It's starting to be beautiful outside once again, so on our last day off Jason came up with the fun idea of going bike riding on the Katy Trail.
The Katy Trail use to be a Rail Road that went from Missouri to Kansas to Texas. The Rail Road decided to cease the use of a portion of the tracks that ran through Missouri. Instead of just letting the track go to waste, the state of Missouri, decided to fill in the tracks with a limestoneish sand and have a trail for recreation.
The Katy Trail is 264.6 miles total, with few stopping points that go through towns. There are bike festivals and all sorts of events on the trail through out the main season. We were told that people from all over the states and some from all over the world have come to bike the trail. It is suppose to be one of the biggest bike trails in the states.
Jason and I were told, by the lady at the gift shop, that the point we were starting at was a 5% grade for over 100 miles, a few spots more and some flat spots; but no down hill. So we started out. It was fun and beautiful at first. We were biking going through the country side and sometimes there was the river off on the side. The hill parts didn't seem too bad.
We got to the 15 mile out marker and decided we wanted to press another 15 miles to the next town; stop, get lunch, and then head back. Well... the next 5 miles ended up being rougher. The "5 %" grade was starting to kick our butts.
Surprisingly to me, Jason was the one that first suggested that we turn around... usually I'm the one that is the slacker. I thought Jason was saying that, just to be nice to me... then I found out his bike is not made for this type of trail. We turned back at the 20 mile out marker and we switched bikes... WOW, I have no idea how Jason made it out that far on his bike. The seat was making our legs go numb and he has mountain bike tires grip into the trail instead of riding smoothly on top. The difference between his bike and mine was like night and day.
We ended up switching bikes back and changing the seats around so I had the smooth rider with the crappy seat, and he had the rough rider with the soft seat. Oddly enough the 5% grade seems to be in both direction you are going. With about 10 miles left to go, we started getting off our bikes and walking a little of the way, just to stretch our legs... it was a good leg burning workout.
Even with the end of our adventure not turning out so well, we are still looking forward to going back out on the trail and going to some of the festivals... but next time we'll change out some parts on Jason's bike and take more water!
Last Night Jason got to go out for a little fun time- after a little coaxing from me (I was at work). He went with a buddy and his family to the Missouri State Fair Speedway. I talked to him on the phone during the pace round and it was loud then. Jason's says it was LOUD, FUN, and COLD. He had a blast and we've decided to hit it up again together next time. Check out the pics- different classes of cars, a winner, and a nice wreck. Ken Schrader (a NASCAR racer) won the modified class race. WOAH!!!
