Pork Belly Update #8---A Cool Fall Ride!
August 16, 2020
Dear Friends,
During this strange summer, we trust that you are keeping yourselves healthy and spending some therapy time on your bikes. We imagine that you might be feeling a little wistful, as we are--perhaps missing your friends and dreaming of the 2020 bicycle tour season that pretty much wasn't.
For those of you looking for a ride, we actually have one--and only one--to suggest yet this year. We'll be there with bells on.
ABOVE: Meriwethers, on the Katy Trail, where a lot of our Missouri Double Cross riders stopped for a second breakfast between Boonville and Jeff City. Such a pretty spot.
We've filled this update with photos of a ride that Pork Belly Ventures started this past July, the Missouri Double Cross. It was actually two back-to-back, 5-day rides on the glorious Katy Trail. Our riders and crew had a great time hanging out together on the Katy. We at PBV are looking forward to another Katy Trail Tour in September.
RIGHT: Here's John at a scenic overlook on the Katy Trail. Wow!
Our friends and collaborators, Greg and Danita Wood are hosting Big BAM on the Katy--their annual 5-day ride on the beautiful Katy Trail from Defiance to Clinton. Take a look at the scrapbook of photos below and imagine fall colors. That's BBK.
- BBK is an east/west ride, 5 days on the Katy Trail across Missouri, September 28 to October 2.
- Daily mileage is 37 to 51 miles on the limestone-chip trail surface.
- Any bike will do. E-bikes are fine. Skinny tires are not advisable for trail riding.
- As ever, Pork Belly Ventures will be there, setting up camp, transporting bags, brewing morning coffee, operating the showers, staffing your daily refreshment stop, and greeting you at our front desk.
- You can bring your own tent for BBK, or PBV is offering rental tents and PHAT rooms, too. (Detail on PHAT Rooms below.)
- Your ride entry includes lovely reserved campsites, hot coffee in the morning, luggage transport throughout the tour, daily water/snack stops along the trail, daily route maps, a souvenir shirt, phone-charging, your hot and private shower each day, all state park fees, SAG support, and beer from the awesome beer sponsor, Sudwerk Brewing.
- You can park at the beginning or the end of this tour and use a shuttle before or after the ride. Shuttle details at the BBK site.
- The ride start in Defiance is about 15 miles from the St. Louis airport.
- Want to ride the entire trail? Come to Defiance early and ride the segment from St. Charles to Defiance on Sunday, the 27th. If you have questions or would like to reserve this special shuttle, contact Todd at 314-578-7300.
- This is a small ride, likely around 150 riders. In any case, attendance is capped at 250.
- SAFETY IS A PRIORITY. Check out BBK's homepage for safety protocols in camp:
If you like what you see here of the Missouri Double Cross, please share this update with friends. And if you'd like to ride five or six days on the Katy during the cool of September/October, you can sign up with BIG BAM right here:
For a little more comfort and a little less work during your cycling tour, check out the rental tent service of PBV or even a PHAT Room:
PBV Event Page--Click on Big BAM on the Katy
The Joys of a PHAT Room
When you reserve a PHAT Room with Pork Belly Ventures, you only unpack once. This bike-and-barge experience gives you and your friends your own little haven, complete with air-conditioning (in case it's needed in Sept/Oct), mattresses, linens, electrical outlets beside your bed, and switched lighting at the head of each bed. The rooms feature knotty pine interiors with laminate flooring, and there's a cooler in each room for your use. Up to five people can share a room and split the cost, but you may find the optimum number of sleepers to a room is two or three. If you have questions for us, please call Tammy at 712-328-0161 (home) or 808-375-8921 (cell).
BELOW: PHAT rooms have one lower twin bunk (on the right), a sofa that can be used as a bed (on the left), and two upper twin bunks. We can add a twin trundle on the floor, which can stow under the lower twin bunk. While five can sleep in these rooms, you may want fewer so that you can enjoy the use of your sofa and your floor is clear.
TIRE SWING WILL
HAVE TO WAIT.
We hope it goes without saying that we would love to enjoy your fellowship, hopefully in the not-too-distant future. The fall ride we've been working on so diligently, however--Tire Swing--will have to wait until next year. Cities in our area (Iowa/Nebraska) are seeing increasing numbers of covid cases, and there's just too much uncertainty right now. We want nothing more than to invite you to join us, and we want our inaugural Tire Swing Bicycle Tour to be nothing short of delightful. As we've said so many times this year, we'll just have to wait for it.
