Wednesday,
July 4. Booneville, MO to Clinton, MO. 72 miles of riding in 5:16 hrs of
riding.
Happy 4th
everyone. Hope you got out there and did something fun.
So today
was the last section of the Katy Trail for us. We did our Groundhog Day thing
this morning and got going on the trail at 6:40 AM – with no potential for a
Barbie and Ken episode that we had yesterday. Good thing because this is THE
toughest section of the trail there is. You’re off the Missouri River from
Booneville onward. And this whole 72-mile piece of riding is pure false flat.
And you know it from the first pedal stroke onward. I’d ridden this as two days
last year when I was pulling the trailer, so it was a treat this year to do two
days in one day without pulling a trailer up this never-ending false flat.
Judy
noticed it the minute we got going. Me to. Heck, we were starting at 9-10 mph –
and working to do it! It’s that pronounced considering that we’d been starting
at around 12-13 mph on the last three rides. Now I’d also say that this is the
least used section of the trail, due I think, because it’s just tough and up
hill, it’s not along the river, and there are really few big cities along the
way… oh yea, and there are sections where if the wind is blowing there is just
zero cover amidst all those corn fields. So the cycling traffic out here is
just really low compared to the previous days of riding the Katy.
Judy
did a great job today as we slowly bumped up the speed as we warmed up more.
And after a while we were doing this long false flat sections at 11-12 mph.
Then you’d hit this little false descent and crank it to 15-16 mph. But really,
the trail from east to west is this series of stair step climbs with little
teaser descents in between. We
passed several thru riders on that first stretch, and just a smattering of rec
riders on this, the 4th of July holiday. Judy turned around at about
1:15 into the ride. After that I got very ambitious and cranked it up to a
pretty good pace, taking some of those long false flats at 15+ mph. I mean I
felt like I was on fire, just flying up this long, long, long series of ups.
Now one nice thing is that the trail was super shaded for the first 2.5 hrs,
with very few sections out in the sun. It was as if the trail was this ribbon of
shade trees amidst all the sun exposed corn fields that just stretched into the
horizon.
The
other interesting this is that you could actually look around and see that the
terrain was really getting pool table flat. No more hummocks and hills off in
the distance – just a flat landscape. Except for the trail!! So it was pretty
sweet riding in this tunnel of shade on the trail. Only problem with this
section today was the fact that I was pretty much unsupported for the whole
trip. Now I was good with water because at least half of the TH’s had water
fountains. But it was the cold coke and the food that I’d miss today. And the
way I ride, where I just put it in cruise control and try not to stop, I knew
that I would likely not stop to buy food. Only stops would be water.
My
pre-ride nutrition was 2 bologna sandwiches and 2 yogurts. I had kind of
figured that it would get me thru 70 miles of riding, where I’d only have to
stop to refill water bottles. And that’s just what I did. When Judy was with me
we stopped in Pilot Grove and refilled water. Then when solo I refilled in
Clifton City. So by that time I’d gone through about 5 bottles – and I felt
pretty good. The whole time I was kind of expecting to get to the “High Point”
marker on the trial – the highest point of the trial – that so I would level
out and not expend so much effort in the ride. But the damned thing just didn’t
come. I couldn’t remember from last year exactly where it was, and I kind of
figured that it was like 2-3 hrs in. Nope! Hammered all the way to Sedalia and
still no highest point marker. Once in Sedalia I refilled yet again, this at
the 38-39-mile mark in the ride.
Hammered
again on the endless series of false flats out of Sedalia to the next TH of
Green Ridge. More water refills, but this was where I really was beginning to
feel the effort of the previous 3 hrs – in a big way. Gave Judy a call and was
happy to hear that she made it back fine and was on the trek to meet me in
Clinton. Cool thing thus far in the trip is that our cell phones have worked
pretty well such that we’ve had no need to go to the Ham handheld radios. The
only minor glitches were in Southern OH and Southern IN where the cell service
was just negligible. So in that dept, so far so good.
After I’d gotten through Green Ridge I really noticed that I
was not getting back up to speed as quick as I had been, and the next false
flat was totally exposed to the sun and this witch of a headwind out of the
southwest. No tree cover to deaden the wind a bit and shade me. This was just
like sizzling in a frying pan with a hot hair drying blowing on high in your
face the whole time. Wind had to be gusting in the high teens or low twenties.
