What to call today?
Last night while I was typing on the hotel computer I overheard the desk person telling another customer about the local marathon that was to take place this morning. I went out and asked and learned it would occupy most of the early part of our route today.Uh oh. So we scanned the internet sites and decided we'd have to choose a different way to cross the Missouri River; lots of the run took place on the Katy Trail, and the marathon went over the bridge we had pictured crossing. Twice.
When we left this morning, we figured we would at least check things out. One of the course marshalls said we could just go as we had planned. There were not a lot of runners at that point yet. So we did. We passed the 3:30 pace guy & his little crew. And we kept passing more and more runners ahead of them. Wow.Some fast people out there. So maybe we call today "Riding a marathon," or "Passing the fastest guy."
After we passed the turn-around point, we continued on a really pleasant bike trail for several miles. Once we were off the trail, we soon arrived in an area with lots of nice, rolling hills, and I figured my title actually should be,"30 feet at a time." In other words, we climbed over 1000 feet today (not much in the bay area, but lots more than we have done here), but we never really did a climb. We'd be gearing down for a few minutes, then back up, over and over.
Then the next idea was triggered. There was a chance of rain and even thunderstorms projected today. It gradually increased from about a 20% chance to 40%, and it seemed to be heading closer to our destination than to where we'd started out. So perhaps the theme today would be,"Get me there!" 'Cause part of our route was to be on the levee along the Mississippi, and it's hard to imagine a much more exposed setting should lightning appear. This came to me as I was waiting for Bruce to run in to an Apple store - his charging cord was not right, must have gotten damaged somewhere along the line, and since we were in Saint Louis he figured it would be worth replacing it on the way through.So I was sitting outside the mall while he went in & I looked at the weather & the radar & decided to skip the stop I had imagined. There was a soda fountain a couple of blocks off our route that I thought might be fun for lunch. But not as much fun as arriving early and staying dry and not getting electrocuted. We grabbed snacks and got moving.
What would be next? Wehad also learned that the Cardinals were playing in St. Louis that day, and feared that traffic would be a problem. Nah. No problem at all.
We went to the Eads Bridge with no trouble. It has a completely separated walker-cyclist section,so our only problem there was trying to avoid as much glass as we possibly could. It's not a tidy surface. But we did it, no flats, no trouble, no one else, actually, on that sidewalk the whole way across. So then I found myself thinking, "Crossing the Missouri and the Mississippi on the same day!" That felt pretty impressive to me. So I tucked that thought away and we continued into Illinois.
The roads there were not very pleasant at first. Rough,potholes, debris including a lot more glass, and a general feeling that perhaps that was not the place to stop to brush glass off our tires.Then onto Highway 3, which was a busy, fast, noisy stretch with shoulders, yes, but shoulders with the occasional pothole or other obstacle.
Then, suddenly, we were off on a side road with smooth pavement, headed back towards the river. We sighed in relief and rode happily along for a mile or two, where the pavement ended, and a steep little dirt & gravel ramp took us up & over some more railroad tracks.That was supposedly the road on our cue sheet called Hog Haven.No hogs we could see, and it was certainly not a haven! But it got worse: as soon as we crested the little ramp we realized that the road ended. The only possible choice was a driveway with a sternly worded no trespassing sign. Back to the maps. Bruce thought we'd have to head back to Hwy 3 and slog along it for 9 more miles. I resisted that thought. Fortunately, we found a faint white line on the map that roughly corresponded with the levee trail we expected -and it was the trail! We went to it and found, within a very few feet of each other, two signs. One said "Bike Route" complete with an arrow pointing to the trail. The other said,"No Trespassing." We trespassed. So the title should have been something about hogs and havens?
It was gravel, it was a bit rough, but by that time, I was thinking I'd rather risk some road rash than being run over by traffic on Hwy 3. Not a tough choice, actually. So I walked occasionally, but mostly just rode slowly and enjoyed the view. Soon we found a body of water that was all full of birds - four kinds of herons, and tons of turkey vultures (ok, they were not in the water, just looming on the power towers that lined the trail)., plenty of mourning doves and killdeer, one red-tailed hawk. So perhaps there was a bird-related title.
At this point,we still had nine miles to go and I wondered what else might happen. For a 47 mile day, we'd had a lot of adventures.With some trepidation, we turned back onto paved roads. And...
No more surprises! We arrived having felt only light rain, having seen no lightning, heard no thunder. Heard no horns or squealing brakes. No more unpaved roads. No more glasss on the road. Bruce's charging cord worked. Our hotel is in easy walking distancce of a nice little Chinese restaurant and a really great supermarket. Schnucks,I think it's called, and it rivals the better stores at home. We had dinner and roamed around the store picking up fruit and sandwiches for tomorrow.
