The Fairfield Loop Trail is busy this October. Brown and black woolly caterpillars are diligently crossing the trail to get to the other side, and squirrels are combing the woods for nuts and seeds, pausing to gaze up at me, sometimes a black walnut clenched in their mouths as I cruise by on my bicycle. This week I've taken three rides that have included all or most of the Loop Trail, and fall colors are increasing, the reds of wild sumac beginning to blaze beneath the cooling autumn sun.
The Loop Trail is sixteen miles long, encircling Fairfield, Iowa, mostly composed of lime chip and gravel but including some cement pathways as it passes through town. On Thursday, my ride was eighteen miles, the extra two miles of riding consisting of a couple of errands, a bank deposit and some grocery shopping that I included on the ride. Friday's ride was twenty-one miles that included some road riding north of town and on the Libertyville Road. On Saturday, my twenty-three mile ride consisted of a twelve and a half mile ride on pavement northwest of town out to Libertyville, missing the industrial cement paths of the trail, and catching the Cedar View Trail at the 223rd Street trailhead off the Libertyville Road and then continuing back north of town on the Loop Trail.
Note: the maximum speed was downhill on pavement, not the trail
All three rides were enjoyable on my new e-bike, which I bought this summer--an Aventon Level 2. As I've said before, and I'll say it again, e-bikes get rid of all hills and headwinds. Electric-assisted bicycle riding both giveth and taketh away. Riding my e-bike allows me to take longer rides more quickly with less strain, yet the electric assist also provides less conditioning opportunity. As our local bike guy says, "Electric bikes help you get in shape if you're out of shape, but if you're in shape, they make you lazy." I'm trying to ride that narrow trail between the good and bad, so my first two rides this week I stayed in the lowest assist level on the e-bike ("1" out of five levels) and consciously geared a little high on some of the longer inclines on the trail so that my legs had to work a bit more, Realistically, though, riding longer distances is what provides the exercise on the e-bike. For someone who doesn't ride much, the 18-23 mile distances I rode this week might seem like a lot, but really are pretty easy to knock off. The biggest challenge of three days of riding is getting my rear end toughened up! Today, any exercising I'll do will be chores and perhaps some working out with light weights.
Lamson Woods at the Mint Blvd. trailhead
Yes, the Fairfield Loop Trail is now fully open! The last closure was the section of Lamson Woods that led to the underpass at Glasgow Road. Quite a bit of work was accomplished there, with a new cement trail laid beneath the new bridge, and plenty of erosion-control stone added beneath the bridge to keep the area safe during flooding conditions. The area has been closed for so long that I had forgotten what a nice stretch of woods that little section of Lamson Woods includes. For most of the summer, I was able to ride the wetlands section of Lamson Woods and then detour on Glasgow Road up to Chautauqua Park to catch the trail again. For part of the summer, parts of the trail were also closed temporarily as the trail and environs were spot-sprayed for invasive plant species. Now, though, the entire sixteen-mile route is open; however, be aware that because of the August and September lack of rain, there are cracks in the trail surface that can catch a tire, and there are also sections of the trail where the gravel is loose and a tire can slide out if you're not careful.
Even though the Aventon e-bike can zip right along at higher assist levels, I'm careful on the trail to not go too fast--for several reasons. One is that I don't want to crash and hurt myself. "Road rash" burns, and I have no desire to pick gravel out of my skinned knees and elbows, even though I carry a small first-aid kit. Loose gravel, cracks in the trail from the summer drought, animals skittering in front of you, and unexpected and perhaps leaf-covered tree roots on the trail can provide dangers for the bike rider, whether the bicycle is electrified or not.
My trusty brass bell
A second reason I don't speed is that of politeness. When I'm around hikers on the trail, I always reduce my speed so I don't rudely and recklessly blast past them as they stroll along. I've bought a nice brass bicycle bell from Fairfield's bike shop, The Ride, so that when I come up on hikers from the rear, I can pleasantly let them know I'm approaching. Quite often, a single merry chime of the bell will result in the person being startled because they were listening to music with headphones or just drifting down the trail, not paying attention. The bell chime is better, though, that suddenly blasting (or even cruising) past the hiker, making them feel afraid they might be run over. As I pass a hiker after ringing my bike bell, I usually wave and say, "Didn't want to frighten you!" Any bicyclist can startle someone hiking the trail, but e-bikers have to be even more careful, I think, because people can unfairly think riders on e-bikes are a bunch of thoughtless speed demons, which in my opinion is inaccurate.
