22.2mi

I had planned a ride this morning — I wanted to get it in before the heat of the day cropped up. The only question was from where and how far. I went with the path of least resistance, and headed to the Weldon Spring TH [MM 56], thinking I would head west and see where the trail took me.

Once again, the first few miles were tough. I don’t quite get that, but I’m wondering if there’s some kind of stretching or other exercise I can do to make this early part of the ride better for me. I rode at a moderate pace, and made sure to get plenty of water along the way. The trail was still crisp with the morning air from the sunrise just an hour earlier, and that spurned me on. I passed Klondike Park quickly, and decided to continue to Augusta [MM 66.4], thinking I would have a fruit smoothie from the Augusta Bike Company.

Unfortunately, when I arrived, I discovered they were closed, and wouldn’t open for an hour. 🙁 After talking with a fellow cyclist for a few minutes, I pointed it back toward to Weldon. As I rode, I remembered that the Katy Trail Bike Rental looked open when I rode through Defiance. Surely they would have something interesting to nibble on!

I got to Defiance, walked my bike across the little bridge, and entered the shop. This place was great! Not only did they have bikes to rent, and plenty of snacks and drinks, but they had gear too. Good stuff, too. I had been contemplating getting a rear mount bag for the camera and lenses, and they had exactly what I was looking for. I had seen a similar system at West County Cycles, and while it was nice, it was a bag that strapped to a post mounted rack. The one I found in Defiance was a Topeak MTX BeamRack EX, which uses a track to slide and lock any one of a number of bags in place. I ended up with an MTX Trunk Bag EX. The system’ll carry 15lbs, which is more than enough for the camera and one or two lenses. And, the bag is easily removeable, and can be strapped and carried like a camera bag. Very cool stuff, and cheaper than my local solution. Fifteen minutes of installation, and I was back on the trail, headed to Weldon, happy and satisfied with my serendipitous purchase.

I didn’t realize this until I got home — I’d also put another notch in my Katy Trail Challenge numbers. I’d crossed 350mi, leaving me less than 100mi to finish out the challenge. I figure I’ll hit that sometime during the ride on Wednesday, July 12th. That’s soooo much earlier than I thought I’d be able to achieve that much milage. I was really figuring it’d be August, maybe even September, before I could finish up. The miles have just been coming so easily lately, with 15-20mi rides becoming my normal distance.

I guess it’s time soon to step up my distances, working up to maybe 25-30mi. Then we’ll see how long it’ll take to get ready for the Katy Trail Ride next year!