In Which The RAGBRAI Shirt Is Totally Awesome

Most awesome bking T-shirt ever. And that's exactly what I will look like for RAGBRAI.

It's raining in Paraguay today, so no biking (or hiking, which had been the plan) but that doesn't have to mean no blogging ....

Check out “All Sorts of Awesome” on Facebook sometime. It’s a page my talented oldest daughter maintains, showing some of her art.

And here you see a sample. I don’t know how they got me to model a design she did in England, but that totally looks like my torso, in that it has two arms and in that I plan to cover my torso in that design.

Which is awesome. Contact me at joesheller@hotmail.com if you want such an awesome shirt. If I sell any, I’ll dedicate the profits to my daughter in Norwich, England. Because she’s awesome.

In Which A Cap Is Not A Helmet

Jon and I ready for our ride. Note the funky bike frames.

No, no, blog fans, nothing bad happened during my maiden bike ride in winter in Paraguay. I just thought about it a lot during the ride—how I wished I had a helmet. I didn’t, and I rode anyway, but I am fine.

In fact, if you’re going to ride a bike in winter, I definitely suggest a Paraguayan winter might be more relaxing than an Iowa one. Jon had been to a meeting in Nuestra Señora Santa María de la Asunción on Tuesday (usually called just Asunción, it’s the capital of Paraguay) and we stayed up late waiting for him to return. Consequently we got to bed late, and Wednesday started kind of late.

But, we had planned that today would be our bike ride day, and after lunch ended around 2, we decided we better get going because the winter sun sets by 5 p.m.

It was warm, probably around 80 or so, as most winter afternoons here are. I tried on Nalena’s helmet, which is too small for Nalena, and it didn’t fit me either, so I decided to wear my sun cap. I filled my water bottle, we got out the two cheap Brazilian bikes that the Peace Corps provided, and we were ready to be on our way.

The bikes were a bit of an adventure. The frame size is too small for a tall American, and the frame design seems to have the goal to add as much extraneous metal as possible, so the frame can be lots heavier with no discernable gain in comfort or strength. The derailleurs on my bike were a bit iffy, with the both the front and the rear tending to overshift when you aimed at the largest cog, and the rear one was frequently “chunking” in intermediate gears.

There was one other difficulty right away—Jon lives on a cobblestone street. In Paraguay, cobblestones are very irregular rocks imbedded in a clay path. It made for several continuous blocks of “rumble strip” riding.

The start of the ride. Note the cobblestone street. It was a bit rough riding at first, but it only lasted a few blocks.

But it was a fine sunny day, and even if I felt a bit like my knees were in danger of banging into my chin, it did feel good to be out on a bike. Jon said we would aim for the main campus of the Catholic University (Universidad Católico) that is south of town here, although he was not sure that we would have time to reach it.

The ride was a bit hair-raising. Paraguayan paved roads are asphalted cobblestone, and not as smooth as North American roads—although the paved surface was way better than the bare cobblestones. The streets are a bit narrow, and there is all sorts of traffic, including many “motos,” small motorcycles that keep way over to the right in the lane where bicycles are trying to ride.

Paraguayan drivers pass very, very close, blog fans, and they do not slow down for bikes.

We made our way through Villarrica to a country road that went down a hill. After a couple of miles, the pavement swung left through a gate, and there we were, at the campus.

The ride had taken us about 30 minutes or so, so reaching the campus was no big deal. We parked our bikes (the only non-motorized bikes there, and we had to lock them to a sign since there are no bike racks in Paraguay) and walked around the campus.

Jon in the central student lounge at the university. He found a poster on a bulletin board advertising a class he and Nalena started back in March.

There were no dormitories, because in Paraguay college students live at home or in apartments and don’t usually go very far to go to a university, and the campus is easily reach by moto or bus from Villarrica.

The Catholic University has "Holy Spirit Hospital," which has this rather cool symbol.

In one building we passed an office where a lady called out to Jon and invited us in. She was a “secretary” who chatted with Jon and me for a while. I was able to speak a little Spanish, but much of the conversation eluded me. “Secretary,” by the way, is a title for a high-ranking official, the head of the whole university (whom we did by chance briefly meet) is the secretary general, and the lady whose office we visited would probably be the equivalent of an academic dean or provost in the U.S.

Anyway, after a nice chat, we had a pleasant walk through several buildings and in a central quad area. The campus was a bit threadbare, as all things in Paraguay seem to be, but the atmosphere was not all that different from a U.S. college campus. There are classroom buildings, a student lounge, a medical school with a hospital, even an “experimental” high school where Jon and Nalena have done some programs.

Central area of campus at the university.

After a nice walk, it was time to head back.

