Naturey Goodness

It's only my 2nd day in St. Louis and already I've visited many tucked away parts of the town where I grew up. Yesterday I went to a Rams' game at the Jones Dome with Sara, Rob, and a lot of their extended family. It was nice to see some areas of downtown that have been brought back to life with conversion of old buildings to lofts and the addition of some new restaurants.

Today there was a rare 70-degree day in November, so I took advantage of it with a bike ride. My good friend Carrie lives a few houses down from my parents and she graciously loaned me a road bike to keep up my race training.

We are very lucky to live in such a beautiful area of St. Louis. Only a short distance from my house is Grant's Trail. Grant's Trail is a 'rails to trails' park where an old rail line was converted to 8 miles of a scenic bikeway through the heart of South County. The trail runs from Kirkwood at the northwest to Lemay at the southeast. Along the way you pass through residential neighborhoods, clydesdale pastures, industrial parks, county parks, and creeks.

I started out from home where it's about a half mile through our neighborhood to Pardee Rd. to get to the trail. Cars around here are not used to cyclists and there are no bike lanes. Even though I waited for traffic to clear, I instantly had a minivan on my wheel with a driver who didn't understand the universal wave for "you! idiot! go around!"

Upon reaching the trail, I headed southeast and rode to the end where it dead ends at Orlando Gardens. I didn't anticipate the 30 mph headwind the entire way. I assumed it would be a nice tailwind for my way back, but the St. Louis weather didn't cooperate instead shifted directions to provide a 40 mph headwind for my ride back. Awesome!

I passed my trail entry point at Pardee and continued northwest to the other terminus in Kirkwood. I noticed that a lot of people were impatient at the surface street crossings. Some people would glance in either direction and decide to not stop at all, Frogger style. I saw at least 2 near misses in the short time I was out there. I also saw someone run a red light when trail users had the right of way. Unfortunately, I think it's just a matter of time until someone gets worked.

The last bit of my ride was definitely the hardest.... all uphill. My house is at the top of a steep neighborhood and after 17.5 miles, my thighs were slightly unresponsive. That hill defeated me as a child and now as an adult.... but by the end of the week I intend to make it my biotch.

View of an old railroad bridge and miles of empty trail

Park in Kirkwood along the trail

Grant National Historic site -- one of Ulysses S. Grant's homes on several wooded acres and a visitor's center

Clydesdales at Grant's Farm

Moi

Leafy trail. It's beautiful in the spring and summer.