jowottowa on 6/13/2010 9:38:46 PM:
just rode the entire trail west to east and wanted to share the info:
heres the report:
Friday: rode 111 miles from Clinton and camped in Hartsburg. Plenty of water at trailheads
and plenty of quick shops if you need a snack along the way. Hartsburg is the best town
on the trail. 104 people, 2 bars, a winery, and a diner. They even let me pitch my tent
inside the gazebo in the tiny park. this town rocks. Have a few drinks at the Big Muddy bar
and breakfast at Dotties.
Saturday 90 miles to klondike- easy riding from Hartsburg to Agusta just mind your water
as it becomes sparse in the middle. I gave about 10 bucks to a VFW hall for several bottles
when things started getting dangerous. Keeping 4 bottled topped up is not overkill is this
section. Again, the trail condition was great.
Sunday rode the last 20 or so into St Charles and went to the end of the trail for fun. Had
a nice lunch at the Trailhead brewery.
General info: I pulled a overloaded BOB trailer complete with all my food, tent, etc and the
trail was a bit soggy in places. This translated to a very casual 11 MPH average (including
water and lunch breaks of course) total ride time. It seems when I was going faster than
14 or 15 mph all I was seeing was the trail and I was missing the scenery. IMHO, the trail
rides great at this speed and it allows for full days of riding with perfect camping spots at
110 and 200 mile marks. You could do it faster but why.
Bike selection: I rode my CAAD 9 with 32 tires. The trail is in perfect shape and I would
have been fine on 25's. It was nice to have a little more tire to smooth the trail and it also
helped me float when it got squishy in spots.
Hope this helps anyone planning on riding the whole trail. I intend to do so again soon