Katy Trail One Day Riders and Through-Hikers

Ethan Ramsey of Lawson MO
Date: October 10, 2024
Moving Time: 15:35:59
Elapsed time: 17:05:32
Average speed: 15.4 MPH

Ethan's Strava stats

I left the end of the trail in Clinton at 8:30pm on October 9 and rode 11 hours in the dark. The night was very peaceful. Raccoons and possums were roaming about all over the trail. I ran one possum over with my rear wheel around midnight.
I packed all the food I would need for the entire ride except for breakfast which I picked up at Loutre Market in McKittrick.
The ride went as planned and I even finished an hour faster than I was anticipating. I arrived at the end of the trail in Machens at 1:46pm on October 10.

Mason Horanzy
Date: October 4, 2024
Moving Time: 14:08:24
Elapsed time: 16:13:31
Average speed: 16.9mph
Bike: 3t Exploro, clip on aero bars
Tires: 650b X 50c

Mason's Strava stats

I started with a partner but finished solo; he had to drop due to stomach issues. It was a supported ride with 6 stops every 35-45 miles roughly.

Things of interest along the route included navigating through a very large congregation that seemed to be some kind of religious pilgrimage, as well as narrowly avoiding a small and adorable group of pot belly piglets squealing their way down the trail.

List of snacks eaten includes 7 cokes, 7 or 8 ensure shakes, 2.5 ham and cheese sandwiches, 3 bananas, 3/4 bottle of honey, 1 iced coffee, 1 Rice Krispie treat, a sis gel, and about a liter of milk.

Ian Wellock of North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date: 3rd October 2024
Moving Time: 14:12
Elapsed time: 15:32
Bike: Mason Bokeh Ti
Tyres: Panaracer Trail 40mm (35 psi)

Ian's Strava stats

Set off at 4:45.

Had 6 stops en route approx every 35 miles. Was very ably supported by my partner Carrie. She did a great job of mind reading what refreshments I needed.

Great day out. Trail conditions were superb. Thanks to those who maintain it. Rode pretty even pace the whole way. Found the middle third the most difficult. The heat got to me a little. Whilst 28oC might not be that hot we are not used to it in Yorkshire, England where I am from. Stiff headwind around Marthasville but thankfully trail turned slightly northwards for last 30 mile or so allowing me to pick up the pace again. Was happy to see the trail head at Machens before a few extra miles back to Black Walnut to be collected.

Now I know I can ride that far I might be back.

Ronnie Lingua of St Charles, MO
Date: April 21, 2024
Moving Time: 14:41:46
Elapsed time: 18:11:01

Ronnie's ride stats

Ronnie was supported by his wife and three kids on his epic ride.

Alvin Nieves-Rosario of St Louis, MO
Date: April 13, 2024
Moving Time: 22:17:23
Bike: Trek Checkpoint SL5
Tires: Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H, 45 mm, 35 PSI

Strava data for the ride

A ride that was supposed to happen in 2022 had to be postponed due to illness. Started ride at midnight in 50 degree weather. The temps went as low as 36 degrees. Between Boonville and Rocheport met my wife to start leaving some of the layers. By midday temps went as high as 88 degrees. Sunset at Marthasville with temps dropping. By the end it was 66 degrees.

A lot of pain, but kept going. Overall a fun and challenging experience.

Daniel Glover of Bella Vista, AR
Date: February 21, 2024
Solo and self-supported
Moving Time: 18:22:18
Elapsed time: 21:31:56
Bike: Trek FX Sport 5
Tires: Bontrager GR1 40 mm, 42 PSI

Strava data for the ride

I made the decision to complete the trail with panniers to help carry food, water and gear since I was self-supported.

My beautiful wife and 3 children were rooting me on from afar. After 100 miles I began to experience muddy conditions from the recent snow-melt and increased wind speed.

My rear tire, weighted down by heavy panniers, got bogged down in the mud numerous times.

I kept pushing on and fortunately trail conditions slowly improved. After completing the trail in Machens, I had to bike an additional 13 miles back to a hotel.

Overall, It was a great experience and I would recommend this amazing trail to everyone.

Emory Kempf, Chris Rages, and Melton Hostetler
Date: October 27, 2023
As far as we know, this is the first three-person team to complete the Katy Trail together in one day.
Moving Time: 14:26

Emory's Strava | Chris's Strava | Melton's Strava

What a day of riding! We set off at 4:17 am with the wind mostly in our favor, which made for a pleasant start. As we pushed on, the trail conditions were a bit tricky with occasional light rain showers making the path wet and damp. The excitement kicked in around mile 30 when Emory hit a crack in the trail. His rear wheel went up in the air, and for a moment, it looked like he was going to flip over the handlebars. Miraculously, he managed to balance and ride it out.

