154 Miles Biking the Katy Trail

What do you do when you want to travel, want to avoid COVID-19, and have a bicycle? How about trying a four-day bike tour? Never mind that I had never done a bike tour. Never mind that I am 63 years old. Never mind that I had not camped much in decades. Never mind that Candy kept looking at me with that, “Are you out of your bleeping mind?” expression.

Here is the collection of rides on Ride With GPS: Columbia to St. Peters on the Katy Trail.

I just did my first ever bike tour, riding from Columbia to Saint Peters, MO on the Katy Trail. I did 154 miles in four days. I camped all three nights. I carried all of my own gear and luggage on my bike. I cooked several of my own meals (and ate really well for several more, but more on that below). I got home tired, happy, almost three pounds lighter, and looking forward to doing more bike touring.

I did not jump into this willy nilly. I prepared for the trip for a couple of months. I had been riding my bike regularly. Some rides were shorter, 10-20 miles, and I would push myself harder, maintaining my heartrate in zone 3 (aerobic exercise) for most of the time. Other rides were longer, 34 miles was the longest, and I would keep my heartrate in zone 2 (endurance). I intentionally rode routes with hills. I rode even when it was nutty hot, so that I could learn how to pace myself and hydrate sufficiently.

Day 1: Columbia to Hartsburg – 28 Miles

Candy and I started by loading everything into our Bolt EV and heading for Columbia. We made a fuel/charging stop in Kingdom City (hooray for an expanding network of DC fast charging stations!) and got a couple of muffins to nosh on while the car charged (“road trip calories don’t count” said the billboard and I believe it). We were sitting with Kevin and Elizabeth and Valerie in their house well before lunch time. I got snorfled by the two cutest chihuahuas in the world, ate tandoori chicken, and then decided that I had to get on my bike. I had 28 miles to ride and, fun though the conversation was, the day was not getting any younger.

I got my bike, a Trek Verve+ 2, off the car carrier and loaded it up. I had almost everything packed into two panniers. One had my food, snacks, hydration powder (think powdered sports drink), cooking gear, first aid kit, and sleeping bag. The other had my clothes (including different duds for off the bike and while riding), toiletries, book, and cables for charging my electronics. The panniers hung on the rack on the back of my bike. I bungied my tent and inflatable sleeping pad on top of the rear rack. I had a small bag on the handlebars with a few snacks for the day, my wallet, and the case/charger for my ear buds (all hail podcasts and Youtube Music). The last piece of significant gear was a handlebar mount for my phone. I use Ride With GPS to navigate my route and play tunes.

With everything loaded, and two full water bottles, my bike weighed just under 100 pounds. Definitely a hefty beast. I know that I am paying about a 20 pound penalty for the e-bike motor and battery, since I normally only use them when I am going uphill and run out of low gears.

I started out easy, riding from Kevin’s house to the north end of the MKT Trail in Columbia. Once on the MKT Trail, I rode southwest out of Columbia until I met the Katy trail at Hindman Junction. This was a gorgeous section of trail, well maintained, lots of greenery, several picturesque bridges, and downhill all the way.

I celebrated 1000 miles on my bike in a pretty part of the MKT Trail. Here it is, all packed up and ready to roll some more miles.

Both the MKT Trail and the Katy Trail are old railroad rights of way which have been converted to multi-use recreational trails. Multi-use means bicyclists, pedestrians, and sometimes equestrians. Since these were railroad rights of way, most of the waypoints are old railroad stations or towns.

At mile 9, the MKT Trail ends at Hindman Junction on the Katy Trail. Touring and sightseeing were my goals for the trip, not maxing out my mileage, so I took a 1.5 mile detour to the west to see the 400 year old Burr Oak Tree, which Lewis and Clark’s expedition passed by. The tree even has its own page on the NPS website: McBaine Burr Oak (Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail). Though I may be a bleeding heart liberal, I did resist the urge to hug the tree.

