On Saturday, September 23, Ethicyclists will have the seventh ride of the season. We haven’t cycled this route on the Riverfront Trail into Illinois for about five years, so we are due. We’ll start in the Laclede’s Landing area at the western entrance to the Metro Station and go north on the Trail past the Musial Bridge to the McKinley Bridge Bikeway and over the Mississippi River into Illinois. Riding through an Army Reserve Training campus, we’ll come to the Confluence Trail and go through a residential area and over Chouteau Island to the Chain of Rocks Bridge. Then it’s a straight shot back to Laclede’s Landing and lunch at one of the restaurants there. The ride is a little longer than average at 32 miles, but we have done this distance before and we’re in better shape towards the end of the season.

It’s a relatively flat ride with one or two short hills. A few riders may choose to leave from Lafayette Park at the corner of Mississippi Ave. and Park Ave. in South St. Louis, but this will add six miles to the 32-mile round trip leaving from Laclede’s Landing. There are secure and unsecured parking areas also in Laclede’s Landing. We have used the parking lot at Lewis St. and Biddle St. (pictured here), but it is unsecured. My recommendation is to take a Metrolink train from west of downtown to the Laclede’s Landing stop. The meeting time at the western entrance to the Metro Station is 9:15 a.m. with a 9:30 departure so we can arrive back for lunch before noon. Don’t forget to bring the usual: helmet, extra tube, sunscreen, water, and snack if you like.

Contact Joe Corrigan, 314-753-5538, japplecorr@ att.net or David Brown, 314-703-6945, david@ thebrowngreens.com.