Ten days for Katy Trail - and then what?

"Ray.Net" wrote in message
om...
Can anyone recommend interesting
places to check out within a couple days ride (say 150-200 mi) of the
trail?
...
south to Hermann (Highway 19) or to Jefferson City (Higway 54), to see
the
State Capitol. You could also visit Columbia.

Kerry, thanks for the compliment; I'm glad to hear that you found
www.BikeKatyTrail.com to be the most useful site. I will contact you
off-list to hear the story about the hostel in Tebbetts.

I like your list of services. It would be really great if you could
generate maps for queries, in addition to the current lists!

snip Hermann The bridge to Hermann can be
travelled by bike, as long as you're comfortable riding next to
high-speed traffic without a lot of space. snip The
bridge to Jeff City has a sightly better bike lane (on the south side
of the bridge only), but you'll still need nerves of steel to face
down the high-speed traffic. snip

I'm interested in hearing more about these bridges. I basically started
cycling this year, and the only bridges I am familiar with are 364 and 370.
364 is the path to Creve Coeur, and has a completely separate section for
the bike/hike route. 370 involves riding a junk-filled shoulder around
grates with openings parallel to your front wheel. I've heard some horror
stories about the Hermann bridge.

Columbia is certainly the easiest to get to; the 9-mile-long MKT
Fitness trail will take you from the Katy Trail into the heart of
Columbia. It connects with the Katy Trail at mile 169.9, near
McBaine. More Columbia info at http://www.visitcolumbiamo.com

This trail is beautiful, and Mizzou has a nice campus.

Kevin, you're from St Charles so I won't suggest a St Louis side trip
for you, but for the sake of other readers here is a web page
explaining how to get to downtown St Louis from the Katy Trail, by
bike:
http://www.bikekatytrail.com/kt2downtown.asp?src=rbr

Hey! You don't even mention 370 and the MRT! Actually, you have some
potentially useful info for me, since I'd like to try a less harrowing (if
longer) route to work sometime.

You said you were looking for things to do within 150 miles of the
Katy Trail - this certainly includes Kansas City, although I don't
know the best way to get there from the Katy Trail by bike
(suggestions are welcome!).

Happy trails,
Ray Scott
www.BikeKatyTrail.com

Thanks!

--
+---- Kevin C. Saff ----+ F-15 | |Eagle
| Engineer in St. Louis | _____|_^_|_____
| Tracking/Fleet Support| * + [_(x)_] + *

All kinds of "plan B" activity...... if it rains, the trail is worthless,
take maps.

"Kevin Saff" wrote
I basically started cycling this year

You just started this year and you're already up for knocking out the
Katy Trail in three days - that's impressive!

The bridge to Hermann
....
bridge to Jeff City
I'm interested in hearing more about these bridges.

I have not cycled on either bridge, but have driven a car across both
and was horrified at the thought of doing them by bike. But I've
heard many cyclists say these bridges are no big deal. All depends
on how you feel about being real close to fast-moving cars.

I'd like to try a less harrowing (if longer) route to work sometime.

From your sig it looks like you work at Boeing; please let me know if
you come up with a good route, as I'd like to offer a good cycling
route on the BikeKatyTrail website, for getting from the Katy Trail to
the St Louis Airport.

Ray Scott
www.BikeKatyTrail.com

We have a many riders in that area. The question has been asked a few
times. Searching the archive at
http://lists.topica.com/lists/STLBikeFed/read
http://lists.topica.com/lists/STLCM/read
seems to be down, join the lists and ask there. Also
http://www.stlbikefed.org/
may have directions for you.

"Ray.Net" wrote:

"Kevin Saff" wrote
I basically started cycling this year

You just started this year and you're already up for knocking out the
Katy Trail in three days - that's impressive!

The bridge to Hermann
....
bridge to Jeff City
I'm interested in hearing more about these bridges.

I have not cycled on either bridge, but have driven a car across both
and was horrified at the thought of doing them by bike. But I've
heard many cyclists say these bridges are no big deal. All depends
on how you feel about being real close to fast-moving cars.

I'd like to try a less harrowing (if longer) route to work sometime.

From your sig it looks like you work at Boeing; please let me know if
you come up with a good route, as I'd like to offer a good cycling
route on the BikeKatyTrail website, for getting from the Katy Trail to
the St Louis Airport.

Ray Scott
www.BikeKatyTrail.com

In article , "Camel Lung"
writes:

All kinds of "plan B" activity...... if it rains, the trail is worthless,
take maps.


What happens to that trail in the rain? I've been on it in dry weather but
have no idea what crushed limestone does when wet.

Tom Gibb

In article , "Kerry Nikolaisen" f o u r n
i k s @ c h a r t e r . n e t writes:

Expect to dine in taverns or bars especially
trailside. You may have to put in extra miles off the trail to find better
places. Also, not alot of readily available spots to fill up water bottles.
Whatever you do, take extra water and food, just in case.

Will you comment on grocery stores along the route? In my two days of riding
on the trail I saw very few.

Tom Gibb

TBGibb wrote:

In article , "Camel Lung"
writes:



All kinds of "plan B" activity...... if it rains, the trail is worthless,
take maps.




What happens to that trail in the rain? I've been on it in dry weather but
have no idea what crushed limestone does when wet.

Tom Gibb


I've spent days in the rain on crushed limestone in Wisconsin and along
the Danube. There are occasional soft spots and puddles, but that's not
a problem. For the most part, a crowned limestone path drains pretty
well. You can always go around or just ride through the depressions. But
imagine taking sakrete, dusting your chain with it, and then misting it
with water. Repeat every half hour. You will definitely need to clean
your chain and rear sprocket. It begins to sound like you are grinding
up rocks back in there. A big can of cheap spray-on lubricant makes
cleanup easy. Spray it on in abundance while spinning the freewheel.

--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
http://www.CycleTourist.com
Integrity is obvious.
The lack of it is common.
*****************************

In article FwTVc.18609$9d6.3316@attbi_s54, Chuck Anderson
writes:

But
imagine taking sakrete, dusting your chain with it, and then misting it
with water. Repeat every half hour. You will definitely need to clean
your chain and rear sprocket. It begins to sound like you are grinding
up rocks back in there.

That sounds charming. Thanks for the heads up.

Tom Gibb

Kerrywrote:
(cell phone
reception [T-Mobile] is basically nonexistant west of Marthasville).

It's not going to get any better anytime soon. As I understand it,,
too many customers availed themselves of a free $300 phone and huge
amounts of minutes for teensy prices. T-M has moved to not build up
their network in the middle of the country, preferring to concentrate
on California and the east coast.

--Karen M.
who got pleaded and begged to agree to go to Calif so my former boss
could make money off T-M...(didn't go)

(TBGibb) wrote
Will you comment on grocery stores along the route? In my two days of riding
on the trail I saw very few.

The following link will give you a list of all grocery and convenience
stores that I'm aware of, on or near the Katy Trail:

http://www.BikeKatyTrail.com/planari...hkGroceries=on

About 30 of them, mostly small c-stores like Caseys. If anyone knows
of any stores that I missed, I'd truly appreciate if you could let me
know.

If you do follow the above link, note that you can customize the list
by going to the bottom of the list and selecting other types of
businesses, and/or changing the start/end towns.

Ray Scott
www.BikeKatyTrail.com