I jumped back onto the Katy Trail and rode southeast. At mile 15, I parked the bike and, figuring that I could use a little exercise, climbed the Eagle Bluffs Overlook Trail.

The sign didn’t lie on either point. Near the top, I had birds soaring at my eye level. You can see one on the left side of this photo.

On my way back down, I met a couple of hikers who were on their way up. We had met a few miles up the trail where we all took a break and watched a turtle sunning itself at the side of the river. Those two young ‘uns probably flew up those stairs quite effortlessly, even though they had been such a trial for me. Not that I’m jealous or anything. Not me. No way.

Mile 18 brought me to Boathenge, the ultimate photo op of the entire trip. You literally can’t make this stuff up.

The Katy Trail from there to Hartsburg had some of the best scenery of the whole trip, including views of the Missouri River and tributaries.

I rode into Hartsburg at mile 28.

I camped at the city park. It was a sweet spot with several picnic tables, a gazebo with outlets for charging my phone, and ready access to the Katy trailhead which actually had flush toilets and hot+cold running water.

Day 2: Hartsburg to Bluffton – 50 Miles

Monday dawned with mist over the Missouri River and a pastel sky.

I could not dawdle breaking camp and getting onto the trail. Central Dairy in Jefferson City was calling my name. This would be my longest day because there is nowhere that I wanted to camp between Jefferson City and Bluffton so I had 50 miles of pedaling in front of me.

I jumped off the Katy Trail when I was 10 miles into the day. The road was anything but picturesque and I had doubts about my sanity for being on it.

I was not worried about traffic or safety, more just a “what am I doing here?” level of doubt. But then I made a right turn and voila was into a nice green space which led right up to the bike ramp to the bridge over the Missouri River.

At Central Dairy, I got The Rock sundae (rocky road ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream, and nuts) and thought that I had died and gone to heaven. I also bought a banana so that I can honestly claim that I was just buying groceries and the sundae accidentally fell into my hands. (Don’t even think about leaving a comment below which bursts my bubble of denial.) $5.75 for a banana with a free sundae seems absolutely like a bargain to me.

It was cool to bike around the capitol, peering at the fountain, veterans’ memorial, governor’s mansion, and so on. I was very impressed that almost every street was painted and signed for bike lanes.

I exited Jeff City over the same bridge. Down the ramp was definitely easier than up. I followed route 94 eastward past the airport. By mile 18, I was back on the Katy Trail. The remainder of my 50 mile day was occasionally picturesque but mostly depressing at how the little towns along this section of the trail have imploded since the railroad left. Wainright, Tebbetts, Mokane, Steedman, and Portland, all reminded me of Hollywood western ghost towns. Sure, a few people live in each of them and the houses look nice. But there were few businesses and none were open on a Monday afternoon. Fortunately, I found a water spigot on the outside of a building in Tebbetts and refilled my bottles.

The highlight of the day was meeting a couple of cyclists outside the Turner Katy Trail Shelter in Tebbetts (mile 29). One was local but the second, David, was riding the trail from Kansas City to Saint Charles. His stop that night was Bluffton Barn, same as me.

About three miles shy of Bluffton, my chain jumped off the sprocket and got wedged between the sprocket and the motor housing. Fortunately, David had taken a break and was behind me. He caught up and with his help, I was able to get the chain back on the sprocket. He rode on ahead to Bluffton while I reassembled my bike and rode the rest of the way.

Mile 50 bought me to camp at Bluffton Barn. Doug, the owner/host, is full of stories and an absolute delight to spend time with. I think that David and Doug and I could have sat up talking all night had two of us not spent long days on our bikes.

In retrospect, was The Rock sundae worth adding eight miles to an already long day? Absolutely!

Day 3: Bluffton to Marthasville – 41 Miles

Monday’s alarm clock was an ice cream sundae. On Tuesday, I awoke to the siren call of Hermann with its local beers and German food. Doug made us a fine breakfast of fresh baked bread, fresh cantaloupe, and a casserole with fresh veggies and eggs and cheese. Life looked fine indeed! I had good riding with some cloud cover and cool temperatures (for Missouri in August) as I hit the trail and headed east toward Hermann.

