# Katy Trail Tandem Tour



## phil. (Aug 3, 2004)

My wife and I rode from Sedalia, MO to St Louis, MO via the Katy Trail (rails to trail) last week as our "vacation". We did what I guess is described as credit card touring. We pulled our clothes in a trailer and stayed at B&B's and didn't cook. This is our first bicycle vacation and unfortunately my wife wasn't able to put the miles in like we planned before hand b/c of her busy work schedule. Her longest ride before this trip was 20 miles, the first day was set for 50 miles, on a limestone trail, pulling ~45lbs (including trailer). Yeah, we probably brought more than we really needed since this was our first tour, but there wasn't anything I really regretting bringing along really only needed one set of "regular" clothes, and could've done fine w/ 1 set of bike clothes (brought 2 sets of regular and 2 sets of bike clothes each).

We couldn't bring the tandem on the train so we dropped it off in Sedalia at our B&B and then continued on to STL to visit w/ a friend and then catch the train the next day. The first B&B we did a Katy Trail package that included pickup from the train station and a snack packed for the next day. The first riding day was about 52 miles, previously my wife's longest ride was 20, she did a really good job riding this trip, and I was impressed.

Here are the days / towns
Day 1: Sedalia, MO to Rocheport, MO ~ 51mi
Day 2: Rocheport to North Jefferson ~ 36mi
Day 3: North Jefferson to Hermann ~ 45mi
Day 4: Hermann to Augusta ~ 37mi
Day 5: Augusta to my friends house near Creve Coeur Park in STL ~ 32mi

1. Catching the train to Sedalia, MO from the Kirkwood Depot
2. Playing w/ shutter speed while on the train
3. Tandem + trailer = about 12 feet, taken outside our first B&B
4. The snack that was packed for us
5. The old Boonville Depot and an old train car
6. The only tunnel on the Katy Trail right before Rocheport.


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## phil. (Aug 3, 2004)

At the end of the 1st day there were 2 couples in their 60's staying at the same B&B as us that were riding the Katy Trail the opposite direction. We set out on the back patio and chatted with them for a few hours, actually it might've been one of our better evenings b/c of their conversation. No pics of them, but I really enjoy talking to older active people/couples, I'm not what it is, but it just inspires me to be active and see the world. Geez these 2 couples had both been to nearly every US national park it seemed from their stories from Yellowstone NP to Glacier NP to others in the southeast I can't remember the names of. They did alot of hiking and actually one of the guys had hiked 500 miles of the Appalachian Trail within the past year on a trip and was planning to do the entire 2000 miles within the next year on a 6mo trip. Interesting and inspiring people to say the least.

Anyways, day 2 of riding we ran in to quite a few more riders on the trail. The MO DNR was doing their annual ride the same week as us, but they started about 35 miles west of were we started (we were both traveling west to east). They started pretty earlier so we'd pass a few riders, but their ride ended about 10 miles before ours. It was nice to see some other people on the trail, but still have some peace and quiet also at other times. I think they had 300 riders, they had trucks transporting their gear from point to point, and staying in tents. It was pretty hot and humid so we were pretty happy we weren't going to be in a tent that night.

1. Hartsburg, MO where they ended their day, 10 more miles for us
2. Tents going up
3. We were a little ahead of schedule so we stopped off at this LBS to look around and got some root beer floats while we were there! 
4. We stayed in Jefferson City this night, just about 1 block from the B&B we had a nice view of the capital
5. The bridge into Jefferson City over the Missouri River.
6. Some barges on the river


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## phil. (Aug 3, 2004)

Days 3-5 were hot hot hot. 

Before the start of day 4 I adjusted the rear derailleur b/c it was skipping on the 2 largest cogs in the small chainring. I had it adjusted, but we dropped the chain before we even got out of town that day. Put the chain back on and the thing starts skipping again. I adjust the derailleur, ride a little bit, adjust some more for over an hour. Finally see a link is bent and the culprit. I remove the bent link and it's smooth sailing until a few miles later when my seat tilts all of a sudden to about 10deg upward. Hm...two mechanicals that day and we got ice cream twice...coincidence?

1. Stupid chain
2. Fixing the seat
3. First ice cream stop at Peers Store in Peers, MO.
4. Finally was comfortable riding the tandem w/ the trailer to take pics while riding
5. My wife sometimes gets hypnotized by the stokers BB area w/ rings and chains on both sides.
6. A river view from the trail.