I mean it would just stand me up. So my previous rhythm was just shot to hell.
Rode up and up and up and up on this false flat, in and out of the saddle
feeling more and more drained with every pedal stroke. And I’d purposely not
look at the mile markers because I know I’d just fixate on the numbers and the
time would just stand still. Yup, I knew I was in store for a good “cracking”
today. Just went too hard with nothing to replace my blood sugar.
Made
it to the High Point marker of the Katy and I was about to enter the zone of
running on fumes. Problem was that the trail was just going up and up and up
past this high point marker – and it was totally exposed to sun and the
relentless wind. Made it to the next TH, Windsor, feeling more like a car whose
water pump was ready to blow and the temp gauge was running on hot. Guzzled 2
bottles of water and refilled yet again. At that point I was like 16 miles from
Clinton. Went through Windsor and just kept doing the false flat. I mean HOW IN
THE HELL could I still be going up when I’d passed the high point marker? It
was just crazy. Now I would hit these occasional stretches where I could crank
again, and where it seemed as though I was on the flats or a false descent. But
the majority was climbing.
Got
through Calhoun TH with one more bottle refill and I was still getting slammed
by the wind and the up. Just about that time my phone rang and that kind of
scares me, with my first thought always going to me thinking that Judy was
having problems. Stopped and saw that it was indeed Judy who called and her
message was for me to call her back asap. “Not good,” I thought. Called her
only to find out that she was excited to tell me that two of my cycling clients
had came in 1st and 2nd in a road race today back home.
That bit of good news was really just what I needed to get me the rest of the
way to Clinton, cuz my mental and physical states were cracking in a big way.
By that time I’d looked at the mile markers and found that I had about 7 miles
to go. And let me tell you that those 7 miles just went on forever, what with
the headwind, the sweltering heat and the incessant false flat. I just did the
countdown passing each and every marker and just living for the last mile.
When I saw a watertower in the distance I knew that I was
pretty close to Clinton. But man, that last stretch of 2 miles…I shifted down to
the middle ring and out of the big. And that pissed me off. So I re-shifted
back up to the big ring and just hunkered down and got low into the wind and
cranked it. Got to the TH in Clinton with Judy and a gentleman and his family
sitting there in the shade under the roof of the TH kiosk. The guy had just
finished doing the Katy with his wife and daughter doing support for him. They
had been talking with Judy and waiting for me to ride in. Well, my ride in was
not that of a guy who had just finished a great ride for the day, but one of a
dude who had just been crushed by the elements. I mean I was just toast. I
tried to be cordial and talk a bit with the folks since that had waited there
with Jude to congratulate me on the ride. But honestly, I was just a mess,
wiping sweat from my face, neck, arms and hands, and guzzling this ice cold
bottle of water and a coke.
Damn, I had to look like a real piece of work, a blob of
toasted protoplasm hunched over on a bench in the shade of the kiosk roof. We
shook hands and the folks headed home, with us both congratulating each other
for a final time. Judy fixed me 2 bologna sandwiches, gave me a second ice cold
coke, and then brought out a quarter of a watermelon, which I just destroyed. I
just sat on the bench for 30 min, almost catatonic, and shaking my head at how
hard the ride was today. Hell, it was my fault - for going out and blasting the
first 40 miles! What a dipshit! We got a cheap motel in Clinton and here we sit
in the AC as the temp approaches 100 again.
We’ll do the Subway gig in a few, as there is a special
going on this month where if you buy 2 regular footlongs you get them for 5
bucks each. Done! We’ve been doing this one for the past 3 days. What a
money-saver. So that’s it. We’re 50 miles from the KS border. I mapped out a
ride for tomorrow, and my tact for this ride through KS with kind of parallel
what I did last year. I’ll try to use gravel if at all possible to parallel the
main roads and interstate to keep it easy for Judy in the van. We’ll head west,
but gradually try to parallel I-70 and move up to the north of the state with
gradual northwesterly tracks each day
Stay cool everyone. And major congrats and kudos to
Marie and Tiff. Great job ladies, I’m really proud of both of you!!! All the
best to everyone today……pete
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