The weather has really been cooperative lately - not too hot or cold and no rain. So I've been able to try out some new bike routes. On Sunday I went over to Illinois to the Madison County trails. Unfortunately, I think half of Illinois had the same thought, because the trails were packed - mostly with twosomes and threesomes riding side-by-side taking up the entire width of the trail. The bike trail itself is actually paved asphalt, but the views are mostly cornfields.
On Wednesday, I went out to the Weldon Spring section of the Katy Trail. But rather than drive all the way to the Weldon Spring trailhead, I parked at the outlet mall on the east side of the Missouri River. On MODOT's last highway renovation, they built a bike lane along I-64 that connects the Katy Trail to the outlet mall (actually to the Chesterfield Levee Greenway that surrounds the outlet mall since it sits in a flood plain). It saved me several extra miles of driving, but added a layer of stress to my bike ride. Even though bikers are separated from the roadway by a concrete barrier, it's pretty nerve-wracking to be only a couple feet from on-coming traffic racing by at 70-80 mph (yes, the speed limit is technically 60 mph but everyone in St Louis knows that's only a suggestion). But when I finally got to the other side, all was peaceful along the Katy Trail. I even managed to find a little park bench in Defiance and do a little sketching. Next time I should go a little later in the day and do my sketching from the beer garden.
