Saturday, June 22, 2013;
Good Morning;
And so, good readers, yesterday's blog concluded the actual ride. I did, however, have some observations while riding along the trail, and drew a few conclusions that I decided to leave you with on this last page. Understand, I'm not trying to offer any advice to anyone here, just some observations and thoughts I had while riding the length of this trail.
I stayed over in a local motel there at Clinton because by the time the buses dropped us off at 6:45, and I ate dinner, (Golden Corral), it was way too late to begin a 7 hour trip home. Saturday found me really missing my companions, and a bit lonely. But, it was time to go!
Official Tee, and Jersey.....
Tee first....Great microfiber material, absolutely love it!
Then the jersey......The tee was included with the ride, the jersey is optional and had to be purchased if you wanted one.. I waited until during the ride to buy mine, and found I liked last year's much better than this year's, and got it at a bargain basement price as well.... This stuff is for sale all along the ride, and there doesn't seem to be any shortage, so you really don't need to buy the jersey when you sign up, as you can buy current year, or older years jerseys at any time during the ride, and they usually have one to try on before you buy. Also, various gift shops along the way have a good selection too.
First off.... would I do it again? YES, in a heartbeat! Would I do it on my own? Probably not..... why should I when I can do it with such a wonderful group!
Second .... What bike would I suggest..... I won't. The choice of bikes is yours. Run what you brung is the order of the day here. The trail conditions this year were not as good as other years, and had some trouble spots. Nothing that would stop one from riding any type of bike with caution in the bad spots. I'm not sorry I chose the mountain bike as I was more comfortable negotiating the varying trail conditions with it. Probably wouldn't be a concern to those with more experience than I. I, on the other hand, have no concerns about riding a mountain bike that far. The Brooks Saddle off my tourer helped a lot. There were all kinds of bikes, Cyclocross, road bikes, mountain bikes, hybrids, tandems, recumbents, trikes.... everything. This year, the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers had caused quite a lot of local flooding, plus they had unprecedented amounts of rain, all of which had an effect on the trail conditions this year. On years where the weather is drier, I would think a road bike would be just as good as anything. Personally, on a trail with varying conditions like this one, I, would rather have a little wider tire under me, and one with some flat protection. The Vittoria Randonneur would be a great choice I think, although Continental makes a really good city/touring tire that would work well also. It depends on what will fit in your frame. I also don't think I'd really want to beat up my high dollar carbon road bike, nor my skinny, lightweight (thin) slick road tires on this either, but that choice is yours. I will say though, that most of the road bikes I saw were older steel and/or aluminum framed models.
Third.... Determined to do it on your own? Go for it! Plan carefully however, and make sure that places are open on the days and hours you plan to go through there. Water can be a real problem I think. After Labor Day, and before Memorial Day, hours and days of businesses and campgrounds are sketchy at best. B&B's are there in almost every town, with some towns having several. Doing the trail this way is WAY above my budget however. I was a bit surprised at the small number of services available along the trail, and because of this, be prepared for fairly high prices when you do find food and drink. I had expected a bit larger towns I suppose. Plan the ride, and ride the plan! Again, another reason I'm glad I did it with the State Park Trail Ride.
Fourth .... my suggestions for doin' it on your own. If I did it again, and again, and again.... I would ride with the State Park ride every time. A bargain at $290 plus $60 for the the bus trip back can't be beat. With the expertize that these people possess, and the care, security and help they lavished on us, the great food, and the fact that they took every bit of worry away so we could enjoy every bit of the ride is more than worth the money involved. Plus, the camaraderie of 299 others doing the same thing with you is wonderful. I know I've made some lifelong friends on this ride.
Tires..... I saw a lot of cyclocross bikes on the ride this year, fast as a road bike with wider tires made for off road. These bikes seemed especially suited for trails like this. Smooth skinny slicks are difficult in some areas, and prone to more flats. Even mountain bike tires (as I found out) are not exempt from flats. Those sharp shards of rock will go through anything. There again, we had a professional bike mechanic taking care of our needs. Pampered, pampered! If I do it again, whatever bike I take will have Kevlar liners between the tube and tire. Hybrid bikes seemed to abound, and also seemed to be well suited for this trail. They are probably heavier than my mountain bike, but really, it's not a consideration. Nobody keeps tabs on your time, and nobody cares how fast or slow you are. Just have a good time.
I cannot praise the Missouri State Parks Department enough! These people worked so hard to make it all happen, and keep it all working! Tireless workers whose only concern was our safety and enjoyment. The effort that goes into making this ride work is staggering. Great job, people!
