Biking Iowa: Grant Wood Trail

I was driving through Jones County the other day, when I came across a small rest area on the way to Anamosa.  The rest area was a trail head for the Grant Wood Trail, west of the small town of Olin.

The Grant Wood Trail runs about 3.5 miles, a little short for a bike ride, but perfect for walking.  It was a pretty stretch of nature, with wildflowers and corn fields bordering the trail.

A lot of folks are calling Iowa the "king of bike trails," and I'm starting to discover why.  I carry my folding travel bike in the back of my car whenever I'm on the road for work, so I'm always ready for a quick ride whenever I see a new trail.  It's a great way to stretch my legs and get a little exercise while I'm traveling for work.  And it seems like there really is a bike trail in every county in Iowa, even in unexpected spots like little towns.

Wordless Wednesday: Foggy morning on the High Trestle Trail

Biking Iowa: Raccoon River Valley Trail

I've been having so much fun hitting up different bike trails this summer.  Now I know why Iowa is gaining a reputation as the bike trail capital of the world.  There are many miles of trails within a short driving (or walking) distance from my home and work.

I recently took a day off to check out the Raccoon River Valley Trail, which runs through Adel in central Iowa.  It was such a hot, humid day, my camera fogged up when I stopped to snap of picture of my little Dahon folding bike.  But I kind of like the photo effect of the foggy lens.

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous.  Iowa is so green and beautiful in the summertime.

The trail crosses the Raccoon River on the way east to Waukee.  The steel bridges were radiating heat on the 90-plus degree day. Thankfully, most of the trail runs through wooded areas.

Discovered this steel engraving on the trail bridge over the Raccoon River.

The locals know that any trip on the Raccoon River Trail requires a stop at the Adel ice cream shop.  My stomach was a little uneasy from the heat, so I opted for a fountain cherry coke instead.  Gotta love the cherry syrup!

Have you visited any bike trails this summer?  Do you have a favorite bike trail?  I'm looking forward to hitting a few trails during the height of the fall color.  Can't believe it's that time of year already!

Boland stand-still parade

Whew!  I'm exhausted from my busy, fun weekend.  Yet I wanted to share a few highlights while they were still fresh in my mind.  This weekend, I joined my mom and step-dad on a 13-mile bike ride during Boland's 125th anniversary celebration.  Boland is just a few miles down the road from where I grew up.  It's famously known as one of the smallest towns in Iowa, population 9.  In 1989, talk-show host David Letterman invited the entire town of Boland to appear on his show.

Boland has always been proud of being small but mighty.  Each year, the town hosts a stand-still parade, a twist on an old favorite.  Since the town is only 3 blocks long, the parade floats are parked on main street, and visitors walk the length of the parade "route."  Such a clever idea!

We arrived bright and early at 7:30 a.m. to register for the bike ride.  A few craft and food vendors were already setting up.

Canned goods for sale at the Boland festival.

A lot of folks from this north Iowa area (including myself) have Scandinavian roots.  We saw lefse for sale, a flat bread made from potatoes that my grandmother used to make every Christmas.

 

A wooden train is a popular playground for kids.

In addition to the bike ride, there was also a classic tractor ride.  Many tractor brands were well represented.

If you're not familiar with tractor rides, it's a caravan of restored tractors.  It gives people a chance to show off the work they put into restoring the tractors.

 Once the tractors took to the roads, the bikes followed.  Thankfully, the blacktop roads were very smooth, and the route was relatively flat.  We pedaled 7 miles before hitting our first stop, Grafton, a rural town that's just a little bigger than Boland.

After resting our legs for a few minutes, we pedaled our bikes on the trip back to Boland.  I couldn't get over how pretty the scenery was.  We rode in the shadow of a wind farm, which seemed to stretch for miles.

 

 When we got back to Boland, we stopped to watch a chainsaw-carving artist.  I had to stop myself from taking this little guy home.

But we didn't stay and watch for long.  We were on a mission.  Our registration for the bike ride included free homemade pie and ice cream!  It was tough to choose one slice of pie.  There were so many yummy options!

I ended up picking the apple crumb pie.  It was even better than I imagined.  The crumb topping had a wonderful caramel-like flavor and crunch.  And the homemade vanilla ice cream melted perfectly into the crumb topping.  So good!

My mom chose the peach pie.  My step-dad, the apple.  We lined 'em up before we dug in.

Somehow, my step-dad managed to get two scoops of ice cream!  I was so jealous.

After our eating every last crumb of pie, we toured the historic Boland schoolhouse, which is currently under renovation.

