Travels With Edwina

Everything is nice. The ride. The riders. The view. The road surface. The people you meet. All so very, very nice. One might say all rainbows and butterflies but since it doesn’t rain there are no rainbows just butterflies. Big butterflies, small butterflies…I mean even road apples have butterflies, not flies. Everything is just so nice.

But, seriously, great riding from Boonsville to Jefferson City. We road along limestone cliffs and alongside the Missouri. Great views. A little natural air conditioning from the river took the edge of the heat (and it is *hot*). Saw some new flowers. A great blue heron. A few turtles. Lots of indigo buntings. A western rat snake. Lots of little skink lizards that do the squirrel thing and charge across the trail aiming for your wheels. And, of course, squirrels that run across the trail…almost got one….not intentionally…but they can be so dumb.

Overall, another great lazy day along the Katy. Great travelling companions all enjoying the day.

…and they’ll roll right over you. And anything else that just happens to be in the way. At least mind did. The wheels on my other brother Clyde were not so strong and we got to change out the tire….probably the nicest tire change spot ever, tho…so lemonade out of that lemon.

Today’s riding took us north out of Sedalia to Boonville. We are currently in spittin’ distance of the “Big Muddy” (which, of course, here does refer to the Missouri, not the water in the sink when the humans go to wash out the limestone dust from their clothes…disgusting….but I digress). Yesterday’s riding was….uh…pedestrian…flat farmland after flat farmland…ooh, a little city…flat farmland…. I get that I’m a plodder, but 300 miles of looking at farmland was going to get pretty old.

Thankfully, today, Mother Nature was kind enough to provide us some lovely views. We had some smaller rivers (Lamine as in Rue de la Mine), some limestone cutouts, some gorgeous gorges off to the side and, of course those “killer” hills….I think one actually hit 2%!!!

More people on the trail today, as well. Yesterday was spookily quiet — it was a Sunday on a 3-day weekend, you’d’ve expected company, but maybe a half dozen bikes in 50 miles. Today…always another bike coming at you, passing or being passed. A lot of bikepacking types and a lot of very tired riders. We now suspect that people skip the Clinton to Sedalia segment because..well…flat farmland and just start in Sedalia. Sedalia sports an Amtrak station so it would make an easy starting spot.

But, if today is any indication of the rest of the trip? Bring it on. (well, except for another flat…that we would prefer to ignore)

….tender, frou-frou, wobbly Edwina…suck it up, Buttercup, the trails belong to me!!!! This was a day I was built for. Crushed limestone…sure, even Edwina can handle limestone, but there was gravel, there was sand, there were bumps, big rocks and more. Exactly what a Clydesdale can handle…smooth out the ride and just do…the…job. Edwina, sorry, but you would have whined the whole time and probably tripped over those skinny little tires you wear while I just kept on carrying on. From now on, the trails belong to me…don’t even ask. Stick to the road.

What about the ride? Ah, it was a nice day of riding. Reclaimed rail bed from Clinton to Sedalia. Really can’t complain…ok….there is one complaint. I just had to put my tire down and tell the human, “NO!” No, I will not pose for another picture in front of another station sign. No, I will not pose for a picture at the high point of the Katy trail….a whopping 995′ above sea level on a day where the steepest gradient was 1.2%. No, I will not pose in front of an old train engine painted in some glaring colors for the kids. No…No….No…I am not a frou-frou bike. I am not Edwina who loves to pose and loves to check out the polish of her frame, her components and keeps her tires spotless. No. I. Will. Not. Pose. Geez…let’s just ride, OK?

The human lied. The human said today would be a cross-town commute. Said it would be right up my alley….no gravel yet, but commuting was what I was made for. Potholes? Meh. Rough road? Bring it on. But….really…it was a pretty nice ride…well…except for that 13% grade with panniers heavier than when I had to haul the human’s 17″ “laptop” computer to and from work. Ooooffff…that was tough even for me. I thought the reason I got to come on this trip was for the gravel, but apparently, also for those heavy panniers. I’m promised they’re gone tomorrow and won’t be back until Saturday.

The ride today was from downtown Kansas City to the airport. We thought it would be busy but the infrastructure was awesome. We even had our own protected lane over the Missouri River. Very nice. Edwina tells horror stories about the scary ride after crossing the Mississippi and told me to be worried…but, nope….just nice riding on residential streets and in warehouse districts. Low traffic. And the segment on the bike trail was really nice…the human said it was almost nicer than Minnesota’s…I wouldn’t know.

Today was the first time I got to ride outside of the state of Wisconsin. So now I’ve ridden in 3 states..obviously, Wisconsin, but now Missouri and Kansas. Not bad for one day of riding. And tomorrow we head east on the Katy Trail.

Here’s riding in style from Kansas City to Clinton:

Yesterday we waited in Chicago…then waited on the train (check out our train digs below…pretty cool, eh?). Today, we waited in the hotel room.

I suppose sitting all day in a hotel room, 10 stories up with a view of the park beats sitting in the garage back home, but…gee….come all this way to sit and wait while the humans went out and played in Kansas City? They got to play while we looked out the window. Apparently they had a great time while we sat back in the hotel acting as a clothes rack. I’m beginning to understand some of Edwina’s whining….all work and no play?!?!?! Where is that gravel I’ve been promised?!??!

Tomorrow they promise me a ride across town. We’ll see. Better not be more waiting or…or….

That would be, Clyde, not that frou-frou bike Edwina. I, Clyde, am taking over the blog for this trip and Edwina can just suck it up and accept that for the next two weeks this is my blog, not hers. Phhhhtppp!

