Reply to Three Day Trip--Looking for Tips, Suggestions.

Going to ride from Clinton to St. Charles on 9/29 - 10/1 (Saturday - Monday). How would you experienced KATY veterans rate the difficulty (assuming good weather) of this? We are experienced road & mountain bikers (put in about 5,000 miles/year). Will carry light loads and stay in B&B's, not camping.

Also, any suggestions on equipment that may be out of the ordinary?? Thanks for your input.....Chris

Hi, I'm hardly an experienced veteran, but did just ride the middle 112 miles of the trail. This was my first ride, so I may have a unique perspective. I thought the trail was very easy to ride. Downside is that there are no hills, so you have to pedal constantly. Up side is there are no hills... (I have heard there are a few inclines on the part from Clinton to Rocheport that I did not do). We thought we could do 70 miles a day if there hadn't been heat. We did at most 46 miles a day from 6:15 am until 11:00 am, due to 105 degree heat.

If you are used to lots of miles, and don't have to race the heat, you may be able to do 80-90miles a day.

The hard part is finding a place to stay where you want to stop, that also has food open. My suggestions would be staying in Booneville or better yet, Rocheport (90 miles the first day). The next leg has few places to stay. Steamboat junction has great air-conditioned cabins $30 with no plumbing, but showers in the campground, $75 for full plumbing and kitchenette. McKittrick had places to stay, but you need to be shuttled for food. Peers is very small, but you can stay in the upstairs of the general store...

Lastly, if you could it may be better to do Friday, Sat, Sun instead of Sat, Sun, Mon because MANY places are closed on Mondays. There are places open, but not as many, and you may have to wait for places to open...

Just some suggestions. The trail is great, and the people along the way are awesome! Have fun!

If you ride 5K miles per year, the KATY will be a walk, er ride, in the park. Michele is right on about riding on Mondays. Better call ahead for your prospective dining and lodging. Browse this old thread for ideas about what to pack.

Hi ChrisN, I made the same trip last year but just from Sedalia not Clinton.

In the morning, get a good breakfast and hit the trail ASAP. MO can be hot in Sept. and ya never know when its gonna rain. Hydrate often.

If not camping, you should be able to get enough gear for 3 days in a seatpost pack. A Camelbak may work for you but remember you'll have a pack on your back all day. Hydrate often.

Stop and enjoy the sights along the trail but not too long cause you gotta ride 70+ miles per day. Plan for the unexpected. Oh yeah, Did I mention Hydrate often.

Have a great ride, Paulie

The Katy is pretty low on the difficulty scale. If you aren't familiar with the towns along the way, use this site to familiarize yourself with what each town has to offer. For example: there is a grocery store a few blocks south of the bridge in Boonville that I've ridden to several times because the sunglasses broke or I needed something that I forgot to pack. It made the trip much more enjoyable because I knew to go out of my way to it. Because lots of places are closed on Monday.....I usually try to carry $5 to $10 in quarters to play Mr. Vendo when that's all that is available. And I always have emergency numbers (listed on this website) programmed in my cell phone, as well as the numbers of my lodging destination. I stap my Camel to the top of my trunk bag and drink from it when I stop after the bottles are empty or to refill a water bottle....I can't see that thing generating extra heat strapped to me all day.

5000 MILE RIDERS WILL HAVE NO PROBLEM. I RODE TRAIL IN 05. I WOULD SUGGEST CLINTON TO BOONEVILLE: BOONEVILLE TO HERMAN: HERMAN TO ST. CHARLES. ACCOMDATIONS HOTELS AVAILABLE AT THESE PLACES.

A RIDE LATE IN THE WEEK WOULD BE WISE....TRAIL A LONELY PLACE MON-TUES..... I SENT A BOX OF CLOTHES AHEAD TO MY HOTELS BY UPS WITH A RETURN LABLE FOR DIRTY STUFF TO GO BACK.....WORKED OUT GREAT. GIVE THE MOTELS A HEADS-UP.

MADE TRIP ON A TREK 2300C ROAD BIKE WITH 28 MM TIRES. NO PROBLEM. COULD BE A LOT EASIER TO TAKE AMTRAK TO SEDALIA AND START FROM THERE. SEDALIA TO CLINTON ISN'T THAT INTERESTING. YOU CAN LEAVE A VEHICLE AT THE ST. CHARLES TRAILHEAD (GIVE POLICE A HEADS-UP) AND CATCH AMTRACK OUT OF ST. LOUIS STATION (CASINO SHUTTLE TO A HOTEL AROUND LAMBERT AIRPORT-METRO LINK TO DOWNTOWN IN AM) HOTEL RATES IN HERMAN AND BOONEVILLE VERY REASONABLE.

THIS ALL WORKED OUT FOR ME. BEER AVAILABLE AT TOWNS ALONG TRAIL....VERY IMPORTANT.
JB

http://paltnether.blogspot.com/
This is a link to that same trip. We did it in two days. Three days is much smarter.

I rode it last October in 3 days. Clinton to the Globe Hotel in Hartsburg. A pretty long 114 mile day. Took it easy day 2 - 50 miles to the Dollhouse BB in Rheinland. Finished it up with 67 miles to St. Charles on day 3. Worked out perfect for me.

I too ride about 5000 a year and purposely wanted to get in a century. I rode a cyclocross bike with somewhat knobby 700 x 32 tires and thought they were just right. Have ridden several other times on the KATY (including two other one day century rides) with the same bike/tire setup and thought they worked great.

I'm jealous - I wish I was joining in the ride.

I am also gathering bits and parts to build a bike that will be single speed/fixed gear specfically for a ride on the KATY. Probably won't get to use it until next fall but it is a fun project/challenge to start thinking about.

Enjoy your ride!

Hi...did the trip in three days in 2005...Thur to Sat...gave me Sunday to recover...Clinton to Rocheport first day, to McKittrick on second, and St. Charles third day...each day around 7-10 miles shorter than the last...loved it. Hard work for a desk jockey, but with nothing to do but pedal for 8-10 hours a day, very do-able.

El Toro - Great idea! SS or Fixie...if you do send it in to the comment forum.

OK, I'll bite -- why is a single-speed/fixed-gear bike a "great idea" for the Katy? I'm a bike novice, so don't know much about these things, but I did do a 110-mile Katy trip last year & I'm glad I had my 21 gears. Just curious!

I don't know if it's a great idea or not. It's just one of those fun challenges. I think the KATY is flat enough that with some training one gear would be enough and I'm crazy enough to think it would be fun.

There are folks who just completed the Paris-Brest-Paris ride (1200 kilometers in 90 hours or less) over VERY hilly terrain using both single speed and/or fixed gear bikes.

Good idea or not - just the challenge.

Plus...I love to tinker with bikes and bike parts.

Had I not just sold my fixed gear bike, I would have ridden that. Trail is plenty flat.

Thanks to everyone for the comments, especially the head's up on Monday closures. My buddie can't take Friday's off, so we're forced to go Monday. Sticking with Clinton to Booneville; Booneville to Hermann; Hermann to St. Chuck should enable us to find food/lodging. Will certainly look into it further.

For anyone interested, I'll post a report after the ride. Thanks again...Chris