Marztag (March Day)

Uberall ein erstes Fruhlingslarmen.
Everywhere there is the first noise of spring.

A soft rosy afternoon light graces the muffled dribbling of a basketball on the driveway. The male cardinals sing as we fire up the Broilmaster again. It’s nearly time to celebrate spring, but we’re tempted by the teasin season and March Madness.

Here is a good route to take when the wind is west by northwest, but it's a wunderbar route when the wind is west by southwest. Ann Mattson from the Freeport Bicycle Company put me on to this last October, and we’ve done it three or four times these last two months. You’ll find a mix of flats and long gradual hills, with a few rollers in the middle. It's the perfect ride for the start of cycling year.
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Chuck Beichel and I slip into our Lightning P-38 recumbent bikes and work together to shadow each other from the wind. Herr Beichel will punctuate our ride with Marztag, a German romantic poem by Detlev von Liliencron.

Our ride takes us southwest on Van Brocklin Road til it ends at Bolton Road. Turning left on Bolton, we ride to the corner of Florence and Shannon Roads.

Turning right, we continue west on Bolton Road to Saben Church Road. Then we turn right and follow Saben Church north and back west up a long lazy hill past the Mattson’s farm to Route 73.

Following Ann’s directions, we cross Route 73 and continue west on Saben Church Road to the “Tee” at Lott Road. Now, we turn right and sail with the southwest wind in our backs. As we reach the high point of this ride, Herr Beichel unfolds his newly memorized poem.

"Volkenshatten fliehen uber Felder, (Shadows of clouds fly over the fields,)

Blau umdunstet stehen ferne Walder." (Distant Forests stand with a blue haze around them.)

And that is exactly what we see from our overlook as we ride merrily over the rollers to Loran Road.

Turning right on Loran, we glide east down a long hill to Route 73. Crossing back over Route 73, we continue east to Mill Grove Road. In this broad flat valley, I sometimes think we’re in Kansas or Nebraska.

At Mill Grove Road, we turn left and ride north by north east over the bridge at Yellow Creek up past the Owl’s Club. Next to the old limestone building, you'll find cover from the hot summer sun. At the top of the hill near the Emerald Camp Ground, Mill Grove Road "Tees" up to Block Road.

We turn right on Block Road and ride over a couple nice rollers to Pearl City Road. Now, it's time to hoist the spinnaker and sail for home along the newly paved tarmac. The new road and shoulder are wide, but we’re careful to watch for traffic along this busy section.

Wollt’ es halten, musst’es schwimmen lassen.
I wanted to hold on to it, but had to let it float away.