Cedar Creek on the Cedar View Trail
A third reason for not speeding on the trail, even if I'm completely alone as is often the case in the more remote sections of the trail that skirt the freeway, is that riding the trail is not only good exercise but is also good for our mental health. Sometimes I ride just for the exercise, and if I focus on my cadence and if I ride early on a weekday when I'm alone, I can ride the loop in a little less than an hour and a half. Usually, though, I complete the loop in around two hours, which allows me time to stop and snack, take some photographs, and sometimes to even get off and push to bike to savor special sections of the trail. A favorite section of the trail for me has been the wetlands section of Lamson Woods. The wildflowers, yellow and lavender; the honking of geese, the calling of the field birds; and the rich perfume of the wetland green-growing earth; blue water reflecting the blues of the sky--all this life in accord with nature is a balm to the soul, a reminder that there are larger rhythms of life which provide a stabilizing perspective to our daily challenges. Stopping to smell the flowers isn't just a cliche; it's a wellness intervention that tips my attitude in the direction of hope and regeneration.
the wetlands reservoir across the road from Walton Lake
We are so fortunate to live in our town and have the Loop Trail nearby. Riding my e-bike on the trail lets me ride the complete loop in the morning and to still have the time and energy to get on with my day. I plan to incorporate into my weekly schedule at least one trail ride per week with my standard, non-electric bike to provide myself with more exercise and also to remember the experience of riding completely self-sufficient on my own power and strength. I bought the e-bike this year because after a year of coming out of retirement and teaching full-time, I felt an e-bike would get me out riding more often and for longer distances. Who knows, though? I might over time, as I slide more fully into my second retirement, enjoy taking the entire morning and spending two and a half or three hours on the trail--just me, my own muscles, and nature. Right now, though, having the ability to exercise and ride the trail in a short enough time that allows for other activities during the day has been a good addition to my routine. Mostly, though, whether on my e-bike or non-electric bike, I've been enjoying getting out and away on the Fairfield Loop Trail and adjoining trails. There's a lot of beauty surrounding us, and taking the time to appreciate the beauty of nature is a healthy endeavor. Get out and enjoy the Fairfield Loop Trail, enjoy our city and county parks. There's a great deal of local beauty, even in our backyards, if only we will stop and notice.
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Now that enough summer has passed that I have ridden five hundred miles on my new e-bike, an Aventon Level 2, I feel I can confidently write a credible review of the bicycle. Up front and simply stated, the bike is a good value. The Level 2 has proven to by both durable and a comfortable ride.
Prior to buying the Level 2, I was considering buying a Gazelle 2024 Ultimate C380 HMB, a $5,000 bicycle manufactured in the Netherlands. I even test-rode the Ultimate, and it was a beautiful ride. I kept researching, though, and when I found out there was an Aventon dealership about three blocks from the Gazelle dealership, I decided to try out the Level. What I discovered was that the Level was an e-bike that handled well, had excellent online reviews, and was a third the price of the Gazelle. The Level also provided as a part of the $1,800 package a second battery, including free shipping. My final costs provided me a very ride-worthy e-bike and an excellent bicycle carrier strong enough for two e-bikes at half the cost of the Gazelle. However, it wasn't just the price that was my e-bike choice determiner. The Level 2 comes with a throttle (which I use rarely but is great to have when I need it), and it also can be programmed through the phone app so it will generate power up to twenty-eight miles per hour rather than twenty.
How the Level 2 Rides
The Level 2 is my first e-bike, and one concern I considered when buying was weight. At a little over fifty pounds, the Level is much lighter than the Aventon Adventure, and about the same weight as the Gazelle Ultimate. I found the extra weight of the bike does make handling different. I can't just throw the e-bike around like I can a conventional bicycle. This is my first bike with front shocks, and I must say that the shocks cause less strain to my arms. This is especially true for me because I have two pins in my left elbow, which causes the elbow to tire more quickly. I most recently have changed out the saddle to a Terry Cite Gel and have also added a seat shock absorber; with the seat cut-out and the shock, the ride is much smoother.
