Posts Tagged ‘Katy Trail’
Not Sticks
I was warned long ago that snakes are frequently reported on the Katy Trail. Not being a fan of snakes, it wasn’t the best message I’ve ever received, but figured the talk might be exaggerated a bit.
Riding in a group, the common practice is to point out hazards in the road/trail to alert riders behind you.
There were a lot of sticks littering the trail all week, but the only snake we had come upon was a dead one …until yesterday.
I was on the left side, just ahead of Curt, rolling along at 14 miles per hour. At that speed, there’s really only a fraction of a second to make decisions when something suddenly comes into view.
The stick was about 5 feet long and lying perfectly across the trail. By the time I sensed it might not be a stick, there was no choice but to hold my line and try to avoid panicking.
As my wheel met little resistance, I screeched “SNAKE!”
Curt announced that it was alive because it instantly picked up its head and turned toward me. Luckily, I was moving fast enough to be already gone. My adrenaline boosted the bike speed to escape velocity.
Follow-up research points to it being a black rat snake.
A short time later, another snake was more to one side and I had changed my thinking to see any stick as a threat. I dodged it with a quick zig-zag maneuver.
Why did I have to be the one to have the closest encounter? The Universe is keeping me on my toes, I guess.
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Making Connections
On an adventure like the one we are on, it is not uncommon to find kindred spirits out enjoying all that comes with days-long bicycling trips.
I volunteered to be the sag driver yesterday, which gave me plenty of spare time to fill.
That gave me extra minutes to visit with a couple of bikers that tented near us at the Katy Roadhouse campground in New Franklin.
Both are on their first long distance bike trip and riding together for only a portion of their cross-country journeys after meeting by happenstance a few weeks ago.
Sharing stories with Gabriel Atkins quickly revealed a kinship for wanting to help others find ways to improve their mental health.
Gabe started his ride as a way to bring attention to the plight of veterans after the separation from military service.
The average of 22 veterans a day lost to suicide is 22 too many.
Gabe is riding to keep this tragic statistic known among all the many distractions that clutter our attention on a daily basis.
I hope you will consider supporting his effort.
My day started like the images above and then switched to looking more like this:
Driving sag isn’t a bad gig. The truck has great air conditioning.
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Cicada Cacophony
Between the leaves being crushed by our tires, and the racket made by throngs of cicadas, there is a lot of noise on this ride.
My phone started slipping from my hand for this video but I caught it just in time to include Bob coming past me on the left.
To Sedalia
Yes, it was hot. We reached Sedalia before noon, as planned, despite a brief delay to deal with a puncture in my tubeless rear tire. The sealant prevented disaster and got me to our finish, but we put in a plug and added sealant for added protection after we were done riding for the day.
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Scattered Thunder
We haven’t solved the drought, but we got a little more relief yesterday from scattered thunderstorms rolling through. A fresh batch of heavy rain showed up right as we were heading out to feed the horses. The roar on the metal roof is so loud it becomes hard to hear each other talk. The intensity of the downpour became a little unsettling to the horses. Mia didn’t want to eat in her usual spot and kept retreating to the other side where Swings and Light were.
When a close lightning strike hit, the clap of thunder made all four of them jump and scatter for a few seconds before settling back down. Throughout much of the day, the sky shifted between bright sun and dark clouds. It seemed like thunder was happening around us regardless of what the sky looked like.
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I needed to keep looking up the radar view on my phone to see whether I should be concerned or not. It ended up being mostly not.
Meanwhile, I received notice of an extreme heat warning in Missouri, where my friends and I will be riding the Katy Trail for a week.
I can’t help feeling like all the warming planet impacts that are simultaneously playing out should be catching more people’s attention than it seems they are.
Fossil Fuel use continues unabated. It’s heartbreaking. We will need to get creative about finding a way to ride in these conditions. I sure wish we had a team car like the professional racers do, so we could get handed blocks of ice to tuck into the backs of our jerseys.
Maybe we’ll get lucky, and the high heat will trigger some scattered thunder to give us something else to cope with on this adventure.
I’m planning to post from my phone for the week (if it doesn’t melt), so don’t be surprised if you find little more than a picture a day here for the next 7 days.
Bon Voyage!
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