04/13 Today was the hardest day so far. When I left Jefferson City this morning it was cloudy, cold and windy but the rain hadn’t started yet. Well it started about 5 miles into my ride and it didn’t stop for 50 miles. It was cold too. When I rode into Boonville one of the LED signs said 41 F. That didn’t take into account the wind chill though. It was blowing 15 mph into my face all day. The trail was nice and wet so my speed didn’t get much above 10 mph and it was often 7-8 mph in the really wet spots. At mile 35 or so I felt like I’d been riding for 100 miles. My butt hurt, my legs were sore and even the tendon at the back of my left foot hurt (a lot). Just one of those tough riding days I guess.
The highlight of my day was some hot Thai food when I least expected it and really needed it. My day started off with a series of letdowns. The diner at the motel didn’t open until 11am so no breakfast there. Not finding anything close by I downed a couple granola bars and hit the trail. After a couple hours of riding through towns where the only store was closed I happened upon Cooper’s Landing CG. This great, big, huge store loomed before me so I pedaled to the front door and… saw the closed sign. But then a voice called out to me in a dialect that is near and dear to my heart… it belonged to an Asian woman and she was running a Thai food place next to the store. I couldn’t believe my luck. She even let me into the closed store to buy some snacks. The hot plate of food hit the spot big time. I almost froze to death standing outside so I asked if I could eat inside and she opened the store back up and I ate in the heated back room. I stay pretty warm if I’m moving, even soaking wet like I was, but once I stop I have about 2 minutes before I start getting really cold especially if its windy. Putting on my wet, cold gloves wasn’t fun. Took about 20 minutes for my fingers to warm back up. My feet stayed warm all day which was nice.
Back on the trail it was just me vs. the wet trail and the wind. I was tempted to stop in Huntsdale and Rocheport (campground and B&B) but I’d set Boonville as my goal for the day and I never quit. OK, so I’m not crazy and would have stopped immediately if I thought I was in any kind of actual trouble but I knew I could keep going–it would just suck and I wasn’t disappointed. 
I finally reached Boonville and after climbing a nice hill to get up off the river I rolled into one of those self-serve car washes and sprayed off the very muddy bike. Then it was short ride to the Day’s Inn. You know things are bad when the first thing I do is have a hot bath. Felt great though.
No more Katy Trail for me after today. The ACA map I’m following has me going NW now and the Katy heads SW. It was a fun 151 miles but now I’m back on paved surfaces. I think my favorite part was the 10 miles right before Rocheport. The bluffs were full of really cool caves and the river wasn’t obscured by trees. There were also lots of conservation areas which meant no house and of course, no garbage that a lot of people tend to let accumulate nearby.
Today made me really thankful for a couple things: chocolate, gummi bears, beer and hot water.
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Entries (RSS)
Cold will sneak up on you. I was riding a MO MS-150 several years ago when the return day was rainy, windy and chilly.
I was prepared for all of the above with arm and leg warmers and a waterproof shell top. I was tempted to bypass the lunch stop at a school because I was warm and in a zone, but the food had always been good.
The problem was that there was a line about 100 people deep stretched out the door. We were all standing in a cold wind for about 20 minutes until some organizer got the bright idea of having us all come inside and snake around the corridors where it was warm and dry.
Unfortunately, by that time the damage was done. I saw one woman rider curled up in a fetal position on the floor trying to get warm. I was starting to shiver uncontrollably myself. one of the early signs of hypothermia.
A good, warm lunch helped, but as soon as I stepped back out in the wind, my shivering started again. There was a good 30 or 40 more miles to ride and I didn’t know if the weather was going to get better or worse, so I bailed.
I gave my extra clothing to my brother and his friend and told them to ride to the end and come back for me. I don’t mind bad weather, but there comes a time when you have to make a decision while you still have all your faculties. (Hypothermia can cause confusion and disorientation.)
Glad to hear you were able to soldier on.
I would have bailed on that ride too. I can’t believe they had (wet) people standing outside like that at an organized event. Crazy.
Ugh! Sounds like you had it rough yesterday! I hope today was better….I do like the photos of the Katy Trail, very pretty w/ the blooms.
Sounds like those socks are holding up! Stay as warm as possible out there….before you know it you’ll be dealing w/ humidity.
Yeah that was a rough day. Yesterday was little better and today was perfect. Those socks have been a life saver. I actually had to take them off last night because my feet were too warm. A good problem to have I think.