Just read (in my son’s Northwestern alumni mag) about a fun way to experience Chicago – by bike, visiting various food outposts. A Northwestern Alum opened Fork and the Road, which offers these tours – after a test run with a giro del gelato (you guessed it – a bike tour that braked at five gelaterias in the Windy City). From the website (www.forkandtheroad.com) it looks like the tours are over for the year. Here’s hoping they start up again next spring. The 2010 tours’ themes included dumplings, international BBQ, and Mediterranean Cruise. (Don’t see mention of the gelato tour…)
Category Archives: bike trails
A good bike ride in Des Moines
We made a nice new loop on our bike ride Monday – starting on the Urbandale trail then heading north on the newly finished trestle-to-trestle trail into Johnston, which petered out too early at an ice cream stand – but then we cut through some housing developments and rode on too-busy NW 62nd street to hook up to the Neal Smith trail which we took to the Butterfly Garden at Saylorville Lake (some of it on recently improved trail), then headed back on the Neal Smith trail to the bridge that connects back to MLK Blvd. and the Urbandale trail.
A little improvisational but it worked and was a fun interesting ride.
Filed under bike trails, biking, Des Moines
The best bike trail in Iowa City – still looking
We tried again last weekend to cobble out a decent bike ride via trail in Iowa City and did only slightly better this time than last time – a few years ago. Part of it has to do with the lingering devastation from the 2008 flood – which wiped out some of the trail along the Iowa River – not to mention several major arts buildings including Hancher Auditorium. (It was sobering to pass by those hollow wrecked buildings.)
Part of it is that Iowa City doesn’t have the trail system of a place like Des Moines to begin with – and no casino revenues like in DM to construct and pave trails. We did begin at the southern end of the Iowa River Corridor trail south of town and it got off to a pleasant enough start – a tree-lined winding trail along the river but then it got diffuse and hard to follow around campus and when we picked it up again at the city park north of Hancher, the trail petered out into haphazardly marked residential streets and then it dumped us out with no further explanation – just as happened during our previous ride – on a commercial strip under construction (again still-recovering from the 2008 flood). We ended up taking a sharp right and winding through a very odd housing development – what’s called the Peninsula Neighborhood – that looked completely out of place with mock-old urban architecture in a rural setting. It felt like a movie set. Granted the brick rowhouses and single-family new-old home cottages and bungalows are attractive – but looklike they belongin Baltimore or maybe Washington D.C.
We did manage to make the ride into a bit of a loop, riding past the housing development and a golf course to the north end of the city park where we rode through downtown and campus to catch the trail back to our car.
Filed under bike trails, biking, Iowa City
On the Raccoon River Valley Trail – Redfield to Panora Iowa
Biking was hot and slow on the trail today from Redfield to Panora, Ia. (farm country about 45 minutes west of Des Moines), with the weather warmer and more humid than expected (92 degrees; who knows what percent humidity) but as always the ride had its moments – we spotted three large raccoons (we think they were raccoons) crossing the trail, numerous exotic black and blue butterflies, a cyclist on a recombinant bike carrying a violin. (Yes, that was a violin.)
And there’s always ice cream. We used to go to PJs, a popular spot right on the edge of the trail when you arrive in Panora but one time it was closed so we asked around and found out about the 44 Drive In, west of town, past the small brick shops downtown. It’s nothing fancy – which is part of its charm. Just an old white and red trailer with a worn sign that smells a bit like onion rings and burgers, which we’ve never had. But the place is always busy. The malts are good and a small twist cone does the trick when you’re looking for a little kick.
Filed under bike trails, biking, Des Moines, DINING, Iowa
Portaging a bike on the Great Western Trail in central Iowa
I’ve portaged a canoe, hauling it on my shoulders across land between one lake and another, but I never portaged a bicycle until yesterday on the Great Western Trail just north of Martinsdale, Iowa. Fortunately, we didn’t have to haul our bikes far – just lift them up and between the branches of a tree that had fallen across the trail, completely blocking it. The trail was rough in general, with fallen twigs and branches, thanks to a ferocious storm in the wee hours of Sunday morning that downed trees all over the metro and caused power outages.
We should have taken this into consideration when we choose a trail to ride on a few hours later.
The good news is after we portaged our bikes, we encountered a truck on the trail – a rare and jarring sight – that appeared to be public works of some sort. An hour later, on our ride back to Martinsdale, the fallen tree was gone and we breezed right through – no further portaging required. Impressive service!
All this made me wonder if there is a trail hot line you can call to find out the condition on a trail – or to report a problem like a fallen tree.
Filed under bike trails, Des Moines, Iowa
The High Trestle Trail – central Iowa
We have now ridden the entire 20 miles of the High Trestle trail – and it’s a nice addition to the trail offerings in this area. Earlier we did the Ankeny to Slater portion. Yesterday we did the Slater to just past Madrid bit – and it was a pleasant trail through wide open cornfields, with a few portions canopied by trees. Just past Madrid the smooth concrete trail goes native – becoming a bumpy gravel trail that leads for about a mile to the Des Moines River and the new High Trestle Trail bridge which is really great. It’s not done yet but we were surprised that we could walk – and even ride if we want – across it. We parked our bikes at the edge and walked onto the bridge to catch the glorious view of the broad river and tree-covered banks, with the occasional motorboat speeding underneath the bridge. A young couple rode their bikes east across the bridge and reported that there was a gravel trail/road on the other side, to date. How great it will be when the bridge opens and the trail going further west is paved!
We had a nice picnic in a pretty little town park in Madrid, near the public library. No one there, just us and the flies.
Filed under bike trails, biking, Iowa
TakeBetsywithyou 