Keeping Up With Buddies!

I'm about halfway through this trip to "Ketelsen East" in the far western suburbs of Chicago. I've been in a "decluttering" mode, and one of the items I don't use any more is a recumbent bicycle given to be by RAGBRAI buddy Carl. A decade ago I hadn't been riding much after my pair of open-heart surgeries, and he passed on the recumbent that someone had given him. It was a unique piece of gear, and totally different to ride than a "normal" bike. The riding position was very comfortable, but the under-seat steering took a little getting used to! Also, after stopping, starting up again was surprisingly difficult, and usually included wobbling across the lane of traffic and aborted starts on many occasions! So I mostly did not ride it in traffic, and mostly rode laps around the mile-long path in a local park. Oh, and in going uphill, it had difficulty getting out of its own way! And there are plenty of hills near the river where I live! After I got a new hybrid bike here (which I love), the recumbent was abandoned so thought I'd pass it back to Carl to pass on to someone else! That's me on an early ride at left...


So THAT gave me an excuse to take a day trip to Iowa and cross paths with Carl. Back in 1993 when I did my first cross-state ride, he was one of the riders in the dozen or so crazies from the Toddville area that soon became my fast friends. He now is their intrepid leader, motivating them to train and keep on going year after year. He figures he's been on 29 of the 500 mile long rides across Iowa! Lately he and his wife Terri spend their winters in the Phoenix area near where one of their daughters live. While we crossed paths once this last winter in AZ, we didn't get a ride in, but since he is in "training", we did one earlier in the week when I visited. That is us at left, post-ride when I was pretty sweat-soaked, but it was a great, if warm and steamy day!


We met about 9am. Interestingly, I live next to a river, so have to climb a hill to leave the house. He lives atop a hill, so coast down to leave. Unfortunately, that means you climb that hill as you finish! He took me on a route that finished out at 20+ miles, and included 700+ feet of climbing - both records for me since restarting riding! A good part of it was over a rails-to-trails bike path - the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, which travels all the way from Cedar Rapids to Waterloo, over 60 miles, paved a good part of the way! I was surprised how busy it was - we would pass bikes or groups of bikes every minute or two! We stopped in a shady spot for a drink (at right), and Carl immediately found someone to talk to. The stop also included a latrine in the background, so a nice rest stop on a warm humid day.


After traversing sometimes busy roads to get there, it was a relief to not battle car and truck traffic, and it was nice to ride side-by-side for miles to chat and tell stories. Shown at left is a shot I took as I slowed to record what it was like as we biked along the very nice path.


We got back to Carl's and wondered if they wanted to go into town to Culver's for lunch. They were blessed to have their granddaughter Harper staying with them - she is a cutie, though seems pre-occupied with games and apps on her cell phone. She was plenty friendly and tolerated well my teasing her and attempting to steal her rapidly melting custard out at a table. See how photogenic she is at right?

I left the trio at the Cedar Rapids Culvers and headed south to Iowa City to make a pilgrimage to "Prairie Lights", my favorite book store, then on east to have dinner with sister Kathy, her husband Rich, and friends in Wheatland. Leaving them all for the 2.5 hour trip home in St Charles, I got in about 10:30. A long, but very fun day!