Friday June 5th, St. Joseph MO to Chillicothe MO, 86 miles
The weather cleared and we headed East out of St. Joseph this morning. The 86 mile ride had countless rolling hills. Very pretty countryside with most of the ride on more rural, less congested roads. The type of riding, for my fellow locals, was quite similar to Rt 144 between Frederick and Ellicott City MD. We had over 5000 feet of aggregate climbing which contained some of the steepest grades we have seen yet. Tomorrow promises to be more of the same. I don't really mind as I've been at my best on this type of terrain and was first to finish today with my fellow rider, Liam from Scotland, one of the Tour's strongest riders.
One of the really cool things about the Tour is the smaller towns, some of which go out of their way to embrace it. Our ride comes thru the same towns every year at the same time so they are quite used to seeing us. Today, at the 30 mile mark, the small town of Maysville MO put out their red carpet for us and fed us with delicious home made cinnamon buns and other goodies. We rode in as a group, parade style. It was fun meeting and interacting with some of the older citizens who clearly look forward to our visit.
We ended the day in Chillicothe , a small town of about 9000. Dinner again at Applebees (by now most of my fellow riders have the menu committed to memory).
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| Above: Between St Joseph and Chillicothe MO |
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| Above: The small town of Maysville MO hosts our SAG stop |
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| Above: Rolling hills |
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| the Author from behind |
I love the small town hospitality and those hills look like fun! I think I could feel at home there.
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