Jefferson City, MO —> St. Louis, MO/KY (117mi)
Cole:
5am wake-up today so we could finish our egregious 117 miles during daylight, out the door by 6:30ish. Our route first carried us on a bridge hundreds of feet over a river, and we watched the sun rise through a thick veil of humidity as we biked across. Then through the edges of Jefferson City before entering the infamous Katy Trail (MIT had shared horror stories of neck-deep flooded sections, and rivers of frogs jumping into their wheels as they rode). The trail, a smooth dirt road about the width of a car that beelines through the Missouri countryside, had dried out by the time we got to it (phew). We did find ourselves stopping every few miles to peel snowball sized clumps of spiderwebs (often with the 8-legged occupants still attached) off of our arms, legs and faces—not as bad as flooded trails, but still not exactly pleasant. Luckily, the density of the spider webs seemed to fall as we made our way along the trail, or maybe I just got better at ducking my head and flinging my arm out in front of me when enormous nets of web suddenly came into view on the trail ahead. Either way, I soon began to enjoy the rainforesty-jungley feel of the Katy trail. Dense trees created a shaded tunnel that alternately gave way to an immense brown river (the same one that Lewis and Clark had used in the first days of their journey two hundred years earlier!), rolling green hills, and wide open farmland. Forest critters chirped, croaked, and screeched (and, at one point, snarled pretty menacingly—yikes!) to create a mostly peaceful background soundtrack for the ride. The miles flew by (fast but still painful), and I found myself in outer St. Louis in a mere eight hours of pedaling. My pace dragged a bit during the last 10 miles through town, but I had fun scavenging food and water from friendly Starbucks baristas and grocery store clerks. I’ve done some of the riding over the past 3 days by taking my own stops in towns and at scenic lookouts instead of at our trusty car, and am loving the feeling of independence and chances to meet local people.
Despite loving the riding through beautiful Missouri, I was almost shaking with exhaustion by the time I made it to our church for the night. I took a quick handy-wipe shower, changed out of my bike shorts, and pedaled to a Walgreens a couple blocks away to buy a half-gallon of chocolate milk—my new post-100-mile-ride tradition. Like so many days on this trip, I fell asleep fast when I finally made it into my sleeping bag.
