kristingbridges
We decided to do the Katy Trail again. It’s been 10 years ago, practically to the day, that we first rode this trail as our first long tour, and we’ve done a cycling tour every year since. That first time, my Mom and Dad drove and met us at the end of each day, so we didn’t have to carry a bunch of stuff with us. Since then, we’ve only done self-supported rides, so we wanted to come back and do this one that way.
Yesterday, we started the day by having a bicyce shuttle company drive us the 4 hours from St. Charles, MO to the beginning of the trail in Clinton. It was weird starting after noon, especially after such a long car ride. The first hour or so of the 38 mle day was going pretty well. We knew we were likely to run into some rain, but that’s never bothered us. As we approached Windsor, though, we started hearing thunder. We got to the Windsor depot and checked the radar, which confirmed that this was going to be a storm we should sit out. The lightning was hitting very nearby. After the storm passed, we took off again. You’ll notice I failed to mention any lunch yet. We had a small breakfast in St. Charles, but at the depot there wasn’t really a place to set up to use our peanut butter and tortillas, so I just ate a fruit leather and I think Brian had some almonds.The was the beginning of us making several mistakes we know better than to make, but, well we did anyway.
Not long after we left Windsor, we were joined by a couple young guys who were great conversation, but obviously in better shape, mostly just by being young! First mistake: we kept up with them (and I’m sure they were slowing down for us). Second, I totally forgot about lunch, and being in deep conversation forgot we should have stopped sooner for some protein. The chatter whiled away the last 15 miles, but at a price. We were gently climbing that whole time, on low fuel, at a pace that was above what we should have been doing, especially on our very first day!
I bonked a few miles out from Sedalia. Ate a stroopwaffel to try to keep me going, but it was too little, too late. We parted ways with the guys at the depot, and I honestly barely remember the trip into town to the hotel. Somehow, we got everything settled into our room at the historic Bothwell Hotel and went to the only place nearby that was open for dinner at 9 pm on a Monday night. It was great food, but there was no way to eat enough to make up our defecit (we’re not competitive eaters 😉 ) Neither of us was sure what we’d feel like the next day as we collapsed in to our bed.
Day 2: Sedalia to Rocheport
We woke up this morning feeling better than expected. Breakfast included eggs AND peanut butter on a plain bagel, going for as much protein as we could. And, as luck would have it, our traditional trail lunch (in the US) was available nearby at a Subway: footlongs with a cookie each. We were not going to make the same mistakes! Today was 50 miles into Rocheport. Most of it involve gradual climbing, but there were some nice long downhill portions as well. We are now to the point were we are meeting up with the Missouri River and will be going gradualy downward. We had half our sandwiches on a bench along the path. Five miles later we were at a depot that had bathrooms, so that worked out well. We refilled all our bottles and the water bladder we bring now.
A popular place for the supported riders to stay is Boonesville, likely because it’s a bigger town, with hotels and plenty of places to eat. But if you want to get to any of that, it’s literally uphill any direction from the trail. We are borderring the Ozarks afterall. The great thing is that just as we passed the depot and were following the trail through town, there was a convenience store! We enjoyed our Cokes sooo much! It’s one of my favorite indulgences on the trail. That sugar and caffeine got put to good use climbing some steep areas to get out of town and up onto the bridge across the Missouri River.
The rest of the ride today was uneventful. We stayed fed and hydrated, yay! We saw 3 box turtles on the trail, a little green snake, and a couple of deer, one of which was making sure its 2 fawns got safely away from us 🙂 We are in the same B&B we stayed in here last time. The ownership has changed, but it’s still quite nice. We had dinner at the winery just a short walk down the road and got our laundry done in the complimentary laundry room here.
Enjoy this photo album. It’s late, so I don’t have captions added yet. https://photos.app.goo.gl/oLJFfa6sHFwRnKDt5