By mile 45, we were ready for a break, and stopping at Emory's house, conveniently located right next to the Katy Trail, was perfect timing. His wife had prepared an awesome breakfast that fueled us for the next leg. As we reached New Franklin, a cold front arrived just as we hit the northernmost point, giving us a nice push toward Jeff City. There, Chris's wife and daughters brought us a much-needed lunch from Taco Bell.

Our journey continued through Booneville, where a slice of pizza provided a quick energy boost. The ride to Hermann was smooth, with a deli sandwich keeping the hunger at bay. At Matson, Melton's wife surprised us with delicious cheeseburgers. Finally, at St. Charles, she brought us refreshing coffee, a welcome boost as we continued our ride.

All in all, it was a memorable ride filled with ups, downs, great food, and the support of wonderful family members.

Genna Brock
Date: September 16, 2023
Female FKT
Moving Time: 14:40:14

Strava data for the ride

Genna already did a 1-day solo Katy Tail ride in August 2022, which is listed below.

Even with an injury, she set the female FKT on that first ride. But then she came back in 2023 to set an even faster time!

Jason Abbott and Brett Clark of Lee’s Summit, Missouri
Date: May 20, 2023
Moving Time: 17:05:09
Elapsed Time: 20:47:51
Jason's bike: LynskyGR with 42mm Pathfinder Pros
Brett's bike: Felt V85 with 38mm GravelKings

Jason's Strava data | Brett's Strava data

We arrived in Clinton Friday evening and stayed at a friend’s house 2 miles from the start of the trail.

The ride started Saturday morning at 2:05 am. The temperature was a brisk 42⁰F. We planned for two meal stops during the ride. Breakfast in Rocheport at Meriwether Café and dinner Loutre Market just off the McKittrick trailhead. Our goal was to complete the ride in one day. So we planned a pace of 14mph. The trail and weather conditions were perfect.

April Abbott provided wonderful support for us every 30 miles.

J. Hunter Heiney aka “Cambo”
Indianapolis, IN
Through-hike: Katy Trail and Rock Island
July 21 - August 2, 2023
297 miles


Cambo's journal - http://www.trailjournals.com/cambo

Cambo hiked from Machens to Clinton, then caught a shuttle to pick up the Rock Island Trail from Post Oak to the end at Arrowhead Stadium. He kept a detailed and entertaining journal of his through-hike.

Genna Brock
Date: August 21, 2022
Female FKT, solo and self-supported
Moving Time: 15:05:56
Elapsed Time: 16:51:36

Strava data for the ride

"The plan for six weeks was to ride with a teammate (previous one-day Katy finisher Luke Davis) and multiple support drivers from the Kansas border in Kansas City all the way across Missouri, finishing in Alton, IL. The plan kept getting upstaged and the day we were supposed to leave for Kansas City to prepare to ride, my teammate was forced to abandon the plan entirely and I gashed my knee, requiring a trip to the ER.

Jon at the KT Caboose saw how defeated I was when I showed up after getting stitches, and said if there was still a willingness in me to go for the women's FKT for the whole Katy, he would take me to Clinton and pick me up at Machens. My bike was already prepped for a huge effort, but the plan to go solo, without a support crew, and with a goal time was made roughly 12 hours before I started the attempt.

We began the drive to Clinton (three hours away) at 8:00 p.m. Saturday night, and I was on the bike and rolling at 6:00 a.m. the next morning."

Roger Orth
Date: May 7, 2022
Self-supported FKT
Elapsed Time: 14:29:25

Strava data for the ride

"This was my first time on the Katy Trail and I used this ride as training for Unbound XL that is fast approaching. Due to the head and crosswind all day, it wasn't the best day to ride the whole trail but it was the day that I had to do it. The trip went almost as I had planned except for my second planned stop of the day was at a water fountain to hydrate and the fountain wasn't operational, so I had to keep rolling not knowing where my next opportunity was at. Luckily, I was able to get water about 10 miles down the trail in Augusta."

"Overall a great day on the trail!"

Kendall Park
Date: Oct 22, 2021
Self-supported
Moving time: 17:24:02
Elapsed Time: 18:16:12
Bike: Specialized Diverge Evo Expert
Tires: 42 Pathfinder Pros

Strava data for the ride

Kendall set the overall women's FKT to date, at 18:16:12! She rode self-supported from Clinton to Machens--no support crew, no drafting, no supplies cached along the way. Her husband Kyle monitored her GPS coordinates from several states away. As far as we are aware, she is the first self-supported female rider to complete the Katy in a single day.

