Exec Summary: It's hard for me to recommend the Katy Trail as a destination trip, unless you relish the challenge/experience of riding the 2nd-longest trail in the country (it was still the longest when I rode it). If you're going to be nearby, no reason not to check it out. Avoid summer heat, and do some research into which sections might offer the best scenery. I'd probably enjoy it more today, with more trail riding experience under my belt and nicer tires to ride. But I'd rather try the GAP first, or somewhere else with more topography.
I didn't read the article, they wanted me to click on a survey or sumpthin first, and I'm home with a cold and grumpy so NO! I rode the Katy Trail for only a couple of days in the summer of '00, squeezing the riding into a business trip. I rode a steel Fuji Cross with fattish but not-particularly-supple tires. IIRC I rode from east of St. Joseph to St. Joseph, then west from St. Joseph. The first day was kind of a half-day, maybe 20mi. The second day was going to be 40mi or so, but I cut it a little short due to weather. Got a ride from west of St. Joseph back to St. Louis the second day. It was very hot and humid, even for a Jersey boy, and on the second day I was riding between two storm fronts. The hotel weather channel showed the fronts 15mi apart, traveling at 10mph, so I figured if I left just after the first front passed and kept around a 10mph avg, including stops, I'd stay dry. Surprisingly this worked, I didn't get any rain while on the trail, but the humidity kept me pretty damp. I got to the hotel that night just before a third storm hit, which turned into a hellacious hailstorm with golfball-sized chunks of ice that literally (and I'm old enough to understand how to use "literally") left tens of millions of $$ of damage in its wake. Hiding for safety in the empty bathtub while the room windows were being battered by machine-gun ice was more memorable than the ride. I thought the windows were going to shatter and send glass flying through the room, but they held up. My rep's car was in the hail for a minute or so before he got under an overpass, and the insurance company wrote the car off as totaled. Fun. So the weather did not add to my enjoyment. The length of trail I rode was crushed limestone, pretty well surfaced. I found the two days kind of uninspiring. The trail was flat, of course, but so was all the surrounding terrain. The Mississippi River was close by, but far enough away on flatland that I don't remember seeing much of it. I didn't find the ride or surroundings to be particularly scenic. Whatever small towns the trail went through were nice, but the heat/humidity, and the moving storm fronts on the second day, didn't encourage lingering or exploring. This was probably my first time riding a trail, and I kind of felt like I was slogging along. On the second day I noticed there was a small, very well-surfaced road just a few feet away paralleling the trail, so I started riding on the road instead. That was more fun than the trail. Since this sounds kinda negative, I decided to endure the Gazzette's survey and read the article. I most definitely did not travel under a canopy of trees, like it says in the article. Sounds like they had fun, despite riding in August, I kinda didn't. But I was riding alone, first time on a trail, crappy/scary weather, and I can be a Grumpy Gus when I'm riding solo. Maybe when not riding solo, too... Paul Brodek Hillsdale, NJ USA On Sunday, October 11, 2015 at 3:37:54 PM UTC-4, Jon Dukeman in the foothills of Colorado wrote: > > Todays travel section had a great article about the Katy Trail in Missouri. > There must be some of you who have ridden it. > If so, I'd like to hear about your experience, what time of year you went > etc.etc.. > Here's the article: > > > > http://gazette.com/missouris-katy-trail-offers-an-experience-cyclists-cant-find-in-colorado/article/1560940 > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