We're missing you, friends. But we're keeping busy. Even without many rides this year, we are working to make next year that much better. In September, we'll be popping up on a favorite trail, along with our friends of RAGBRAI. More to come on that sweet event.
Be safe and be happy. Keep scrolling for our Missouri Double Cross Scrapbook. Join us on Big BAM on the Katy! And until next time, we remain,
Your friends,
Tammy and Pete
And the PBV Team
The Missouri Double Cross
Scrapbook
Here's a smattering of Missouri Double Cross pics. What great memories! If you like what you see here, then there's still space on Big BAM on the Katy, which will cover the same route and overnight in the same towns as the Double Cross. The weather, however, will be much cooler in late September.
ABOVE: Steve, Steph, and Tom, setting off from Hermann on Day 2 of our First Crossing. Steph rode the only fat-tire bike on the Double Cross. Our Hermann Campsite was right on the wide Missouri River.
RIGHT: No tandem is better cared for than Randy's.
BELOW: Alan, Casey, and John in camp, with Tin Mill Brewery of Hermann, Missouri in the background.
Kim sent these two from the trail,
a lovely view ABOVE and more big rocks BELOW!
ABOVE: Cover page of route maps. Similar to this set, each rider of BBK will receive a handy set of daily route maps, created by the Big BAM team. Daily maps include locations of food and water along the trail, any updates on trail conditions, and even a list of likely eateries, breweries, wineries, and distilleries in the overnight towns.
LEFT: Dillon, grillin' in our Jeff City campsite.
BELOW: In one of our prettiest sites, right beside the lovely Visitors Center in Boonville, here are Susan and Casey during a lull before set-up.
ABOVE: Clockwise from left, Missouri Double Cross riders, John, Ron, Tim, David,
and Mark, kicking back in our shady Boonville campsite.
ABOVE: Right at the trailhead
in Boonville, this lovely veranda
was available to our riders.
A great place to hang out
and watch riders roll by.
RIGHT: a view of camp behind Chris from the veranda of the welcome center at the trailhead in Boonville
BELOW: A liftgate confab on the left,
and the historic Welcome Center of Boonville on the right.
BELOW: The dynamic trio, Darla, Teresa, and Kathy--all 2-way Double Crossers.
BELOW: Dillon lifted 100X his weight every day!
ABOVE: Francois and Greg Wood, around the coffee trailer with our crew in Sedalia.
BELOW: Pete, George, and I served the wonderful breakfast buffet
from Square 109 in Clinton. Greg is already working with breakfast vendors
in several of our overnight towns on BBK.
BELOW: That's Dillon left of center, Susan (in the bacon shorts),
John and Bob on the right in Clinton.
The afternoon was warm, but it cooled down so nicely that night.
BELOW: The guys told us that Sheila and Elaina were card sharps!
They played gin rummy a couple times during the ride.
BELOW: Our Hermann campsite, a beautiful park on the Missouri River.
ABOVE: Our Jefferson City campsite was a little park
maintained by a Master Gardener group.
BELOW: Beautiful Katy Park, our campsite in Sedalia.
Pete, LEFT, in his happy place, on the back of a truck. Chatting with Greg, that's me BELOW in Sedalia.
ABOVE: These three couples became friends on the ride. We had a snow-cone vendor nearby in our Sedalia campsite.
RIGHT: You can always visit our front desk with questions and see our announcement board for special options from day to day.
BELOW: Leaving Sedalia
BELOW: Todd White on the left, along with Gerry, set up a Katy Trail boutique in Pork Camp on the last day. It was a souvenir frenzy! On BBK, you'll know and love Todd and Gerry, your guides and sag drivers who cover each day's route. You'll start your tour at their shop in Defiance--Katy Trail Bike Rental!
If You Like the Look of the Double Cross,
You'll Love Big BAM on the Katy!
Questions? Contact us:
Pete: pete@pkbelly.com, 402-681-2613 c
Tammy: tammy@pkbelly.com, 808-375-8921 c
Greg: gwood@missourilife.com, 660-537-2521 c