About seventy-five percent of my riding is on lime-chip trails. When the Level's tires eventually wear out, I will replace them with a more gravel-worthy tread, probably replacing the Kendas with Schwalbe treads. I find the current tires not as secure on gravel as I'd like. I've also found the kickstand sticks out a bit more than I like, and I have to adjust my foot position occasionally so my shoe doesn't tick the stand.
The eight-speed shifting is adequate for the e-boost levels. I rarely move below gear 4; however, when I turn off electric support and just pedal by my own power, I'm in the bottom four gears and have to stand on the pedals for any hill beyond a mild incline. The bike can be ridden without the electric support, but it's a slog. It's pretty easy to bottom out those eight gears when riding downhill, but I don't have much desire to ride more than thirty miles per hour. Using the higher electric-assist levels, I can keep a good pace when on pavement, which is great when I'm just jumping on the bike for a trip to the store.
The battery holds up well. I ride most of the time in the lowest power assist level. (There are five.) At 150 pounds, I'm not real heavy, and I believe I could easily hit fifty miles on a battery charge and not drain the 500w battery. The farthest I've traveled in a single ride so far is a little over thirty miles, and I had a little less than half the battery charge remaining. If I were to take the second battery with me, I believe my rear end would give up long before the batteries would!
All in all, I'm pleased with my purchase of the Aventon Level 2. The bike doesn't come with a Gates belt drive like the Gazelle Ultimate, nor does it have the infinite gear range of the Gazelle transmission. However, for the price, I'm putting many miles on a bike that has other options that I'm glad to have, namely, the throttle and the second battery. The bike doesn't weigh too much and comes with all the extras a commuter bicycle needs: rack, fenders, and lights. I added a mirror, which I think is essential, and also a nice brass bell, which provides a happy sound so I can alert trail walkers who aren't paying attention. I might one day still buy myself a Gazelle, but for now I'm perfectly content with my Aventon.
How will my second retirement be different? How will it unfold differently from my first retirement?
I like these questions and began writing my response to them--providing some self-reflection; however, after a few paragraphs of writing, I decided the reflection was honest but the writing was boring. Welp, scrap the writing and try again!
After ten years of retirement, I have just finished teaching 4th Grade full-time for Van Buren County School District at the elementary school in Douds, Iowa, a very small town (population 112 in 2022). My original goal to save a little money for emergencies by substitute teaching morphed into a year of full-time teaching because of a one-year teacher shortage for the elementary school. Long story short--I saved much more money and also helped out the district where I had taught for twenty-one years.
Will I teach again? I taught a wonderful group of students and enjoyed myself, even though teaching is hard work and there were times I was tired. On the whole, though, my back-to-full-time teaching was a fulfilling "encore" experience. Will I do it again? Probably not. I will probably substitute teach some, perhaps averaging 4-6 days per month. Rather than working five days a week and getting the weekend off, how about working 1-2 days per week and getting 5-6 off? That seems manageable to me.
What is my activity schedule like now? As in my earlier retirement, I'm enjoying the greater freedom of saying, "I'll get that job done today . . . or maybe tomorrow." That "or maybe tomorrow" takes a lot of pressure off the old body and mind. Last school year I did catch COVID but was "lucky" to be sick during winter vacation, so even though my "vacation" was coping with the illness, at least I had the opportunity to rest all I needed. During the school year winter months, though, I did catch a respiratory infection which lasted for a month--having no fever but having a long-term cough and lassitude. That was tough, having to get up early and work all day when I was low on energy. Luckily, after a month I recuperated and got my energy back. I will really enjoy the ability to choose whether I work or not, since I will have no contractual work obligations. I can roll over and go back to sleep if I want to.
