(The following story by Chuck Orman appeared on The Sedalia Democrat website on June 25. R.G. Thompson is a retired member of BLET Division 337 in Niagara Falls, Ont.)
SEDALIA, Mo. — Nostalgia began setting in Thursday afternoon as bikers on the 2004 Katy Trail Ride loafed in the shade of Liberty Park.
Going into the last evening, people who had become “bike buddies” during the past four days stayed a little closer to friends, new and old, not wanting the ride to be over.
Spread over five days and four nights, the 225-mile ride ends today with a 35-mile leg ending in Clinton.
Some of the 270 riders stayed in hotels or motels, some in motor homes, some in tents, and a few of the hardiest ones slept in sleeping bags under a tree.
The bike ride ended a day early for “Canada Bob” Thompson, who rode to Clinton Thursday, retrieved his pickup and drove back to Sedalia.
“I’ve got a thousand miles to drive home,” said the retired 58-year-old former locomotive engineer, who took early retirement from the Canadian National Railroad. His home is in Stevensville, Ontario, near Fort Erie, Canada.
Mr. Thompson has earned the title of MER on the several bicycle rides he participates in each year. “That’s Mythical Early Riser,” he said. “I get up at 4:30 a.m. every day and get started.”
Before coming to Missouri, Mr. Thompson rode five-day rides in Texas and Oklahoma. He plans to ride in one more this year in Iowa — the RAGBRAI, the (Des Moines) Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa — July 25 to 31.
“I love to ride,” he said. “It gave me back my life.”
Mr. Thompson said he weighed 370 pounds when he retired, and his doctor told him he was going to die. “I made a lifestyle change then, including watching my diet and exercising, and I weigh 220 to 225 right now.”
He said while at home, he still gets up at 4:30 a.m., has breakfast, joins his friends at the local “liar’s club” for coffee, and then walks 10 miles. In summer, if he’s at home, he rides his trail bike in the afternoon.
“I have this justification for riding as much as I do,” he said. “The more I ride, the more I can eat.”
He said he loves to ride early in the morning to beat the heat (“It’s always cooler.”) and to avoid winds. “It’s the most beautiful time of the day,” he said.
Mr. Thompson’s record ride in one day was a couple years ago in New Jersey. “They call it the Longest Day (June 21, summer solstice), and the ride is from Port Jervis, N.Y., to the Cape May, N.J., lighthouse. That’s 217 miles, and it took me 15 hours and 55 minutes.”
Rosemary Walsh and Joan Knotts are teachers at Bishop Miege High School in Kansas City, and had nothing but raves about the Katy ride. They especially praised Melanie Robinson, Department of Natural Resources ride coordinator.
“She has really taken good care of us,” said Ms. Walsh. “She’s fed us well, and every stopover has been great,” she said.
The teachers said the 225 miles in five days was a good distance. “It’s great exercise, and there’s no impact on your knees,” Ms. Walsh said.
The ride was a partial family reunion for Jack McNeilly, 65, of Kansas City, who retired after spending 20 years in the Air Force and 20 years with the Internal Revenue Service.
“I hadn’t seen my daughter, Susan Wilson, in 10 years,” he said. “She teaches school in Las Vegas, and I talked her into coming and making the ride with me.”
He said his wife doesn’t like to ride, and he wanted the company, but he also wanted to spend time with his daughter, who has been a phone call away since moving to Nevada.
“We’re birds of a feather, now,” he said. “It’s been a great week.”
Mr. McNeilly said riding the trail was the only way for him. “I don’t like to ride along the road,” he said. His daughter, Susan, said her classes in fifth-grade reading in the Las Vegas school system have been keeping up with her adventure on the Internet.
“They’ve learned a lot about Lewis and Clark,” she said.