KATY Trail Tracking Memorial Day
We decided to try a goal we've yet to complete: Drive up to Northern MO and ride at least part of the KATY trail, currently the longest bike trail in the U.S. at 240+ miles. It is an abandoned railroad path, known as the MKT (Missouri-Kansas-Texas) line when it was operational. Thus the "Katy" name.
With our piddling around it took almost 3 hours to get there, pulling the trailer containing our Catrikes.
In spite of the maps and GPS it was not that easy to locate the trail parking / jumpoff point in downtown Sedalia. We finally spotted a "KATY Depot" on the GPS and sure enough, it got us there, without actual routing to find the entrance to the parking area. Jacque eyeballed it effectively an by driving around the block we were actually looking at the old railway depot, decorated with informative signs, a couple of old rail cars, and a clean set of bathrooms. SAVED
We were hot and tired just from driving all that way, and it took almost a half hour to unload the trikes and set them up. Jacque rode off first, with the pooches strapped in her wire baskets, and I, being so much the stronger rider, finally caught up with her almost a mile down the path. She has not been in full strength and was already tired enough to turn around and go back and rest in the shade and read her book. I rode on a ways, intending to ride at least a few feeble miles. It was HOT and my feet were paining me more than usual, and the layer of sunscreen all over exposed skin seemed to make it even warmer. Being in motion actually helped, generating a bit of a breeze to help.
I was worried about Jacque, and cell coverage was spotty, so I started to feel guilty about leaving her alone with the dogs. I determined to ride "just a bit farther" and then turn around and go back to check on her.
Riding the trail through downtown Sedalia was not that much fun, with many street crossings, few of which were smooth transitions between the gravel surface of the trail and the concrete / asphalt pavements of the streets. All such junctions had STOP signs for the Trail users but not for the cars whizzing by.
Thankfully there wasn't much traffic on most of them. As I approached the Highway 50 overpass the rushing noise sounded like a waterfall or something noisy. It was just hundreds of cars WHOOSHING by underneath the trail overpass. Thank goodness for that overpass or trail users would never be able to cross such traffic...
As I meandered my way back to the KATY depot I was more than a bit shocked to encounter a Teenage Turd roaring towards me on his MOTORcycle.
Of course I didn't have my GoPro camera engaged nor my phone camera, so all I could give him was a dirty look as he roared by. Totally illegal by trail rules, but quite safe for the offender -- since there are obviously seldom any others around to remonstrate with him except for bike pedalers, who are easy to escape and outrun with the stinky smelly loud MOTOR.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE petrol burning motors myself. After all, we'd just burned almost a full tank of gas getting there and relied on almost another to get home safe and sound. But on our beloved KATY trail ?? BAH
Then after we got home - the next day - I had another "adventure".
I was riding to meet Jacque at the Mercy med. clinic, since she needed the car to go elsewhere afterward. Getting on the trike that morning, I noticed the electronics were blinking on and off, likely indicating a loose connection to the battery somewhere. Being in a hurry to catch up with Jacque, I figured I would fix it later. While smoking (maybe 20 MPH) down the hill, a few hundred yards from my destination, I hit a rough spot in the pavement and my right FENDER popped off, while I ran over it at speed, which then it popped UP and wrapped itself around my leg, and flopped sideways on the street towards the curb.
I hit the brakes frantically, and saw a black pickup was a short distance behind me. The driver was a wonderful guy, and didn't run over me OR my twisted fender. He even stopped and waved, allowing me to circle back and retrieve my fender. I carried it clumsily in my lap up to the clinic, where I parked and went inside to meet Jacque in her waiting room.
After the dr. visit I spent a half hour or more using pliers to try twisting & bending my misshapend fender. I finally got it to the point I could remount it without it rubbing my tire, and went over the Rt. 60 overpass to our local Big Box Store. On the way back a few minutes later I encountered this in the shoulder of the overpass:
This is the pile of brush after I had already tossed about 2/3 of it over the wall onto the grass below. It was more than brush, it was THORNS.... it had been there for at least the last 2 days. I had ridden out and around it before snce the vehicle traffic was much lower. Thankfully I hadn't tried to ride THROUGH it, or I would have had 3 tires to patch. On the spot. As I was painfully heaving this mess over the wall, a very nice young man appeared out of nowhere and helped me finish the nasty job. I thought he must have parked his car somewhere but he turned out to be just a friendly pedestrian. He mentioned he was planning to buy a bike soon himself.
Eventually I finally got home.
I spent another hour at home repairing the power cord to the trike electronics.
So hopefully they'll work sufficiently for radio comms and GPS tracking next ride.
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 3.95
Overall Average Speed Moving Avg Max Speed
4.3 MPH 6.2 MPH 10.8 MPH
Total Trip(s) Time Moving Time Stopped Time
55 minutes 38 minutes 16 minutes
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