The ride back proved a bit more challenging than the ride there, since the long hill we had come down we now had to climb. But we left the campus around 3:20 and were home by 4. Jon estimates the distance is not that different from my daily commute from my home to Mount Mercy, but I must say I feel like I can’t complain too much about the condition of Cedar Rapids streets anymore. Yes, I know, our CR streets do need a lot of fixing, but trust me, there are lots of places that would envy our wide, smooth streets.

 

A pause at a bend in the road on the ride back. the road is a bit narrow, but luckily, once we left the city, traffic was light. There is lots of trash. Sadly, Paraguayans are terrible litterbugs.

It was a fun ride. We’re going to do some bus traveling to see a bit of Paraguay outside of Villarrica in the coming days, so I’m not sure if I’ll get many more chances to ride a bike in South American. Without a helmet, I suppose I should not overdo it. But I’m glad I did go on this ride, although 9 miles in three weeks is not a very intense RAGBRAI training schedule!

In Which Wires Shadow The Ride

What with one thing and another—including office cleaning and moving office plants home due to an upcoming extended trip—I didn't get on my bike Friday until a bit after 5 p.m.

I wasn't sure where to ride. Rains lately have led to high water that has closed trails—in fact, here is a look at the low bridge of the Boyson Trail from a Friday afternoon walk Audrey and I took:

Water on the trail.

I decided that my evening ride would be north, since there aren't any water barriers to the trail headed north, so off I went. One thing about bike trails, they often use old rail lines, which mean they are also utility routes, and new, tall transmission lines have been installed just this spring along the Cedar Valley Nature Trail headed north:

Heading north, the trail paralleled by power.

I noticed that these new tall metal towers are identified by a number near the top of each pole, but the number is not unique to each pole, nor are they sequential. What does “24” mean, and why is “20” or “18” also common numbers?

What do the numbers mean?

Whatever. I continued on north until the 10-mile marker, then checked my time. I did not want to be miles north of Cedar Rapids when darkness came—I’m willing to ride in town with bike lights, but don’t really want to try the dark countryside. At 10 miles north, I decided it was time to turn back. I was aided in my decision by the interesting looking sky, which had a smear of clouds on the horizon that suggested possibilities … fortunately, the foreshadowing was false and the weather stayed dry.

A late afternoon Iowa cloudscape. Note the dead tree to the left. Still evidence of last year's drought amid the plethora of green this wet spring.

I met a retired MMU professor unexpectedly in Lafayette, and we chatted a bit about the recent leadership changes on campus. Then, I continued south and was once again distracted by wires. Why, at this road, do the new tall metal towers suddenly end? Are more in our future?

Where the high wire ends, looking south.

As the twilight set in, I was headed south in Robins. I paused to turn on my lights and also snap this photo of how new and old power poles mingled in this tiny town.

It's getting dark and the power poles are co-mingled, old and new.

I’m happy to report that I was home before it was full dark, although it was darkening. The sunset was pretty, as you can see. I didn’t ride off into it, as a hero of the Old West would, because I was headed east and I had to look back at Council Street by the Northeast Post Office in order to see the sunset. It was a pretty sunset, bisected by wires. Well, it would be. A testament to man’s ability to generate electricity, I suppose.

The sunset I did not ride off into. Because I'm not a cowboy. But I'm nearly as macho as one because I ride a  mighty steed. Then again, the steed is named "Francis," which might cut the macho factor a bit ...

Y’all enjoy yourself now. I’m not sure I’ll be doing much biking for a bit, with the trip and all, so ride some RAGBRAI prep miles for me, and don’t let the wires get too distracting.

In Which the Bike is Back

After the ride, we played on the deck, tossing maple "helicopters" in the air. Our resident cardinal did not appreciate the show, and scolded us from high in an oak tree.

The broken bike was fixed very quickly at Northtowne Cycling. I got the call early this afternoon and rescued Francis from the garage.

Later, I offered the new riding grandchild a second ride, and we cycled part of the Lindale-Boyson trail route. We had to use the park bypass—the shorter trail that ends on Parkview and goes by Donnelly Park—because the low bridge on the trail was closed by flood waters.

The grandchild enjoyed the ride. I think it's partly because of the cool bike seat I have, and I got a request from a niece about that seat I use. It’s called the “Kangroo” and is make by a company called WeeRide. Here is their video about the seat:




The video is pretty true—the front seat is stable compared to a back seat. I do use the toddler seat a lot.

Anyway, I didn’t tackle the hill today, but I’ll do it again tomorrow. A new chain should last a while, right?

In Which Some Wet Rides End With A Sudden “Chunk”

Noelridge Park on the way home. Puddle on the walk, misty air and cloudy sky, although it never did rain on the ride home.

I probably got a bit of a late start this morning. I knew I had to go into the office today, but was worried as the pavement was wet from overnight rain, and I didn’t want to get rained on again. So I kept checking the radar and delaying my departure, and it was around 10 by the time I finally left for work.

