Wow, I am glad I got into the van today. For many reasons I am glad. The cue sheet said that the shoulder ended and rumble strips started at mile 35. Given the road we were routed on, I knew it was going to be hairy and I just didn’t want the tension. So I arranged with our guide to wait with the van at mile 34 and that’s exactly where she was. She picked up me and the other guide and, just as the cue sheet promised, the road turned to shit within a mile. Penny, Moira and Kris were in the van already so a good time was had by all. We booked up to the cute town of Clarksville, MO, at mile 66 where we had time for lunch, surfing the internet and a little bit of shopping.
Lock and dam 24 is located here and Penny and I enjoyed visiting that. After picking up more riders who opted to stop for the day, we piled back in the van and back tracked about 15 miles to get a group of five who agreed: the road was shit.
By then there were 15 people in the van and we high tailed it into Hannibal. Traffic lessened a bit but it still wasn’t a road I wanted to bike on. I was congratulating myself on avoiding the anxiety a ride like that would have given when we turned a corner to face the first of several tremendously steep hills. At this point we were at mile 95 on the route and the hills were just beginning. We went over a series of long hills that went up to a 16% grade and kept up until the last, long downhill into Hannibal. The total distance today was 115 miles and only about 6 riders did the entire ride. I am glad I was not one of them.
It’s a shame that WomanTours chose the route and the distance they did. There was a much shorter, less hilly and safer route available. This once great company seems to be slipping lately.
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