After 167 miles on a bike, two thoughts dominated my thinking: 1) I really hope my friend Rick is going to be there to pick me up and 2) where is the nearest beer?! As I rolled across the final toll bridge, approaching the end of the ride I started 16 hours earlier, I hoped against hope both would be there.

First, the back story. After hearing of others who attempted similar feats, I decided what I really needed to do was to ride from my home in Webster Groves, Mo., to the Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri.

My specific destination was the far end of the toll bridge across the Lake on Highway MM, in Sunrise Beach, Missouri, taking advantage of the fact that though it costs cars $3.00 to cross, bikes go over it for free. (Take that, cagers!) And on Thursday, June 21, 2012, I did just that.

My trip started when I left my house just before 4 a.m. and rode to Creve Coeur Park and then across the Missouri River (first crossing) via the Page Avenue Extension to the Katy Trail in St. Charles. I reached the Katy Trail right at the 20 mile mark, and even before 6 a.m. I saw 5 or 6 runners out on the trail. Good for me as I didn't have to be the one breaking all the spider webs.

Continued on the Katy Trail south from St. Charles another 31 miles and until I stopped at the Dutzow Deli for breakfast just before 8am with 51+ miles on the odometer. Then it was a long slog (~40 miles) to Portland for lunch at the Riverfront Bar & Grill (and by the way, the place is for sale if you are interested). Legs ached at this point as it was steady pedaling on the flat trail and I was battling a head wind at this point but more fluids, rest and a vitamin certainly helped.

(Related article:Survive and Thrive on a Long-Distance Ride)

One of the things that helped me is that along the way I stopped after every hour of riding time to take a picture, note my mileage, and email/text the family of my progress. I did this deliberately to force myself to rest since I had such a long way to go.

The Katy Trail is limited to users on foot and bike (plus a limited stretch near Sedalia that allows horses). Motorized traffic is completely forbidden on the gravel trail, but somehow I got passed by a guy riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle on the trail somewhere near Mokane. The rider was kind enough to wave as he passed me at ~25 mph while throwing gravel dust all over me. Fail.

I finally turned off the Katy Trail at the North Jefferson Trail Head (about 120 miles), and followed the connector trail to the bike/ped lane across the Missouri River (second crossing) on Highway 54. While in Jefferson City, I stopped at the capitol building for a quick photo, then on to the Coffee Zone on High Street for caffeine and carbs.

Weather was decent for me as it stayed mostly cloudy for the bulk of the day, some wind out of the NW and a high temp around 90 degrees. Between riding before sunrise, the cloud cover and the trees along the trail I was able to stay out of the sun for a large part of the ride. (Related article: Stay cool in hot weather riding.

Leaving Jefferson City, I got back on US 54 and headed southwest towards the lake on the wide shoulder. Lots of big rollers and sun for the next 40 miles. I was happy to be on pavement after 100 miles of gravel, and able to coast downhill on these rolling hills versus pedaling all the time on the flat, gravel Katy Trail. Taking US 54 from Jefferson City to Lake of the Ozarks is doable, but not ideal. Nice wide shoulder but 1) lots of fast moving traffic (speed limit is 70 in places, which seems to compel some drivers to blow past at 80 mph) and 2) there are three separate bridge crossings where the shoulder all but disappears and you are left with a narrow strip outside the fog line to use when you hustle and squeeze across the bridge. Not for the squeamish. It was nice that my ride was on a Thursday as I avoided some the weekend lake traffic.

Around 150 miles, I started getting leg cramps so I moderated my speed. Stopped at a Subway at the junction of the Highway 54 and Highway 17 to have a sandwich, and consumed about half of their iced tea -- I was so tired of sports drinks by then. Note: there are not a lot of convenient places to stop and eat along US 54 between Jeff City and Lake Ozark, so keep this in mind as you ride this stretch.

Then one final push towards the lake. I exited on Business 54, zoomed down the hill, rode across the Bagnell Dam, then through the town of Lake Ozark. There I turned off on Highway MM and rode across the Community Bridge to the toll booth, where Rick was in fact there to meet me, and the very first thing he did was to hand me ice water and IPA. Re-hydration is important, eh? I was elated to have completed the journey safely. My legs and butt were even happier. To complete the journey with no flats and no mechanical problems was a bonus. My wife thought I was crazy to do this ride and at that point I kind of agreed with her.

Looking back on my trip since that time has been fun, in large part due to the fact that I took 50+ pics along the way. I used a Garmin Forerunner 301 to record my route. After about 8+ hours I had to put it on external battery power to keep it running for another 8+ hours! Saw the following wildlife: lots of bugs in Creve Coeur Park, one bullfrog, a family of 4 raccoons, 5 deer, lots of male Cardinals (birds, not baseball players or religious people), a wild turkey, a muskrat, a snake, two turtles, lots of grasshoppers and one mouse.

STATS
Start: 3:57am
Finish: 8:34pm
Distance: 167.66 miles.
Riding Time: 12:00:11
Clock Time: 16:37
Average speed: 13.96 mph
Elevation Gain: 2,987 ft

Bike: 2002 TREK 7500fx Performance Hybrid equipped with toe clips and brand new Bontrager H5 Plus tires (700x32). My intent was to be completely self-sufficent on this ride so I had a bag on my mountain rack with food (GU, pretzels, fig newtons), first-aid kit, tools, 3 tubes, 1 folding tire, hand wipes, zip lock bags in case it rained, bike lock, sunscreen, plus a spare Garmin device.

Links

• Photos of the trip
  
• Route from Garmin device
  
• Ray Scott's nice Katy Trail website - useful to plan my stops along that leg of the ride. Lots of good info about where to get food & water.

All in all, it was a heck of an adventure and one that I probably won't repeat anytime soon.