9.9mi

Tonight was a big night. Tonight was the night I hit 450 miles, and finished up my Katy Trail Challenge. Woo-hoo!

I thought I was gonna get washed out again, as the rains built and fell during lunch. However, by ride time, the rain had abated, and the atmosphere had cooled. Unfortunately, my riding partners were unable to make it tonight. That left me alone tonight, attempting to dispatch the challenge.

The ride was quiet, with the trail having dried up a bit from last night’s ride, but the air was still thick and humid. Fortunately, the sun hadn’t come out, so the evaporation from the ground to my lungs wasn’t too bad. Still, it made for a tough go, and without the company of my partners to egg me on, I was done after ten miles.

Still, ten miles was enough to finish off my 450 miles, and that was the goal for tonight! In looking at my trail map, I took about six weeks to do the first half, and about three weeks to do the second half. I’m proud of that progress, and sure hope for more success on the trail through the rest of the year.

So what’s next?

I’m gonna try to extend my weekend rides to 30 miles and beyond. The weeknight rides will have to stay around 15-20 miles, and probably drop back to ten miles as fall sets in — just not enough daylight after work to get a long ride in. Weekends though are another story, and I’m sure I’ll be working on my longer distance endurance then.

As for my mileage total, I’m shooting for 1000 miles before the end of the year. I figure there’s about eleven weeks of good solid riding left, and that works out to about 55 miles a week — a figure I’ve been surpassing over the last month. More than that would be gravy.

I know I’m not ready this year, but next year, I wanna be poised for one of the cross-state Katy Trail rides. Missouri DNR has their annual in June, but there are private outfitters that sponsor trips in September and October, and I think those would be more to my liking, and would supply plenty of photographic material.

So here’s to a very cool accomplishment, and a nice long road ahead of me!

click on the map to enlarge

24.0mi

As has been my routine on Saturday mornings of late, I took off riding this morning. What a wonderful morning for it! The weather was great at sunrise — about 59 degrees, and no real humidity. That’s a huge departure from normal for St. Louis this time of year. There was no way I was gonna pass this up!

I drove to Augusta [MM 66.4], figuring I’d ride toward Dutzow again. There’s nothing between Augusta and Dutzow, but I knew that a fruit smoothie from the August Bike Shop would be waiting for me when I got back from the ride. Mmm, mmm….

As I started the ride, I actually got cold. That’s weird for me — I’m really into the cold, and I was certainly surprised. Of course, it was a tree-shaded part of the trail, and the temperatures probably dropped five degrees beneath them, still….. I hope that’s not a shade of things to come as the weather cools off. Maybe all this riding is changing my tolerance for the cold. Or, maybe it’s that some of my “insulation” is starting to get a little thinner. 🙂

So I rode. And rode. And rode. And after eight miles, I was just getting comfortable with the ride. Normally, it only takes a few miles to get into the ride. Even with the fantastic conditions, I couldn’t quite get there. I arrived at Dutzow [MM 74], ate my fruit cup, and decided that I was feeling a little more comfortable in the saddle. So why not take on a few more miles? I continued west to Marthasville, a new trailhead for me.

Marthasville [MM 77.7] is the biggest burg (aside from St. Charles) that I’ve visited on the trail. Right next to the trailhead is some kind of grain processing facility, and clearly visible is the post office, ballfields and other staples of small town life. Seems like a nice place, and one I should find out a bit more about.

After stopping for a few minutes, I rode back to Dutzow, had a bite to eat, and rode back to Augusta. And yes, there was a fruit smoothie waiting for me there, and it was yummy.

While there, I was listening to a “real” cyclist and his daugter talking about their ride, and debating continuing to Marthasville. They’d left Creve Coeur park at the beginning of their ride (about 24 miles to Augusta), and planned to take on the additional 12 miles to Marthasville. They talked about how they wanted to put in about 75 miles today. Seventy-five miles! Maybe I’ll be there one day, but, man that’s a bunch of miles!!!!

The cool thing about this ride was that is puts me in the closing stretch of the Katy Trail Challenge. I need about 23 miles to finish, and I expect I’ll finish up Wednesday night with the very folks who put me on this quest. That’s only fitting. Guess I need to bring the refreshments, eh?

