will post at 10:00am CST today. Make sure to check out this article which will follow this post.  

Country Views: 4th of July 2026

Escape Route: Waterloo alleys

I had been looking forward to the 4th of July this year. Not because it was a big date in history, America's 250th, but because I needed to get out into the country. The 4th was a date I had circled since coming back from the BRAN experience. 

BRAN caused damage. I had some nasty saddle sores I needed to allow to heal. And, of course, I needed a bit of time to recover from the week. I saw progress in both areas over the last half of June, but it was slow. Then it got beastly HOT. 

So, June was slipping away and the 4th of July weekend allotted me some space to make a plan to get on a bike and grind some gravel. Then it rained all day Thursday, on Friday morning, and again early Saturday morning. Was I going to be able to squeeze in a ride? The weather looked clear between about 9:00am and maybe 2:00pm or so. I decided to take off and do a run South and East of Waterloo. 

Day lilies lined the ditches along Ansborough for several miles.

A lot of people were into the spirit of celebrating the USA's 250th. 

Getting out of town now to the South has been made a bit more complicated due to construction and a bridge out on the Sergeant Road Trail. So, I backtracked a route I typically use getting into town. Going backward on a route may as well be a new, unforeseen route. Everything looks and feels different! I ended up getting dumped out on Ansborough Avenue not far from Highway 20. Not at all where I wanted to be. Oh well! I made it work. 

 

It has been a while since I took Ansborough Avenue out of town to the South. This was the first road I used as a regular gravel riding route back in the mid-2000's. I'd ride Ansborough to Tama County and back home. About a 35 mile ride round trip. 

Today I was going to head South until I reached Quarry and turn East. Maybe I'd get in around 30 miles. At least I wouldn't have to come back through Waterloo's convoluted street layout! 

Tall corn provides excellent privacy for a "nature break". 

 

Annual check of corn growth on the 4th. 

I rode the XLBird on its first out of town gravel ride. Things went smoothly, and I'll have a specific write-up on the bike this week. But yes, I like it. I also liked the roads. The recent heavy rains have smoothed out the loose gravel and vehicles have accelerated the transfer of gravel from all across the roadway to the typical three clear lines. 

Corn is looking great. No wonder with all the rain and humidity of late. It's perhaps not as exceedingly tall as it can be at this time of the year, but it is still "man high on the 4th of July!" 

 

You can see some chicory alongside the road on the right here. 

Quarry Road had obviously been maintained recently as the gravel was thick. The rain helped it not be so loose, but it was a chore to find a good line. One positive out of the weather situation was that there was zero dust. A very unusual situation! 

Quarry Road was also lined with various wild flowers. I love seeing the flowers dancing and bobbing in the breezes. My favorite flower to see is the Chicory. I love their color. I think they are a bit early this year, but I'll take it!

 

Fellow gravel grinders Robert and Cary Fry. 

I stopped on the bridge over Miller Creek to take a quick break. I ate an Epic pemmican bar, drank some water, and listened to the swollen creek as it gurgled on its way to the Cedar River not too many miles away. 

Suddenly I heard voices and I looked back West up Quarry Road and spied two riders coming my way. It turned out to be Robert and Cary Fry out for a gravel ride. What a surprise! They were on their way to LaPorte City, so I rode about a mile with them before I turned North up Foulk Road. I told Robert he and Cary were maybe the third, maybe fourth occurrence ever of me meeting another gravel rider out around Waterloo in 20 years of grinding gravel.  

I call these lonely four cottonwood trees on the East side of Foulk Road "The Four Sisters". 

 

Evidence of our recent heavy rains. Many have stated they received between 4" to 6" in the area just on Thursday!

Foulk Road is FLAT. Lots of pedaling on Foulk Road. If you are bucking a headwind, or bashing through thick, fresh gravel - or heaven forbid, BOTH - it is a real mental slog to ride this section. Fortunately only the gravel was mildly troublesome on this particular ride. 

There is a pair of aggressive Labradors now on a place just North off the corner of Schrock Road and Foulk Road on the West side of Foulk. One is a yellow lab and the other is black. They both came out on the road and had me stopped until their foul-mouthed owner came out to call them off. Just a head's up in case you go by there..... 

