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DougK from Troy on 7/5/2008 11:36:11 PM:
Mine was watching the sun set over the river at Katfish Katy's. Anyone want to contribute to the list?

 
Randy from Illinois on 7/7/2008 3:13:15 PM:
I only have four days to choose from, but it was happening upon the summer picnic in Tebbetts Sunday June 29. I had never tried mutton before. Apparently it is a river town delicacy. It's an ordeal to prepare it properly which explains why you hardly ever find it.

 
Biker from Farmington, MO on 7/8/2008 3:24:40 PM:
Back in 1992, listening to Muddy Waters as I pedaled under the I-70 bridge, the Missouri River to my right and awesome bluffs to my left, having just graduated from MU and thinking Deep Thoughts (apologies to Jack Handey) about the future and its possibilities.

 
Trek on 7/8/2008 4:00:33 PM:
Although they were certainly not the most fun by far, but our 75 mile ride in the rain attempting to do a century and then our next ride on the Katy sans rain where we did pass the 100 mile mark are the most memorable.

 
Opie from Lee's Summit MO on 7/9/2008 10:34:58 AM:
Shredded a well-worn rear tire (I'm a bad Boy Scout and thought it had enough life left for
our Sedalia-JeffC-Sedalia trip) on day 2 heading back to Sedalia a few miles west of Pilot
Grove. Tried to patch the 4" gash by cutting a plastic section of a shampoo bottle & lining
the tire. Didn't work. Used that tube as a tire liner and it worked for a couple hundred
yards. Poof. Skeeters descended upon us. Tried to double up the next patch over the hole
but upon inflation the tire didn't seat quite right & then the inevitable hemorrhoidial tube
blast rang out across Cooper County. Sent our fastest rider uptrail to Sedalia to get the car
& drive back to Clifton City. Rider #2 rode stayed at Clifton. I started running & pushing
my bike for about 3 miles then thought of a way to keep the rim off the limestone. I cut
the valve stems off the 4 wasted tubes and crammed them into the tire — filling it enough
to keep the tire seated & from rolling off the rim — then rode the last several miles into
Clifton City.

Sometimes the worst experiences are the most memorable. :)

 
trinjboro from Jonesboro, Ar on 7/9/2008 11:47:01 AM:
Riding from Jeff City to Hartsburg on a cool, crisp October morning with the foliage turning to orange and yellow.

 
Bill from North of KC on 7/12/2008 12:00:07 PM:
Tough to pick... Most memorable recent moment would be pulling into the Hartsburg gazebo (where I planned to spend the night) on a Sunday afternoon just before it started raining. Some locals were having a fantastic bluegrass jam behind the caboose next door. I ran across the street and grabbed a bottle of SoBlue from Summit Lake Winery, then sat in the gazebo sipping wine and listening to music while it poured. That's a moment I'll never forget...

 
Paulie from Knoxville TN on 7/12/2008 9:40:11 PM:
When I arrived in St. Charles this older couple had ask how far I'd riden that day. I told them I'd come from Jefferson City. The look on their face was priceless.

 
jason from eureka springs on 7/13/2008 8:53:36 PM:
not sure where it was Tebbets I think, one of those long flat hot areas at an intersection with an isolated bar filled with grungy Harly riders.
a couple was stranded with a broken chain, they were trying to get help from a police officer who could really care less. he was there watching the scooter gangs at the bar. I was fully loaded on a 1400 mile trip using the katy to cross MO, so I had the tools. Fixed and lubed his chain, saving them a lot off hassle getting 18 miles back to thier car. they tried to give me twenty bucks, and I was cash poor at the moment and could have used it, but refused the money because the relief on thier faces when everything was fixed was great. peace of mind should be free. finaly let them give me a couple dollars to get a coke, went into the bar to get one as they rode off, and at once had my little toe broken by a drunk Bandito biker slamming the door open on me as I entered. then had to ride off with a broken toe as he and two of his biker buddys yelled abuse at me.(note, they were not all drunk jerks, just a few)
I will probably remember that day. jason

 
John from Los Angeles on 7/15/2008 10:51:28 AM:
During a St. Charles to Hartsburg ride my son and I met some of the people that give Missouri a great reputation for being one of the friendliest states I've ever been to. A older couple we met and talked to on the AMTRAK train from Chicago to St. Louis offered and gave us a ride to St. Charles. When we got to St. Charles they stopped by their home and filled up our water bottles with crushed ice and bottled water before dropping us off by the trailhead. In Hermann, at the Stone Hill Winery I left a huge tip for the waitress after a nice lunch and as we were leaving she came running out the door and told us we forgot our change. It seemed like people just went out of their way to nice, but when I thought about it, it wasn't that they were going out of their way, it was simply the way people are in Missouri - friendly and having a way of making you feel welcome.

