We had a decent nights sleep, although it could have been better. The hotel served a continental style breakfast...ie pastries and a little bit of fruit, not really what one needs for biking. There was only one other person in the dining area, an older man who was walking the Katy Trail. We struck up a conversation with him, found out he started out in Clinton, MO and had walked a little over 60 miles in 6 days. He intends to walk the entire Katy Trail.
The ride started out a little chilly, about 57 degrees, and a nice head wind...what one always desires when biking...NOT! We quickly warmed up, and along the way we saw many people, riders and hikers. We met one couple at Hartsburg. They were riding the Katy Trail also and planned on staying in Jefferson City, but when they got there, it was going to be another 4 miles in to town to find a place, so they decided to move on to Tebbetts, where we were staying. In fact we had just gotten to Tebetts when they pulled up.
In Tebbetts we are staying at a hostel. Never have stayed at one before, but for 5$/person, you can't beat it. It is a dormitory style place where everyone shares the same sleeping room...bunk beds. There is also a communal shower and kitchen area. We had talked to the owner before we went and he said there was no restaurant, so we brought our own microwaveable dinners. Yum! Who would turn down microaved pot roast, lasagna, mac and cheese...hmmm.
We rode a total of 60 mies today. This was a personal record for me, this was the furthest I've ever ridden in one ride. However, for the Katy Trail and carrying a 30lb back pack, this was rather much. My legs were'nt hurting but my butt sure was. A couple people told us to take an bike tire inner tube and wrap it around the seat, infalting it a little. We are going to try that tomorrow.
Interesting fact, back in 2001, a man by the name of Sam became the first person to ride the entire Katy Trail in one day. He averaged 15 to 16 miles over the 240+ miles. He did it in 14 hours. It has taken Tammy and I 2 days just to do 96 miles...and we still have more to go!
The scenery has been beautiful, but haven't seen much in the way of wildlife except for a deer, birds, squirrels, one barking chasing dog, a few snakes (all non-posionous), swarms of gnats and dragon flyes.
Enough to say we are really enjoying this trip (except for the sore butts). We are learning what not to do and what to do for future trips.
Tomorrow is another long day, but not as long as today. Hopefully we will have a good night sleep and be ready for tomorrow.
No pictures with this one, Tebbetts isn't known for their broadband :)
No comments:
Post a Comment