The Katy trail

Two years ago at this time it was 100 ultra-hilly miles on asphalt in two days, and now this year it was 244 miles in 4 days on crushed limestone and about the flattest course you can imagine: the Katy Trail.

Eight of us from our running club planned this challenge almost a year ago, and after months of preparation - not that much actual training, unfortunately - we hit the trail at its starting point in Clinton, Mo.

The Magnificent 8 at the start in Clinton.
I'm 3rd from the left.

The first day was Clinton to Pilot Grove, a 64-mile stretch without too many natural wonders to view. While the route would have to be considered flat, it actually has several long grades that over the course of the day tended to steal our energy. The day started cool, but we got a late start and did the distance in pretty much the hottest hours between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. The high that day was in the mid 80s, so we were dusty, sweaty and pooped by the time we checked in at Polly's B&B in Pilot Grove.

Typical scenery, especially in the second
half of the ride.

Happily, the two main features of Pilot Grove - at least what we saw - are a grill and bar with an attached laundromat. We tossed all our riding clothes into one machine and adjourned to the bar for beers and sandwiches. Our waitress, who was also the bar tender, cook and table busser, prepared some pretty good food and took good care of us (if you're going, it's Deon's Bar and Grill). Dinner and laundry done, we adjourned to the sack for the night.

The next morning Polly fed us a fine breakfast of eggs. bacon, biscuits, fruit and drinks. Afterward, as we we prepared for the day's ride, my bike tipped over with the pump attached to the tire and my hand still attached to the pump. The result was instant deflation as the valve stem was ripped almost
completely off the tire. I had to remove my bags, turn over the bike, remove the wheel and replace the tube. I also discovered that a spoke had broken in the fall, so I knew that that to be replace as soon as possible.

We finally got under way on another nice, but warmish day. We stayed loosely grouped, and at times there were riders quite a ways back of the main group. One of those times it was Jody and me who, for whatever reason, had temporarily lost contact with everyone else. Normally, that's not a problem because the slower riders would catch up at the trail heads, which were usually not more than 10 miles apart.

Tunnel at Rocheport the second day.
Everyone has their photo taken here.

This time, though, Jody got a flat and no one knew it but him and me. I tried to call, but there was no
service in the area, so we were on our own. We didn't have a pump, but Jody had CO2, which neigher of us knew how to use. We wasted most of both canisters just figuring it out.


Out of options, I hopped on my bike and tried to catch the group at the next trail head. I raced a good 3 miles, but still hadn't caught up, and then finally connected via phone. They handed a pump off to a rider coming toward us (Ed), and I rode back to Jody. We were going to be in good shape.

The bad news was the pump Ed delivered didn't fit Jody's stem. The good news was Ed had a pump of his own that did work. I showed Ed my frame pump and he told me something I should have known:

Somehow it was still mostly uphill from here
on the first day.

it is convertible and I could have used it on Jody's bike. My 6-mile race had been totally unnecessary.
We eventually caught up with the group and rode into Hartsburg together. Accommodations that night were at the Globe Hotel B&B and dinner at the Grand next door.

It started raining that night and by morning we were right in the middle of a weather system that looked like it was going to stay with us for quite a while. We waited to leave until about 9 a.m., then waterproofed ourselves as well as possible, and took off.

The rain was pretty steady all day, and the trail was soft to mushy, making the going tough. Jody and I both needed to get to a bike shop, him for equipment and me for a new spoke, so we branched off after 10 miles and headed into Jefferson City. We hated to add miles on such a miserable day, but had no choice. What we got to see that no one else did was the impressive 6-level ramp from the trail up to the highway bridge into town, and the capitol building, which we rode right up to before turning off to the bike shop. The ride in was about 3.5 miles.

Pondering the looming
all-day ride in the rain.

The entire off-trail trip took about 2 hours, and once we were back on the Katy we drove as hard as we could to catch up with the main group. As long as we were riding we stayed warm, but since we were wet and the temp was in the 50s, any stop longer than a couple of minutes meant we were shivering. We kept the breaks to a minimum.

Meanwhile, the main group had a flat to deal with, dallied at lunch for over an hour, and extended a rest break in the hopes that we would catch up. We finally did at Mokane. It felt good to be hooked up again, but even so, we weren't looking forward to the next 20-plus miles.

This was where one of the more experience guys had a brilliant idea: a pace line. The seven of us (one guy dropped out and went home) rode single file, wheel to wheel, and took turns leading the pack. The leader would drop off every mile and join the line at the rear. The drafting that this produces makes the pedaling job noticeably easier, and the group effort is a psychological boost. Riding this way the trip into McKittrick seemed to go by pretty fast.

Overnight accommodations in McKittrick were at Joey's Birdhouse B&B. Half of us stayed upstairs in Joey's

Everyone's bike, and
body, looked like this
at the end of the third
day.

mercantile (the downstairs is the mercantile and restaurant); and the other four in two rooms in a next-door building. After cleaning the mud off our bikes and bodies - there we were out in the cold and rain hosing each other down - and showering, Joey's boyfriend, Rich, shuttled us into Hermann, where we ate among the young crazies at the Concert Hall. It was Octoberfest in Hermann, and the college kids were there in force.

The next morning Joey cooked the best breakfast we had on the trip. Perfectly done scrambled eggs, fried seasoned breakfast potatoes, sliced baked apples, heavy homemade bread and biscuits, homemade apple butter and strawberry jam. Tons of it and fantastic.

It was a cold morning with the temp in the mid 40s on its way to 63, so we bundled up. The sky was mostly clear, and the trail thoroughly drained and pointed pretty much down hill for 62 miles to St. Charles. It was a perfect day for a long ride, and since we had to eat up the miles and get to the finish by 4, we used the pace line all the way. Lunch and several blown tires slowed us down some, but in between the miles melted away. We didn't make many tourist stops, but the scenery was pretty good in this stretch, with high, rocky bluffs on one side and the river on the other. We had lunch at Augusta at the Augusta Brewing Company and Beer Garden.

We continued to have problems with flats on this stretch, and one of the riders had a couple of spokes that needed to be replaced, so we had several delays. Eventually, we had to move our arrival time to 5 p.m., which meant we had to reschedule our transportation from St. Charles back to Clinton. We actually arrived in St. Charles about 4:45 p.m., and our shuttle driver showed up about 5:30.

The seven who finished the ride. I'm
second from the left.

All in all, it was a great 4-day ride. We all learned a lot about preparing for such a ride (if we ever do anything like it again), and enjoyed tons of good company and teamwork along the way.

I don't know how everyone else felt physically at the end, but I felt fine, although my legs were tired and energy-starved. The day after the ride reminded me how I usually felt about 3 days after a marathon - heavy, unresponsive legs. I went for a 5 mile run the day after the ride. I had to go pretty slowly, and eventually I loosened up a little. I think I'll recover quickly, though (update: fully recovered by Wednesday).

The bike went into the shop for a tuneup and degrease. In addition, the mechanic said my chain and brake pads were worn out and had to be replaced. The bike was his; I was ready for a break.