Riding..... doing this trail alone means a lot of hours of tedious riding. Much of the trail is straight and flat with little to encourage you. Doing the trail with a group like we had, with the knowledge the organizers possessed, we always had someone to talk to, had regular rest stops, informative people, and no one was ever bored. The scenery was unbeatable. As was the history of the area. The trail was dusty for the days we rode it except for the morning of the first day. The limestone dust gets EVERYWHERE! Drivetrain wear is the order of the trip. Here's what my bike looked like after the ride, and understand, we had perfect weather.... It was absolutely clean before the ride.....
And this was what was left after the trip home with the wind blowing. This dust is fine, as well as being abrasive, 'nuff said.
Weather..... I suppose the State Parks people put in for good weather for the trip. The forecast at the start of the trip was for several days of rain. If it does rain, this trail can be very, very difficult. Then I definitely would not want to be riding a skinny tired road bike .... at least I wouldn't. There again, however, my experience in this type of riding is limited, and I'm sure there are well experienced riders who would have little difficulty, or at least better insight as to tire types and sizes. Katy in the rain can be a muddy mess. Our weather was perfect, warm days, cool nights, a bit muggy, but that's to be expected too. Little wind, even though what wind we had was a headwind just about the whole way, it really had little impact on our enjoyment of the ride. I still can't believe we got by a whole week with no rain in Missouri, in June! Even though I mentioned heat several times in my musings, it was honestly never really a problem. Most days, we were done riding before the heat got to be a real problem, plus, it was only in the high eighties most days, nights cooled off and were in the low sixties most nights. So, really, it wasn't so bad at all.
Camping ..... The State Park arranges our camping, and they do a wonderful job. Most of these areas are not available to the public, and I don't think I'd want to camp there alone anyway.
All but one of the few campgrounds right along the trail are private. The only one that is a State Park campground is east of Augusta, I looked for the turnoff, but never found it. I've heard it's usually full all summer anyway, and reservations are NOT accepted. Private campgrounds, pretty much all at the west third of the trail. Before Memorial Day, and after Labor Day, hours are maybe's, and usually they are open on the weekends only. During the peak summer months, the private campgrounds are open all week, but call ahead. Find out before you go. This is a very popular trail. Some of the bigger cities like Columbia have hotels close to the trail as well. I've thought, that it would be a big help to know the trail well before you ride it on your own.
As much as I was looking forward to actually finishing the ride..... once it was over, I felt a little sad that there would be no more Tomorrow We Ride!!. Next year! Oh Yeah! Planning already! It was really a five day party!!! And a five star ride!!!
Safety.... The State Park Rangers make sure you and your gear are super safe. Great people to have along!!! Our vehicles that were left at Clinton were in a parking lot regularly patrolled by the Clinton Police Department. No one in our group had any problem with their vehicles left there.
Continuing On ..... For those of you who might want to continue on to St Louis, this year, you would have had to go over the Page Avenue bridge and through the city on surface streets, because the trail was closed between St Charles and Machens. Maybe a better alternative anyway, as I heard several horror stories from some regular riders about muggers throwing bottles on the Riverside trail in St Louis to stop bicyclists so they could rob them ...or worse. The trail into the city along the river goes past some very bad areas. There again, I'm sure it's possible, as what I got was second hand information, and maybe isolated cases at best. There have been many people who have taken the Riverside Trail all the way downtown, but I'm happy to do what I did. With the value of bicycles the way it is anymore, thieves don't need to think about how much you might have in your pockets, the bike itself is worth hitting you over the head for. I was ready to take the nice air conditioned bus back anyway.
Food .... The food for the entire trip was great. Maybe, there might have been a couple of meals I'd have done differently, but usually there were enough choices that there need never be a problem. I enjoyed the food, and probably gained weight over the course of the ride. For those of you with special dietary needs, I am told that if you make the State Parks Department aware of your needs when you register, they will accommodate you. I took along a number of snacks..... absolutely wasted space in my bags. There is LOTS of food, plus snacks every ten miles, I never touched them.
The trail is flat....does that mean it's easy? Nope..... You'll get a workout on this trail. You will pedal every inch of it, plus the added drag of the trail surface will certainly make you feel the day is long, well before it ends. Plus as stated earlier....it's not all so flat anyway. Even though the grades are shallow, don't think you won't know they're there.
Even though we did this ride as a group, we were free during the day to ride and explore as we chose. There is much to see here, and this is a very scenic and historical area. We were required to check in every evening by 5pm. That was the only real requirement of the ride, that and the fact that we did have to ride the miles every day to our destination.