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## phil. (Aug 3, 2004)

The last day was another hot day. Nothing really eventful. On the tandem, and especially a flat ride like this, you don't move around on the saddle like you do on a single bike or on a route with more terrain variation. Anyways, we do "butt breaks" on the tandem where we both stand for a few seconds. Early on it was probably every 30 min or so. On the last 2 days we started doing "butt breaks" and also sips from the water bottle ever mile. The trail has mile markers so as each one came up, I would grab a water bottle, take a sip, hand it back to my wife (she has a hard time reaching her bottles while we are pedaling b/c of my heels and then the lower one is really lower for her to reach). She hands the bottle back up and I return it to it's catch, ride a few seconds farther, slow the cadence for 1/2 a rotation to a stop and we both stand. We only had maybe 200 miles on the tandem so far, on this trip we did another 200 in 5 days, I can tell that we keep getting better at communicating without talking via chain tension.

Anyways, enough tandem talk, last day:

1. Corn fields along the way.
2. An old train bridge on the trail.
3. Cliff/bluff along the trail
4. Dirty/dusty timing chain from the crushed limestone service.
5. 4 miles to Creve Coeur Park (my car is at my friends house about 2 miles from there).
6. A good shot of my stoker for an over the shoulder / no look click. Happy she's nearly done?

It was a good trip, a little hot, but enjoyable nonetheless. It was our first bicycle vacation; we've only had the tandem a few months. I think we'll head back to the Katy Trail someday, probably not a week long ride, but I think a 2-3 day ride in cooler temps definitely sounds good for a long weekend.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Cool report.....What size tires are you using on the limestone? I want to take my Bike Friday on a similar tour this fall and I was wondering the condition of the limestone trails.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

*Great, great ride report!*

Quite inspirational. Looks like a great place to ride although awful flat day after day. Bike vacations are the best.

FWIW We always find that riding the tandem is harder on our rears than single bikes mostly because on a tandem you tend to pedal all the time and stand less.


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## phil. (Aug 3, 2004)

For the ride I was using 35c Panaracer Pasela TG's. Basically I went with the largest tire I could get away with while running fenders. I was happy with the tires, I was running around 75psi front and rear and had no flats. I thought the trail was in good conidition, nothing was washed out, but there were some bumpy sections. A few sections of the trail had a little more loose stuff on top, and a few spots were pretty sandy. Several people commented on me using road tires on the trail, but I was never wishing for a fatter tire.



Dave Hickey said:


> Cool report.....What size tires are you using on the limestone? I want to take my Bike Friday on a similar tour this fall and I was wondering the condition of the limestone trails.


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## Indyfan (Mar 30, 2004)

*Great report & pics.*

That sounds like a fun ride. I rode part of the KATY from St Charles back in '92. We were on MTB's and just did a day trip. It didn't seem smooth enough for road tires then, but in your pictures it looked pretty smooth. I guess with all the traffic it gets, it's worn smoother. What was the B&B you stayed at in Rocheport? I only know of the Schoolhouse B&B, but the one you stayed at looked nice. 

Bob


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## phil. (Aug 3, 2004)

Actually the picture in front of the B&B is in Sedalia where we started (we caught the afternoon train from Kirkwood, spent the night there and then began the ride). We stayed also at the Schoolhouse in Rocheport. We picked it mainly because the showed there were several rooms booked the same night we were going to be there and we were hoping to have some other cyclists to chat with. Besides the Schoolhouse there is the Yates House, Katy Trail B&B, and a new one that is called Amber House I think. I used mainly www.bikekatytrail.com as my main resource and also www.bbim.org is the association for B&B's in MO that has links to places to stay.



Indyfan said:


> That sounds like a fun ride. I rode part of the KATY from St Charles back in '92. We were on MTB's and just did a day trip. It didn't seem smooth enough for road tires then, but in your pictures it looked pretty smooth. I guess with all the traffic it gets, it's worn smoother. What was the B&B you stayed at in Rocheport? I only know of the Schoolhouse B&B, but the one you stayed at looked nice.
> 
> Bob


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## Indyfan (Mar 30, 2004)

*Ooops! My mistake.*

I misunderstood which B&B it was. How was the Schoolhouse? The rooms don't look like they've changed much from their website. We haven't actually stayed there, just wandered through the place one time while we were daytripping from KC (where we lived then). I hope you both have many happy miles on your tandem.

Bob


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## phil. (Aug 3, 2004)

The Schoolhouse was nice, probably the most expensive B&B, but really it was probably the nicest as far as decor and just how everthing looked nice. Definetely didn't feel like someone's house that had a few rooms for rent, it was more inn'ish than the other B&B's w/ it's 10 rooms and not much apparent "private" sections.

The B&B pictured was the Sedalia House B&B, I really liked it, the rooms were dated w/ the carpeting and bathrooms, but the downstairs was open and relaxing, nice front porch, and probably the best breakfast there on our trip.

Where we stayed: Sedalia House B&B in Sedalia, Schoolhouse in Sedalia, Cliff Manor in Jefferson City, Montague's B&B in Hermann, and Red Brick Inn in Augusta.



Indyfan said:


> I misunderstood which B&B it was. How was the Schoolhouse?


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