Bike Overnight to Cuivre River State Park

Sometimes a guy’s just gotta get away. I had an open 24 hours. The weather was forecast to be cool(ish) and dry for the next couple of days. I had a new Priority 600 bicycle with a Pinion gearbox just begging for it’s first out-of-town tour. During lunch on Monday the 14th, I told Candy that I was thinking about escaping for a quick overnight camping trip… that night. She gave me That Look. By 12:30, I was hauling camping gear out of the basement. By 3:00, I had a couple of panniers packed and was changing clothes.

Monday

Having given up on That Look, Candy hugged and kissed me good-bye. I was out the door and on my way by 3:30. I only had 37 miles to ride which wouldn’t have taken too long if it hadn’t been for the headwinds and, er, my poor planning in not paying much attention to how much climbing I had gotten myself into: Strava and Garmin told me that it was 3,300 feet when I was all done. RWGPS blew smoke up my ass by calling it a mere 3,000 feet when I planned my route.

On the way out of town, I ran through a grocery store to grab some instant rice and a can of French’s Fried Onions. More on the food in a bit.

I stopped at the sign in Lone Wolff Park for my obligatory photo. Note my spiffy new Priority 600 bicycle without a chain or cassette or derailleur. Instead it has a Pinion C1.12 gearbox. This bit of magic sits at the bottom of the frame, in place of a regular bottom bracket, and has 12 evenly spaced gears with a whopping 600% range. I picked up a whole gear lower than my Masi Giramondo had and only lost half of a gear at the top end. Let me tell you a secret: I love that extra low gear!

The afternoon was gorgeous with headwinds, blue skies, headwinds, puffy clouds, headwinds, temperature only in the 80s, and headwinds. Shlepping my Nikon is a bunch of weight and space in the pannier but it is so worthwhile to get photos like this one.

Why do we bicyclists feel like we have to take bridge pictures? Cuz they’re gorgeous.

I found some flowers just before I got to the Cuivre River. Some nice driver actually slowed down to ask if I was OK, even though I was just taking a picture.

By 8:00 I was at my campsite. Not bad considering that I had stopped for a snack or two. I’m really not good at bypassing a convenience store that sells Bugles. Not good at all.

After setting up my tent, I made what I will call Campout Jambalaya. I cut up a large bell pepper. I sauteed it in the olive oil from a can of sardines. Then I tossed the sardines in to saute a bit, too. Next I added about a cup and a half of water and a good tablespoon of Old Bay seasoning and brought it all to a boil and then shut off the stove. In went a package of instant rice and a cup of crunched up French’s Fried Onions. I put the lid on the pot and waited 15 minutes or so.

Life was perfect… kicked back in my camp chair in the dark… eating jambalaya… listening to the forest… until I got the dickens scared out of me by a loud rustling and scampering on top of my picnic table! Something that sounded like it was the size of a polar bear had made off with my Bugles while I was sitting right next to them!

Tuesday

I learned again to appreciate weather forecasters when I got up on Tuesday morning and got rained on. But at least it waited until I was coffeed (AeroPress, thank you very much) and fed (steel cut oatmeal with cinnamon, none of that instant stuff). I retreated to my tent for half an hour to review my photos and read through the interwebs until the rain quit.

Then I kind of got the feeling that I was not supposed to leave the park.

A mile farther down the road, I passed a crew that was taking down a tree that had been damaged in a recent storm. I asked them if they were going to clear this tree, too. The woman was surprised to hear that it was still there. It was the county’s problem but she would bug them about getting it cleared. Apparently it had been blocking the road for a couple of weeks.

I stopped at the Parkside Convenience Store on highway 47 for a breakfast sandwich. I was delighted to find a grill with a real human who cooked my sandwich to order. That was a million times better than the precooked, prepackaged food that I had expected.

The rest of my ride home was uneventful with only 2,300 feet of ascent and some tailwinds. I got a kick out of this sign, which I crawled past at the top of a hill.

My route took me through the intersection of Mexico Rd. and highway P. In St. Peters, where I live, Mexico Rd. is five lanes wide with a 40 MPH speed limit. It is one of the roads that I avoid whenever possible. It is not so busy out in Wentzville, though.

I found the biggest mushrooms that I have ever seen just a couple of miles from my house. They are bigger than my bike helmet. Do you know what these are?

I was home by 12:30, less than a day after I had left.

Click on this map to see my route in more detail.

My Priority 600 bike worked great, needing only a bit of seat adjustment. I don’t know where my next tour will be but I am already looking forward to it.