Time and space are elastic

May 21, 2024

Shorter in the morning, interminable in the afternoon

IT WOULD SEEM that relativity really works, although not entirely as Einstein suggested. For the second day running, each mile seems to be longer than those that preceded it. Time too seems to slow perceptibly, or at least to drag, although we are traveling well below the speed of light- slower, in fact, with every passing mile.

Those miles begin well enough, when we roll out of Pilot Grove a tad before 7:30. It's a beautiful morning and the miles slip by easily and quickly. They look much like nearly all of their predecessors: long stretches of arrow-straight hard-packed dirt lightly coated with gravel. Trees border the trail in most places, sometimes on one side or the other and often on both. They create a pleasant dappling of sun and shade, and break the force of the wind.

If you plan to ride the Katy, plan on seeing a LOT of scenes like this.

The wind. It's our constant and mostly unwelcome companion today, blowing anywhere from slightly behind and to our right to dead in our faces. At first it's tolerable enough and even slightly helpful, but by mid-afternoon it has risen to 20+ miles an hour and settled to blow against us. When we're on open stretches of trail it's downright unwelcome.

Trailside decorations. We're not sure whether the streamers and garland are permanent or just out for Memorial Day.

A bit of MKT rolling stock. Cabooses on trains, like Hupmobiles and dinosaurs, are a thing of the past.

Inside the caboose. Part office, part living space for the train crew. Spartan in every respect.

A lift bridge over the Missouri River. We were suckered in and didn't realize the trail now crosses on a newer auto bridge a half mile downstream.

A view of the lift bridge from the auto bridge.

Clearing Boonville, there are many more riders than we've seen up to this point. Yesterday afternoon we saw only one other person between Windsor and Pilot Grove, so today it feels like we're riding in a crowd. We catch up with Joan and Mike, who we met on the train to KC, and also a large group riding unladen bikes on an organized, supported, commercial tour.

We reach Rocheport around 10:30. It's early, and only about 25 miles into the day's planned 64, but it looks like the last best opportunity to get lunch. We also find one of the other riders with whom we shared the Pilot Grove park last night, and who passed us leaving Boonville.

Afterward neither of us is eager to resume riding but there's no other option so we do. The large group has moved on ahead of us, but we leapfrog with several other duos and trios for the rest of the day.

Limestone bluffs tell a story of conditions that changed over time. The geologist in me wants more details.

Dredging sand from the bottom of the river.

At least three other riders are sharing a room a few doors down from ours, here in Jefferson City.

After we've showered, Wil and I consider our options. We can continue with the original plan, of course, or shorten tomorrow's ride at the cost of lengthening Thursday's by the same amount. We can add a day and divide the remaining miles into thirds, for three shorter days.

We start from that last proposition and explore the lodging options. It looks doable but we don't take any immediate action to book at any of the B&Bs or other accommodations we find. Instead we head for dinner at the Mexican place three doors down from the hotel.

On the way Wil says he prefers option four, which is to abandon the remainder of the ride, get on the Amtrak here and get back to Kirkwood a day early. We're both tired, and neither of us particularly fancies the prospect of three more days of monotonous riding. He's concerned that his choice might negatively impact me but I assure him I wouldn't have mentioned it had I not been open to the idea.

Over dinner we discuss what we've learned from our experience. A big takeaway is that 60+ mile days need to be surrounded by shorter mileage days rather than being strung together. We also agree that even low-gradient routes can really take it out of you and distance needs to be respected. Another take-away is that it's better to plan on no more than six hours of actual riding, eight hours total. Finally, we're in complete accord with the opinion that three days are ample to see and experience the Katy; end-to-end transits aren't required.

So that's where we've come down. We're both relieved to be done, and pleased with what we accomplished. Tomorrow will be an easy one with little or no time pressure and a guarantee of a warm welcome back at Susan's.

Not the best time for a 20 mph steady wind from the southeast.

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Today's ride: 66 miles (106 km)
Total: 190 miles (306 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	6
Comment on this entry	Comment	13

Gregory GarceauNo doubt, long days of riding a rail trail through endless miles of view-blockers would drive me to the same conclusion as you and Noe. Trees are cool for a while, but they get monotonous. That's why I intend to keep my mileage down to the 30-40 mile range on my U.P. tour. Instead of pounding out the miles, I hope to mix my cycling with other activities--like camping, cooking, hiking, exploring towns & cities, etc.