Benji Bockting of Columbia MO
Date: Sept 28, 2021
Moving time: 12:55:42
Elapsed Time: 13:10:34
Bike: Redline Conquest
Wheels: Zipp 303
Tires: reneHerse bon jon pass 700/35c and latex tubes, psi 48/50

Strava data for the ride

Benji's comment on the ride: "Oddly enough my gps was reading high with the average speed and total miles, but I did the entire trail. There was a reroute near Rocheport cause of the bridge not existing so I would guess I did 239 miles with an average speed of 18.5mph.
My fantastic support team was Aaron Chism and Faizal Glenn."

Joe Slavich
Date: October 24, 2020
Moving time: 17 hours, 15 minutes
Elapsed Time: 21 hours, 25 minutes
Bike: All-City Macho King ACE
Tires: MTB exposures 80psi

data for the ride

The average temperature for Joe's ride was a chilly 44 degrees. He was supported by his wife Elya Farias-Slavich and his mom Marilyn Slavich.

Luke Davis
Date: October 10, 2020
Time: 15:32:20
Bike: Cannondale SuperX - WTB Exposures 34c at 80psi

Strava data for the ride

Riding at this time of the year, Luke had to deal with darkness at both ends of his ride.

Brad Flachsbart, Tom Keller, Aaron Fader, and Greg Springborn
Date: September 19, 2020
Time: 12:17:26 elapsed, 11:28 moving

Strava data for the ride
Video

This four-person team achieved the fastest known time for completing the west-to-east ride.
Support crew: Kent Woermann (Move Up Endurance Coaching), Robert Clark (Photographer), Brian Garmin

Orion I. Child
Date: September 14, 2020
Moving time: 14:44:57
Elapsed time: 17:59
Average speed: 16.4 mph
38mm tires at 50psi
Strava data for the ride

Orion completed this single-day ride at the age of 17!

Dave Easley
Date: July 29, 2020
Time: 19:13:48 elapsed, 16:17:52 moving time
Average speed 14.7mph over 239.41 miles
Bike: Salsa Vaya single speed conversion with Panaracer Gravelking SKs, tubeless, 43mm, ~38psi
Strava data for the ride

Dave is the only person that we know of who has completed the Katy Trail in one day on a single-speed bike! And he accomplished this despite eight hours of rain during the ride. Truly amazing!

Dave Easley during his single-day single-speed Katy Trail ride

Lauren Pointer
Date: May 30, 2020
Time: 18:36:03 elapsed, 14:51 moving
Average speed 16.1 MPH over 239.8 miles
Bike: Trek Checkpoint SL7 with Specialized Tracer Pros 38mm, 40psi
Strava data for the ride

As far as we know, Lauren is the first and woman to complete the whole trail in a day. Making it even more challenging, she had to deal with detours around the remaining damage from the 2019 floods.

Tycho Wagner
Date: September 24, 2018
Time: 14:49:00
231.3 miles: Clinton to St Charles
Bike: Raleigh r500 from 2001 with 25 mm Bontrager road slicks inflated to around 105 psi front and back
Strava data for the ride

We believe Tycho was the youngest person to complete the trail in one day, at the age of 17!
Below: Tycho before, and after with support person Paul Wagner

Michael Allison, Andy Chocha, Joe Kleidosty, and Kent Woermann
Date: November 19, 2016
Time: 14:12:15 elapsed; 12:50:28 moving
18.7 mph moving average over 239.3 miles

Strava data for the ride


Michael's bike: Trek Crockett with Teravail Lickskillets 32mm w/ tubes, 50/55 psi.

Andy's bike: Trek Boone 9 disc with Vittoria Voyager tires with tubes, 60 psi

Joe's bike: Felt F1X with Specialized Trigger Pros 38mm, 55 psi front, 58 psi rear tubeless

Kent's bike: Focus Mares Cx Disc with Continental GP 4-Seasons 32 mm (55/60 psi) w/ tubes

We encountered a couple issues along the trail - one of our riders, Don Daly (riding a Foundry Valmont with Clement Xplor Ush 32 mm tubeless with 55 psi front/60 psi rear), crashed around mile 14 on the trail and had to quit around 165-mile mark due to a knee injury. Another rider, Michael Allison, had to convert to single speed when his cable snapped, which affected our elapsed time.

Kelly Skinner supported us and provided great support at our five pre-determined rest stops.

Kent Woermann is a personal trainer that can get anyone ready to ride the Katy Trail in one day (training takes longer than one day!), if they so choose - he has experienced it now and knows what it takes to get the job done - anyone can contact him here https://www.moveupcoaching.com/ if they want to tackle this awesome experience! Kent also did a nice write-up on our experience under his Facebook timeline here: https://www.facebook.com/kwoermann

Zach Pashea, Tom Lucido, Matt Hagenhoff and Jason Johannpeter
Date: October 16, 2016
Time: 18:21:37 elapsed; 15:40:18 moving
These four riders conquered the trail together, as a group.

Strava data for the ride


Tom's bike: 2015 Raleigh RXC with Clement Crusade PDX 33x700c tires with an added bonus of a Bell 700 Memory Foam Seat Cover with Comfort Channel.