First, let me introduce myself. I am Clyde…as in Clydesdale. Like Edwina, I am a custom steel Waterford bike, but there the similarity ends. I was built for commuting and I am tough. No fancy-schmancy Waterford paint job. Nope. Powder-coated in a classic chai-tea color. No delicate 25cc tires either…35mm comfy Rene Herse gum walls. Gravel-ready. Rough road ready. With a smmmoooothhh ride. Add to that fenders and I, unlike that hoity-toity Edwina, am ready to ride me some gravel roads and limestone trails. And, that, friends is where we are headed.

Right now I’m cooling my tires in Chicago’s Union Station and soon, we will hop the train to Kansas City. I have never been on the train before. Edwina got to ride it once before to Denver, but then the riding was all road. Not this time. Edwina can’t handle this trip…she’d being having one princess meltdown after another…..”<whine /> the road is too bumpy…<whine/> the gravel too loose…. <whine /> is that mud?!?!?!?” If we let her on this trip, she would ghost you, dear friends, like she did in Mackinac Island…grrr…so she got a little bit of horse apple on her tires and had to spend the night al fresco. Big deal. But, gee, we never heard the end of her complaints about that night. So…no we left the drama queen at home.

But, me? I am getting to ride! As a commuter, I spent too many years going to work…home from work…to work…home from work…see the pattern? Bored already, too? Sometimes I got to take the long way home from work, but pretty much a limited set of scenery. So an offer to cross the state of Missouri…how could I turn it down?!?!?

Talk to ya in Kansas City!

After that abysmal showing yester of a lousy 12 miles, today we rode! 75 miles up the Leelanau Peninsula. Sometimes on the east side; sometimes on the west…..which meant…hills to climb to get from one side to the other. Ups and smooth downs. Yeehaw! And the bestest part? No panniers! Woot! Instant weight loss!

And, another gorgeous day. The sand dunes on this side of the lake are impressive. And, apparently, unlike the Wisconsin side, not threatened. Heck…humans are encouraged to climb them here. Feels strange. Needless to say, Edwin and I decided that climbing large piles of sand was not in our best interest.

Tonight we sleep in Northport…that would be Northport, Michigan, of course, not Northport, Wisconsin. A much larger city. Can this weather hold? Or was our epic ride in the rain enough to keep us in good weather? Time will tell.

Hrrrrmph…..not even 12 miles and only 8 mph. WTF?!?!?! Excuse my language, but, really? Is that a ride?!?!? Does that even count?!?!?!

Sigh…today the humans declared the need for a rest day. Say, what? Apparently, they are not only old and slow but require rests. Sigh…but I suppose it was nice that they took us a long for the day at least. I suppposse.

Today we were in Traverse City. So we toodled…I mean really toodled…8mph toodled along the lakefront, sat and watched the water. Then strolled into town for lunch and hung out while the humans sipped some cider. Again, not a bike event, but Edwin and I were tickled that the host took one look at us and said to the humans, “So, you want a table outside so you can keep an eye on the bikes?” Such service. She clearly knew her fine bicycles….and, yep, inside, parked against the back wall was a very nice bike…carbon, but we aren’t speciest. It was a nice bike.

I have to admit it was a very lazy day. Tomorrow, the humans promise a longer ride and…pssst…no panniers to drag me down. Luxury.

We have, dear reader, reached a Great Lake. After climbing and climbing and climbing, we travelled down a wonderfully, luscious downhill we were greeted by a classic wind off the lake. While the day wasn’t particularly hot, knowing we were, oh, so very close to the lake told us we’d almost made it to the end of our ride.

Today was a longer day with a couple of good sized climbs. When riding loaded with panniers a ride like this could have done us in….well, not us bikes, but the humans. Still, when climbing I really don’t appreciate the human telling me I’m a bit heavy on the back end. Hrrmph…it isn’t *me* that is heavy, it is all the junk the human considers basic necessities. Yesterday we met a newbie bike-packer on the trip. He wisely shipped home many of his “basic necessities.” If *he* could learn, why not my human?!?!?!? Hmmm?

But, today’s ride was another awesome day. Pleasant with a slight headwind. But such a pretty day. We started by riding around Lake Cadillac, then breaking off and heading north to Traverse City. From an inland lake to Lake Michigan. From this point on we follow the lakes…Michigan, Huron and then back to Michigan until we hit back home. Water therapy at its best.

Yes, dear reader, water does, indeed seem to be the theme for this trip. But, today’s water was nice, well-behaved water. Water that flowed down rivers. Water that travelled down creeks. Water that made lots and lots of small inland lakes (although ponds might be a better name). And water that made big lakes. Now, we haven’t gotten to one of the great lakes, but, definitely we visited water today. I sssssooo much prefer when I can visit water on my own terms, eh?

The day started by exploring Big Rapids. It is a college town and a tourist town. The river front is lovely and we took our time leaving town. Okay…we should have visited it on the way into town yesterday, but….as I might have mentioned, maybe just a little bit crankily, yesterday’s water was not polite well-behaved water and by the time we reached town the priorities were clean up and warm up. So today, we made up for it and explored before we left town.

The road today was 100% paved rails-to-trails…and that means flat, flat, flat and no gravel today (happy dance). Sure we gained 1200′ in 40 miles but when the maximum gradient is 1.5% it really doesn’t matter. I was so very, very glad to see no gravel today. Still, I picked up a piece of glass and put a hole in my new tire. Sigh…but, that’s the first on-the-road flat in several thousand miles. I cannot be blamed for it…although I did hear one or two disparaging words from the humans. Sigh….and all that I do for them.

But, it was an awesome day, dear reader. If we could be so lucky as to have days like today for the rest of the trip, I might actually stop being a snarky bicycle…naw…that’ll never happen, will it?