Katy Trail 2013 Observations and Conclusions After The Ride

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!