Time: 4 hours 32 minutes
Route Taken: North Riverside, Cedar Valley Nature Trail
The post title is more of a description of events than it is my mental state. But more on that in a bit.
The weather website promised good cycling weather; sunny, warm, small wind from the south. While it was right on most of those, it was at no point blowing from the south. It blew from the east, actually, which is the direction I decided to go. The wind wasn't strong enough to really make a difference, so I wasn't too worried about it.
I thought about taking my usual loop, but I ultimately decided on going straight through Waterloo down the Cedar Valley Nature Trail. This trail ends up in Cedar Rapids (an hour drive away, or 62 miles to the very north part of town according to Google). Of course I wasn't going to go quite that far, but as this is a ride I'm planning on making, I figured it would be a good idea to scout out the northern leg of the trip.
I left pretty early, as I knew this ride would take me 6 or so hours to complete. It turned out to be pretty hot out today, so I probably should start leaving even earlier than that. The trails were pretty much deserted for the first hour or two of my trip. I took the trail on the northern side of the Cedar River, as opposed to the southern side as I usually do. Everything past Highway 218 was going to be new to me. I found the first part of the trip nice and relaxing, as it was mostly shaded by trees. I could tell that this area was one that would be under water when we get floods every few years. The trail ran alongside a lake at one point, and it was only about 2 feet above the waterline. My theory was proven when the trail ramped up onto the levee. Someone had drawn lines where the flood had reached previous years. The highest, of course, was in 2008, when we had a pretty nasty flood through the entire area. I don't think we'll really have to worry about it much this year, however, as it has been pretty dry this whole summer so far.
The trail ran down by the river once again when I reached downtown Waterloo, and I reached what looked like orange construction barriers in my path. I was circling back around to find a detour when a man in construction clothes came up to me and said "It's not actually blocked off, the fences are staggered." The gap between the two was pretty tight, but not so bad that I had to get off my bike. It did feel sort of like an obstacle course, though.
There was another one of these kinds of gates a bit further down the trail, at a railroad crossing. I did have to get off my bike for this one, which I think was by design. There was a train, but it was so far down the tracks that I didn't really have much to worry about.
I was still in Waterloo when I noticed that both my handlebar tape and my bandage on my finger (a burn) were both starting to come undone. The bandage was under my gloves, so it wouldn't have flown off or anything, but the handlebar tape was starting bug me. I had to stop for a few minutes and attempt to re-wrap it. I will have to do a better job later, but my patch job held, at least.
The trail took me next through Evansdale. It ran along a pretty busy road for about a mile, which made me a bit nervous. The drivers seemed to be pretty used to cyclists though. I never get entirely comfortable riding on the street, however, since there are some drivers that are oblivious, or malicious, or just completely incapable of driving period. As I would come out the loser in a fight between car and bike, I try to pay attention to what is going on.
South of Evansdale, the trail began to go through typical Iowa wilderness. By that, I mean cornfields. Sometimes there was a narrow band of trees on either side of the trail, but you could still see the fields through them. There were enough trees around to house plenty of bugs, though, and a lot of them seemed suicidal enough to dive in front of me. I had to wipe bug guts off of my sunglasses a couple times, and spit out a couple of them too. At least I didn't swallow any.
My next town I reached was Gilbertville, which I passed through in a matter of 10 seconds. One of those little Iowa towns that has about 10 streets total. After that, it was pure cornfields again.
I had been thinking about where to turn around, whether it was at 25 miles in, or at the next town (La Porte City). I wasn't sure when the town would be, so I decided to go a certain distance past 25 miles on my odometer. If I reached the town first, I would turn around, if I reached the number first, I would turn around then. It happened that I reached the number of miles first, so I took a U-turn and headed back towards home. After looking at the map when I got back, I was only about a mile and a half out from La Porte City. I suppose I'll get there next time, then.
The trip back to civilization was pretty uneventful, aside from my butt starting to hurt a lot, and an increasing desire to urinate. I knew there wasn't a gas station close to the trail in Gilbertville, so I had to make it back to Evansdale. It wasn't really an emergency, though, and I stopped for a break at a gazebo on the river. My mom happened to call me while I was resting, so the break stretched to about half an hour long, which was probably good. I don't think I take long enough breaks sometimes.
I was just south of Highway 20 when I started to feel really lightheaded. As I had drank a lot of water and Gatorade, I knew it was because I hadn't eaten enough. This event turned the "stop to pee" break into "stop to pee, eat, rest, walk around, and get out of the sun". I stopped at a Caseys General store, took care of business, filled up my water bottle (from the faucet, not myself), and bought another bottle of Gatorade. There wasn't much option for food, though. I settled on a bacon cheeseburger, although I would have preferred something that wasn't hot. After I started to eat it, though, it was utterly delicious. I could have probably eaten two or three of them, I was so hungry. I stuck with one, though, as I didn't feel like paying restaurant prices at a gas station more than I had to.
I set off on the way home again and only had to stop one more time. The wind was at my back for a lot of the trip home, which was a relief, and a pretty welcome change from last time I rode a long distance. I stopped because of my butt (again!) and because I figured I should at least drink more fluids as it was getting pretty hot outside.
Aside from nearly hit by a turning car on Main Street (stupid college girls), I made it home alright. My legs seem fine, but my butt still hurts a bit. I know it's the saddle, because the back of it digs into my rear end pretty hard. I will try to adjust it a bit before investing in a new one (as this one cost me a lot of money), but I might have to do just that. I also have realized that I need to take in a bit more food before and during the rides. I also went through three 20oz bottles of water and about 50oz of Gatorade. I would have ran out, had I not stopped at the store. I guess I also need to re-think how much fluids I take, as well, as my rides will just get longer. It's good to work these issues out now, however, instead of realizing this all on RAGBRAI and being in major trouble.
I may ride tomorrow, I'm not sure yet. I'm pretty happy with how today went, as I can tell I'm getting stronger, and the issues are starting to work themselves out (or at least present themselves so I can fix them)
This was my route today:
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