You guessed it. If I had left at 8:30 or 9, I would have arrived reasonably dry. But about 10:10, even before I was across the parking lots of Rockwell-Collins, rain began. It was light, but it wasn’t just a mist, either, it was rain, and I got fairly damp on the way in.

Oh well. It was only a light rain and I was only damp, not soaked.

After an afternoon registration session, I headed towards home via the trail around 3:30. I planned to do a bit of a bike ride, and headed south. But the sky clouded up and I was worried about a more vigorous repeat of the morning experience, so by Cedar Lake I turned around. As I rode north, I contemplated heading past Hiawatha, but although it did not rain, the sky kept looking ominous, and I turned towards home.

I decided I would cycle up Bowman Woods Hill, and then maybe ride around for a while close to home.

Two thirds of the way up the hill, however, there was a “chunk,” and my pedals started spinning as my bike slowed and started to back up. I had busted a link of my chain.

So I guess I was lucky that it clouded up and I didn’t head too far south, since that meant that I was within easy walking distance of home.

The bike shop guys say they’ll have Francis up and running by tomorrow, so it’s all OK. Apparently, I had banged the rear derailleur on something and damaged it a bit, which put stress on the chain. Anyway, I’ll get a new chain, and the derailleur can be repaired.

The broken chain.

Well, it was just one of two unexpected bike adventures in the previous two days. The one before had been more pleasant. I had a grandchild who is of cycling age, as in large enough to fit in the bike seat, who had never ridden. But, after seeing my granddaughter Amelia arrive on my bike at a park, this other grandchild decided to take a ride—and loved it. I’ve won another child over to biking.

Just hope the chain is fixed before that grandchild visits again. I think there are more rides coming.

Saw some blooming trees on the ride. Anybody know what they are? The top ones are full-size trees common on the Cedar River Trail. The bottom ones are among three planted in one yard in my neighborhood. Yes, it's true, I'm shopping for a new tree to plant ... given the wet, this seems like the  year for it.

In Which Moving Water Fascinates an Impish Passenger

Amelia watches the water on one bridge.

A different bridge. The water is so beautiful.

View of Indian Creek from bridge on Krumboltz trail.

A day after the epic journey to Ely with Cate, I took a shorter journey, a quick ride of the trail system near my home.

Well, quick is an exaggeration. Amelia, who was slightly miffed she didn’t get a ride Thursday when Tristan rode on my bike home from C Avenue Park, got a morning ride with me. She was bundled up—it was in the lower 50s Friday morning—but I think she stayed comfortable for the whole ride.

She has clearly made herself at home on the bike. For one thing, she is much more ornery now, definitely a sign of comfort in that girl. She would spontaneously grab one of my arms and shout “got you!” Or reach up to my torso and wiggle her fingers, shouting “tickle, tickle, tickle!” Or, sometimes, just lean her head way back so I could get a clear view of her face as she stuck her tongue out at me.

And she had a new routine on this ride. At every bridge we crossed, we had to stop and watch the water for a while and talk about what we were seeing. Maybe it’s my fault for telling her before the ride that we might see hippos, but she was pretty excited by ducks and fish.

Even with the pauses and the cool air, it was a very nice morning to be on the trail with a tickling, grabbing, tongue-sticking, little, ornery passenger.

In Which The Frozen Yogurt Is Tempting, But …

Trail we road on was named after this guy.
Mr. Cedar River.

I passed it up because I was in a hurry to get home—the grandkids are staying over night tonight.

Anyway, my sister Cate invited me to ride to Ely today, via the Cedar River and then the Hoover trail. She mapped the ride at something close to 38 miles, and since I subsequently rode my bike to C Avenue Park and back, I’m claiming it as a 40-mile day. Not exactly RAGBRAI—and there certainly were not enough hills to be like RAGBRAI, although we did climb the Bowman Woods hill at the end. Still, a good practice day.

Cate brought along energy shots, which proved fortunate. I started to black out a bit over halfway through the ride, and we paused and I took one of her shots, which helped a lot. I think I may have been partly dehydrated, and I plan to dig the camelback out again soon. I had water with me, but could not reach it conveniently during the ride, and we did not stop much.

Despite that incident, the ride was very pleasant. We didn’t get much talking done, as we couldn’t hear each other well, but it’s still good to ride with someone. Cate suggested we stop for some frozen yogurt at an ice cream shop near the trail, which was a good idea, but that's when I passed up that plan to get home a bit sooner.

I’m already committed to a ride tomorrow, too. After Cate and I rode, as I mentioned before, I went up to C Avenue Park to meet Audrey and the grandchildren. Tristan wanted to ride the bike home, and I had put on the child seat just in case, so he got his wish. Amelia was slightly distraught, but satisfied with a promise of a ride tomorrow.

As Ben noted, I seem to have two future bikers in the Sebers family. All in all, it was a very good biking day.