Before the ride, I was worried about heat, trail conditions, the long 70 mile day...... turns out that there was really nothing to be concerned about. It was MY first ride, but not the State Park's first one, and everything was just fine. The weather was perfect, not really too hot at all, no rain, the trail, while rough and soft and loose in some spots was just fine. Turns out that mid-June is really a pretty good date to do this ride after all. The 70 mile day proved to be quite doable and while not exactly easy, we got 'er done. That, by the way, was my longest single day's ride on a mountain bike, off road. Like I've said so many times before, they just took ALL your worries away. "Get your caboose on the Katy"!!!!!And, I'll see y'all there next year!
June 21, 2013
Marthasville to St Charles, 39 miles, no side trips.
Last Day.
Good Morning Sunshine ..... Rise and shine! This morning I woke bright and early, had my stuff packed and on the baggage truck by 5:20am. This morning I had to awaken my travelling companions as they were still sleeping soundly. Their turn to be late. Breakfast was a repeat of the efficiency of dinner last night, breaking us into two groups, one upstairs and they ate inside, and one downstairs, who ate at the picnic area. Again, fast and efficient. Breakfast this morning was probably the best of the trip..... Scrambled eggs (as much as you want), a big slab of ham (left over from last night, but great flavored ham), as well as sausage, biscuits and gravy (fresh biscuits, and great sausage gravy), fresh fruit, coffee, and unfortunately, not juice, but orange punch...... hey can't bat 100% all the time. It was a great breakfast for the shortest day of the tour. Mixed feelings about today, in a way, glad to see it winding down, but sorry to see it end. So, breakfast done, time to get on the trail, morning shadows still long...... I felt GREAT this morning, no sore muscles, no stiffness, and great power. Even ran along in a paceline with some Colorado riders on road bikes, AND I even pulled for a few miles.
This old elevator and homestead is really all that's left of Dutzow.....
Once again, a regular patrol of the Park Rangers was always evident, every day. Loved these guys, and gals. What a great job they do!
I loved this little farmstead with the limestone cliffs around it, so pretty in the morning.
And in a little bit, before we knew it, we were at Augusta.
Always fresh fruit and water and Gatorade mix every ten miles or so. Never had a worry. This is downtown Augusta .....
I had honestly expected a much larger town, but all the towns along the trail were very small, and as I've said before, the businesses keep hours and days convenient to them, not you. We, didn't have any worries about food and drink however, as it was always provided, when we needed it. Really took a load off my mind! Augusta is home to the Augusta Winery.
However, it doesn't open until 11:00, and we had lunch waiting for us at St Charles, shower to take, and get ready to depart. It was only 8:30am, it would have been a long wait. Onward to St Charles. On the way, I found another pretty little old farmstead....
As well as a potpourri of wildflowers....
Wild Tiger Lillies were much in evidence along a lot of the trail, and added a lot of color to the ride.
One last chance to pose by the river.... Today was also a day of rough trail conditions, left over debris and mud that had been scraped off and dried on the trail, huge trees that had crashed down on the trail and cut up and moved to the side. Several rough areas where the trail had washed had to be negotiated carefully, as did some of the sandy spots.Most of the bad spots were either coned off, or yellow hazard taped. It was very obvious that a lot of effort and hard work was done by the State Parks Department to clear this trail and get it ready for this ride. I can't say enough good things about them.
A nice limestone formation ...
For those who might have wanted to go on to the end of the trail at Machens, the trail was still closed due to mud and debris on the trail after St Charles, so everyone had to stop here. So.... here we are ...... The Three Bikesateers .... We Rode!!! AND, We, Got-R-Dun!!!! What a feeling of accomplishment! 272 miles on a mountain bike, almost all off pavement.
Here is a front view of the nicely restored depot at St Charles...Lunch was waiting here for us when we got here. Deli sandwiches, chips, a huge chocolate chip cookie with peanut butter inside.... yum! And ice cold soda to wash it down. Nice lunch.
One last Katy Caboose.....
And a nice view of the river beyond the park ....
And then, it was time to go collect our baggage that was unloaded from the trucks, head to the shower truck for one last shower, and then supervise the bike loading. Today we did things a little different, as the baggage stayed with us, and the bikes were loaded on the trucks.
They even had a statue there to honor those "other explorers" .....Merriwether Lewis and William Clark.... I'm looking for contracting artists now for mine ......
