I miss home. I miss my family. I miss my dog. But as long as I have to travel, I will always venture out to check out the local cycling culture. My recent trip to St. Louis, gave me a chance to see the city and county from my steel steed. My impression of St. Louis is two fold. I see an urban area that is struggling. I also see proud people, regardless of race, outside together riding, running and living in a world so filled with all the world’s problems. I see proud sports fans from all walks of life, clinging to their beloved Cardinals and Blues.

I was able to get out a few times on this trip to explore some of the urban landscape from two wheels and venture a little further out to sample one of the gems of the mid-west. Not Mountainous, but by no means is St. Louis flat. At least, not until you hit some of the incredible paved cycleways and gravel trails.

I had an opportunity to pedal out of the city to Creve Coeur Lake. From there, you can experience miles of beautiful roads, paths and even jump on The Katy Trail, a 240 mile crushed limestone rail trail that traverses the state of Missouri. I couldn’t help myself. I jumped on the section from Creve Coeur to St. Charles. The gravel is hard packed. I was not the only one on a road bike, but maybe the only one with 25mm tires. I only rode about 12 miles on the trail, but I would like to go back and spend a weekend across the entire network.

As I capped a hill, on my back to the hotel, I saw the sun, so red (probably from the western forest fires) it looked like it would explode. I’ll be home soon, for maybe a week, but you can bet I’ll squeeze a few miles in and hopefully get to paddle a little before the cold weather comes.

Here’s a few more photos