Day Two: Hartsburg, Missouri to St. Charles, Missouri

July 26, 2015

I was very tired this morning. This flat rail-trail had kicked my ass yesterday. Obviously my fitness level had declined precipitously since my last big tour, two years before, when I rode from Iowa to San Francisco in 34 days.

It was foggy and damp when I rolled away from the Globe Hotel. It had rained in the night. The trail surface had seemed soft yesterday; today it was soggy. My skinny tires seemed to sink an inch into the limestone mush as I rode.

I suppose I haven't written much about the scenery along the trail. It's pleasant but unexciting.

The wood surfaces of the bridges on the trail were very, very slick when wet, as I discovered when I unwisely applied my brakes when crossing one, and went down in a hard skid. I appeared to suffer no injuries to anything other than my pride, which, of course, had experienced much worse over my lifetime of doing mildly foolish things such as this.

I don't remember as much about today's ride as the day before. As I recall, I saw few cyclists on the trail, probably because it was overcast much of the day, and looked as if the clouds could burst any moment.

I stopped at the Turner Katy Trail Shelter, a hostel along the trail in the small community of Tebbetts, and looked around.

There was a pop machine outside the hostel, from which I purchased a Fanta, something which I'm 99% certain I have never drank except on bike tours.

I may or may not have stolen this banana from the hostel.

I continued east. The slow, soggy surface of the trail was wearing me down. I swore to myself that in the extremely unlikely event that I ever rode on this trail again, I would do it on a bike with much wider tires.

I'm sure I spoke to at least a few people on today's ride, but I can't remember anyone, and I have no photographic evidence of encounters with any other people. I did find other things to take photos of, though.

At around 200 miles since yesterday morning, and with about 30 miles to go, the already modest charms of the Katy Trail had vanished. I was ready to be done with this thing.

I made it to one of the "depot" trailheads just in time: The rain finally came down in a serious way, but it only lasted ten minutes.

Back on the bike, I slowly pushed through the sludgy mess of the trail.

I arrived in St. Charles a couple of hours later than I had anticipated. I experienced one of my occasional severe "bonks" as I rode the last few miles, and almost fell of the bike.

I seem to recall that Joy had a milkshake for me when I arrived. There was something else that I vividly recall: I smelled terrible, which I assume was caused by the intense effort required to ride 116 miles on that damnable soft surface today. I was so appalled that I insisted on lowering the car windows for the nearly-hour long drive back home.

Even after I got home and cleaned up, and ate something, I still felt lousy. It was the Sunday Blues. I had to go to work tomorrow. Ugh. My two long days on the trail had at least allowed me time to contemplate the work situation thoroughly. I decided to leave the soul-crushing contract job as soon as possible. About a month later, just as I was preparing to give my two weeks notice, they gave me THEIR "two weeks notice", and told me my services would not longer be required. I haven't worked in a cubicle since, and hope I never have to again.

Today's ride: 116 miles (187 km)
Total: 231 miles (372 km)

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