For the Love of Bikes

Life is better on a bike!

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The Simple Life~

June 25, 2010 /

Balloon Flowers

Earlier the same day, I walked outside and couldn’t believe this sky.

And, last but not least, without a doubt the biggest windchimes I’ve ever seen (or heard).  You get an idea of how large they are by the tree in the background. Very cool.

A Small World~

June 16, 2010 /
About two weeks ago I wrote a blog post on our bike ride on the Katy Trail in Missouri, Susan & Mark’s KT Adventure.


I posted it on a couple of bike related sites I frequent, plus recently it was picked up by Bike Katy Trail and posted on their website as the most recent Ride Report. 

I am blown away by the traffic that has been generated from these site’s links to my post!  People from all over the U.S. plus, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Finland, Germany, England, Russia, Egypt and other places I can’t spell, have visited.   ***Since writing this post add – Iran, Thailand, Philippines and not a country but the DOJ. Ugh-oh hope they didn’t see the Obama posts.

The internet does indeed make the world a smaller place. 

People that love to ride bikes love to read about other people riding bikes.  I know I do.

It makes me feel a part of the larger biking community. 

I love that.

Katy Trail Adventure

May 19, 2010 /

 

A week ago today we rode the last miles of the Katy Trail State Park in Missouri.
Entrance to KT in Clinton
We began at the beginning – the Clinton trailhead and ended in St. Charles:  240 miles in total – 227 miles on the Katy, 13 miscellaneous miles, and 6 days of riding. Glorious riding.
 
 

Red line is our route.

We decided to ride the Katy from west to east because logistically it made the most sense. Plus, typically the wind blows from west to east this time of year and we looked forward to riding all week with either no headwind or if we were really lucky – a tailwind. Every cyclist’s dream.

We arrived in Clinton the evening of Thursday, May 6th. It was an easy drive taking us just over 5 hours. The bikes were safely tucked inside and had pizza and drinks in tow so no need to stop.

Pre-ride lodging was at the Hampton Inn in Clinton. We couldn’t stand it so we rode around a bit in the parking lot just to test things out. We cleared it with the hotel and then took the bikes up to the room via the elevator. I really wanted to ride mine through the lobby.

We left Clinton early in the morning and headed out into the wind and cold. It was cloudy but rain was not in the forecast. We decided to ride through downtown Clinton before catching the beginning of the trail.  This was the way we rode the entire trail – taking our time and enjoying the sites.

Stopping when the mood struck us.

 

There were many moments that stood out.

Riding alongside Mark, buzzing down the trail side by side.  Countless birds flying in and out.  No other sounds but our bikes and the birds.
Miles and miles of trail with heavily treed canopy.

Sunlight filtering in, birds leading the way.

 

Informative depots at every trailhead on the Katy Trail covering the next town/trailhead.

 

Endless miles of spring flowers along the Trail.

Silence. 
 
Iridescent blue of the Indigo Buntings and the more common, but still beautiful blue of the Eastern Bluebird.
 
 
 
The ring of Condor’s bell – which I rang to say hello to others on the trail and also to celebrate seeing an indigo bunting.

Miles of trail alongside the wider-than-I-expected Missouri River.

 

 

 
Hotel Bothwell and the endless noises throughout the night. Finding out the next morning that some believe it is haunted. Add me to that list.
 

Recognizing on day one that we had significantly overpacked and actually sending as much stuff as we could cram into a large duffel home via UPS. Nice, helpful people at UPS store in Sedalia.

Surprisingly few people on the Trail.
How clean and well maintained the Trail was. A donation from us coming their way.
Wishing Oklahoma had something like this. Being glad the Katy is so close.
Headwind for the majority of days. Rain only one. Cool temps most days. All in all very good weather.
The sun and tailwind on day 2 our longest day – 53 miles.

 
 
Beautiful skies.
The two of us practically inhaling a large pizza for lunch in what was probably less than 5 minutes after not getting dinner the night before. Things close up early on the trail, a good thing to keep in mind.
 
Crossing the Missouri River at Boonville, the butterflies/vertigo over how high we were.
 

Bob Irish and the pictures he took and sent to us.

 
 
Arriving in Rocheport late in the afternoon to the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Katy.
 
 
 
 
Partying with the locals at the General Store.
 
