After MO kicked my butt for two days it was time for a little revenge. I knew it was going to be hilly, I knew the wind was blowing against and I also knew that it was going to be hot. But I was mentally ready and prepared.
I started at 6:45 am just before sunrise in order to escape most of the heat in the afternoon:
Sunrise in St. Clair MO
I didn’t overpace and I blended out the wind mentally. So despite ascending a record 3,800 ft and temperatures already over 90° F at noon, I actually felt good and reached Farmington just after noon. At the beginning of the ride I even had a short ride on the famous Route 66:
There were no historic markers en route but MO has an interesting history in regards to the civil war. MO was a hotly contested border state populated with Union and Confederate sympathizers. It sent armies, generals and supplies to both sides, was represented with a star on both flags, maintained dual governments, and endured a bloody neighbor-against-neighbor intrastate war within the larger national war.
Tomorrow will hopefully be the last day of hilly MO and I should be back in the river valley. Stay tuned.