Can I go outside and play? One thing my students and I had fun doing last year (or at least I did!) was studying the difference between "can" and "may" (possibility and permission). Therefore, I can say it is now possible to spend more time outside--and, no, I don't have to ask for permission! I've been outside quite a bit this last month since school has been out, mostly bicycle riding and gardening. I bought an e-bicycle three weeks ago and have already ridden 180 miles. I really appreciate how an e-bike extends my riding range. This year my garden is a bit diminished due to lack of time in the spring, but it is doing well. I've centralized my main vegetable plot to just one spot on the north of our property, so managing the garden is easier.
My gardening has been more businesslike this year; mostly I'm putting crops in so that I can eat the freshest food possible. Yes, I've enjoyed getting out in the garden, but the early planting was while I was still teaching so the work was of the in-and-out sort. Get it done on the weekend and before it rained Since the weather has turned hot, I've been gardening in the early morning (sometimes after an even earlier bike ride). This spring has had more rain, so that has eased some of the work.
Will I go camping this season? You might ask that question, especially seeing our Airstream Basecamp in the background of the above photo. The truth is, I'm enjoying just staying home and spending quality time with my wife and family. Also, we've been loaning out our camper to Sandy's son to allow him the experience of camping, something he's done very little of. I'll be writing some articles this season about his experiences--his camping learning curve, so to speak. Sandy and I may camp; we've even chatted about buying another travel trailer! A lot is up in the air right now, and that's okay. I've got some home maintenance to complete. Right now, I'm re-organizing the garage and am enjoying that handyman pursuit. It's always an adventure when my English teacher self tries being handy!
There's a saying about living a fulfilling life--do what you like and like what you do. That's my goal this second time around. I'm more knowledgeable, too, about the process. Sandy and I have been watching the Netflix series about Blue Zones and healthy retirement. I plan to eat well, manage my stress, avoid isolation and engage in meaningful activity, and to be active. Right now, I'm catching up on my medical check-ups, which is taking up time; however, my transition to retirement is going well. I plan to rest, play, read, write, and to continue trying to live an integrated life. Let me end with "Live long and prosper," for I plan to follow the Star Trek credo and to boldly retire where I have once gone before. It doesn't have to be a new space to be a happy space.
Photographs are memories, and I have many fine photos of my rural thirty-five acres of Midwest land that remind me of the good times that my wife and I have enjoyed on our land. Those photos are of times past, though; they are, indeed, memories of past experiences. Sometimes, though, when I'm at home thirty-nine miles distant from our land, the dawn rises bright and clean and full of promise. The air is still and the sky is turning from starry night to shades of blue, the horizon amber and orange with the rising sun. That's when I think, I wonder what's going on with our land? What's it like out there? What we've discovered is that although our trail camera with wi-fi linkage to our cellphone is not a live-streaming video, our Verizon-linked trail cam can provide us with a virtually real-time visual link to our land--when an animal happens to wander into the camera's motion-capture space.
At this time, our trail camera is a Spartan GoCam M 4G/LTE which we have connected to an app on my cellphone. It's always a joy when I hear that little chime notification that a photo has downloaded from our land. Originally we placed the camera down in our bottomland near the creek, where our neighbor's cattle sometimes wriggle through gaps in the fence to gain access to "the other side of the fence," where, or course, the grass is greener! When winter arrived, we moved the camera up to top of our land near the driveway entrance. The wi-fi reception is better there, and also we had scheduled some construction work on the bottomland and wanted to get the camera out of the way. We're planning on buying a second camera soon so that we can have one camera up near our living area and one down by the creek. Spartan does manufacture a camera that can take photos or live video on command so that we wouldn't have to be dependent on an animal wandering by to receive a video; however, that camera is twice the price of the one we purchased.
A bottomland buck
A coyote?
About half of the photos we receive are infra-red photos of animals out and about at night. The quality of these photos usually is not as good, especially if the animals are more distant. We have a lot of photos of what, after scrutiny, we feel are raccoons, and a few photos of what we think are coyotes or foxes. Since our main impetus for setting up the camera was for managing cattle that escape our neighbor's farmland, we will eventually have perhaps three or four total cameras to monitor the weak spots in the fence--which are mostly where the fence crosses the creek. Spotting wildlife will be an enjoyable "extra" to our land management plan.