Sparta tomorrow.What else will tomorrow bring?
When we left this morning, we figured we would at least check things out. One of the course marshalls said we could just go as we had planned. There were not a lot of runners at that point yet. So we did. We passed the 3:30 pace guy & his little crew. And we kept passing more and more runners ahead of them. Wow.Some fast people out there. So maybe we call today "Riding a marathon," or "Passing the fastest guy."
After we passed the turn-around point, we continued on a really pleasant bike trail for several miles. Once we were off the trail, we soon arrived in an area with lots of nice, rolling hills, and I figured my title actually should be,"30 feet at a time." In other words, we climbed over 1000 feet today (not much in the bay area, but lots more than we have done here), but we never really did a climb. We'd be gearing down for a few minutes, then back up, over and over.
Then the next idea was triggered. There was a chance of rain and even thunderstorms projected today. It gradually increased from about a 20% chance to 40%, and it seemed to be heading closer to our destination than to where we'd started out. So perhaps the theme today would be,"Get me there!" 'Cause part of our route was to be on the levee along the Mississippi, and it's hard to imagine a much more exposed setting should lightning appear. This came to me as I was waiting for Bruce to run in to an Apple store - his charging cord was not right, must have gotten damaged somewhere along the line, and since we were in Saint Louis he figured it would be worth replacing it on the way through.So I was sitting outside the mall while he went in & I looked at the weather & the radar & decided to skip the stop I had imagined. There was a soda fountain a couple of blocks off our route that I thought might be fun for lunch. But not as much fun as arriving early and staying dry and not getting electrocuted. We grabbed snacks and got moving.
What would be next? Wehad also learned that the Cardinals were playing in St. Louis that day, and feared that traffic would be a problem. Nah. No problem at all.
We went to the Eads Bridge with no trouble. It has a completely separated walker-cyclist section,so our only problem there was trying to avoid as much glass as we possibly could. It's not a tidy surface. But we did it, no flats, no trouble, no one else, actually, on that sidewalk the whole way across. So then I found myself thinking, "Crossing the Missouri and the Mississippi on the same day!" That felt pretty impressive to me. So I tucked that thought away and we continued into Illinois.
The roads there were not very pleasant at first. Rough,potholes, debris including a lot more glass, and a general feeling that perhaps that was not the place to stop to brush glass off our tires.Then onto Highway 3, which was a busy, fast, noisy stretch with shoulders, yes, but shoulders with the occasional pothole or other obstacle.
Then, suddenly, we were off on a side road with smooth pavement, headed back towards the river. We sighed in relief and rode happily along for a mile or two, where the pavement ended, and a steep little dirt & gravel ramp took us up & over some more railroad tracks.That was supposedly the road on our cue sheet called Hog Haven.No hogs we could see, and it was certainly not a haven! But it got worse: as soon as we crested the little ramp we realized that the road ended. The only possible choice was a driveway with a sternly worded no trespassing sign. Back to the maps. Bruce thought we'd have to head back to Hwy 3 and slog along it for 9 more miles. I resisted that thought. Fortunately, we found a faint white line on the map that roughly corresponded with the levee trail we expected -and it was the trail! We went to it and found, within a very few feet of each other, two signs. One said "Bike Route" complete with an arrow pointing to the trail. The other said,"No Trespassing." We trespassed. So the title should have been something about hogs and havens?
It was gravel, it was a bit rough, but by that time, I was thinking I'd rather risk some road rash than being run over by traffic on Hwy 3. Not a tough choice, actually. So I walked occasionally, but mostly just rode slowly and enjoyed the view. Soon we found a body of water that was all full of birds - four kinds of herons, and tons of turkey vultures (ok, they were not in the water, just looming on the power towers that lined the trail)., plenty of mourning doves and killdeer, one red-tailed hawk. So perhaps there was a bird-related title.
At this point,we still had nine miles to go and I wondered what else might happen. For a 47 mile day, we'd had a lot of adventures.With some trepidation, we turned back onto paved roads. And...
No more surprises! We arrived having felt only light rain, having seen no lightning, heard no thunder. Heard no horns or squealing brakes. No more unpaved roads. No more glasss on the road. Bruce's charging cord worked. Our hotel is in easy walking distancce of a nice little Chinese restaurant and a really great supermarket. Schnucks,I think it's called, and it rivals the better stores at home. We had dinner and roamed around the store picking up fruit and sandwiches for tomorrow.
Sparta tomorrow.What else will tomorrow bring?
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