Category: Bike Rides and Routes

When I headed back to Cape Girardeau for my 60s Decade High School Reunion, I stuck my Surly Long Haul Trucker in the back of the van. June in Missouri ought to make for great riding, right?

As it turned out, I hauled the LHT about 2,200 miles to ride it a whopping 1.9 miles.

Classmates got to reconnect

The reunion was much better than I had anticipated. Folks have been following the blog I established about growing up in the Midwest in the 60s, so I felt like a blogger rock star for a weekend.

Unfortunately, reunion activities kept me busier than anticipated, plus the area was hit with record-breaking temperatures that sent the heat index into the 107-degree range. I subscribe to Son Matt’s rule: if it ain’t fun, don’t do it.

Good thing I knew where he lives

My mother’s neighbor, Bill, from across the street, came over on his refurbed Raleigh to check out my LHT. I told him to take it for spin. He was gone so long I was glad I knew where he lived, or I’d have figured I’d never see it again.

I HAVE to ride at least once

On the morning when we had to leave town, the weather turned a bit cooler. Cool enough that I would have gone for a real ride if we hadn’t had a deadline to meet. The first thing that has to be packed in the van is my LHT, so I decided to take it for a short spin around the neighborhood, my old paper route, before loading it.

I pulled out of the driveway, went downhill, then rolled back past Mother’s house so Wife Lila could shoot my picture. From there, I made a left onto Kurre Lane, which is an uphill run. I was in a mid-range of gears, just “dancing on the pedals,” as Phil Liggett would say. I crested the hill feeling pretty good. For a heavy bike, it did quite well.

I was riding the my old paper route clockwise; when I was 12-years-old on my old single-speed Schwinn, I did it in the opposite direction.

You can’t even see the STEEP part

That must be the reason why, at the bottom of the downhill, the right-hand turn I made took me onto a hill  I didn’t remember. It went straight up. Straight up enough that I didn’t have time to slide into a lower gear. To keep any forward motion at all, I had to stand up on the pedals. That was good for about one revolution.

I barely had time to unclip before the bike came to a complete, fall-over-on-its-side, cow-tipping dead stop. I had to lock both brakes to keep it from rolling downhill, taking me with it. To make it worse, there was a guy waiting to back out of his driveway who witnessed my struggles.

I decided the only way I was going to climb this sucker was to reverse course, get a run up the hill behind me, then turn around and go up the steep one. That worked pretty much as planned except that I had so much pressure on the pedals that I couldn’t downshift when I was about two-thirds to the top. My only choice was to stand up on the pedals for the last 75 or 100 feet. I made it, but it was a good thing it wasn’t 10 feet taller.

NOW I remembered that I used to go DOWN this hill

This profile won’t impress anybody who is used to hills, but it’s a far cry from flat Florida.

When I go back home in October, I’ll bring the bike again. Maybe it’ll be cool, but not too cool, by then.

There’s been some discussion on the phred bike touring list lately about crossing the Mississippi River on the old Chain of Rocks Bridge between Missouri and Illinois.

I rode up the riverfront and across the bridge with Bro Mark in 2004. I’m getting ready to head out of town, so I didn’t have time to pull up my GPS track, but here are some random photos from that ride and some links that might help.

The photo above shows the famous 22-degree bend in the middle of the bridge that was necessary to allow river traffic to have uninterrupted navigation of the river.

St. Louis Arch

My brother lives directly in front of the Missouri Botanical Gardens. We rode from his house on surface streets past the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the Union Light and Power Company and  a ceramic artwork on the side of the Mississippi River floodwall.

Maybe it was because I was with a native who knows the right roads, but it was a much more pleasant experience than I would have expected. In fact, it was much more enjoyable than most of my St. Louis treks by car.

St. Louis Gateway Arch and Mississippi River

A ride to the top of the arch is a great experience if you’re not claustrophobic. The view is spectacular.

St. Louis is home to classic old buildings

The coal-burning Union Light and Power Company generating plant just north of downtown St. Louis was built in the early 1900s to provide electricity to a growing population. It’s still in use.

When I was a kid, we always thought of St. Louis as a dark and “dirty” town. I realize now it was because many of the homes and businesses burned coal for heat.

The Confluence River Trail

There is a 190-foot ceramic mural depicting the flora and fauna of the Mississippi River on the floodwall. The Confluence Greenway website has a trail map and video of the 11-mile trail that leads from downtown St. Louis to the Chain of Rocks Bridge.

View of Chain of Rocks

Here’s a view of the Chain of Rocks that caused river traffic so much trouble. I believe that the objects sticking up were water intakes for a water plant that opened in 1894.

James Baughn, a virtual friend of mine, has a website on Historic Bridges of the United States. Warning: do NOT go there unless you are prepared to spend hours jumping from bridge to bridge.

He has an extensive entry on the Chain of Rocks Bridge. One theme that runs through many of the comments is that the bridge is in an isolated area and that burglars prey on cars parked on both sides of the bridge. Two sisters were raped an murdered on the bridge in 1991.

Experienced bicycle tourists are less likely to be victims than unaware pedestrians, but caution is advised.

[Editor’s note: Tina Nutty and I traded some emails about a Florida Keys ride she and her husband Todd were planning for early this year. She promised to send me a ride report when they finished. Here it is.]