32.0mi

Huh? 🙂

This morning, I’d planned to ride before the temperature rose too much. However, at 6am, it was already 80, and only headed higher. I didn’t let that dissuade me from throwing everything in (and on) the truck, and heading toward Weldon Spring [MM 56] for my ride this morning. Given the heat, I had no idea what I’d be able to do, but at least I was trying, right?

As it ends up, I was just about the first person on the trail this morning, and the trail was much cooler than was the city. That was a blessing, and I revelled in it. As I sailed west, I busted through the nightly construction projects of every spider along the trail. They build these fantastic bullseye webs supported on nearly invisible silky threads spanning the width of the trail, and as noted in the Katy Trail FAQ, whomever is first along the trail, gets to eat the gossamer threads of nightly progress created by the best architects and construction workers on the planet. I got my fair share today.

I also got to see snow. Well, kinda. The cottonwoods are dropping their payloads now, and there are sections of the trail that are covered with the white cottony seeds. As I rode, I had to not only watch keeping my mouth open and eating a spider, or the stray japanese beetle, but I also had to dodge the floating seeds to keep from harboring a seed and wispy cotton in the back of my throat!

I reached Augusta [MM 66.4], and stopped for my traditional rest stop at the trailhead. I’ve been carrying fruit cups in my CamelBak to have at the halfway and completion points of my ride, and this morning’s was lucious. I put ’em next to the bladder, which I fill with ice before filling it with water, and by midway, they are cold and delicious. The advantage of those cups is that I don’t need any utensils — just tip it up, drink the juice, and coerce the fruit out of the cup. Darla also got me some fruit punch juice bags, so I added that to my midway revitalization. After the bold punch of the fruit cup, it was kinda bland, but was 6.75oz of fluid that didn’t cost me liquid for the ride, so that’s a good thing!

Thinking that I didn’t want to get too far from my homebase, I pointed the bike back toward Weldon, and pushed toward home. I travelled next to the farmers’ fields, full of youthful corn and other crops I couldn’t identify from a distance. The wildflowers are gorgeous now, and the colorful birds flit back and forth across the trail, almost like they’re trying to see how long they wait before getting a safe crossing ahead of my bike. Daredevils, I suppose. And how cool and eerie was the sound of a far distant train as I rode on the path once travelled by so many trains in across the first three-quarters of the 20th century. Hearing the whistle, I almost expected to encounter a ghostly spectre train rushing along with me as I rode toward Weldon.

I came up to Defiance [MM 59.1] again, and decided I needed a snack — I’d ridden 18mi, after all! — so I pulled off the trail, and walked my bike across the footbridge to the Katy Trail Bike Rental. I decided on a refrigerated Snickers bar and a glass-bottle of Starbuck’s Mocha Frappucino, and sat on a plastic chair on the shady porch, eating and drinking what seemed like the best food and drink I’d ever had. My gosh, what a boost that was. I sat there, and enjoyed the view of the trail, with the occassional cyclist going by, and that same big orange cat circling my feet, talking to me, almost imploring me to dig some unknown morsel from my pocket for it to enjoy. I had nothing for it this time — nor for it’s aloof also-orange friend — but I’ll remember next time to put a can of Pounce in my saddlebag, just in case I’m asked politely for a kitty-treat again.

Re-energized, with some sugar and coffee in my veins, I hit the trail, and cruised the rest of the way back to Weldon, which put me at 22mi on the day. That’s been a fairly typical ride for me lately, and despite my wanting to push my distance a bit, I hadn’t. I decided today would be different.

My goal lately has been to work to 25mi, and with my spirits high, my legs still springy and a shady part of the trail ahead of me, I figured I could find three miles in me to to hit 25mi this morning. That’s what the real cyclists call a quarter-century. A ride of 100mi is a century, so it only makes sense that’s what they’d call a quarter of that distance.

