YUM!

Behold the great season of autumn.  There's nothing like colored leaves and mild temps...better yet, blazing bikes and tasty brews.  Myself and Nicholas Smith woke up this very morning and decided to head out on an autumnal reconnaisance.  The day began with a beautiful MORNING.  Remember the key word, MORNING (hint, hint, that's foreshadowing.)  We took off to good ole COMO with our tounges dripping with a taste for one of our favorite breweries, Flat Branch.  

The wind was at our backs and we shot the shit of awesome gravel adventures, and places we would love to ride.  One of those being some gravel race in South Dakota that sounds too good to be true.  I'm sure you'll hear more about it soon. 

As we pulled into Cooper's Landing we decided to take a stroll down to the river and pull out a couple of brews.  Cooper's is normally crawling with freaks and river rats...today Nick and I were the freak and river rat.  The Cooper's locals must of had a rough night the evening before because there wasn't a soul in site. 

After a tasty Sam's we hopped back on our two wheeled steeds and pumped our legs towards Columbia.  Soon we crossed paths with the Eagle's Bluff trail head.  Myself and Nick have passed this point numerous times but have never taken the time to hike to the top of this overlook.  It didn't take long to figure out why we've never hiked to the top...over 200 steps going straight up.  Now, don't get me wrong, the views were gorgeous, but the once we reached the top we felt like we had just finished the Dirty Kanza.  It's a shame people dog on good 'ole MO.  In my mind I love this state and when you find places like the bluff over look, you know why MO is a special place.  People need to go out and find the good in this state.  There's a lot of hidden secrets that MO has to offer.

Finally, we made it to the halfway point...the Flat Branch.  I've been to a lot of breweries in my time, and so has Nick, but both of us can't deny that the Flat Branch is one of the best in our books.  With that said a great deal of ale was consumed.  

As we were gargling our favorite beers Mother Nature decided to throw us a surprise.  Stumbling out of Flat Branch we were greeted with freezing cold temperatures, dark clouds, and a slight drizzling rain.  Being the TRW men of bravado we are, a little rain would not stop us.  As I told Nick before the trip, "It may rain on our parade today, but it doesn't mean our parade is going to stop."  Rain it did, but the parade moved on.  Good thing we brought rain jackets and beer.  

Once we made it to McBaine the rain was no longer a drizzle, it had become a wrath of God.  Nick and I found a pavillion to shelter ourselved from the God's sinister embelishment of frigid ball shrinkingness.  We sat back, drank a Sam Adams, and waited for the rain to subside.  My wife had told the both of us before we departed on today's adventure to call her if we got into a bind...Nick and I weren't scared.  Rain wasn't going to detour us from our reconnaisance.

The rain subsided and we hopped back onto our two wheeled machines, cold and drunk.  Say what you want about the Katy Trail, but you earn every single mile.  There's no resting your legs.  We peddled hard and our bones shivered.  Both of us dreamed of Snickers Bars and Stag beer.  We once again rolled upon Cooper's Landing...but WTF? the door was locked.  Luckily a dude showed out of nowhere and said he had a key to the store.  Nick and I jumped right in, warmed up, bought ourselves a much needed Snickers Bar and a tasty liquid refreshment.  We hung out under the pavillion enjoying our beloved River of MO and watched it rain some more.  Hey...Nick and I were on an adventure...and this was an adventure we needed to finish.  We weren't about to call someone to pick us up because of a little rain.

For one last time we jumped upon our bicycles and pedaled hard back to the car.  I love the fall and I love adventures. Although I'm now suffering from hypothermia, this was day where there was no regret.  Go out and live life my friends.  Mother Nature may throw a little adversity in our face every now and then, but it's the adversity that only makes us appreciate the good things on Earth we have.  We were covered in complete filth once we made it back to our automobile, it was a day you never want to trade back.

Comments

[Stoney]

I've never stopped and checked out the Eagle Bluff trail either. I'll have to do that some time.

What about Berryman this weekend? Is anyone going? Are we going to carpool?

[Red Nipple Stains]

Stoney-I'm riding down with Turbo and staying at Corey's Friday night.

[Peat]

Epically awesome. Wish I could have been there.

I'll be at BT Epic. See y'all there!

[Hey Peat, do you wanna ride?]

Peat, do you do much gravel or riding during the week? Seeing as i'm in Washington, if you do some riding after work i could probably drive in to St. louis to put in some miles. I can get off as early as 3 here if i go in early.

Turbo

[Stoney]

So I take it Peat aint on Facebook either? I thought I was the only one.

[Peat]

Sorry, but I'm not on facebook. Actually, I'm not sorry.

Turbo, I rarely get to ride during the week except for my commute to work. I can sometimes get off work early though so if you have a specific day that you want to ride, I might be able to get out. We'll be out of daylight in the evenings after Saturday. We could do some night riding on trails or gravel out at Lost Valley/Busch Wildlife area which isn't too far from Washington. I'd be up for that sometime.