Day 5
Day 5: Edwardsville, MO to Pacific, MO - 68 miles, 2,454 feet elevation
I left Edwardsville, IL, located in Madison County, where there are miles of well maintained, exclusive use bike/pedestrian paths connecting the city to other towns all over the county. Apparently after every storm volunteers come clean up the paths so they are easier to use. Talk about an amazing community oriented place! Can you imagine if the Bay Area in California connected exclusive use bike trails to all the municipalities from Healdsburg to San Jose to Napa to Sacramento to Livermore! Wait. Maybe it has and I don’t know, because, you know, I don’t bike anywhere normally.
I met a group of 60+ year old cyclist on their way from Elkhorn, IL to St. Louis, MO. They said relative to me they felt old, but I marveled at their fitness. In retrospect, I should have marveled that they were on a long distance cycling trip, like me, and that this might not be such a weird thing to do especially if you’re in this corridor with so many great biking towns.
Chain of Rocks Bridge is famous for its 30 degree turn in the middle. I’m not enough of an engineering nerd to appreciate the nuances of it. However, it was fun to ride over since the “old” bridge is reserved for cyclists and pedestrians.
Its been a tough day. The cumulative effects of 300+ miles of riding after a six year hiatus is rough on the body. Also, its blazing hot. Fine, that’s subjective since any self respecting Houstonian would scoff at 90F, but I’m a weak Bay Area Californian now. I can only exist in a band between 55-75F.
I made this video for my buddy Leven Wadley who taught me that training is cheating.
