Katy Trail Forum

Does anyone know if the trail is snow covered today? (2-19-07)

Mainly from Weldon Spring to Defiance.

Still snow covered in shaded areas, however, with a week of above freezing temps it should be just wet by the weekend, I'd guess. Saturday's rain could make for a lot of mud and wet spots.

It was slushy on Monday, pretty wet around Weldon Springs. Fairly dry but still soft near Green Bottom but the trail is mostly exposed to the sun in that area.

Our bike club, Mid Ohio Bikers,(MOB), is considering a bike trip from west to east doing the entire Katy Trail. We are planning to ride and camp the week of Oct. 21st. What type of weather might we be experiencing? We realize that anything can happen. We have the average temperature and precipitation information for Mo. in Oct. Just thought maybe someone might be able to enlighten us a bit. Here in Ohio we have about 12 inches of snow in the last 2 days so winter finally did arrive!! Lynn

October can be the perfect time to ride or it can be wet and cold and miserable. I get

together with friends for an October ride, usually the 2nd or 3rd weekend of October and the

past few years it has been very cold, very wet or all of the above. But, you never know...I love

the Trail in the fall, but sometimes you just need to be flexible. Winter finally came to

Missouri as well...here in KC at my house there is about 6 inches of new snow on the

ground...last week's snow had not melted yet and they are predicting more snow this week.

Sbikes pretty well covered it with "you never know". My first Katy ride was solo from Sedalia to St Charles in Oct. 2000, the first day was cold & wet but each day got better and it was a great ride. I've talked to others who have ridden the trail in Oct. and been cold & wet the whole time.

You never know.....and if you don't like the weather in Missouri, just wait a few hours and it will graciously change for you. October is a great month to ride in. We have gone every year near the 15th for the past several years. The past two have been a bit early for optimal Fall color and bit on the chilly side. Halloween two years ago though, could not have better weather...but the leaves were all gone. I prefer the shotgun approach......plan often.....ride alot. That will put you on the trail many times....and some of those times with ideal weather.

When we rode the trail the first week of October last year, we went from record highs of 95 the first few days to highs in the 80's, then to highs in the 50's, with lows around 25. All in 7 days! Needless to say, we ended up using all the clothing we brought!

I believe Mr Cannon posted here a year or two ago seeking ideas.

http://www.boonvilledailynews.com/articles/2007/02/08/news/news2.txt

That is an interesting article, but I don’t necessarily agree with their perception of themselves. We have found the folks in Booneville to be very accommodating.



The Comfort Inn has let us take our bikes to our room. And I’ve left my car in their parking lot while we were out on the trail for a few days.



The Riverside Diner people are very friendly. I’ve been there with a group of riders, as a group of two, and by myself. Each time it was very obvious that we were biking. We were treated kind….just like everyone else.



On a solo ride last May I rode beside an elderly gentleman and then a 40’ish woman as they were on a morning walk. I quizzed them about their town and infamous Lard Hill. They each were very friendly and openly shared their knowledge of Booneville. In turn they each quizzed me about my trip wondering about the gear I was hauling and how long I’d been on the trail.



On our first trip to Booneville we found it very confusing getting from the Comfort Inn/Holiday Inn Express area to the Katy. I’m not sure that we would have found the motel had we been arriving from the Katy. It is not clearly marked going either direction. Directional signs may help, but I’d really hate to see billboards along the Katy.



Having crossed the river bridge several times, it seems that often times the bike lane has plenty of broken. Glass is a concern on most roads though. It would be nice to be able to ride the bridge without broken glass, but I don’t expect anyone to be out there every morning sweeping off the bike path.



We seem to migrate to points between Rocheport and Hermann. But we like Booneville and have included them many times on our trips and will continue to do so because we’ve found them to be biker friendly.



It’s nice to know that the town folks are concerned, but don’t be too hard on yourself Booneville.

I certainly did not see Boonville as being unfriendly or abnormally confusing. However having said that IMO all of the trail towns could possably enhance business from the trail if they posted a useable map at the trail head. We often did not depart from the trail because of not knowing the direction or distance of a particular store, resturant, etc.



Because of the excellent instructions posted here by Trek Biker we had no problem finding the Comfort Inn, however without those instructions we would have never found it. Our experience there was not the high point of the trip. This was the only lodging that penalized us for not taking up space in their parking lot. I had to pay $5 (don't remember if that was per bike or just a flat fee) to store the bikes in our already small room. Several other hotels went out of their way to accomodate our bikes including the Comfort Inn in Sedalia, The pool was cold, the hot tub jets didn't work and the AC was marginal. On the up side the hosts were polite and did offer us a ride into town.



These are just my observations. If I were to (when I do) plan another trip on the KATY I would probably stay in Boonville again, though I would most likely find a different place to lodge.

I figure it's the Daily News' attempt at 'provocative journalism', a more accurate headline would have read "...making Boonville more bike friendly". Anyway, I think Mr Cannon has some good ideas.

I like the idea of a kiosk at the end of the bridge, and more signage. That being said, I have found Boonville to be just fine in terms of being "trail-friendly."

As is my usual suggestion, I would love to see water available somewhere between the end of the bridge and where it turns back onto the original railbed. There is a little turnoff that would be a nice spot for a faucet

"I would love to see water available somewhere between the end of the bridge and where it turns back onto the original railbed." ???



If you are traveling east to west on the trail and cross the MO river.....there is water at the trailhead (and a gas station/C Store) just about 1/2 mile on down the trail.