I travelled east from Weldon, down a very familiar part of the trail for me — this is the trail segment I cut my teeth on eight weeks ago, and one I still travel quite a bit. As I rode east, I noticed that the number of folks on the trail increased quite a bit. I guess the folks from St. Charles were making it down this far by this time of the morning. Considering I hadn’t seen hardly anyone on the Weldon to Augusta leg, this was quite a change. Along the way, I saw a gal standing in the middle of the trail, looking off toward the little segment of the river that follows along the trail. I stopped, and she pointed toward the water’s edge, and mouthed “There’s a deer!” In fact, there were two of them, little ones, out for a morning snack, no more concerned about us than we were about them. That was really cool, and made my morning.

By then, I was already beyond 25mi, and figured I’d carry on up to the I-64 bridge, just a couple of miles up the trail. I stopped at the quarry at the bridge [MM 51], and enjoyed my triumphant ride of 27mi…. and then thought about the fact that I had another five miles back to the trailhead! No worries, I climbed aboard the saddle, and pedalled happily toward Weldon again, taking my time at first, and letting my speed climb as I sped along.

I pulled into the parking lot at the trailhead, and saw the odometer — 32 miles! Those aforementioned real cyclists call 31 miles a half-metric. 100km (62mi) is a metric, so 50km (31mi) is a half-metric.

In my quest for a quarter-century, I ended up riding a half-metric, which is the farthest I have ever ridden on a bike. Even in my youth, I only remember riding 25mi, and that was for some charity work. Most of the time, I’m sure I rode way less than that. The funny thing about this really lengthy ride was that almost every time I looked down at the speedometer, I noticed I was between 13 and 15mph. What a fantastic speed, and how easy it came. I’m discovering that I tend to start slow, and build to a pretty good pace over a long-enough trail segment. Even with all the stops — rest at Augusta, shopping in Defiance, and some photography along the way — I still travelled the 32mi in just about three hours. That’s some good riding for me.

Notice I said I took photos. Well, I did. However, I had a casualty on the ride. My 4Gb microdrive failed in the camera. Ugh. Fortunately, there was nothing incredible on it, but it’s still a bummer. This is the second 4Gb microdrive to fail over the last two years. This one’s not in warranty, so it’s a really small coaster. I’ll need to look at some kind of high-capacity CF card to replace it. Shooting RAW, images from the 20D just take so much space — smaller cards are a challenge, too much card swapping.

Hardware failure aside, this was an incredible ride, on a most unlikely day — too hot! I can’t wait to see what the fall holds for me on the trail!

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!

21.9mi

This morning, I started early — real early — with a killer headache. That’s a horrible way to start the day, and mine started around 3am. Ugh. When I got up at 5am, I felt like I was gonna hork in the shower. Not a good start to the day…

I slept. And slept. And slept. And I finally rose from the dead around lunchtime. After a little bite to eat, I started trying to get my head cleared up. I had my telltale signs of the worst being over, and it was just a matter of time until my head cleared. By 2pm, I was free and clear of the gnarly grip of the gremlins in my head.

So why not a ride?

I gathered up my gear, and pointed the truck at the trail. I had no idea if I had 5mi or 20mi in me, but I was there, and wasn’t gonna let the remnants of a killer headache wipe me. I hit the trail, and just let the trail conditions and my legs drive my speed. No race, no overdoing it like Tuesday, and I just took it easy. As it ends up, I was able easily to carry myself from Weldon to Augusta, and back.

It was steamy after the rain last night, and then about eight miles down the trail, it began to rain on me. Just a gentle quiet rain. It was stellar. I’d ride everyday in a quiet rain like that. It was just that good.

So, headache gone, ride behind me, and so far, I’m feeling just dandy. That’s a good thing!

18.1mi

I thought I would cross 300 miles tomorrow, but I decided to take a ride today. Monday is usually one of my longer ride-days, and with the weather interruption yesterday, I ended up just a bit shy of 300 miles, and with too short a ride for my tastes.

So today, I decided to do the Weldon to Augusta route. This would be the first time I’d taken the new bike down there, and usually that’s a quiet ride without too many human obstacles along the way. And, it’s a little more than 20 miles, so that’s a good thing too.

