Our biggest concern centered around this year’s ride is the heat. We are expecting temperatures to be in the 90s and possibly worse. Heat can be very difficult for me since I am unable to regulate my body temperature by sweating. We have many tricks up our sleeve (ice vest, constant spraying with water, riding with my canopy, and having a small fan running on me at all times), but perhaps the most affective thing we can do is to start early and finish early to avoid the hottest part of the day. Our goal is to be on the trail by 6:00 am. It can take up to three hours from the time I wake until I am ready roll out the front door, so I had to wake up around 2:30 am.
After scouting the Katy Trail last summer, I was told by Dr. B “there are no major obstacles, and the entire trail is Ian friendly.” Although this may technically be true, it turns out trying to get where the trail officially begins is not Ian friendly. We had to park where the signs clearly indicated parking was not allowed, then we had to trespass. While trespassing we encountered very rough railroad tracks, and continued past a sign that read “No Katy Trail Access.” After not following any of these instructions we came across our first real obstacle, a pile of rocks strategically placed to block access to no one other than someone in a wheelchair. After trying to ride over the rocks and failing, Jimmy went searching for supplies to build a makeshift ramp to get me over the pile. Jimmy found some very heavy metal plates while Dr. B watched and admired the nearby plants. Jimmy’s ramp worked like a charm and we were now ready to officially begin our ride along the Katy Trail, beginning at the eastern terminus of the trail in the “town” of Machens, Missouri.
As soon as we began to ride, Jimmy and I were immediately overwhelmed by all the plants, birds, and insects we don’t get to see on the west coast. We could have easily spent all our time in the first few miles just looking at what nature had to offer. There were no beakers or Erlenmeyer flasks for Dr. B to get excited about so we hella bird-nerded instead. We saw northern cardinals, pileated woodpeckers, indigo buntings, blue jays, red tails, and turkey vultures. We also saw some beautiful butterflies. We saw a few pipevine swallowtail butterflies, and eastern monarchs.
We figured we’d see more birds ahead, so we kept moving and hoped to finish before it got too hot. The trail was absolutely beautiful and the riding was very easy as far as the surface was considered. It felt like we were either under a lot of cover from broad leaf trees or we were completely exposed. There wasn’t much in between. By 11:00 am the temperature had reached 93 degrees. Jimmy and Dr. B had to step up their spray bottle game. Despite Dr. B losing one spray bottle early on in the day, and then losing another that Jimmy eventually found they were able to keep me cool (enough) to finish the day. Jimmy placed Dr. B on spray bottle probation. We haven’t determined his punishment if he drops or loses another one, but we’re looking for suggestions. Please enter any suggestions in the comment section below.
We were able to meet some good local folks. First, we met Hugh Share who knew about our ride and met us early on, and rode with us for about twenty miles. We really enjoyed talking with him and getting to discuss some current and future bike infrastructure hurdles faced by advocates here in Missouri. We met some other local cyclists, Jim and Chris who were great to talk to. They shared a lot of local knowledge about the trail and what was up ahead for us in the days to come. It was great to see how proud they are of the Katy Trail and how much they appreciate having this jewel in their backyard.
We had our first interview with local media. We met briefly with Liz from KTVI-FOX 2 News. I talked with her about the reasons I do these rides. I hope to bring awareness for the need and appreciation of trails like the Katy, and the role it plays in helping people with accessibility challenges get outside and enjoy nature. Trails like this mean something different to everyone. For me, trails like this play an integral role in my life and without them I would not be the person I am today.
Parts of the trail reminded us of our time on The C&O Trail, which we rode two years ago from Washington, D.C. to Cumberland, MD. Today we had the Missouri river on our left and what felt like a small canal on the right. When we left D.C., we had the Potomac on our left, and the C&O Canal on our right. Our C&O ride was an incredible experience and we are excited about the days to come here in Missouri.
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