A brass band entertained the crowds.  Such excellent musicians.  Nothing beats the sound of a tuba!

Soon, the crowd was invited to watch a skydiving demonstration.  One of the skydivers was a local woman who has served in the U.S. Army for 28 years and has won several skydiving competitions.  She chose Boland for her last jump before retiring from military service.

At this point, we were getting pretty tired from waking up a 5:30 a.m. and spending 5 hours at the festival.  So we left just as the stand-still parade was getting started.  I must have been tired, because I only took a few half-hearted pictures.  Wish I took more to give a better idea of what the parade looked like.

But before we left, I had to get one more picture to remember the day.  We had a great time in Boland, and we're already planning to come back for the bike ride next year!

RAGBRAI: Part 2

When I learned that RAGBRAI was rolling through the area, I knew I just had to join in.  If you've never heard of it, RAGBRAI is an annual week-long bike ride across the entire of state of Iowa.  It attracts 10,000 cyclists from all around the world.  The event is pretty much a rolling party.  The RAGBRAI route travels along country roads and through tiny Iowa towns.  For the most part, Iowa communities love to host RAGBRAI, because the cyclists often spend quite a bit of money on food and refreshments wherever they stop.

I've never been on RAGBRAI, but it was another item on my "bucket list."  But all I have is an old hand-me-down Huffy mountain bike, so I was nervous about joining in. Most cyclists ride on road bikes, which are way easier to pedal than my clunky ol' bike. But I also have heard that people ride some pretty ridiculous bikes on RAGBRAI, so I figured I wouldn't be the slowest rider on the route.

I rode a half-day of RAGBRAI.  My husband dropped me off along the route on his way to work, then I rode about 13 miles to the nearest host town.  Then I got off the route and rode our local bike trail back home.  Altogether, it was a 24 mile bike ride.  That was pretty far for me!

As I expected, I got passed by almost everyone on the route.  And many people came really close to my bike as they passed me.  There were plenty of farms to stop at along the route, with folks selling breakfast burritos, water and gatorade. Unfortunately, I was scared to stop and pull off to the side of the road. There were so many cyclists coming up behind me, and I was afraid I would cause a crash if I just stopped in front of them. 

I rode 7 miles in the heat before I finally got the courage to stop and get something cool to drink.  (Looking back, I regret that I didn't stop and see more farms along the route.)  I ended up stopping at an absolutely beautiful farm, with a big yard and benches for bikers to sit under the shade of trees. 

 There was a smoothie stand in the front yard. I ordered a "swirl" -- strawberry and peach. It was so good after biking in the heat.



The farm had an antique store inside an old barn.  There were lots of cute lawn decorations everywhere.

Inside the barn, there was a line for the bathroom.  I immediately joined the end of the line.  Free use of indoor bathrooms is a rarity on RAGBRAI, so I didn't want to miss this opportunity to avoid the porta-potty lines!  Inside the bathroom, people wrote "Thank You's" on a dry erase board next to the loo.  So funny!

I got back on the rode and biked another 5 miles before reaching the host town.  It was only 9 a.m., but I was starving.  The crowds were so thick, I couldn't find the pancake stand.  So I gave up and stopped at the local fire station, where they were grilling pork chops as a fund-raiser.

In addition to the typical grilling fare, they were offering free pickle juice!  They said it was good for replenishing electrolytes, but I passed.

I'm so glad that I couldn't find the pancake stand because I ended up having the best breakfast food ever -- pork chops on a "stick"!  Seriously, this was the best pork chop I've ever had. So tender and juicy. It's cut so that the bone extends out from the chop, creating a "handle" for eating the chop without a fork.

Then I spent about an hour just walking around town, gawking at all the bikers.  I couldn't believe the size of the crowd!

Even after eating the huge pork chop, I was still hungry!  I guess biking really works up an appetite.  I ended up buying a homemade ice cream sandwich at a local boy scout stand.  This treat was amazing!

I also ended up finding a free homemade Dutch letter pastry at the Central College stand.  I've never had homemade Dutch letters, only the bakery version.  This was extra sweet and stuffed full of almond paste.  Yum!

After giving my legs a rest, I rode a couple miles along the RAGBRAI route, then met up with bike trail and rode home.  The 9-mile ride home was the hardest.  My adrenaline was starting to wear off.  When I got home, I promptly took a 2 hour nap, then spent the rest of the day lounging.  I was beat!  But I had an absolutely blast.  I'm already looking forward to joining RAGBRAI again next year.  If you've never been on RAGBRAI before, I highly recommend you give it a try.  If I can do it on a 20-year-old Wal-Mart mountain bike, anyone can ride it!