So, the Katy trail gets a slight upgrade from adventure level 0.5 to a 2.3 with today's gravel roads. I'll even call it mountain bike ultra-lite. You don't need a mountain bike to ride the Katy, but big tires make a difference. I try to reframe this as skill-building- I'm just adding to my repertoire of things I've accomplished on a bike. A kiddie roller coaster is still a roller coaster.
We left Jefferson City and headed to Colombia for another short day of 45 miles. My favorite stretch of trail wasn't the Katy trail at all, it was the MKT spur that went into Colombia. 8.8 miles of hard pack, with a few more twists and turns to make the road exciting. Being a Saturday, there was a bit more local traffic of dog walkers, day cyclists, and joggers.
There are so many unknowns in the decisions that we make. Would the extra 17 miles off trail into Colombia be a good decision? The driving factor was having a place to stay there- a friend of mine has an adorable basement suite that she rents out on Air B&B that she offered us, and another friend was willing to drive down from Kansas City to meet us. Even if we didn't have people to see in Colombia, I enjoyed the spur trail so much, that I'd recommend the detour into town for others.
We had a great dinner with my friends at Flat Branch, right next to the Mizzou campus, and then went back to the same area for breakfast on our way out to eat at Broadway Diner. Heading back to the Katy trail was all downhill on the MKT, so we flew, finishing the first 20 miles in under an hour and a half.
Our second stop of the day was Booneville at a small diner right on the corner of the Katy trail as you cross the bridge over the Missouri River. We thought about just getting some ice cold lemonade, but opted for pie at 10am. It was a perfect snack, and we still topped off the camelbaks with ice water.
After Booneville the trail started to get some elevation. Now, when people say the trail is flat, I'm sure they're refering to "flat" as a relative term. Off the trail, Missouri is very hilly. Going into town, especially Jefferson City, everything is built on the highest ridge. (And, given the marks of the '93 flood when the river came up 37 feet, I can see why). But, when I think of flat, I think in absolute terms, as in 0% grade. A ball won't roll one direction or the other. That's flat. Today was gradual uphill pretty much the entire day- 2nd ring on the bike gears for most of the day. (3rd ring is small gears for steep climbing, and the big ring is for flat and fast, more power.)
The second challenge of the day was the perfectly clear, blue skies. This might be desirable at home in San Diego, but not here in Missouri. On the shaded trail, the dappling of the light through the tree leaves made it hard for our eyes to adjust- it was an extra level of concentration to move at 13 miles and hour from sun to shade to sun, and watch for road hazards that hide in the shady pockets. It brought back riding in Oregon in similar conditions, but the pavement wasn't maintained and the potholes were camouflaged by the dappled sunlight.
The roads turned into the soft, sandy type of gravel roads in the second half of the afternoon. Once in a while it was more of taking a mental break than a physical break.
We had a high goal of 90 miles for the day, taking us to Windsor, but settled with a 70 mile day in Sedalia. Several people who shared their local knowledge wisdom recommended Sedalia as just the more populated, interesting town, with better restaurants and a cool old hotel. This will set us up better for a day into Harrisonville tomorrow anyway.
I had the Kansas Department of Transportation cycling maps shipped to my friend's house, so doing a whole new level of map routing. We're not using the ACA route exclusively this time, although we may connect with the TransAmerica trail as a way to get to Pueblo, Colorado. This "on-the-fly" routing isn't ideal, but that's what happens when you join a trip because the navigation was somewhat iffy already... (day 3 into the trip and I learn Mike has ripped out atlas pages, the one thing I needed a few days ago!) West Kansas is looking empty.
Critter count:
Dead:
- mole
- shrew
-armadillo
- squirrels that look like they fell from trees
Live:
- Copperhead snake
- garter snake
-mystery snake (2)
- box turtle (4)
- woodchuck
-cat on the trail
-goat on the trail
- deer (3)
- gray and red squirrels
Roadside treasure count: basically nothing. There was a whole banana but didn't go back for it. The trail is extremely clean, I think the trash count is 2 water bottles.
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