Castlewood 10 miler (2012_05_28)

Castlewood has climbed (pun intended) its way to the top of my running list.  I absolutely love these trails, from the flat, soft sand covered stretches, the arduous climbs and the exhilarating drops over bramble, brush and boulder.  Now that I've at least run a section of every trail, I intend to refine my running route to offer a scale of distances and difficulties (new page maybe?).

Madison County Trail (Illinois)

Great 56 mile bike ride Sunday, May 29th.  The trail was absolutely beautiful, passing mostly under cool trees and occasionally over creeks beds.  A peaceful escape for someone seeking a long ride without the continuous hassle of traffic lights, cars and crowds.

Mississippi River Trail to MCT Confluence Trail (and back!)

Sunday was both Mother's Day and EPIC Bike Ride Day!  Many remembered to honor the former, few observed the latter.  We were that lucky few.

The Mississippi River Trailhead is located just East of Morgan Street on the Landing.  We chose to park for free at the casino, but were almost instantly approached by a guard asking if we were guests at the hotel (I think the bike rack gave us away).  One white lie later, we had unloaded our bikes and were heading to the trailhead.  When we arrived at the trailhead, my wife was having some issues with her seat.  Not to worry - Midwest hospitality runs deep and we were able to borrow an allen key from a great couple unloading their recumbent bikes to hit the trail.  They even let her take one of the recumbents for a spin while I fixed up the bike seat.  Soon we were tuned up and ready to hit the trail.

The first few miles of the trail leave you second-guessing your decision to take this particular trail. Do not worry, the sites will improve and Missouri's (and western Illinois') natural beauty will come shining through in clear detail.  Not to say there weren't curiosities along the opening miles; there was a two story hobo-hut, a now bulldozed homeless village and a very friendly reststop complete with canned water and mostly full portopotties.

Once you've passed the industrial zone, you'll enter into nature.  The trail is incredibly well maintained and offers wonderful views of colorful, wild fields, the gently rolling Mississippi river,  wild turkeys, snakes (!) and other little critters venturing out.  On a sunny day, it is a great way to reconnect with something deeper and experience some recreational exercise at the same time.

After passing over the Chain of Rocks bridge, we followed a country road hoping to connect to the MCT Confluence Trail.  Passing over a metal bridge of questionable integrity, we were relieved to see a trail map indicating we were on the right path.  Hanging a sharp left and following another country road, we were spit out into a construction zone that led up to the trail.  Unfortunately, this section of the trail was gravel, leading to some members of the ride questioning the decision to continue.  Alas, this was EPIC Bike Ride Day and we persevered.  After a couple of "will this tire pop" miles, we were finally able to hop onto a paved section of the trail.  The rest of the MCT was absolutely beautiful, the only sound other than nature being the steady hum of the wheel spinning across the asphalt.

I will absolutely be doing this ride again.  The only negatives from this trail were the two road crossings on the MRT and the 2-3 miles of blockades/roadcrossings on the MCT (I'm definitely not complaining though).  Oh, total mileage: ~55 miles.  Nicknames bestowed:  3 (Lazer, Snake and Chain).

(Apologies for the lack of true GPS and Elevation - forgot to grab the Garmin but did remember granola!)

Whoaa - two weeks and no posts?!?!  I am not taking my new found, late 20's duty of blogging very seriously.  It's been an interesting past two weeks for both personal and training/running/biking reasons.  I'll be sure to update this blog later tonight in more detail, but I'll simply outline a couple of the fun activities I've been up to.

The month of March opened up with my very first obstacle/adventure run: Ruckus Run!  I placed in the top 10% and qualified to run the whole thing a SECOND TIME later that day.  Suffice it to say I felt worse at the end of that second run than I did the last 10K of my first marathon last year.  Rough!

This past Sunday, I had a "big ride" bug biting me all week that was finally actualized in the form of a 55 mile bike ride from St Louis to Alton, starting at the Mississippi River Trail.  It was an absolutely gorgeous ride.  We took our time and made room in the schedule for several breaks, along with a short lunch (of trail mix and granola bars!) in Alton.  The overall time came out around 6 hrs, but accounting for all the break I'd say we were closer to 4.5 hrs.

More to come tonight!