They took a great deal of care loading and packing the bikes, I was very impressed. Bikes were double stacked with a plywood false floor above the first layer, supported by side tabs. All the bikes were wrapped in moving blankets, and much care was taken to make sure nothing moved or was damaged. Great job, people! Here's my bike at the side door.....You can see the plywood second floor above my bike, plenty of room there. They allowed no bags or speedometers left on the bikes for the trip back, it all had to go in your luggage, all except your helmet. A tight squeeze for some of us!
We chatted away the time while waiting for the buses in the shade of the picnic are, while some of the more energetic ones hiked into town, or at least back to the station to do some last minute shopping. Before you knew it, the buses had arrived, and we were on our way back to Clinton. The buses were first class tour buses, plush seating, and cold, cold, air! Really didn't know how to react after being in the elements for five days. They do it right!
When we arrived back at Clinton, all our bikes were unloaded and sitting there waiting for us in the parking lot, guarded of course by the park personnel. The buses dropped us off right by our cars, and we grabbed our baggage, which the park staff unloaded for us and placed on the ground next to the buses, put it in our vehicles, loaded up our bikes, said our farewell's, and were soon off toward home. No more ride tomorrow..... Although there will be one more post tomorrow about my feelings and observations of this ride in general. I will have to say, the next morning, on my way home, I felt very lonely and rather sad indeed. I missed my companions, and the camaraderie of the ride! All good thing do come to an end, but I'm sure I'll be back for another go at this one.
Thursday, June 20, 2013,
Mokane to Marthasville, 49 miles. Sidetrip into Hermann meant 55 miles for me.
Going to get up early today, really! Nope.....didn't happen, slept in again! Darn, this is becoming a habit! Got everything picked up and sloppily put away Why is is getting harder to get everything in my bags every day? Carried my bags down the hill and threw them in the truck, and the three of us headed back to get our bikes and ride around the building to get in line (long by now) for breakfast. A treat ..... Pancake Man again..... this time with French Toast, that wonderful sausage again, scrambled eggs, (seasoned, they were really good), the best fresh cut fruit and huge strawberries, juice and coffee. Great Breakfast! Supposed to be another hot day today, and camping on a baseball field. obviously, the prospect of shade on a baseball field isn't too promising. But, we did get going away from the Mokane school, and back down the hill through town to the trail. I was really stiff, and a bit sore this morning, my hips and knees and leg muscles were all protesting together and literally screaming at me ...... c'mon Advil...... This was the only morning I was sore like that, but it really made up for it this morning. Took me a few miles to work the kinks out, but five miles down the trail, and I felt a lot better. Today we had some of the roughest parts of the ride. Hit one pothole (halfway across the trail), that bottomed my suspension, and still almost knocked the bars from my hand. There were also a few sandy spots, and some new crushed stone put down over some washouts. Again...today seemed to have been a good day to have a mountain bike. The other bikes made it through as well, and again, I'll say, any bike you have will do this ride. Me .... however...... I just don't think I'd want to beat up my carbon road bike on this trail .....but it'd make it, I'm sure. Honestly, I'm glad I took the mountain bike. I'm almost as comfortable on it as any bike I have, and speed isn't a consideration. Actually, our average speed was around 12 mph (got that from Kelley, as my bike computer only computes trip miles, total miles, highest speed, and time of day.) Someone asked on the Katy website if they kept times for everyone, and they replied, no, it's not a race, it's a fun ride, but that most of the riders averaged around 10mph. So, I wasn't really at a disadvantage with the mountain bike at all, and I'm not sorry I chose it to take on this ride.
Gettin' on down the trail early in the morning.......
There were times along the trail when I swore I could hear the chirping of Raptors, or that we were being stalked by a T-Rex...... it looked as though we could have been transplanted right into Jurassic Park.
Some of today was fairly open, and the sun came down hard early in the day.
Today, I said I wanted to head into Hermann to see the town, and Rob and Kelley readily agreed, so we headed across the new (yet another) dedicated bicycle lane across the bridge into Hermann.
Isn't that a dandy bike lane? After getting across, the first thing to greet us in Hermann is the Courthouse on the Hill.....
Then, we turned and went down the hill into town...
Hermann is a cool little town that is soo German, it was fun. A lot of the buildings were patterned after German architecture .....
And there were even geraniums in window boxes like so many of the homes and businesses have in Germany.
At the end of one street was the train station, (restored). Hermann is an Amtrak stop, but this is not an Amtrak station..... It is a fully restored old station of the Katy era. This side of the river, however, I don't think it was a Katy depot.
