Bike ride adventures

[47of74]

Since it stopped raining after 5:30pm I headed over to Darlington, Wisconsin for a ride.

Pleasant enough ride. 

[47of74]

And today I went out to the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area to do some riding on their trails. 

It was in the 80s today but not bad of a ride.  Just an ass hair under 37 miles too.  The Cedar River is kind of high right now so the trails were flooded out in a few places.  I wish they'd put up detour signs along with blocking them off so visitors know where to go.

Edited June 28, 2020 by 47of74

[47of74]

Decided to stick a bit closer to home today and got a good ride around town

 

[Howl]

On 5/31/2020 at 10:40 AM, CTRLZero said:

Now that we don't drive to our usual large grocery store because of the line-ups, we ride our bikes to a small store to pick up perishables and transport them home in backpacks.  It's about a 10-mile round-trip.  I need to figure out some attachment to my back bumper for better transport of bulkier items.  Some day.

I love doing bike errands, even though it's really heating up in TX.  We'll have 100 degree highs in a few days, so errands need to be run EARLY.  I have a rack on the back of my bike that takes a Topeak bag that has panniers that unzip.  Very handy. 

Topeak MTX Trunk Bag EXP Rack Trunk

The rack and bag are integrated; the trunk slides into place on rails on the rack. 

[47of74]

Went for a nice ride this morning before it got too warm, from my home up into town and back.

A little over 25 miles total.  First time I rode all the way up in to the city like that from home.  Usually I take the bike in to town on a carrier and go from there.  But of course right now I don't have my vehicle.

[CTRLZero]

1 hour ago, 47of74 said:

But of course right now I don't have my vehicle.

Wow, I saw the vehicle damage on another thread.  I'm glad you are okay and hope you get your car back as soon as possible. 

[47of74]

Went out at 6:45 this morning for a ride up in to town and back.

 

Just a hair under 20 miles.

[47of74]

Bit of sad news in the local cycling community.  There was a local guy who racked up 500,000 miles on his bike - I mentioned it here earlier this year when he reached that mark.  He died of cancer last Thursday.  I'm glad he was able to break that mark, especially since it looks like he was battling cancer at the time.

Edited July 6, 2020 by 47of74

[47of74]

The bicycle shop got the parts in sooner than expected so they were able to fix my bike today.  Had a nice 10 mile ride bringing it home from the shop.

Music is something that was played for us after dinner at a place in Istanbul during my trip there in 2012.

[47of74]

Since I don't have my regular vehicle I couldn't take my bike down to the Quad Cities today to get some riding in down there, so I got some in this morning before I left.

Hadn't gone down towards the church/monsatery in a while so I figured it was time.  Pleasant enough ride with almost no traffic.  Just a little bumpy on the gravel roads.  

[47of74]

Had some more issues with the rear wheel so I had to take the bike in Saturday.  Got it back today and rode it home from the shop.

Just over 10 miles total.  Pleasant enough day for a ride.

[47of74]

Got a nice ride in this morning on the bike before it got too warm out.  Just a bit over 20 miles.

 

[47of74]

Went for a nice 19 miler this morning on the new Arterial before it opens to traffic.

 

[47of74]

Got another ride in on the Arterial this morning

They're saying it'll be open to traffic on Sept 1st so might as well use it before the cars take over.

 

[Howl]

On 7/26/2020 at 10:07 AM, 47of74 said:

Went for a nice 19 miler this morning on the new Arterial before it opens to traffic.

Isn't this just the best? I've had a few opportunities to ride on highways before they opened and it's wonderful. 

[47of74]

Got a nice ride in after work this afternoon.

 

[47of74]

Got a nice pleasant one in this afternoon.

Pretty nice since I had some work done on my bike.  Hopefully it won't be such a pain for a while now.

[Howl]

 sigh ... Still daily highs at or above 100. Today was 103.  I did an in-town ride two days ago and was back by 10:30 am.  Can't be out any later than that.  My route is rideable because a lot of it is shady in the morning but on the last part coming home it's pretty exposed. 

 

 

[47of74]

Got a pleasant one in this morning going from just south of Platteville, Wisconsin to Belmont and back.  Just a bit over 25 miles total. 

It did sprinkle just a bit right at the end of the ride.  Otherwise it stayed fairly pleasant out throughout, not too warm.  I would have gone out a bit earlier but the maternal unit made pancakes this morning.

[Howl]

@47of74, I'm guessing that your part of Iowa totally missed the Derecho storm of August 10-11?

[47of74]

20 minutes ago, Howl said:

@47of74, I'm guessing that your part of Iowa totally missed the Derecho storm of August 10-11?

We got rain and high winds but we missed the worst of it.  We did have a fiber cut that took out internet for a bunch of people including ourselves and made cell service very spotty in the area.  There were a few trees down but we didn't have the building damage, power loss, and huge number of trees down that places like Cedar Rapids did.  

[Howl]

Good to know.  I read that in some areas it had the force of an inland hurricane. 

[47of74]

I'm going down to Des Moines next week to house/cat sit for my sister and brother in law as they'll be out of town then.  In addition to pestering Marvel and London and posting a couple pics of them up here I'm going to get some socially distant riding in while I'm down there.  Including on the High Trestle Trail.  They have such a great trail system in the area.  Last September I was down there for Labor Day and rode on the Raccoon River Valley Trail.  Did some riding around Waukee back in March - this was a couple weeks before everything went to hell. 

[47of74]

Got a nice ride in this morning while my car was being looked at...

 

[47of74]

And for today's ride I went from Sherill to Balltown and back.

Nice ride with paved shoulders for almost the entire route.  Plenty of hills to get a workout on.  Might have to work this one into the rotation, especially as fall comes along.