My wife and I enjoy our little "window" trail cam app that connects us to our land when we aren't physically there. I find myself not only checking out the deer or raccoon in the photo but also just looking at the land, especially with the daytime photographs. Is there snow on the ground . . . or frost? I imagine the silence, the sense of space, the smell of rain and wet leaves. Eventually we may be able to have one "roving" camera that we will place in diverse, wilder parts of our land, moving the camera around to see what life is like in the more inaccessible parts of our property. I think this technological tool (and toy!) will not only come in handy in the future but will also provide us with a lot of pleasure. Whether it's a steer ambling across the trail cam's target zone, or a wild, strutting tom turkey, whenever that little chime alerts us to a new photo downloaded to our phone, we'll be sure to eagerly open to the Spartan app and see what nature has brought our way.
While driving home from our rural land and listening to NPR on the radio, I heard that there was a new lotto in town with a pay-out of 1.4 billion dollars. Well, I hadn't tried my luck for a few years, so I decided that it was time to once again splurge and dream the impossible dream. After all, the radio told me that the odds were only somewhere over one trillion to one!
Arriving home, I mentioned that I was feeling lotto-lucky to my wife, and she said that she'd been talking to her daughter about buying some tickets also. We decided that Hy-Vee was an auspicious location to pull God's finger, so I bellied up to the counter and said, "We want to win the 1.4 billion lotto ticket! How do we do this?" I know that sounds like I had no clue, but I lowered my voice when saying it so that I'd sound like Orson Wells or Morgan Freeman. We bought ten Mega Millions tickets for a total of twenty dollars. "Now, I don't buy these things to lose," I told the cashier, "so these had better be lucky!" She just chuckled to herself, amused by my comment--at least, I think it was a happy chuckle and not an evil cackle. . . .
For the next thirty-six hours my wife and I engaged in scintillating conversation, planning how we'd spend our seven hundred million in cash after taxes. We'd live off the fat o' the land. We'd give money to our children so that we'd never have to worry again about their cars needing tires or about leaky water heaters or the dog that chewed a hole in the sofa. Trust funds for the grandkids were a given; a charity to help single mothers was a heartwarming idea, and a gift to the local university would be a great way to share the love.
We had asked when we purchased our ten "Megaplier" numbers what was the procedure for verifying our win. The online dot com was the answer. Therefore, the morning after the ten o'clock PM drawing, I fired up my computer, typed in the ialottery.com URL, and checked for my winnings. Of course, the title of this article does spoil the climax for any lotto optimists out there. We hadn't won. Sad emoji :(.
I wonder, though, if perhaps even though I hadn't won big . . . perhaps I had lost big! I mean, if winning big is a rarity, then isn't it possible to lose big, too? What prompts me to say this is my experience playing solitaire on my phone app. Sometimes I lose in such a spectacular fashion that I ask myself, "What are the chances of that happening?" It goes like this: The solitaire app loads up my game. The face-up cards have no moves. I flip through the stack, and not a single move is available, not a one. I have lost the game without being able to move a single card. Now, that has to be unusual, at least it is from my experience! I didn't just lose the game; I epically lost the game!
The lotto ticket looks like a receipt from a cash register, about three inches wide, printed black on white paper with a side strip in red declaring "IOWA LOTTERY." We bought ten number sequences, labeled A-J, five numbers and then the Mega Ball number. I'm not sure if numbers range from 00 to 99 or from 01-99. I checked the winning number posted online with our ten series of numbers and discovered . . . of the sixty numbers (10 sequences) not a single winning number was on our stub. To win, I would have had to have six winning numbers sequenced in the winning order. I didn't have a single winning number on the stub, much less in the proper sequence! It's like I go catfishing with a friend and use axle grease for bait. No bites.
Have I learned my lesson? Of course not! Am I going to buy another ticket soon? Of course not! And if you're interested, I searched my articles and found this title from 2013: "I Take a Gamble . . . and Lose." What I've discovered about myself is this: I rarely lose when I gamble . . . because I rarely gamble. However, sometime in the distant future when I try my lotto luck again, I really would like to win. Will it happen? Well, I'm not going to bet the farm on it, that's for sure!