Matt's bike: 2014 Pivot Vault with Reynolds Attack Wheels (external width 25.00 mm, internal width 27.00 mm, rim depth 29.00 mm); spokes: 20 front / 24 rear

Jason's bike: 2017 Trek Domane SL 6 Disc with Cannonball Galena 32mm tires

Zach's bike: 2016 Specialized Diverge Expert with Specialized Roubaix 700 x 30/32 mm tires

Andy Chasteen of Oklahoma City
Date: November 23, 2015
Time: 13:32 elapsed; 13:08 moving
Andy set the fastest known time for riding Clinton to Machens. See Andy's ride report for great pictures and full details of this epic ride.

Garmin Data

Bike: Garneau Gennix R1 race bike with 26front and 28rear tires, tubeless at about 80 psi.

Dr. Dru Dixon, age 61, of West Plains, MO
Date: July 17, 2014
Time: 13:51:16
Dr Dixon rode Clinton to Machens. He was supported by Jason Wilson & Edward T Boys, who witnessed the event start to finish.
The wind was out of the south/southeast- therefore this was not a wind aided ride.

Bike: Serotta road bike with Schwable Marathon (700x28) tires pumped to about 100 psig.

Darin Schneidewind of Lyndon, KS
Date: October 3, 2013
Time: 13:50:27
This is the record fastest known time for completing the Clinton-to-St Charles ride. Darin's feat is discussed in more detail in this forum thread.

Garmin Data

Bike: 2014 Specialized Crux Comp Carbon with Panaracer T-Serve Protex 32mm tires.

John Mathias of Olathe, KS
Date: June 21, 2013
Time: 15:27 moving; 18:05 elapsed
Garmin Data:
232 Miles
15:27 Moving time.
15 MPH Moving Avg
18:05 Total time
Max Temp 102.2 (It was hot but not that hot.)

Bike:
Salsa Fargo Ti
MSO Explore, 60 PSI

Ben Bolin of Kansas City, MO, and four others
Date: June 23, 2012
Time: 13:18:12 moving; 15:03:24 elapsed
Garmin Data: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/192284954
227 Miles
17.0 MPH Avg speed
Avg temperature: 81 F

Bike:
Cannondale SuperX, Bontrager slicks 700x35

It was actually a group of 5 of us that started together everyone finished separately by the end of the day. We did it June 23, 2012 a couple of weeks after finishing the Dirty Kanza 200.
We only did the 227 mile version because we didn't realize it went to Machens. We knew it went to St. Charles and our support guy was familiar with the spot behind the casino there.
Support crew stops about every 30 miles. Nearly perfect day with hardly any wind and some overcast sky for quite a bit of the day. Trail was in excellent condition with zero trees down and no obstacles to overcome. Trail was packed tight, no water spots and only a few ruts. Truly a day to remember. I want to go back with my wife and our tandem to enjoy the trail over a few days instead of just one next time.

Ben DuMont
Date: June 9, 2008
Time: 16 hours
I finished through flash flood conditions (it rained 90 percent of the day) and yes, on my road bike and skinny racing tires...but it was all for a good cause, to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research, as my wife is a survivor.  What I had trained for and planned to take 14 hours or less, due to the horrid trail conditions, took more than 16 hours.  It was like riding through deep, wet sand in many parts and frequent deadfall slowed me down as well.  What a ride, and what an experience!  A friend rode the final 40 miles with me.  PBS did a nice piece on the ride in support of the cause.

If I do it again, will do it with somebody else the entire way and on a DRY day!!!

David Pratt and Paul Toigo
Date: June 22, 2007
Time: 14 hours and 22 minutes

William Sharples
Date: June 22, 2007
Time: 13:40:44 riding time; 14:00:49 elapsed
More details about halfway through this thread

Sam Baugh of Clinton MO
Date: June 24, 2001
Time: 14:01:12 riding time; 15:45:00 elapsed
An unexpected meeting with Sam

Madeline and Lizzy
When: May 2017
An impressive 8-day run/hike of the whole trail; see their blog and Strava links.

"Mr Z" of Lee's Summit, MO
When: April-May 2013
"Mr Z" used the forum kept us updated during his twelve day adventure 

Matt Rees and David Stores of Washington, MO
When: July 2009
Two men and a baby jogger cross Missouri, from the Kansas state line to the Gateway Arch. Matt ran the entire distance, while David covered 250 miles.  See the Forum post about their cross-Missouri run.

Greg Cupp of Columbia, MO
When: September 2007
Read Greg's blog.

Doug Knox of Troy, MO
When: June 2007
Not only did Doug hike the whole trail from Clinton to St Charles - he continued on to Machens (before it was a finished part of the trail)! 
Read Doug's blog.