Waterloo displayed 1,776 flags around the Veteran's Memorial complex in honor of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 

I made it back home with a little over 28 miles in. Not anything to write home about, although I just wrote an entire post about it! But it is what it is. A start back to regular riding, I hope, and perhaps this stupid weather will cooperate for a while. We will see! 

Country Views: Hazy & Hot

 Escape Route: MLK Trail

Another quick one to get some more miles for BRAN gravel coming up. This time it was hot again, but hazy. I left a little after noon. The wind was out of the Northeast. A weird direction without rain and cool temperatures. Summer kit, of course, and on the pink BMC once again. 

I wanted to head out East to see this part of Black Hawk County again. I haven't been out this way in a while. Typically when I leave Waterloo to do Eastern Black Hawk County gravel I'll use the MLK Trail until it ends out at Tyson's plant. 

Then it's a bout a half a mile North to get to Newell Road and gravel heading East. This road climbs slowly and in fact, the entire way out to this point is more gain than descent. It was also all against the wind! 

The gravel kicks in right off the mark when you leave the road in front of Tyson's

Wind rows of cut hay waiting to be bailed. 

The crops are just peeking out of the ground now but I was surprised to see a fresh cut field of hay. Seems early for the first cut here in Iowa. This will bring out the round bailers soon, no doubt. There is one other agricultural activity happening all across the countryside now as well. I'll get to that later in the story here. 

The fields are looking more and more like no-till practices are being used. (Note the glacial erratic)

I could smell the hay in this field before I saw it!

A few years ago, our friend in Pennsylvania, Dave Pryor, was extolling the virtues of no-till planting to us, (N.Y. Roll and I, that is). Well, it seems the practice is catching on here in Black Hawk County, as I'm seeing more fields being planted through the trash. 

 I came across another freshly cut hay field and it smelled so strongly I caught wind of it before I could see it. Love that smell! It's probably not good for you folks with allergies though, I would imagine. 

The blue sky shown through for a moment or two, then it went back to hazy. 

 

A few cattle grazing peacefully

This area has a lot of field stones piled up here and there. This was an impressive pile on Pilot Grove Road

When I left for this ride, I was indeterminate about where I wanted to go. No big surprise. I generally feel no real sense of where to go until I find myself on certain streets which helps dictate where I will end up going. This ride was kind of like this for most of the route. I had zero intentions of going South on Pilot Grove Road until I got there at the corner of Newell Road and Pilot Grove. I just turned right, and well..... I'd figure it all out from there. 

That other ag activity I mentioned? Sprayer rigs. They are crawling all over the countryside now. 

 

I got dusted by a dump truck. You can see the dust trailing off to the right here. 

I meandered down to the corner of Pilot Grove and Osage Road. There I took a brief rest stop. Then I rode West on Osage Road a few miles until I got to Ordaway Road and I took that South. This dead ends into one of the old routes for Highway 20 in the area. 

Old Highway 20 East of Raymond. It's not bad when the shoulders are graded like this. 

The gravel part ended here on Young Road headed West toward Elk Run Heights

I went this way and that, finding a weird route back to Elk Run Heights which, honestly I kind of like it. The wide gravel shoulder on old Highway 20 is fast and smooth, so that mile to two miles wasn't terrible. I then have to use a shoulder on a County Road (South Raymond Road), for a half mile to a right on Young Road. That gravel takes you to just south of Elk Run Heights. 

It used to be that going into Elk Run Heights was a bit of a nightmare. The road North of the access to I-380 was  an old highway. Narrow, with no shoulder. There were no sidewalks of any kind to get you off the pavement. Pedestrians and child cyclists had carved a bit of a single track into the dirt adjacent to the pavement. That eventually petered out and you were forced into traffic. 

Now there has been an upgrade. The road has a full sidewalk several feet from the edge of the new road which now has a curb. This goes all the way up the hill by Casey's Convenience store where it goes Left, and eventually turns into a new bike path to Evansdale. It's about a thousand times better than it used to be when none of what I just described as new existed. 

Anyway, a good ride was had. More miles in teh bank. I hope to make a few more deposits before I leave on Friday.