Monthly Archives: July 2021

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MCT: 1 2 3 4

Madison County Transit in Illinois, just across the river from St Louis, has 85 miles of interconnected trails – a cyclist’s dream.

Another graphic to show seven suggested loops:

We parked inside Horseshoe Lake State Park to start our ride.

Here are the different trails we rode today. 1-Schoolhouse Trail:

Intersection with 2-Goshen Trail:

Intersection with 3-Nickel Plate Trail:

Intersection with 4-Nature Trail:

Here we made a left turn onto 1-Schoolhouse Trail to finish the loop and head back to the car:

Great ride. 26 miles.

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Your bike rides this week

Sunday June 27. Barbara in England, riding with her daughter:

Monday June 28. Dani, Cheryl, Kathy, Cindy, Jane:

Tuesday, June 29. Dani, Jane, Jonathan, Kathy, Cheryl:

“Johnny at the Confluence”:

Wednesday June 30. Dani, Kathy, Cheryl, Jonathan, and Jane drove to Roseville to ride some rolling hills. No group picture except when they were packing up to drive home. This group is training for the Breathe Bike Trek in September.

Also on Wednesday. This is Vincent who rides the St Louis Riverfront Trail as a security officer 70 miles/day, 5 days/week. Just in case you were thinking about adjusting your bike riding goals. Anyone?

Thursday July 1. Behind Dani is Cheryl, Kathy, and Cindy:

Friday July 2. Behind Cheryl, Kathy, Dani, Jane:

Saturday July 3. Jonathan took this picture of Cheryl, Cindy, Art, Kathy, and Jane:

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Paddle boats

We parked at the Boathouse specifically because we wanted to rent a paddle boat after our bike ride and tour Forest Park a different way. We arrived early and were among the first in line when they opened at 11 am. At 10:30, we were a bit dismayed to see a school bus drive up and unload quite a few summer campers and a couple of chaperones, everyone went right through the gate. At 11, when we were allowed in, the campers were already paired up and setting off, 2/kayak. They knew what they were doing. They could back up, turn, and take off, working cooperatively in pairs.

Off we went. Uh … pedaling this thing is harder than pedaling a bicycle. The kayakers were way up ahead.

After going under this bridge, you entered the Grand Basin.

And there they were, the kayakers goal. What a cool summer camp experience. The guy on the right was their leader/supervisor on the water.

Back we went. The plastic seats had become especially hard by now, but we pedaled on.

In fact, we completed our rented hour. We decided to have lunch at the Boathouse before heading back. Luckily we scored the best and shadiest spot on the patio and enjoyed our meal. As we were preparing to leave, a couple of ladies asked if our table was available and … a brief chat began … where we found out that a brother and sister who had been adopted separately had very recently found each other through a DNA testing site. Late yesterday, she arrived from Cozumel to meet her brother for the very first time, but only for about 10 minutes. They are about to have lunch together …

Pedaling that paddle boat was WAY harder than we expected. We were both tired and went to bed quite early.

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Forest Park

A beautiful 1300-acre park in downtown St Louis with a zoo, golf course, fish hatchery, sports fields, history museum, art museum, lakes, rivers, forests, outdoor amphitheater with seating for 1500 people, (1904) World’s Fair Pavilion, planetarium, and paths everywhere. Pea gravel for walkers, paved for cyclists and brave walkers/runners – directional signs point to “Heels” or “Wheels”. The paved outer loop is about 6 miles – we rode it twice. There are also intersecting paths throughout the park.

Great ride. 14 miles. We’d parked at the Boathouse in the early morning and did our riding. By the time we were done, it was time for a different adventure and then lunch at the Boathouse.