Ride on Katy

Last year the long riding day was the first. This year we have two short days before gearing up for the long day. We are off to Boonville on a nice ride with a bit of, for the Katy, elevation changes. The trail takes us through the cut outs on the bluffs.

Can't you just imagine the train locomotive chugging through the rock cuts?? I can.
We also get our first ride over a trestle bridge. There are many of these on this trail. Different versions of old RR style and new bridges that Missouri State Parks have erected to keep the Katy open for us.

Good riding today, not too much special. Here are some trail pictures of a nice ride in the woods!!

Even some of the local crowd came out to cool off and watch us ride by. Ok, they might have been more about cooling off than us.

After an extended downslope (can not really call it a downhill) we roll into Boonville. They have an refurbished depot. We set up camp at the old military academy grounds and then go find some lunch. We ended up at the same Greek diner that we ate at last year and it was good with cold beers. They gave us Boonville "bucks" to spend in town for dinner and we tried the food at the casino. Seemed to me a strange place for a big glitzy casino and they had a lot of rules about eating and drinking there....pretty forgettable place.

Up and rolling on Wednesday for our long ride of the trip, 70+ miles today.
Kyle has a lot of enthusiasm for the day ahead crossing the Big Missouri River to start the day out of Boonville.

 We also had the start of what would become a pretty good head wind. Now everybody told me last year, as we rode through headwinds every day that west to east always has a tail wind out of the south west. Hmmmmm...cyclist luck I guess. It was also the hottest day of the ride....well into the 90's. OK by me because I just don't get that much hot weather during the year and it really felt pretty good. Just keep drinking!!
The trail opened up again before we get to the really scenic areas around Rocheport and the tunnel.

Of course the bluff and tree tunnel before the tunnel, and the tunnel are the highlight of today's ride. It is fun to ride through this.

I was always on the lookout for turtles and snakes to catch pictures of. I saw about three turtles and this one snake slowly moving across the trail. When I showed this picture to the Ranger later he identified it as a Copperhead. Not poisonous but if bitten it would really hurt for a few days. I was a total tourist telling Kyle to get closer so I could get him in the picture!!

We pedaled out the miles, stopped for lunch and pedal out more miles against the wind in the hot sun until we came to our finish town of Mokane. Before riding up to the school where our camping spot was, we popped into the local (and only!!) joint for a few beers and met the owners and heard a bit of their story and how they came to own a saloon in Mokane, MO. Fun was had!!

The camp spot at the Mokane school was the only downside of the trip. No shade and a complete sweat-fest to set up. After the shower truck you had to search out shade spots and wait for the sun to go down to cool off. Just some down time with a book this evening, no activities or towns to go into.
We'll leave it there for the next post and the final days.
Thanks for following along!!

Jim

Katy Days!!

My second participation in the Missouri State Parks Katy Trail Ride happened last week. Thanks to my friend Richard who introduced this ride to me last year.
Great Trail, Great people, Good organization, Good food and camping locations.

Here we go!

This year my son Kyle and a friend here in Estes Park, Larry Gamble, went on the ride. We drove on out to stay at my son Matthews place in Kansas City. We did not have to be in Clinton for registration until 3 PM so I thought we would head down to Ottawa for a ride on the Prairie Spirit rails-to-trails that Richard and I rode last year. This is the depot in Ottawa that we never got to last year.

First day of riding on a trip is always full of smiles and enthusiasm!

It was a nice day for riding, not really too hot and not much of a breeze. Kyle and Larry really liked the surface and Rails-to-trails format. Larry has ridden the Mickleson trail but found the crushed limestone a nice surface to ride.
A few flowers and trail pictures!!

We went down the trail a little over 12 miles and turned around. Good warm-up for the real official ride on Monday! Loaded the car back up and headed off to Clinton for check-in.
We found a pretty good spot for that first night in the tents, attended the rider's meeting and crashed in anticipation of the first day.

Here we go....lets go ride bikes!!

We met up with our friends from last years ride, Rob and Kelley Weida. I think the best part of the Katy ride besides all the organization and trail itself, are the friends I have met and shared this experience with!!
Rob, Kelley, and Kyle

I do not have any pictures of Larry because he is a very strong rider and pedaled off and made new friends to ride with. One of our groups rules is "ride your own ride" so you can enjoy the Katy at your own pace. It really works out great for everybody!
They have refinished/painted two of the cabooses on the trail this year. Here is one at our first SAG stop.