I took off, riding casually, listening to my tunes, and made Defiance and Matson in pretty typical time. I stopped for a few minutes at Matson, looked at the sky that was getting big white clouds in it, and decided to plow on toward Augusta. Little did I know that the big white clouds were fortelling bad weather. About a mile shy of the Augusta trailhead, I hit a clearing and saw the ginormous black clouds that were building quickly to the west. They were mean looking, so I high-tailed it back toward Weldon.

The clouds overtook me, but there was no rain or wind in them. They did block out the sun, which made for a cooler ride coming back. However, with me trying to race the wind, I really exhausted myself. Badly. I got home and was just flat dead. We’ll see if I recover enough to ride tomorrow.

Next time, I’ll just ride at my normal pace (12-15mph), and let the terrain dictate my pace, rather than trying to race home as though my life depended on it. After all, I won’t melt in the rain! 🙂

12.4mi

Tonight was to be the night I would cross 300 miles on my journey to completing the Katy Trail Challenge. However, Mother Nature had other plans!

This morning, it was 59 degrees. In late June. In St. Louis. Unbelieveable! I so wanted to be cycling this morning, but duty called, and I answered by going in to the office. However, I gathered all my stuff up so I could take a nice ride this afternoon.

But, in Weldon Spring, all was not sunny, and the rains came late in the afternoon. They cleared, just in time for me to hit the trail, but the whole ride, I felt chased by the ugly, ominous clouds, so I kept things short, just running between Weldon Spring and Matson, with a little side trip on a new (to me) trail — the Hamburg Trail.

The Hamburg goes toward the Weldon Spring Interpretive Center which details how the land these trails pass through was used for chemical and radioactive waste disposal. The site finished its cleanup in 2003 (I think), and has been turned back into a nice, useful area, providing trails for cycling and walking.

I suppose I’m a little bit disappointed that I couldn’t cross 300 otnight, but I’ll have my chance yet this week. I expect the 300th mile of my cycling journey will have to wait for Wednesday night’s ride.

21.7mi

Last night, the weather guys were talking about what a wonderful morning this one was to be. The temps overnight were to drop to about 63, and the warmup today would be slow and only into the 80s. Of course, my brain turned to an early ride.

After going to bed late last night, I really didn’t have quite the desire to get out of bed (as compared to the thought of getting out of bed), but I slowly turned myself around, punched the alarm clock, and pondered sleeping in. Reason got the better of me, and knowing that a rare crisp morning awaited me, I got up, got my stuff together, and hit the road in search of a trailhead.

I turned a corner along the way, and found an incredible view of the morning fog being backlit by a low sun, casting some orange and red throgh the fog. I stopped the truck, snapped a few photos, and turned around to drive this stretch of road again to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. Beautiful, and a great way to start the morning.

Just shy of the Page Extension Bridge, there is a bench sitting in the shade with a dedication plaque on it. Someone had left flowers this morning, presumably in remembrance of the dedication honoree. I’ve never seen this on the trail before, although I’m sure it probably happens more than I realize. It was a quiet tribute to an unknown life, played out in a shaded thicket on a cool Saturday morning.

Greens Bottom was waiting for me, and it looked like once again, I would be one of the few on the trail this morning. I mounted my trusty Raleigh, and headed north, toward St. Charles. My goal this morning was to ride to St. Charles, which is the end of the Kety Trail. Man, riding was easy this morning, and I cruised through the first few miles, arriving at the Page Extension very quickly. I wanted to see what my legs were made of this morning, so I hopped on the switchbacks, and started climibing. While it wasn’t easy, it was much, much easier than riding up Wednesday night. Dunno if it was the freshness of the morning, the cooler temperatures (at least 25 degrees cooler), or just a better frame of mind — no matter, it was a nice sprint up the hill, and I kicked back for a couple of minutes, and enjoyed the view. Back down the switchbacks, and I was on my way to St. Charles, three miles up the road.

The closer I got to St. Charles, the more folks I encountered on the trail, both cyclists and foot-bound pedestrians. In fact, it was downright crowded in places! I bet that section of the trail is always like that — with easy access and a big population base, there’s bound to be a crowd all over the trail up there.

