Rah, Yeah Bike Days!

     This may be the last for 2021, as they are calling for 80 today. You can both get outdoors exercise and see a lot of the infrastructure of this village. Ride along Riverview Park,cross Main Street over the parking lot next to J Salon and Enstyro, and enter the Coohey Trail. The vantage point will give you a great view of the river and the levees and berms constructed  to protect the west side of the city.

    If you are interested in a look at drainage done right, ride out the Davidshofer Bike Path to Dollar General and have a gander behind their building, which is an empty depression to hold the runoff shed by their parking lot and building roof--a textbook example of doing drainage right. You may want to compare it with some of its neighbor businesses, which have run their parking lots right up to the cornfield and provided for no drainage.

When the the bike path ends, continue on until you come to the first right turn, Industrial Drive, ride to the top of it, and look back down. You'll see the three businesses there have none of the required green space to offset the parking lots and building roofs they have created. This probably isn't their fault, the developer of the area built them without it. However, as the puddling in the picture indicates, it needs to be addressed. 

From the top of Industrial Dr., it is a short shot to the Bent Rim--you'll probably need a beer by then.