Our longest day and no dinner. Thankful for the large pizza at lunch. Our ongoing laughter at how fast we ate it!
Remembering how friendly people that ride bikes are.
Beautiful fields and farms.
 
 
Taking note and pictures of all the truss bridges for our son-in-law, Tyler.
 

Feeling like most of the time we were going slightly uphill.

Riding along the churning Missouri River.
 All the friendly, kind and iust wonderful people we met along the way.
Randy and Jeanette at the  
Briar Rose Inn in Jefferson City – their warmth and hospitality. The huge suite and beautiful antiques. Dinner at Arris’s. Our very early start to avoid the thunderstorms.  The lunch they packed that saved us.
Bone chilling rain all day. Grateful that it was just rain and wind. Started out with temp in high 40’s.
Tree downed from storm over the trail but park service already clearing.

 

Appreciating the lifestyle of small towns. The kindness and friendliness of the people.

 
The simpleness and straightforwardness of riding a bike.
Countless pictures of Condor and Traveler.

Tim Johnson aka fellow Brooks sufferer.  Riding cross country from Jacksonville, Florida to Oregon.
Feeling like a couple of punks when on the way home I read on Crazy Guy on a Bike website that the day we rode 43 miles in the soaking rain Tim rode 140.
Elden and Maggie at Meyer’s Hilltop Farm – Mark’s dream place.  The perfect breakfast for cyclists.  Beautiful farm, Oscar and Leon, Katy, the warm and inviting site of Elden on the porch and the glow of the candles in the windows.  Showing up and looking like a couple of drowned rats.  Good as new the next morning.
Dinner at the Stonehill Winery and looking out on the vineyards at dusk covered in mist.
 
 

Augusta – wine tasting and hill climbing. In that order.

 

Gene and Jacqui at Swan Haven Inn.  Great conversation, felt like friends.  Incredible home, built in 1860, updated throughout, simple on the outside, elegant on the inside, crumpets in the morning, delicious omelet.  More great conversation and a late start to the day.
 

Spending the evening walking around Augusta in place of eating. Hoping we would find something open.  Of course we didn’t.

Condor and Traveler’s home for the night.

Mix of feelings about starting out on our last day.

 

 

The couple from Michigan riding a tandem recumbent.  Just starting their ride.  Exuberant.

My butt’s growing fondness for the Brooks saddle.

Father and son walking the Katy Trail.

Those beautiful indigo buntings.

And flowers…

 

The HUGE tree just before St. Charles.

 

George and his buddy at Katy Trail bike rentals in Defiance and their help with Mark’s cleat and pedal.  Great ice cream.  Good prices.  Nice people.

Defiance.  Sounds like a place Mark and I would fit in.
Spending so much time at George’s that a storm was moving in when we were ready to leave again. Riding as fast as we could to beat the storm.  We did.
 
Slowing down and enjoying our last miles.
  
 

                  Feeling stronger on the last day than the first.

 

 
 
 
 
The week exceeded any expectations either of us had. 

 

Next time I will post on our ride with my netbook as we go.
We would do it again tomorrow.
We are doing it again in October.
Finally…
Nothing
Compares
to
Traveling
by
BIKE!

 

 
 

Today's Adventure

May 2, 2010 /

For one reason or another we haven’t been able to do a long ride like we planned to before heading off to ride the Katy Trail.

Today we took off south towards Oklahoma City, a new route for us, normally we ride east or west and away from traffic.  We were downtown recently and thought it would be fun to ride our bikes there from home some day.

Today turned out to be the day.

It hadn’t been our plan, we didn’t know how we would feel but ended up feeling good and decided to do it. Downtown wasn’t busy, not that long ago it was a ghost town on Sundays. Not anymore. Because of the revitalization efforts through MAPS, etc. downtown OKC is flourishing. It’s good to see.

We stopped for lunch at the Java Daves where we could eat outside with our bikes (we’re very close) since we didn’t bring our locks and then headed home via Lincoln Blvd.

I used to work on Lincoln Blvd. next to the state capitol and couldn’t help grinning while I was riding along towards my old stompin’ grounds, the Sequoyah Building. Major grin.

Being so close I had to stop and take a picture just for old times sake.

It was a long but very enjoyable ride – 42 miles.  Our longest day on the Katy Trail will be 49 so we should be in good shape.

A fun day.

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