West from St Louis | Cycle Touring | Keppel's Vlog 13 | Katy Trail 1

Over five days, I rode across the state of Missouri, following the Katy trail - the longest rails-to-trails conversion in the United States. This former section of the MKT (Missouri-Kansas-Texas) railroad has had the rails removed and the surface replaced with crushed limestone. Most people ride the trail from west-to-east (KC to St. Louis) - which means that they generally head downhill. I tackled the tougher east-to-west route, though the elevation change only really starts once you get to Boonville (day 3 & 4 of my trip).

To get to the trailhead near St. Louis, I took an Amtrak train from Lee's Summit. Having never taken a bike aboard a train before, I included a bit of what the trip was like in this video. Skip to the Kirkwood marker (03:04) if you'd like only to see cycling material.

Day 1 - Kirkwood Station to Defiance (34 miles, avg. 10mph / 55 km, avg. 16 kph)
Day 2 - Defiance to Tebbetts (78 miles, avg. 10.8 mph / 125.5 km, avg. 17.3 kph)

Komoot is my gps tracker, and you're welcome to follow me there if you want a .gpx file of the route I took.
https://www.komoot.com/user/174606647...

Relive.cc is a great place to check out details of the ride, including elevation and an interactive map.
Relive Day 1: https://www.relive.cc/view/v1vj1WLEWJq
Relive Day 2: https://www.relive.cc/view/vKv2yxEPp4q

Planning your own trip on the Katy trail? I highly recommend the spreadsheet designed by David Herholz. It made my trip planning much easier.
   • Planning a Katy Trail Trip  

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Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:51 Train Ride
03:04 Kirkwood
07:20 On the Katy Trail
09:59 Day 2
20:59 Lunch in Hermann
24:26 Trail to Tebbetts
27:49 Part 2 Preview

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Recording gear used:

GoPro Hero 8 Black
Samsung Gear 360 (2017)
LG G7 Thin-Q
Sony a6000 w/ 18-135mm lens
Sony ICD-UX570 Audio Recorder
AGD "Das Beste" mic and deadcat
DaVinci Resolve 17

See more gear detail at https://lighterpack.com/r/5gzogi

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Music:

"Adventure"
from Bensound.org, used under free license for personal social media.

"I Got to Go Now (Instrumental)" by Anthem of Rain
"Leave the Country (Instrumental)" by Anthem of Rain
"Clothe the Fields With Plenty" by Axletree
"Waking with You" by Crowander
"Walking in the Rain" by Crowander
"Saddle Sore" by Ketsa
"Soundwaves" by Ketsa
"Americana" by Mr. Smith
"Upbeat Funk Pop" by Scott Holmes Music
from FreeMusicArchive.org, used under Creative Commons license.

"Worlds within me"
by Dark Fantasy Studio, used under paid license.