This seems as good a time as any to briefly share my first major long-range cycling goal.
I set a New Year’s Resolution for 2012 to bike the Katy Trail, a 237-mile rail-trail stretching across Missouri. But this is not the initial goal – I need to work up to the Katy.
And I’m going to do that by cutting my teeth on the Prairie Spirit Trail, a 51-mile rail-trail in Kansas whose origination point is less than a mile from my house.
I knew there was a bike trail “back there” when I moved into the house, obviously, but that was long before I took up cycling as a hobby. I had no concept of how long the trail was or where it led – I assumed maybe a few miles long. I was therefore very pleasantly delighted, when I did start riding the bike, to learn that running literally right behind my back yard was one of the longer continuous bicycle trails in the country. I’ve been biking the closer portions of the trail – up to approximately 8 miles out or so – for a while now. Once I made the firm decision to bike the Katy in 2012, I set a second, and more near-term, goal of biking the Prairie Spirit (which I’ll abbreviate PST).
So, simply: the plan is to increase mileage gradually, getting into better shape, preparing for longer rides, and by 6/30/2012, bike the full length of the Prairie Spirit Trail, stay the night at its terminus, and bike back the following day.
From now till the accomplishment of this goal, I will only casually consider the Katy – instead, I will allow the PST ride to consume my dreams and fire my imagination. Biking this trail (a “half century”) and then back the following day will be a remarkable accomplishment, and I’m very much looking forward to it.
yeahthisistheone
Prairie Spirit Dreaming
January 9, 2012
This seems as good a time as any to briefly share my first major long-range cycling goal.
I set a New Year’s Resolution for 2012 to bike the Katy Trail, a 237-mile rail-trail stretching across Missouri. But this is not the initial goal – I need to work up to the Katy.
And I’m going to do that by cutting my teeth on the Prairie Spirit Trail, a 51-mile rail-trail in Kansas whose origination point is less than a mile from my house.
I knew there was a bike trail “back there” when I moved into the house, obviously, but that was long before I took up cycling as a hobby. I had no concept of how long the trail was or where it led – I assumed maybe a few miles long. I was therefore very pleasantly delighted, when I did start riding the bike, to learn that running literally right behind my back yard was one of the longer continuous bicycle trails in the country. I’ve been biking the closer portions of the trail – up to approximately 8 miles out or so – for a while now. Once I made the firm decision to bike the Katy in 2012, I set a second, and more near-term, goal of biking the Prairie Spirit (which I’ll abbreviate PST).
So, simply: the plan is to increase mileage gradually, getting into better shape, preparing for longer rides, and by 6/30/2012, bike the full length of the Prairie Spirit Trail, stay the night at its terminus, and bike back the following day.
From now till the accomplishment of this goal, I will only casually consider the Katy – instead, I will allow the PST ride to consume my dreams and fire my imagination. Biking this trail (a “half century”) and then back the following day will be a remarkable accomplishment, and I’m very much looking forward to it.
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