Plus the ubiquitous caboose...... Everybody had a caboose......
And a trip down to the waterfront was a must do.... the steamship monument was unique....
And......I didn't want to miss the opportunity to pose for some riverfront pictures.
Quaint little churches with tall steeples
And, as you can see...... Hermann is full of HILLS..... A break from the flat trail. I found a simply delightful German bakery, and talked my friends into joining me for a late morning snack. Honestly...... I wanted to sample everything there, apple strudels, kolaches, but I restrained myself. I settled for a wonderfully flaky, soft, apple turnover instead. Sooo GOOD! Everything was nice and fresh, and really good. In the German way, not overly sweet, and really good. They had an entire cupboard filled with authentic German bread...... oh......my kingdom for a huge basket on my bike....... I wanted to take it home with me soooo bad!!!
The pretty lady behind the counter posed nicely for me with her goods.....
All in all, we spent probably an hour there in Hermann, and wandered around for a couple of miles in the town. On the east to west year, the Katy ride camps in Hermann .... a good reason to come back.However, it's time to get back on the trail again, so, back over the nice bike lane, and back on the trail
Remains of the old mill at McKittrick.
And here is downtown McKittrick.... Please try not to get lost!
There was a bar and grill back in the back of the mercantile, but it was early, and we thought we'd just mosey on down the trail and eat lunch at Marthasville. We had heard that there was a great pizza place there, and honestly, that sounded pretty good, so we went on. We did see a lot of the riders heading around the corner over to the grill there however. We, however, decided to tough it out, and wait for some mouth watering pizza. Then, about a mile out of Marthasville.... why is my bike feeling so funny ..... feels like the front tire is really squirrely, (looks down)..... what is that big bulge at the bottom..... Oh No.....a FLAT! Put some air in it, and headed for Marthasville, by that time, flat again. Fixed it under a roofed picnic area, and Kelley went looking for the pizza place..... closed! Not open until 3pm. It was only about 12:30pm then, and we were hungry. So, we went on over to the campground, and yes, there was no trees for shade, and yes, it was HOT!. There, we found the concession stand at the ballpark was open, with nice really cold beer. We got some liquid refreshment, and I got a so-so hamburger ... hey it was food .....Kelley and Rob got hot dogs. And after eating and cooling ourselves a bit, we went back into the hot sun and set up our tents.
We are wayyy over by the left field fence! Dinner tonight was the best on the whole ride, and this from a concession stand. Unbelievable! Roast turkey, baked ham, potato and gravy, veggies, fresh baked dinner rolls, absolutely the bestest cole slaw ever, along with fresh fruit.I had white cake for desert, along with ice tea. YUM! Dinner lines moved quickly as they split us into two groups, upstairs getting their food and eating in the upstairs dining area, and downstairs, getting food from the concession window, and eating in the picnic area. Worked out swell. We realized that there was shade there, in the form of a picnic area, that was quite large. After all the baggage had been removed we all sat in the shade and enjoyed some pleasant conversation, and a few more cold adult beverages.....
We all sat through the riders meeting (every night) and afterward, there was a program about the history of the Katy. I, however, found my tire was still leaking down.....hmmmmm.... so, I took it back apart, and looked it over and over, and finally saw what appeared to be a small nail right in the middle of one of the lugs. Hard and solid.... I dug it out with the flat bladed screwdriver on my multitool, and it turned out to be a sliver of rock about the size and shape of a flat toothpick point, and about 3/8 of an inch long. All the way through the lug, and through the Kevlar belted tire and into the tube. So that's what was causing all those flats on the skinny tired bikes! I talked to the bike mechanic and he said he had fixed something like 150 flats and sold around 80 tires on this ride. I bought a new tube from him for a spare for tomorrow, as I couldn't seem to find the hole easily enough to patch it, nor did I want to take the time. I'll patch it when I get home. By this time, it was getting dark, glad I didn't wait to do this until morning. This was also the night my folding chair died!The frame poked holes and popped through in the back, which rendered the chair useless. It got a burial in the trash receptacle at the campground. Even without the chair though, the bag still seemed fuller when I put everything away in the morning. If the ride went another week, I'd have to get another bag! Organization is NOT my middle name! Once again, the organization of the State Park Trail Ride was evident in the fact that even though there was no trees for shade, they chose a place to stay that had a nice pavilion. In the evening hours, a nice breeze came through, and it turned out to be a very pleasant place to camp for the night. Once again, I was tired, and turned in about 9:30, for ...... Tomorrow We Ride!