I passed into Frontier Park, and looked around a bit. In commemoration of the Lewis and Clark expedition, there is a giant statue of the explorers, along with their Newfoundland hound. I’ve seen this statue before, but somehow this morning’s view was much more rewarding. Maybe it’s just the sense of accomplishment by cycling to see something, rather than driving. Dunno….

I kept riding through Frontier Park, and eventually exited it…. only to find that the trail continued on! However, the farther up the trail I went, the more scruffy it was. Around MM 37, the trail abruptly ended. No signs, no nothing, just a lack of trail and an overabundance of overgrowth. For once, I knew where to turn around! 🙂

I rode back toward Greens Bottom, passing yet even more folks walking, running and cycling on the trail as I passed through St. Charles. I did make a brief stop in St. Charles at a roadside farmer’s market. Had I wanted plants or potatoes, I would’ve been in luck. As it ends up, I was looking for an apple or orange to put in my for the ride back. Oh well!

As is frequently the case, the return ride seemed to fly by, and in short order, I was at Greens Bottom. I decided to continue my ride just a bit, and head to Caulks Hill Road. That was one little 3/4mi piece of the trail that I hadn’t travelled yet. After backtracking to ride that little piece, I hit the trailhead at Greens Bottom, loaded up and headed home.

17.3mi

Our little cycling crew decided to take a familiar route tonight. We started at the Greens Bottom trailhead [MM 45.7], electing to travel north toward the Page Extension bridge, and on over into Creve Coeur Park. This would be the first serious test of my new machine, and I was excited all day waiting for it. The downside was the weather. At ride time, the temperature was 95, with a heat index at or just over 100 degrees. I was armed with 70oz of iced water in the CamelBak, and a bike bottle full of tepid water. As it ends up, that was just the right amount.

We headed out from the trailhead, and once again, I found myself zooming on the trail, reaching 17mph in short order. I know I had to have had a tailwind or a slight downward incline, but I didn’t care. It was refreshing to by able to stay close to my fellow cyclists, and it was liberating to do the math in my head and realize I wasn’t so far away from points along our jaunt.

The three miles of the trail passed quickly, and in short order I was staring at the bridge complex above me. As always, my reflex at three miles is to kick it around and go back, and today was no exception. I had decided that I’d climb the switchbacks, and then work my way back. I climbed and climbed, actually keeping a decent speed until the very last when I had to granny-gear it up the last switchback. My group arrived at the top almost at the same time — with the other bike, they’d be there 3-5 minutes ahead of me. I was already seeing the difference the new bike was making.

Of course, reaching the top of the bridge complex is exhiliarating. It’s the reward for a tough climb, and from that height, there’s breeze, plenty of room to stop and get off the saddle for a few minutes. There’s also no shade, so the sun beat down upon us, but that was not a huge deal. Knowing that the slightly downward slope of the bridge was waiting just ahead was a rush. I overcame my “three mile blues” and was ready to continue on toward the park.

In crossing the bridge, there was a little bit of a headwind, so getting to a high speed on the paved path just wasn’t possible. I was only able to get to 25mph, which is about the speed I attained on the old bike with no headwind. I exited the bridge, and down the gentle switchback on the east end of the complex, carrying my speed down the Katy Trail Connector and tackling the gentle rolling hills toward the park. I took it easy, trying to meter my legs to make sure I had enough in me for the whole ride.

Once at the park, we met another one of our gang, and the five of us headed into the park to make a quick three mile loop to the west of the lake. This was a beautiful ride, with some ups and downs, but with a tremendous canopy of trees for the start of the ride. There are bird blinds along the lake, and I could see some of the waterfowl as I rode by. I’ll definitely have to come back to this place and practice some photography!

We climbed the ramp back up to the Connector, and took another well-deserved rest. By this time, we were about six miles out from the trailhead, with the sun still high in the sky. It was here that I realized just how hot it was! I gulped plenty of water, and had no troubles, but…. sheesh!