If you are traveling west to east on the trail and are fixin to cross the MO river....you would have just past water at the trailhead (and a gas station/C Store) just about 1/2 mile back.

That's true, Trek. My bad.



Since I am a walker, I was recalling a hike from Rocheport to Boonville in August. I had left New Franklin/Franklin and trudged the three miles or so in 100-degree weather in full sunlight.I got to the turnoff that heads for the Boonslick Bridge and had just chugged another 1.5 liters of water and was hoping for a place to refill, to no avail. It was a hot, dry walk into Boonville.



Days like those sure make me envy you riders.

If your interest in cycling expands beyond the Katy Trail into the world of professional cycle racing, The Tour of Missouri may be of interest. The first Tour will be September 11 – 16, 2007 and will showcase several Missouri cities, including Kansas City, Springfield, Branson, Columbia, Jefferson City, St. Charles, and St. Louis.



For more information:



http://www.tourofmissouri.com

We are wanting to plan a trip with kids ages 15 - 10. Does anyone have a suggestion on start/stop points and towns/places of interests? Planning on 3 days of biking - (kids and dad love to fish)

trip with kids, i would suggest anywhere rocheport then east. thats the nicest section. have fun.

Are you camping? Will you have a support vehicle following along?

What time of year are you going, and are you planning to camp or stay in B&Bs? We do an annual ride with our kids, now 10 and 12, and I can give you some suggestions if I know more (actually, I made an entry on another thread somewhere about this--maybe Ray could link to it!)

ET, I think you're referring to the Family ride thread, or possibly the Swimming near the trail thread. Good info.

One other thing - here's a list of points of interest along the Katy Trail. This is a catch-all category for interesting spots along the trail that you and/or the kids may want to see, to break up the routine of riding.

St. Charles is an exellant place to start your bike ride ---- or to finish your ride ------Momentum bike shop is right on the trail ---- we (Lococo House ll, Bed & Breakfast) is just three blocks off the trail ---- we have overnight accomodations, breakfast, hot tub, shuttle service and info for you ------- call 636-946-0613 ----or check out the site www.lococohouse.com

I'm new at biking and am curiuos as to how much training I would need to do and what type if I was interested in a 150-200 mile roundtrip ride. Plus, how long would it take to bike roughly 75-100 miles one way? Any insight to a novice would be appreciated. I'm looking at riding from Clinton to Boonville and back.

You just need to ride until you can do that in practice. The main piece of advice that

anyone could give you is to eat something every hour. You cannot replace the amount of

calories you will burn while riding but if you eat something every hour it will keep your

blood sugar from depleting and will keep you from "bonking."

Water. Be sure you always carry water with you and force yourself to drink 20 to 24 ozs every hour.(the average water bottle) If it is a very hot and humid day, you will want to also drink some Powerade. You should also ride a few short training rides on the trail to get used to the trail surface (slower than pavement, more resistance), and the continual pedaling...no hills! Most of all, don't make it too technical, just enjoy!!!

Jason, I just remembered there is a "newer" rail trail in your area you could train on, it is the "Frisco Highline Trail". It runs from Springfield to Bolivar, and would be a great place to practice. It is not as well used or maintained as the Katy, so don't get discouraged about Rail Trails.

To my knowledge the Frisco runs to Morrisville......the bridge crossing the Little Sac River was torched last summer. Stil may be a good ride from Springfield to there......just hit the brakes before the bridge!





http://www.friscohighlinetrail.org/

A lot of it depends on how far you want to ride at a time. A novice rider on a decent bike can average about 10 mph on the trail. With that in mind, it would take a good 8 hours just to ride 80 miles, not accounting for breaks. Aside from the being in shape part, that long on the saddle will kill most people who are not cyclists. My advice would be to decide how far you would like to go at a time and then just start training. My training routine for last October when I did 293 miles on the trail in 6 days was pretty basic. I rode during the work week about 3-4 nights a week and would try and get in about 20 miles. On the weekend, I would try and do at least aa 40 or 50 mile ride, both weekend days if possible. This will get you used to being in the saddle. You'd be surprised how much your body can do. As previously mentioned...just be sure to eat and drink a lot before and during the ride. Good luck...you will love it!

My girls and I used to do about 40 miles in a short day..meaning we leaft late, took our time and played a lot.

We probably could have pushed more, but we went for the fun.

I would like to do about a 3-day ride on the Katy Trail with some out-of-town relatives this summer. They would need to rent bikes and we would need lodging. Any suggestions on how I get started planning?

Thank you, Cathy

You are in the right place for planning a KATY ride. This website has a wealth of information. I would decide where you want to start the ride and try and map out how far you would go each day. Then just click on the towns on this website and it will let you know about lodging. Several of the towns have shops that rent bikes. Trailside Bike Shop in Rocheport has a wide selection of rental bikes are they are very friendly. This may be a good place to start as the eastern side of the trail is typically the most beautiful. Good luck!

Another good place to rent bikes is Scenic Cycles in Marthasville.



292 Boone Monument Rd

P.O. Box 41

Marthasville, MO 63357

636-433-2909 / fax 636-433-5131

www.scenic-cycles.com

I seems to remember that Scenic Cycles have moved to Jefferson City but not sure of that.

I am sure that the web site is gone:

scenic-cycles.com expired on 01/20/2007 and is pending renewal or deletion.

the cycle-depot in hartsburg has moved to jefferson city. no idear on scenic cycles.

I just spoke to Terry at Scenic Cycles. Although their website is down for now, they are still in business and still located just east of Marthasville. They're operating on winter hours this time of year.