This probably is not what most people mean when they talk about the Trinity but I liked the three peaks: tree, grain elevator, and steeple at the church west of Rhineland.

I turned off the Katy trail at mile 10 and crossed the bridge into Hermann. The Missouri River is impressively wide. I super appreciated the concrete surface of this bike lane. The lane on the Jefferson City bridge had a seam every three feet and was almost painfully bumpy.

I stopped for an early lunch at the Hermann Wurst Haus (butcher block club sandwich and an ale… BURRRP). Despite the food overload, I still managed to crawl back onto my bike and motivate it onto the trail again.

I think that this is my winning vista for the whole trip, taken about four miles east of Hermann.

The scariest part of the whole ride was passing the sign for the old town of Gore at mile 23. My son texted, “I think I’ve seen this movie before… Dad, you should just turn around. It’s not worth it!” I’m an idiot, ignored his advice, but somehow made it past the area without being molested.

Mile 41 brought me to the ballpark in Marthasville where I camped for the night. The bathroom was unlocked and had a couple of showers. Nothing fancy but more than adequate to wash several bushels of Katy Trail dust off.

I ate dinner at the KT Caboose with a side of conversation with owner John and patron Lily (who had spent a decade in China!). John’s avocado-lettuce-tomato sandwich with watermelon for dessert was exactly what I needed.

Later that evening, I laughed out loud when I crawled into my tent to go to sleep. Most of the park was nice and dark but not inside my tent. I had managed to pitch my tent in one of the few spots in the whole park which was directly under a spotlight. It did not matter, though. I was asleep in about 60 seconds.

Day 4: Marthasville to Saint Peters – 35 Miles

Wednesday almost started too late. I was mellow and reading the New York Times on my Chromebook when I realized that I would miss my lunch date with Candy and David (son) at Good News Brewing Co. in Defiance if I didn’t get my butt onto my bike and start pedaling.

Much of the trail was nicely shaded (as it had been for most of the trip) and this was pretty typical of what I got to ride through.

The open areas were really pretty, often with the sun shining through the golden corn tassels.

David (friend from Tebbetts) got to Good News Brewing at mile 19 in Defiance before me and hung around long enough to meet Candy and David (son). The four of us chatted for awhile before David’s lunch date had him back on his bike and pedaling toward Saint Charles.

(Have you noticed that most of my trip was motivated by mid-day food?)

I got the pepperoni pizza and a dirty laundry brown ale. For reasons that I still don’t grok, I found the willpower to not finish the pizza.

After lunch, I off-loaded all of my luggage into the trunk of Candy’s car and topped off the air in my tires. Candy drove home and I got back onto the trail. It was way easier riding that last segment with 24 fewer pounds on the bike and the tires well aired up.

Mile 35 saw me in the driveway. My knees were pretty sore from overuse and I had a tender spot on the outside of each thigh. Both knees and thighs were much better after a night’s sleep. I didn’t do myself any serious injury. I took one day off the bike for recovery and am already looking forward to my next trip. I do plan to make it a trip on paved roads, though. One of the hardest parts about riding the Katy Trail is the gravel surface. It means that you have to pedal virtually all of the time. There are very few spots where you can coast.

This was 154 miles from Kevin’s house in Columbia to my house in Saint Charles. It was more of a stretch than I thought it would be. I did four days of heavy biking, back to back, without any rest days in between. My longest day was 50 miles, up from my previous longest day of 34 (but that 34 was super hilly).

Next time, perhaps it will be Bike Route 66 from St. Louis to Springfield, IL. Don’t tell Candy that I have already done the initial route planning. It’s only 106 miles and all paved so, compared to this trip, it ought to be a breeze.

Here are maps of my rides on each of the four days: Columbia to St. Peters on the Katy Trail