Sunday,
July 1. St. Charles, MO to Marthasville, MO. 42 miles of riding in 3:09 hrs of
riding.
Totally
mellow day…hey I have the right to not destroy myself EVERYDAY!! Plus, with my
co-pilot Judy, I kind of need to meld in a vacation for her instead of having
her supporting me day in and day out on a bloody suffer-fest. So this section
of the trip – the 265-mile Katy Trail - is totally doable for her both with
respect to the terrain and the logistics, so I’m backing off on the jamathon so
we can ride together in the morning, and if she chooses to do so, ride again in
the afternoon. Once we hit Clinton, MO the trail ends and I’ll be back to
searching out shit roads to ride on, and that will kind of put the kibosh on
her getting regular rides with me – because really she hates most of the road
surfaces I’m riding on.
Last
night was just mellow as heck as we chilled in the AC once again. Hit the hay
at 9:30 PM and my internal clock woke me at 5 AM CST. Worked for a bit until
Judy got up and then we loaded the van, ate the complementary breakfast, with
me consuming a platter of scrambled eggs and 6 patties of sausage, 2 yogurts
and many glasses of ice water. Got rolling on the Katy Trail at about 7:15 AM
in downtown St. Charles with the humidity up yet again. The forecast for today
was 105 degrees with dangerous humidity, but since this was deemed a short day
for our riding, the later than usual start time was not really a factor. Plus,
the trail is somewhat shaded in spots for several miles at a time, so you don’t
get the blast furnace effect that I was getting out on the pavement in IL with
nothing but cornfields and zero shade.
It
was nice to see a good deal of people out there this morning riding and running
and hiking on the trail. The temp was a good 86-88 degrees for the start, but
like I said, with the thick tree cover surrounding portions of the trail and
the sun rising in the east, that made for a great deal of shaded riding. Took
it nice and recreational with numerous road bikers passing us along the way.
Now the trail is so dry that it’s packed down like concrete
– since it’s composed of lime gravel. It has not rained down here in weeks to
months from what I’ve been told, so that trail is like a freaking stretch of
desert concrete – with copious amounts of a very fine lime dust that each and
every biker kicks up as he/her is riding along. Not more than 15 min of riding
and our shoes and shins sported nice white lime stripes from the dust. Several
riders together create a small plume of lime dust when they ride by.
Jude
turned around one hr in and headed back to the van, and I kept it rolling west.
The portion of the trail today held a bit of everything: big towering limestone
bluffs along the Missouri River; cornfields as far as the eye can see; heavily
wooded sections out in the middle of nowhere; and tracks through small little
towns that time forgot. It’s a nice and interesting mix of environments. I was
actually surprised at how many people were out on the trail today based on the
temps as of late. Last year when I had ridden through this area, I was pretty
much on my own the whole time, rarely seeing a soul. That was part of my
fascination with this trail last year, not seeing people for hrs on end, but
with Judy having to do some of these stints back to the van on her own, I was
kind of glad there were people around.
On
this trip down the Katy as opposed to last year, I stopped to read some of the
signage about the Lewis & Clark Expedition up the Missouri River. You’re
given their daily progress as you progress up (to the west) along the river,
and I was surprised to find that sometimes I’d ride for just under an hour, and
that was about the distance that they had covered in a day’s paddling up the river. Hell, and I was
feeling sorry for myself for just getting in like 31 miles/day while doing my
pure dirt riding back in Ohio. Those guys were real men!! Made me feel like a
total wimp. This stuff was kind of cool to read as I rode along this year. And
I’m glad that I was able to stop at a lot of these and read about the history
of the area. There was also a good deal of information about Daniel Boone, as
he had lived and eventually died in this area of MO. Again, another pretty
intense guy with a fearless reputation.
So
I did the tourist thing today along the trail, stopping and reading the various
kiosks and placards along the way. The ride ended pretty fast, with me hitting
the Dutzow trailhead within 2.5 hrs of riding. Had planned a pretty low mileage
day today, but wow, this was just like over in no time. Called Judy and we did
have cell service out here, so she was on her way from getting back to the van
and driving west to meet up with me. Once she arrived, we were still really
early for checking into the motel – the Washington, MO Super 8 – so I decided
to ride ahead a bit more and then ride back, so I took it up past Daniel
Boone’s old burial plot, to the small town of Marthasville. Then I turned it
around and rode back to Dutzow. Eventual mileage for the day was a paltry 42
miles in just over 3 hrs.
Slammed
a couple BPJ sandwiches and an ice cold coke in the trailhead parking area, and
off we were to the small city of Washington for the day. Right now the temp is
really beginning to climb. About the only good thing about it is the fact that
when I wash my cycling kit in the shower as I take a shower, I can hang it all
on my van and it’s dry in under an hour. My van looks kind of like the Beverly
Hillbilly’s truck for God’s sake. I just need to mount a rocker up there on the
roof for Judy when she wants more of a “breeze” in the van.
Legs
and butt feeling great today after just a mellow noodle yesterday and today. I
probably could have gutted out a big one on both days, but it’s amazing how
well the body responds to just backing off to half volume and lower intensity
for a couple days. Imagine that!! I think I tell my clients that very often!!
Now I’m doing it it to…not a case of “do as I say not as I do.”
Hoping to do a longer ride tomorrow – round about 65-70
miles on the trail, from
Marthasville to Jefferson City, the state’s capital. Again, the forecast is for
100 degrees plus, so we’ll once again look for a fairly cheap motel for the
evening. I’m really hoping that this thing – the heat spell – will pass and we
can begin to get the camping thing going again. Then the following day’s ride
will be from Jefferson City to Boone – 50 miles - and then a final ride on the Katy from Boone to Clinton at
70 miles. And from there it’s hopefully back on some gravel backroads to the KS
border and beyond.
Anyway,
it’s been a pretty sedate day. Judy’s jamming on CNN while I’m blogging and
working on the computer. We’ll do Subway in an hr of two. Hey…I think my
cycling kit is dry. Talk to you tomorrow……..pete
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