I Said I’m Going to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come
Our ride from St. Louis to KC was going to be a hot one. We knew that when we planned the schedule a year ago. When planning, we figured we were going to be just missing the hottest parts of each region of the country… until we got to this ride. Boy were we right.
It was 108 degrees in St. Louis. Actually, on the field at the Cardinals game, there was a screen shot of a thermometer reading 121 degrees.
It was hot. And now that we were finished with our clinic, had filled up on delicious hot dogs courtesy of the Boys and Girls Club, it was time for us to hit the road Jack and never come back, no more no more no more no more…
But there was a bit of a catch. It was Saturday afternoon, and we had just been provided with tickets to the Futures and Celebrity Softball (F & CS) games at Kauffman Stadium.
Well, the F & CS games started at 4 PM on Sunday, July 8th. When we started back on our bikes, it was 2:30 PM on Saturday, July 7th. We had 300 miles to go and just over 24 hours to do it. But we WERE going to do it. Our very own Royals players: Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi were starting for the US team while Yordano Ventura would be starting for the World team. We don’t have a lot to get excited about in KC lately about the state of our MLB team, so the Futures game was our own All-Star game. We HAD to make it!
Time to book it in 108 degree heat!
Good news!
There is a wonderful trail of crushed limestone that spans most of the distance between St. Louis and Kansas City. It’s called the Katy Trail and it runs along the Missouri River from west St. Louis to Sedalia, MO.
There are a couple of rinky dink towns that sit close to the trail that we could hit up to refill on water and food. But the trail was covered, not populated and fast. The rides were pleasant, safe and fun. We biked into the night to save time and eventually, into the sand. As Steve was night biking, he was crushing the end of the ride and couldn’t see much of the road anymore. Pedaling hard with reckless abandon, the trail quickly turned from crushed limestone to sand. And sand, isn’t so friendly on two wheels. His speed quickly slowed from 20 mph to about 2 mph entering the sand as his handlebars fishtailed in the opposite direction of his back tire, sending him endo (end-over-end) into a heap on the ground. It was a harmless fall, but nevertheless, our second one. The first one, was within the first mile of our first ride in Seattle. A sniper crack snagged Chase’s tire and twisted his bike right out of his hands and tossed him to the pavement. That one was the worst on account of the pavement. No injuries either, but pavement is less forgiving than sand. Still lucky that we have only had two falls up to this point.
As we joined everyone up with the trailer Saturday night and took some razzing shots at Steve for his 2nd fall, we found our “campsite” for the night in Boonville. Our “campsite” was in a small grass oasis in the center of a roundabout that was bordered by corn fields on every side. It wasn’t a campsite. We were super roughing it. But we were only sleeping for a few hours so we figured it’d be alright. We had been given over a dozen hot dogs by the Boys and Girls Club and ate those as we set up camp.
We woke up at the crack of dawn and saw a beautiful sunset over the fields surrounding our campsite.
Starting our day early and with vigor, we had our sites set on Kauffman Stadium!
Cycling into Kansas City via Highway 50 from Sedalia was actually quite lovely and safe! It also helps your mental attitude and your speed on the bike when you know you’ll be sitting down and watching baseball for the next 7 hours at Kauffman Stadium.
Chase and Adam, although growing up in Kansas City, had never actually rode their bicycles to Kauffman, much less even drove into The K from the east. This was an all-new experience for us. And when we were coming up the Blue Ridge Cutoff and saw our first glimpse of Kauffman in the distance, it was literally a dream come true. Our hometown stadium was hosting the All-Star Game. We had ridden our bicycles from Seattle to get here. We were halfway to all 30. And most of all, we were home. This is where we spent many a summer day catching ballgames which ultimately led to the foundation for Biking for Baseball. The passion of baseball that resides in Chase and I was birthed at Kauffman. This was everything we had ever wanted all at one time. Goosebumps, giddiness, ear-to-ear smiles, high-fives and uncontrollable Texan yee-haws! were thrown back and forth as we had reached a milestone on our journey. We were back baby!
We rode up to the park and around it, taking in all the sights and basking in the beautiful Royal blue colors that draped the Truman Sports Complex. What a sight! Damn it feels good to be home.
