Cycling the Katy Trail

A Tandem Sojourn Along Missouri’s Katy Trail

By: Neil M. Hanson

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

“A rich and nuanced perspective on the Katy Trail experience.” —Jim Sayer, Executive Director, Adventure Cycling Association “Neil continues his bike touring adventures, this time with his new wife on a tandem bicycle. An entertaining, thought-provoking, caffeine-fueled trip.” —David Buser, touring cyclist Cycling the Katy Trail is the definitive guide to a crown jewel in the American rail-trail system. Providing more than simply a list of milestones along the trail, this book shares the trail from the perspective of the touring cyclist. Award winning author Neil Hanson provides a thorough trail guide and description for the cyclist who plans to ride the Katy Trail, then, in quintessential Hanson style, he serves up a journey story that magnifies his ride along the trail into a delightful tale of discovery that everyone will enjoy. Neil Hanson finds the perfect balance in this book, his narration serving first as a trail guide to help the reader plan a ride the Katy Trail, then as a master story teller who takes the reader along on one of America’s premier rail-trails, exploring the rural beauty of this gem that runs nearly border to border across the state of Missouri, meandering through the deep rural backroads of middle America. The trail guide section of the book is perfect for planning a Katy Trail ride. It includes milestones along the entire route, a trail overview, detailed descriptions of the five different sections of the trail (as Neil defines them,) then a table describing the ride details and stats as ridden by Neil in 2016. The journey section of the book is where Neil’s fans will discover his award winning storytelling style. Come along with Neil and Christine as they meander along the trail for a beautiful week in September on their tandem bicycle. This delightfully written treasure is insightful and thought provoking, inviting the reader along the journey as Hanson enjoys the quiet beauty of the Missouri backwoods, explores the remote serenity of a trail that runs along a river the helped to shape American history, and wrestles with some difficult questions about the divide that seems to be growing between rural towns in the middle of America and the rest of the nation.

A bit hackneyed

The factual information in the front of the book is helpful, but the narrative experience of the ride doesn't offer much. This part of the book is mostly the author's musings on married as experienced on a tandem bicycle which are mostly the usual cliches about men being Neanderthals and women being sensible and smart. One example, men being genetically incapable of asking for directions when lost, while the woman looks scornfully on. There are other nostalgic musings on classic cars and Harley-Davidsons the author identified with his sense of masculinity when a young man, etc etc., none of which have much to do with the practical experience of the Katy Trail. Also look forward to the author's middling commentary on gun control, which has nothing to do with the topic of cycling. all of this seems to try to relate to the everyday reader, But could be found in many other places ad nauseam.