Came to Ks. to visit family and took some time for a great adventure riding the Prairie Spirit Trail from Garnett to Iola. It's a converted railway line, Kansas' first North to South line, dating back to the 1860's.
Garnett has this awesome depot/trail head. It was locked when I started at 7am, so I rode to the city pool and found water at the RV dump station. By the time I got back at 3pm the depot was unlocked with nice clean restrooms and water as well as trail info and historic pictures on the walls.
The baggage room has picnic tables set up and would be a nice cool spot to eat & rest while on the trail.
"Can you hear me now?" "Call me back on another vine."
A forgotten utility pole and wires are taken over by volunteer vines along the trail near Welda.
Neat old building in Colony.
I stopped off to eat breakfast at The Country Diner in downtown Colony, very friendly and the food was so good that I stopped again on the way back for a burger. I highly recommend it.
There is a underpass (tunnel) between Colony and Carlyle covered with graffiti. I was getting hot and tired and thought the following was very fitting:
"To Persevere, is to Suffer, first."
Along the way I crossed paths with these cattle cooling off in the creek. They looked at me like I was crazy to ride in this heat & humidity, I hate to admit that I'm dumber than a cow... but I think they had the right idea today!
Just South of Carlyle is a low water crossing with the bike path high above it. Looking east is a beautiful creek that comes to a head and rushes under the concrete. It was very picturesque.
The area right behind where I stood to take this picture was littered with beer cans, fireworks, bottles and empty cases under a graffiti filled bridge. It was a neat contrast. Obviously it's the place to be on hot weekend nights if your not old enough for the bars.
Coming into the North end of Iola the trail turns from crushed limestone to blacktop. That blacktop covered trail going in to town was the smoothest trail I've ever been on. I Really liked it.
Then, right on the edge of town I picked up a monster thorn. I don't mean a 'sticker' 'sanber' or 'goats head' I mean a thorn. (think Jesus' crown!) If I pulled it out air would escape. So I left it and looked for a bike shop.
A roadside vegetable salesman said he didn't think Iola has one, but that I should try Western Auto, that they've got allot of stuff like that. So I head over there. They had some bike parts, but not the tube I needed. Now, if you need a rear hub off a 1985 Wal-Mart kids bike, or frog and pig schrader valve caps, you'd be set... but if your looking for a common sized tube, your out of luck.
Well, I decide to head toward Wal-Mart to get a tube. I didn't want to get one there since they have universal tubes that don't really fit well. When I spot a cyclist coming toward me on the trail. I see she's wearing a helmet (a sure sign of a good cyclist) and is clipped in to a sweet Cannondale. Surly she'd know for sure if there was a bike shop in Iola. I stop her and ask. She says no, but quickly pulls her phone out and tells me she's got a "guy that works on everone's bikes around here".
She calls her friend and fellow cycling aficionado Dave and he says he'll be right there. (talk about small town hospitality!) As we wait for Dave we visit, she's very humble, but I get her to tell me she's done allot of touring and also rides area roads nearly everyday. Later Dave speculates that she has 30,000 miles on her bike! Later I picked up a Prairie Spirit Trail map at the depot in Garnett and found her picture on the cover. And also realized that the Iola Register had done this story on her. She'd probably never tell you what a distinguished cyclist she is, and probably didn't tell anyone about helping me out. But she truly was an angel! I couldn't believe my good fortune to have a brush with such an accomplished biker. Thanks Terri for hooking me up with Dave, it was great to meet you!
Now, keep in mind, I was just hoping to find a bike shop and grab a tube. Well, not in Iola, they take service one step farther!
Dave rolled up and while he didn't have a new spare tube to sell me on hand, he got right to work patching my tube, he was done in no time flat (yea, pun intended) then we sat there on the side of the trail and visited and swapped bike stories for most of the next hour. Dave had some awesome single track experiences to share as well as road stories and we talked allot about bikes he and his wife have and other people's that he has worked on. He's an excellent bike mechanic that works in the oil fields by day and when he's not turning wrenches on bikes evenings and weekends he's riding or riding motorcycles.
He was a fascinating guy to visit with. And as the conversation wound down and I pulled my wallet out, he flat (there it is again) refused to take any money for the patch job and wouldn't even let me buy him dinner. He wouldn't hear of it.
I can't get over how cool it was to meet Terri & Dave!
Back on the trail and headed North I am feeling great about Iola's hospitality and wanting to spread some good karma of my own when I run across this parched cyclist on the side of the hot humid trail. I stop to give him a drink... but realize I'm too late.
All in all it was a great ride on a trail I really love. It's always an adventure on the Prairie Spirit Trail, click here to check out my ride on the North part from a few weeks ago.
Spun a total of 57.86 miles. It was my 3rd ride on this trail and first time on the South end of it. I love this trail!
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