Reply to Trail planning

Planning a trip west to east from Clinton to st Charles and looking for some feedback from the experienced group! For those that have completed the trail, how many days did you give yourself + what is your biking experience? Thanks for the help!! (Also, does west to east seem like the right move?

I don't think I can adequately describe my level of experience. I'll just say that 55 miles on flat road is like 40 on the trail.

I would guess that the reason you want to know how many days someone else took to ride the complete trail is to use that as a gauge for you to determine how many days you need to complete the trail. Otherwise that information is inconsequential. And it really is anyways. We all ride different because we are different. Some people think the faster the better is the way to go....do 80 miles a day. You may or may not be capable of that. I am, but I prefer not to. I would prefer to ride 30 to 40 a day and take my time. I don't like to race against time and would prefer to take my time and savor the moments. I have a hard appreciating details of the trail, the people I meet, etc. when I don't have the time to do so. If someone told you that they allowed 3 days for the ride and someone else told you that they allowed 6, how does that fit into the equation for you? That would just leave me with more questions than answers. Ride on a limestone path with your loaded bike and see how many miles you are comfortable with. Math that out with the distance you want to cover to complete the trail and the number of days you have to vacate in Missouri and you'll find your number of days that you need for you to do your ride independent of what I do when I ride.

West to east.....east to west? What works best for you again. Many discussions have been made about prevailing wind direction and wind as it swirls around the bluffs and as it follows the river. Wind direction can change throughout the day and really is unpredictable. Mute point as far as wind goes, which direction to go.

The higher elevation on the Katy is on the western end with the gradual slope to the east. It's a rail trail so it really isn't bad either direction. I would prefer to know that I was riding the small ups and downs at the first of my trip and then gradually leveling out as I rode to the east. Lard hill in Boonville has the greatest slope it seems to me, so I'd prefer to ride down it going west to east than to ride up it going east to west.

I rode across the entire state including 30+ miles into and back out of Illinois so time in days doesn’t count for your purposes. 394 miles over 5.5 days. Planning the number of miles I budgeted for per day and then coordinating lodging to align with that mileage was my challenge. You didn’t mention if you were camping or lodging. I stayed in AirBnB or hotels for better sleep, showers and laundry ( in order to carry less clothing) I have everything I need to camp but I was solo, wanted less weight and desired time to relax, and have somewhere to just sit. West to east is generally downhill and wind is variable IMO. If you Amtrak back west reserve your ticket AND add bicycle storage well in advance because they only allow four bikes per train….the River Runner only operates between KC and StL and is basically a glorified commuter train…there is NOT a baggage car, therefore bikes have to go in a passenger car where they have removed two rows of seats to accommodate bikes. Weekends probably busier for bikes I ASSUME. If you’re on Facebook join Fans of the Katy Trail or Katy Trail Rider group for more information and feedback. Also this website hosting this forum has good info. Here is a link to my Strava below. I managed to merge my entire trip into one ride and it shows my daily miles. I’ve been riding casually for years. Prior to the Katy trip I did only 20 to 30 mile day rides. In order to make sure I could succeed on my Katy trip….meaning long daily rides followed immediately by another long ride I did a trial run. I rode from Marysville Kansas to Lincoln Nebraska via Blue River rail trail and Chief Standing Bear trails. It was 77 miles one way. I returned the next day. It was a shakedown ride and was very similar to Katy, just less services available to trail users.
https://strava.app.link/EvpdDwQLABb

64 yrs old. Rode in May. Solo woman-used hostels/airbnb/hotels where I knew I could relax and not worry about safety or getting a good night's sleep. I'm active and not overweight, but not necessarily super fit. Rode up to 60 miles each day, but tried to keep it moderate at about 30-40 miles, so I could enjoy the scenery and not kill myself, took about 6 days with 1 day to drive to St Charles and 1 day to drive back home. Rode long practice trips in April, as weather allowed, on weekends a few times did 60 miles on dirt/gravel. During the week with work, difficult to get longer rides in so did about 20 mile days on pavement. It's the daily riding and repetition of long miles and breaking in your butt that I focused on. Carried some snacks but didn't really need them, food and drink available on trail. Used downloaded Alltrails and Notes for each day in my phone, or google maps when internet was avail., to locate food, etc. Panniers and front handlebar bag. Repair shops were not frequent so glad I carried a few tools, tubes, pump, etc. Trailhead and hotel pumps and tools were not reliable or always available. Bathrooms were available at stops and trailheads. Carry the shuttle number to phone if you get a repair that you can't fix or you need to bail out. There is also Amtrak at some stops. There's time to chat on the shuttle from St. Charles and that's what I did to have a trail family who sometimes rode with me. I also met lots of other cyclists on the trail going across the country or on their own ride, many international, so we watched out for each other, checking in at trailheads/hotels/airbnbs via our phones and text. The trail was just wild enough that it felt like a challenge, but not too far out that I worried. Really a positive experience and it boosted my confidence to try other trails now. I did the GAP/C&O last year and this was a far easier trail with more services and better maintained surface. May was a great time as the heat and humidity of Missouri in the summer is legendary and even the shuttle driver mentioned that August is not a good time, just way to much heat. Shoulder months might be better. Good luck!