Day 1 and 2 on the Katy Trail, another ride.

This trip started with Mike leaving from Washington DC on the Trans-America route and me not going. The story of what it took to get me to join is another post coming, but long story short, as soon as school was out for summer I was on a plane to St. Louis, Missouri with my bike. 

We started out on the Katy Trail on Thursday morning, after a 12 mile ride through the city close to the airport side. We started at the St. Charles trailhead and rode a total of 80 miles the first day to Hermann. 

I tend to downplay my achievements, but this was remarkable for a few reasons- I had a total of 4 miles of training, and that was basically testing out my new fork. 30 minutes of seat time on a bike in a year. And then riding 80 miles. That's more than the bike portion of a half-ironman race. I don't recommend it, but it can be done. The second thing is that the Katy trail is all crushed limestone. It's not what I'd call gravel, but some people might. It's not smooth, and it provides some resistance compared to pavement. The third thing is that the Katy trail is flat, possibly with a very slight incline because we're going up river towards Kansas City. Flat means no coasting. Flat means constant pedaling. 

Given all of our incredible, technical, challenging rides, the Katy trail feels like riding on a kiddie roller-coaster even though you're tall enough to ride the Big Stuff. It's fun for sure, but it's not a challenge. It's relaxing to not have a challenge right now. It's rewarding to just ride. You can't really get lost, it's remarkably well signed, and the shade from the trees is amazing. There's water and ice and restrooms all throughout the 80 miles we did yesterday. Very different from the 83 mile run in Nevada between towns with nothing but high desert. Or Washington state's complete lack of road signs. No cars and few other cyclists allow Mike and I to ride side by side and talk, something we haven't done since a long stretch in Texas, back on the first ride. 

This route is not adventurous for us, but it's a ride. The adventure may be in parts of Kansas when we're charting our own map, or Colorado by riding the Rockies, so it's a start to that adventure. I wanted to ride the Katy as a preview for something I could bring the kids to do, if I ever wanted to bring them out to Missouri somehow. 

Today was a choice between an 85 mile day or two days of 45/40 miles. We chose the 45 mile day and ended in Jefferson City. Tomorrow will be Colombia. 

And then, hopefully, some big miles, to reach Colorado within our time limit. We'll see where we end up. 

(All photos are being posted on Instagram)