DIRTY SOUTH BIKEPACK

April 6-7, 2019

The beacon that keeps drawing me back to the Shawnee National Forest got an assist from Mickey, who'd just bought himself a dynamo hub and light and was looking for a long ride to sweeten the 2-hour drive to pick them up. We thought about riding the Dirty South Roubaix route, eventually deciding to bikepack it over two days, giving Mickey his first bikepacking trip and me some much-needed training/practice.

He left the route to me with the caveat that he preferred something more rideable than the hike-a-bike extravaganzas I usually end up planning. We were working with an existing route, so I just had to figure out a way around a road closure and decide on a camping spot.

The plan: early departure from STL, a quick stop at Cyclewerx as soon as they opened to pick up the new wheel. Then we'd cross the river to Trail of Tears State Forest, where we'd leave the car and take the DSR route to Alto Pass. After a quick resupply at the market there, we'd follow a largely rideable stretch of the River to river Trail to Cedar Lake and camp at the great site Chuck and I had seen on our last trip there. The next day we'd return to Alto Pass via some new singletrack, rejoining the race route after a stop at Duty's Market for biscuits and gravy. I'd even done my due diligence, calling the State Forest office to check on overnight parking and attempting to make sure none of our route was affected by flooding.

The reality:

Day 1: For once, things went just as planned (well, except for our third person having to drop out that morning, me getting almost no sleep the night before, and Mickey being sick). We reached Cyclewerx before they opened. After getting the wheel and catching up briefly with John and Aaron, we got second breakfast at Sand's Pancake House and then crossed into Illinois. Next stop: Trail of Tears.

Google maps was not our friend, directing us onto a non-existent road. With no cell signal, we muddled our way there mostly through the route map I'd downloaded on the drive. Not the smoothest start to our adventure.

Finally at the start, we loaded up the bikes, changed clothes, and took off in absolutely perfect weather. After the winter we've had, riding in shorts and short sleeves and being comfortable felt amazing.

The route starts with several miles of levee road, the latter part of which I'd been mildly dreading after finding it unpleasantly chunky the previous month. I should have appreciated it then, because this time around it was all torn up with a narrow, semi-rideable line along the side. It's a pretty area, but all I saw for those miles was the ground in front of me.

At the far end of the levee I breathed a sigh of relief which became a groan as I turned onto Old Cape Road and saw the flood water covering our route. We coasted up to the edge of the water. You could see the road re-emerge about a quarter of a mile in front of us. Neither of us wanted to retrace our ride on the levee, and I wanted to avoid extra miles to be sure of arriving at camp in daylight this time.