The ride back to the bridge was a little tough as there was a crosswind that was slowing me down — not to mention that my legs were rubber by this time! I crawled across the bridge, but not nearly as slow as I was last time I crossed it. I could tell a difference in the way this bike moved, and how it was to pedal it when I was tired. The Raleigh behaves so differently — I don’t know that I could’ve made this ride successfully on the old bike in this heat. After crossing the bridge, we relaxed for a few minutes at the parking lot on the west end, knowing that only three miles of trail lay between us and the end of tonight’s ride.

I came down the switchbacks quite a bit faster than last time. This bike is much surer-of-foot on tight turns than was my Huffy, so it was easy to take them with some speed and comfort. Once I hit the trail, the air cooled under the canopy of trees, and I took it easy, only riding at 10-12mph back to the trailhead. It was a nice relaxing last leg of the ride.

I guess the biggest discovery tonight is that the Raleigh is much, much better on the trail than it is on paved surfaces. It’s no slouch on the pavement, but the ride just didn’t seem to come as comfortably on the pavement as compared to the crushed limestone of the trail.

I also realize that I need a handlebar bag for the camera. I had the E-10 with me tonight, but with it packed in my CamelBak, it was impossible to shoot while moving, and was an ordeal to get to even when stopped. Getting my camera more accessible will get more photos on the site from our rides. It’d also be nice for that bag to have clips on which to attach my iPod. I carry the iPod in my CamelBak, routing the headphone cable over my back, and if I wanna take off my CamelBak, I have to be careful not to rip the cable out of the headphones. Front mounting the little beastie would also give me access to the controls. I had to endure three tracks of Paul McCartney’s Back in the US that didn’t rip correctly (loads of skips — gotta check my CD for damage) and were almost painful to listen to.

I also need to put a frame-mounted pump on the bike, and get replacement tire tube, just in case, along with a under-seat bag to carry other important items that I carry in my CamelBak (keys, wallet, cellphone).

I guess the good news is that I’m slowly figuring out how to make a safe and fun ride — and I keep coming back for more!

9.8mi

So, what does six minutes buy you? A little earlier arrival at work, maybe a microwave meal. For me, six minutes buys me almost five extra miles traveled in an hour.

Tonight, I took the Raleigh on its maiden voyage on the trail. I couldn’t wait for the workday to end so I could get out on the trail. It was a tangible, tactile desire to me today. I guess that’s the trial before getting to play with the new toy. When the clock read 4pm, I was off to fill up my CamelBak with ice and water, and out to the Weldon Spring trailhead [MM 56] and a date with a bunch of crushed limestone.

It was blistering hot at ride-time — 95 degrees — so I figured I’d keep it in the shade, and head toward the Matson trailhead [MM 60.6]. I pulled my new beauty from the rack, got my gear together, and started up the ramp to the trail.

My gosh, how effortless the ride was! It was truly a night and day difference between the Raleigh and the Huffy. I pedalled, popped the bike into 3-7, and kept on pedalling. And quickly behind me was the Hamburg Trail crossing, and both the Osage bridges. And there was Defiance just ahead. A quick look at the time, and I discovered that it’d only taken 12 minutes to travel the three miles to Defiance. I stopped to make sure the bike still looked ok — no flats, nothing where it shouldn’t be — and then plowed forward to Matson. Twenty-one minutes after I hit the trail, I was under cover at the Matson station.

Fully six minutes faster than I’ve ever ridden that leg of the trail.

I did some quick math, and realized I was averaging just under 15mph. My typical time to Matson has been about 27 minutes, which put me just over 10 mph. Five miles an hour faster? Just from a new bike? Well, apparently so.

After resting for a few minutes at Matson, I turned the Raleigh around, and headed back toward Weldon. As I approached the Hwy 94 crossing, I was at 17 mph. 17 MPH?! That’s the fastest I’ve been able to achieve on the flat grades of the Katy Trail since I started riding it about seven weeks ago. Wow.

I got back to the truck 45 minutes after I left, with 42 minutes and 9.8 minutes of riding under my belt — ordinarily, that’s a 55 minute ride for me. The day was definitely a success, and the bike was wonderful. It was just effortless to ride, and incredibly comfortable.

So what did six minutes buy me? A hint into what me and this new machine of mine might be able to do in the future. And a good future it appears to be!