By Tina Nutty

We had successful trip to the Keys in the middle of February. We flew into Key West directly from Charlotte, NC . The direct flight is new for Charlotte and one reason we decided to go to the Keys. It made for a quick two-hour  flight with very few issues. Many people do not realize this is available.

Sunset at Mallory Square

We had not been to Key West since the early 90s so it was quite a bit busier, but the Sunset Party was fun on Mallory Square.

Eaton Bikes very helpful

We had reserved bikes from a shop, but could not get in touch with them the next morning, so we found another shop called Eaton Bikes. It is located on Eaton Street five blocks off Duval They were very accommodating and even put racks on the bikes so we could carry our panniers. We usually do self-contained trips and carry our essentials. I highly recommend this shop!

Barnacle Inn

We took off for Big Pine Key. Made a stop at No Name Pub. Good food off the beaten path. The road that took us there on Big Pine (Gulf Side) was nice and quiet compared to US 1.

That night we stayed in a very cool place called The Barnacle Bed and Breakfast and Dive Resort on the Atlantic side of Big Pine, about three miles off  US 1.

It had a  kitchen and grills but we ordered Chinese food to be delivered. When you are on a bike it’s not always convenient to get to a restaurant so it was nice to be able to order out.

The place was right on the water, a beautiful peaceful place. Many deer roaming around. I’ve never seen deer (begging but harmless)  on the beach!!

[Editor’s note: I would imagine that the deer were Key Deer since the National Key Deer Refuge is on Big Pine Key.]

We had a great breakfast the next day and took off for Marathon. The weather was cool and cloudy for our trek over the 7-Mile Bridge, so we did not get to experience the beautiful colors of the ocean water. It was a interesting ride. Not as intimidating as I was expecting. Pretty good shoulder.

Key Col0ny Beach Motel view

We stayed 2 nights in Key Colony  Beach Motel in Marathon. My brother-in –law works at the Dolphin research Center and lives in Marathon. He booked us a room at the Key Colony Motel right on the beach.

Dolphin Reseach Center

A little rustic motel,  but a quiet community, which was nice since most of Marathon is off the Highway. The Key Colony area had two really good restaurants, Sparky’s and Cabana Breeze, both with live music.The motel was next to Cabana Breeze and a liquor store. All the essentials!

[Editor’s note: Keys motels may not be what mainlanders expect some times. I remember checking into one once and having the manager say, “Watch out around the shower drains. Sometimes scorpions come out of them. The good news is that they eat the roaches.” I mention that because the reviews of the Key Colony Beach Motel have nine “Excellent” ratings and six “terrible” ratings. It’s all about expectations.]

On our way to Islamorada we stopped at the Dolphin Research Center ( 5 miles north of Marathon. I recommend a stop here for any age. We were able to “meet the dolphins” and see a great dolphin show.

Beach at Drop Anchor Inn

In Islamorada we stayed in the Drop Anchor Resort and Marina (MM 85) on the Atlantic side. A storm was on the horizon so we did not get to spend too much time on the beach area, but I would have love to spend an extra day lounging here!

The next day we headed south to Middle Torch, and it was a 60-miler including  the Seven-Mile Bridge. Unfortunately we had rain and high winds. We rode to Marathon and then caught a very accommodating cab service, Dave’s Island Taxi Service. They had bike racks on their vehicles and took us over the bridge and to Middle Torch. It was a smart move.

Rainbow at Parmer’s Resort

We stayed at the Parmer’s Resort on Middle Torch Key. Nice place with a heated pool and a restaurant right down the street that we were able to ride our bikes to. Never got a picture of the resort  but a beautiful rainbow appeared right out of our door.

Middle Torch Key had quiet roads

The next day we did an excursion on Middle Torch that took us many miles down toward the gulf side of the keys. Recommend this because of the remote quiet roads. From there we finished back in Key West for another night on the town. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Key West – La Concha both times. Good location.

We never felt in danger

All in all, the ride was great. We thought there would be more travel on bike paths especially from Key West to Marathon but I know they are working on it. The shoulders were very generous and we never felt in danger.

From Marathon there was a great path to Grassy Key. Some construction was going on after that, but once we  passed that area there  was a pathway almost all the way to Islamorada. That was nice and the views going over the bridges were amazing. Maybe one of these days the old bridges will be renovated and the old 7-mile bridge will be a great adventure. Like any state, funding for bike paths is always at the bottom. But they are progressing and it will be a great  ride when every thing is connected. Oh well, great way to see the Keys!!

Phone numbers:

• Barnacle Inn – 305-872-3298
• Key Colony Inn – 800-435-9811
• Drop Anchor Inn – 305-664-4863
• Parmer’s Resort – 305-872-2157
• Eaton Bikes – 305-295-0057
• Dave’s Island Taxi  Service – 305-289-8616

Our 2001 ride from Key Largo to Key West

Five of us rode from Key Largo, Mile Marker 100, to Key West, Mile Marker 0, in February 2001. It was a good ride. We had many the same impressions as the Nutty Family.

If you have any questions for Tina, leave a comment here and I’ll see that she gets it. I really appreciate her sending us her ride report.