Prairie Spirit Ride Reports

Got off to a 7am start Tues (7th). The heavy fog eventually lifted w/o aid from a breeze. A perfect day for trail riding. No wind. More notably, the trail’s bogs and creeks now have splashing riffling water in them. Good to hear that sweet noise again.

Saw lots of wintercress, garlic mustard, rose verbena, wild strawberry, western buckeye, wild parsley, blue phlox and others I need to learn about. Some of the sumacs have suffered from the drought. But many more are budding out ok...

Is anyone riding the trails in this heat? We are still having temps over 100 everyday in Paola. I need to get out and start riding but being out of shape and in my 50s I dont want to have a heat stroke. Is anyone else getting sick of this heat or is it just me.

Todd Miller...

I got in my first full PST ride this past weekend. Ottawa to Iola on Saturday, Iola to Ottawa on Sunday. Nasty weather Sunday, but I was delighted to have done the full ride. This was my first half-century - and then my second half-century!

I'm posting it on my blog in two parts...part 1 is here:

http://yeahthisistheone.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/ottawa-iola-ottawa-via-prairie-spirit-trail-part-i/

...with part 2 to be published shortly.
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Rode Ottawa to just a little north of Richmond on the trail, then took the cross-road to Highway 59 and back to Ottawa.

Wrote it up here:

http://yeahthisistheone.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/return-to-prairie-spirit-stretching-my-wind-legs/

Was beautiful to be back on the trail again, it's been quite some time for me. Greening up beautifully, with several different kinds of flowers, which I wish I could identify but cannot. Saw a rabbit, couple squ...

Did the whole trail and back Wed (6/15). 13-hr total time is not great on a perfect mild day with perfect trail conditions. The trail was firm from end to end. Saw three bicyclists outside the city limits. Most activity was within them on this weekday.

The wildflowers were blooming big-time with more on the way. Although I have good references for identifying them, there were so many this time I got them mixed up. Also, there were too many varieties of each kind plus many were in...

Found this on an external site. Lots of nice pictures.

http://www.eons.com/groups/topic/2622039-Prairie-Spirit-Trail ...

9/14&16. Finished my two separate-day ride of the PSRT yesterday (72 & 32-miles w/short turnabouts, side-trips, and a lunch in Garnett). The shorter ride Friday gave me more time to enjoy the early-fall country settings. Super!

The trails surface is firm. The department has done a great job of 1) filling its cracks, 2) posting surface-change advisories at the trailheads, and 3) fencing off the damaged bridge in Iola. I took the shorter detour there (west on Oregon Rd, and then so...

Thought a 50+ miler would be good to get in shape for a century later this month. I had a spare day before I started giving finals, everything else was graded soooo.... to the BatBike, Robin!

Got to Garnett about 9:00am. Weather was beautiful. About 63 degrees and just a hint of a cloud here and there. Saw a couple unloading, they didn't seem inclined to talk so I kept to myself. Unloaded, took a couple of pictures, and I was off.

The trail is in great shape as...

mtanders and I met Steve and coverjim at the Ottawa depot at 9:30 in the morning. It had rained the night before but the clouds did not look too threatening. It was, however, to be a day without sunshine. Average temperature was about 47 degrees.

Setting out we quickly arrived at the trailhead and stopped so that Steve and mtanders could pay their fees since they had not picked up a year pass like coverjim and I. We did talk about how the outlets for Fish and Game licenses didn�...

April 8th - Cloudy and foggy to start - tried to go with the wind and avoid rain. Soggy towards the north, drier condidtions farther south. Tornado watch cut the ride short. Did not run into anyone else the whole day until geting back to Garnett - a couple going out to ride maybe to Scipio Road if the westher held out. Saw a snake that I could not identify. Good day, trail in good shape - no major washouts or problems. Other than visibility north of Welda where pastures was buring on both ...