 
Laura from Webb City, MO on 7/16/2008 1:00:19 AM:
I used to live in Columbia. One Sunday, my husband, son, and daughter who were
probably 7 and 5 at the time, rode to Rocheport. Unfortunately, by the time we reached
our destination, the kids were too tired to return. So, my husband decided to ride back to
Columbia on his own to get our van while the kids and I waited at the Katy Trail Bike shop.
On the way back, it got dark and my husband didn't have a light. He caught up with some
riders who had lights. As they were going to be exiting before Columbia, they suggested
putting my husband's bike on their vehicle and driving him to Columbia. It was way after
dark when my husband came to pick us up. That was an experience I will never forget. I
am so thankful that my husband found the gracious riders.

Other than that, I recall one of my nightly rides on part of the trail in Columbia where I
looked into a field of at least twenty deer. Shortly after that, a deer jumped across the
trail not more than ten feet in front of me!

 
Pat from Home of Harry Truman on 7/18/2008 9:34:48 AM:
Most memorable you ask ? Has to be when my brother and I first discovered the KATY back in 03. We rode from Clinton to Booneville in 28 hours. Never again.

 
Trek on 7/18/2008 10:45:51 AM:
Just a bit faster and you would have broke 3 mph!

 
St. Louis Bicycle Works from South City St,louis on 7/19/2008 10:40:53 PM:
I know it will be this weekend as we do a fund raiser for this group
Http://www.stlbikeworks.com

 
St. Louis Bicycle Works from South City St,louis on 8/5/2008 9:14:10 AM:
here is mine

http://stlbikeworks.com/katy_trail_ride.php

 
cunninghamair from O'Fallon, MO on 8/9/2008 2:18:06 PM:
Not as good as some of the others, but--my first 2-day ride with my husband. We took
the train from Washington to Jeff City, navigated through town, across the bridge, to the
trailhead (at which point, my husband tried to convince me to turn left instead of right--
but he denies it now). Just as we started through the parking lot, I yelled, "Wait a
minute!" and laid on the brakes--I wanted to flip my map over so I had the mileage
markers--but I had new clipless pedals and I forgot to clip out. I wiped out in the gravel
parking lot on my new Trek bike I had just gotten for my birthday (and this ride!) My
normally adoring husband turned around and said, "What are you doing?" I had a bloody
knee in front of a Saturday morning trailhead crowd. I didn't even flinch. I knew the car
was two days away--so I rinsed off my knee with my water bottle, gave the bike a once
over and headed down the trail. (When I took the bike in for it's first "free" tune up, they
politely informed me they had to charge me $10 for a new part because it looked like the
bike "had been on the ground." No kidding!) Priceless.

 
MAH from Blue Springs, MO on 8/9/2008 3:01:30 PM:
Not as exciting as some of my Katy Trail moments (thoses are for other stories), but for memorable, this is definitely mine.
It was 2003, had started riding my bike again that summer (after 30 years off to raise a family). I had done quite a few day rides on the western half that summer, but had never gone past Boonville. That fall I did my first overnight multiple day ride and as I rode under the I-70 bridge south of Rocheport for the first time, I was so happy to finally be ON the trail looking up at the bridge instead of always going over it looking down and wishing I was there. I even got my camera out and took a self portrait of me with this goofy ear to ear grin on my face and the bridge up in the background. Silly I know...but memorable to me!

 
Jeremy from Columbia on 8/12/2008 9:47:43 AM:
The feeling I got as I pedaled into Clinton, 2 days after beginning my ride across the entire Katy Trail. It felt really good to finish the entire trail that evening. The sun was about an hour from falling below the horizon, so I had a little time to relax at the trailhead and call back home to Mom and Dad. I just wanted to let them know their son did it!

 
Captain Kirk from Fayette, MO on 9/8/2008 3:07:41 PM:
I ride the trail alot before the break of day. Many times I get on the trail before the sun comes up in order to get my fitness ride in prior to going to work. At the end of August 07 I was riding about an hour before the sun came up and there was a full moon. I left Rocheport heading towards Boonville and about 15 minutes into the ride the moon began to eclipse. It wasn't a full eclipse, but it was eventually about a 7/8th coverage of the moon. Due to this sight I was looking up more than I usually do and managed to see a couple of shooting stars to add to the majesty of the sky. After passing the Katy Roundhouse in Franklin the trail turns South toward Boonville. Shortly after crossing over Sulpher Creek there is a field on the left that was planted in soybeans that year. It was covered in fog and as the sun began brightening the sky in the East the reflection of the pink sky on the fog made the field look as if it was covered in pink cotton candy. The scene and ride that day have been permanently embellished in my mind.
I might add that these rides in the dark are extremely fulfilling. Riding under a full moon, in my opinion, is safe and a really neat experience. It is similar to this summer when I competed in the Missouri River 340 and paddled the river under a full moon. Being on the trail early in the morning can be a pain when you are the first person to clear out all the cobwebs, but that is the price you pay for the benefit of having the trail to yourself.