Rail Trail Explorations

Hermann, MO. I'm taking my time crossing the country and exploring some of the nation's great rail trails. On Wednesday I did an early morning ride on the longest rail trail in Indiana, the Cardinal Greenway. And, today I did one of my longest rides lately, 42 miles on the Katy Trail in Missouri.



As a general impression, these great trails are nearly deserted, at least during the week. I ran into a few long-distance riders and exactly two early-morning riders in IN, but I mostly had the trail to myself. I guess I'm used to rail trails near big cities, especially the Washington and Old Dominion Trail near my home.






The Katy Trail was particularly quiet. I began early enough this morning -- after an amazing breakfast at the Meyers Inn Hilltop House. The morning was cloudy and cool, which was a nice change from yesterday's 95 degrees.  Eventually the clouds broke and the weather turned sunny and warm, but it never got very hot. There was just the slightest breeze, but it couldn't decide what direction to blow from. In short, the perfect bicycling day.




You will see here some of the pictures from the trail. Alas, while it's interesting to see the flora and fauna of another state, once you've seen five miles, the trail has a tendency to look the same. I deal with this by playing MP3s from a company called the Great Courses. (It used to be known as The Teaching Company). So, as I ambled through the Missouri bottomland, I listened to Professor Dennis Dalton talk about the great political philosophers. My companions were not only Plato and Aristotle, but Machiavelli, Rousseau, Thoreau, and Dostoyevsky. (The latter makes the list because of one chapter in The Brothers Karamazov entitled The Great Inquisitor.)





I was also moving in the footsteps of the Corps of Discovery. Lewis and Clark campsites were all along this river, and their journal mentions several of the topographic formations. The rock face near Little Tavern Creek, for example, was mentioned in one of the corps' diaries.

Life Gets in the Way

It's interesting how the future never unfolds the way we expect. I retired last August, and I had every reason to expect that cycling would become a much more common pastime. It certainly was for the first six months. Once winter settled in, however, other things began to fill in my list of daily activities. Alas, most of those things did not involve fitness or exercise.  So, by the time green shoots of spring appeared, I had settled in to a sedentary pattern of life. While there have been bicycle rides in the past few months, I have not been able to include cycling on the scale I did it even a recently as six months ago.

I'm happy to report that most of these distractions are good things: we're arranging for a new kitchen, I'm working on my dissertation, and I just finished a nice cruise vacation with Robbie. So, unlike many folks my age, I have not been laid up by serious medical issues.

So, now that we've returned from our travels as a couple, and while our house is barely liveable, I've decided to drive across the country to Colorado, stopping at great rail trails along the way. What better way to reconnect with my favorite sport and provide grist for the blogmill. Starting next week, you'll be able to find photos of the 2013 Road Trip. You can expect views of ribbons of trail, rail-trail artifacts, and tunnels of trees. I expect it will all end with a ride up the Continental Divide in Colorado. By the time I get home, I expect the indoor air will be breathable again.

Until then, happy trails!  - KWC

My Published Articles

It may seem that I've been blogging lightly, but in actuality I've been writing and illustrating articles for the local bicycle club, the Potomac Pedalers. The club publishes a monthly newsletter, the Pedal Patter. Beginning with the February issue, I discuss a century a month. I try to choose an upcoming annual event, so that the reader still has time to do the ride when the article is published. For example, the May article (which I will post here shortly) discusses the Lobster Ride & Roll century in Maine in July. There's still plenty of time to set up the trip.

The pedal patter articles are available online, but there is sometimes quite a delay in posting them. I'll try to make each one a blog entry.

So, in my dreams, this all becomes a book. Would you buy such a thing?  I would think that maps like this might be quite useful for those planning to do centuries.(I broke the formatting of the web page in order to publish a more readable map. Again, let me know if your browser doesn't like this.)

As for this specific ride, the Horsey Hundred is still an option for people reading this blog in April or early May. Lexington is a comfortable day's drive from most places in the Mid-Atlantic or Chicago. In fact, people come from long distances to enjoy a long spring weekend in horse country.

My article on the Horsey Hundred was published on page 14 of the March issue of the pedal patter.

The Iditarod Invitational

I'm sitting at home in Virginia enjoying the web-based updates from Alaska. I became interested in the Iditarod during my Alaska bike tour last August. The annual event begins in early March and lasts about two weeks. It has a ceremonial start in Anchorage and really begins in Willow, just outside Wasilla. This year has a lot of drama, and as I write this the lead has changed several times in the past few days. I am in awe of all the mushers. The last place musher (the "Red Lantern" sled) is Cindy Abbot of California. Cindy was diagnosed with a rare disease (Wegners Granulomatosis) in 2010. Since then has climbed Everest, finished the Yukon Quest 300, and is well past the half way mark on the Last Great Race. Her website is aptly named http://reachingbeyondtheclouds.com/.

There's a bicycle connection as well. The Iditarod Invitational is a human-powered race (runners and snow-bikers) along the first 350-miles of the Iditarod trail. This year's race was by far the fastest, with numerous records broken.

There is an opportunity for truly experienced athletes to continue along the entire trail to Nome, a distance of 1000 miles. This year three cyclists are on the course still, attempting the run to Nome.

While the cyclists get a week head start, they are normally lapped by the speedier mushers. (This brings new meaning to the phrase "chased by dogs"!) Even with a snow bicycle, there's a need to walk in deep snow or slush or water. Right now, Anchorage cyclist Bob Ostrom is in the lead, and is approaching the Bering Sea "Gold Coast".

All these people have a different concept of cold. "Too warm" is anything above zero. "Just right" is about ten below. And, yes, we are talking Fahrenheit! Alaska has some tough people!

Mission Complete!

Kohala Coast, HI. Well, the odometer reads 100 in my fiftieth state and, coincidentally, my 50th blog entry! I've completed circumnavigating the big island of Hawaii, and I celebrated with a swim in the Pacific Ocean -- my first. Our last day of riding in a week-long trip was along the Ironman course (but at a distance far short of the 112-mile monster). I chose to join a trip run by Backroads, an adventure travel company, which specializes in bicycle adventures around the world. Alaska was also accomplished on a Backroads tour.

I saw: black sand beaches, coffee plantations, rainbows, whales, an active volcano's glowing lava pool, the southernmost bakery in the United States, donkeys, huge macadamia nut farms, rain forests, miles of lava fields, mongoose, native temples, dugout canoes, and waterfalls.

Our group of twelve cyclists -- all strangers before -- representing all ages and skills quickly formed an amazingly warm connection. We laughed heartily and well throughout the day from the pre-cycling circle to the open air dinner. None of us wanted this to end! (Of course who would, given the fact that much of the US experienced an Arctic blast in our absence.)

As for the cycling in Hawaii, I must report that the state leaves a lot to be desired. While the views are spectacular, the roads have many flaws. There were several times that the safety margins disappeared and the risks grew much too great for my practiced eye. I would never lead a bike ride along some of the roads that we traveled this week. In addition, the surprisingly large amount of glass on the highway kept the Backroads pit crews busy changing tires. I had two flats myself.

The photographs, of course, represent those quiet moments on the relatively few backroads that could be found. In heavy traffic, with little shoulder on broken pavement one would never stop to take a picture!

But it's done! I'll be back for a project wrapup soon. And, yes, I realize I will have to be developing a set of links to the 2013 centuries. So much to do, and so little time until bicycling season!