Since yesterday was cut short due to our late start and high temperature we knew we had a long day ahead of us, and it turns out it was a long and hot day.  The heat index was well over 100 degrees.  Dr. B would be upset if I didn’t mention that temperature is reported in Fahrenheit.  Units matter!  Today felt hotter than yesterday, despite the published temperatures being lower for today.  Early on we recognized that it would be a challenge for me to keep my temperature low enough to be safe.  My team has done a really good job thus far, and we continue to learn along the way.  Our first line of defense is constantly spraying me with water.  As I was explaining to Dr .B, water has an enthalpy of vaporization of 40.7 kilojoules per mole so it is excellent at removing heat from my body.  I’m trying to take advantage of all those hydrogen bonds within a sample of water.  Our second line of defense is placing “ice packs” on my belly and chest.  These “ice packs” are made of saturated fats, which have a hella high enthalpy of fusion adding to the amount of heat that can be removed from my body, ultimately keep my temperature low.

Dr. B had told us that his favorite section of the Katy Trail was the ten miles east of the town of Rocheport.  That was the section we didn’t do yesterday due the time constraints.  We didn’t want to miss this section, so we began where we left off yesterday, which was nine miles east of Rocheport.  The beginning of the day was beautiful as advertised.  The dolomite rock formations we were so fond of yesterday gave way to even more stunning sandstone cliffs with towering overhangs above the trail.  We saw a lot of caves within the rock walls.  In addition to the beautiful cliffs, for most of these first ten miles the Missouri River was to our left.  The combination of cliffs and the river made for a great start to the day.

As we made our way down the Katy we couldn’t help but notice a couple of things about the animals that live (or don’t live) near the trail.  What we first noticed was the number of dead Eastern moles (Scalopus aquaticus).  We could hypothesize about the cause of death, but we decided to focus on more pleasant thoughts.  An interesting fact about moles is that a mole of moles would roughly have the same mass as the moon.  That’s hella moles.  As we continued down the trail we notice there were pockets of cicadas in the trees being quite loud.  We call them cicada pockets, also known as Missouri Hot Pockets.  Probably my favorite animal sighting today was a turkey vulture perched on some rocks sunning her wings.  I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a vulture do this.  This is behavior more suited for a cormorant.

Early on the miles went by relatively easy.  The day had not gotten too hot yet.  Despite the mellow pace and reasonable temperatures, Jimmy required his first lunch by 9:30 am.  Celina came through with a breakfast sandwich just in time.  Dr. B and I waited a little longer for our only lunch, and Jimmy joined us for his second.  This is a good time to thank Celina for always having food and drinks along the way as we are in need.

As we continued on, the trail became a little rougher than I have been accustomed to.  Don’t get me wrong, the trail is still very well maintained and I am grateful for that.  I just found that sections today seem to have a little rougher gravel.  Combining the rougher trail, more climbing than usual, some pretty strong headwinds, the heat, and the additional nine miles we had to make up, today was a tough day.  I felt strong most of the day.  The last three miles humbled me.  Up until then I felt strong and felt that my temperature was under control.  The heat was more than we could combat.  I finished with a temperature of 99.9 degrees (Fahrenheit).  I wouldn’t want to go much higher than this.

Overall, today was a good day.  Challenging, but good.  We crossed over the Missouri River, and at the same time said our goodbyes.  We won’t be seeing the Missouri again on this trip.  Today’s route was marked by multiple tunnels and numerous bridges.  Looking back on it this makes sense since the terrain was more up and down than previous days.  We experienced more elevation gain today than all previous days combined.  We finished at 1:45 p.m., which was our latest finish so far.  We don’t want to be finishing this late from now on, since this is often the hottest part of the day.

We are all looking forward to tomorrow.  There is rain in the forecast for tonight, and the temperature is expected to be ten degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler tomorrow.  I have decided to let the team sleep in a bit since the temperatures will be a bit lower and we don’t have to get such an early start.  The entire team is excited about this.  We have two more days of riding, and I’m ready to finish this ride strong.

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