Central Iowa’s High Trestle Trail reminded me recently how enjoyable biking can be.

Over the years, I’ve spent a fair amount of time on my 1973 Schwinn Super Sport bicycle, although not so much in recent years.

I was 26 when I bought the bike, a top-of-the line 10-speed with toe clips that I never used, and a hard-leather saddle that’s still comfortable 46 years later.

I was living in Davenport, and I used it to go places I never visited by car. One favorite was Oakdale Cemetery, where legendary jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke is buried, along with Civil War generals and other luminaries, including department store wizard Charles J. Von Maur and the city-founding Bettendorf brothers, Joseph and William.

Sylvan Island was another destination. It’s a small outcrop on the backside of Arsenal Island. It has a small hydro plant and a single-lane bridge connection with Moline, Ill. The plant was built in 1898 and rebuilt in 1941. Nearby was the largely abandoned site of an 1871 plant that supplied mechanical power from the Mississippi River to nearby factories years before the invention of the lightbulb.

After I began dating my wife in 1974, I bought her a bike that was orange in color, like mine, but with a softer seat.