I should mention, this years ride is west to east, a rotation every year. This high point was not until the last day last year and I did not stop for a picture so this year being the first day, we stopped for a deep breath in the rarefied air of the high point of the trail.

First day rode us into Sedalia and once again they had set up for us at the depot station, food venders and beer to drink. A relaxing stop in the shade before cruising through town to the city park and tent set-up. They also give us passes to the city public pool and we took advantage of the cool-off dunk in the pool. We found ourselves with enough time to ride back to town and enjoy a nice Guinness at a local joint before dinner. Sedalia has an old historic wooden structure ball park and that night the local team had a game. They offered 2 fo1 tickets for the ride (all of $2.50 to get in!!) so we went to check out some minor league baseball. Pretty good game for the first few innings until the relief pitchers came in and there was a noticeable drop in talent and it started dragging a bit so we headed back to the tents. Found out then that our friend, Bob who we camp with was not feeling well and had left on an ambulance. Good news is, he had two stents placed and was feeling good enough to meet us after the ride to collect his bike and camping gear. Good ending to that story!! Whew!!

A few more images of our cruising through and about Sedalia!!

We will end with that and pick it up again tomorrow!

Thanks for following along!!
Jim

My Day of Days

In the late winter/early spring it always comes down to this:

If you want to have fun on this

 You have to drive away from this

and this

To find this

Today was a day to take off from work and just be selfish and do an activity for me! Bikes were calling my name so I loaded up LHT and headed down to Ft. Collins to ride the Horsetooth-Loveland loop.
Pretty nice day with very little wind and about 46 degrees when I started.

Teesie, not sure what these birds were out there on the ice.......but there were a butt-load of them.

The geologic feature that gives this area it's distinction is the Hogback. It gives us some striking red sandstone rock ridges to climb up and over a few times!!

As I roll back towards Loveland on a road that I have ridden many times I notice the other distinct geologic feature from far away. I guess I have never paid attention to the Devil's Backbone from this approach out of the north. Ride the same roads but it always seems to be something different to look at.

Richard these boys are for you!!! They are enjoying the first sun that we have seen for about five days!!

Here is the traditional view of Devil's Backbone as you get down towards Loveland.

The ride back to Ft. Collins is on a kind-of busy road so no more pictures. I had to be a real cyclist and pay attention to what was going on!!!
Of course it is pretty hard to drive back through Loveland on the way back up the hill without a stop at my favorite brewery for a little Birthday Growler for ME!!!

Great way to spend the day, Thanks for reading along!!
Jim

Go, 2015, Go!!!

I am stealing a page out of the Richard Welch bicycling Playbook. Always try and get a NYD ride in. In years past the local health club always has a New Years Day early morning spin class and I would jump in on that, but, I am busting out of the box and jumping on to the Richard way of quality cycling life!! Not too bad out, especially after the sub-zero days we have had this week. Left the house at 24 degrees and no wind to speak of. So layer-up and let's get this new year off and riding!!

The first challenge is negotiating out of my driveway.

And then down my road. I know there is clear pavement out on Highway 7 to roll down into town.

I roll into town and decide to run the "Gulch's" loop and back up Fish Creek to loop back to the house. Crossing the Big Thompson at the visitor center.

Here we go with a winter view of the Stanley Hotel.

Major roads were clear of sno-pack but I am guessing that Devils Gulch Rd and Dry Gulch will have some snow left. That is OK, because I feel like I am getting my snow legs on and getting a feel again for how Ogre rolls on the snow. I find that you look to find a line between the super hard pack that the cars have created and is slicker than goose shit and the deeper soft stuff off the edge that you flounder in. That 1/2" of soft in between is perfect!!!

I could not get this big boy to give me much more than this butt shot. He was rooting around in the field feasting on some grass lunch.

I know I have shared them before but you just can not get tired of the views that a cyclist gets rewarded with out on the North end of this loop.

Pretty day to be out, stayed in the mid-20's range the whole time. I rode about 2 hours and covered a bit under 16 miles. Which was a hell of a way to start the New Year and makes for a pretty happy cyclist!!

I hope everybody has a Happy and Healthy 2015!!!

Jim