P.S. The Feeshko and I got married in Jefferson City. It's a weird place to elope to and it's a weird story. But I think it's a good place to end a tour on the Katy.
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4 months ago

Scott AndersonA very easy decision to relate to. I’ll never forget counting down the telephone poles biking south from Moab to Monticello into a brutal headwind. It’s been 33 years now, and I can still feel it. Headwinds are the worst morale-sappers. Gumption traps, as Robert Pirsig called things like this in Zen and The Art of Mororcycle Maintenance.
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4 months ago

Keith AdamsTo Gregory GarceauGood plan Greg.

Next time we're in a bar together I'll need to know what you were doing in Jeff City, so far from Your Town.
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4 months ago

Keith AdamsTo Scott AndersonYep. We would hit open stretches he's and tenths of miles felt like miles. Trucks on the nearby unpaved farm roads raised clouds of dust; Will says he can still feel the grit in his eyes. For me it was pollen in the throat that left me gasping and raling for breath.
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4 months ago

Nancy GrahamI say good decision. Riding strictly on a trail is indeed monotonous.
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4 months ago

Kelly IniguezI agree. The fun factor goes way down when the day gets too long on the bike. You've found yourself a smooth ending and transition home.
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4 months ago

Keith AdamsTo Kelly IniguezI've toured enough now to know that six to seven hours of riding, coupled with a couple hours of stopped time, are the most i want to do in a typical day.

At an average of eight miles covered in an hour, which is what I seem to be able to manage, that works out to an average of 50 miles a day plus or minus a bit. Now I know how to plan future tours to increase the odds of success.

Had I laid this one out along those lines I'm confident we'd have completed as planned rather than pulling the plug early. And yet... neither of us was sorry to end it when and where and how we did. Had we continued, we'd have seen more of the Katy but would it have been materially different from what we'd already seen? I doubt it.

We got what we went for and had bonus time with my family as our reward for making the choice we did. I call that a win.
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4 months ago

Wayne EstesI totally respect your decision to cut the tour short. You saw enough. Several times over the years I have considered doing the Katy Trail. My wife's sister lives in St. Louis. But I always conclude that it's simply too boring to be worth traveling 2000 miles from Oregon.

As a Taj Mahal fan, I especially like your title. She Caught the Katy (and left me a mule to ride).

I just completed a tour that started on a 25 mile rail trail. The grade was an easy 2 percent, but the gravel surface was very slow (no crushed limestone in California). The top of the trail was extremely slow because the ground was still squishy from recently melted snow. It was also hard work to go over or around about 25 fallen trees. Apparently I was on the trail a week before the official Memorial Day weekend opening. Trails are definitely slower than paved roads. I will post that day's journal page in the next day or two.

I'm glad you are still finding new tour ideas. I'm in the same situation as you, looking for shorter and easier routes.
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4 months ago

Keith AdamsTo Wayne EstesThanks Wyane.

I have a couple more ideas already in the hopper but no timeline as yet to undertake them.

I've not heard Taj Mahal's version but the tune features prominently in The Blues Brothers, one ofmy favorite flicks. Glad you got the reference
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4 months ago

Wayne EstesTo Keith AdamsThe Blues Brothers' version was the first version of the song that I heard as a teenager. But a few years later I got more into blues and discovered the original Taj Mahal version.

I'm sure everybody has similar experiences with resurrected copy songs. In college I was a Cheap Trick fan. Many years later I discovered that Ain't That a Shame is actually a Fats Domino song.
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4 months ago

Keith AdamsTo Wayne EstesYep. Several tunes on Led Zepplin's debut album fit the category. They're still good renditions, though.
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4 months ago

Janice BranhamI really like that stretch from Rocheport down through Hartsburg to Jeff City. You got to see some great parts of the trail. I've ridden the Katy in bits and pieces over the years. It's nice in short doses.
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3 months ago

Keith AdamsTo Janice BranhamShort doses would be about right. That's how I've come to feel about the C&O Canal towpath as well. I prefer to do short autumn / winter day rides to full days / multiple days any more, although it's also noce for when I want a short, easy one or two night camping excursion without really having to work for it.
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3 months ago