The Missouri Life Magazine has once again organized a 346 mile bicycle ride from Joplin, MO to Eureka, MO south of St. Louis. BAM (Bike Across Missouri) will follow closely to the route of Route 66 as it did in 2018.
The event will begin in Landreth Park in Joplin, ending at the city park in Eureka.
“Participants will experience some of Missouri’s most scenic views and iconic emblems of the Mother Road with plenty of time to explore them.” Says Greg Wood, director of Big BAM. “Since we are riding in the Ozarks near some of the best floating rivers in the country, we are keeping a couple of days’ rides short enough so we can ride in the morning and float in a canoe or kayak along the river in the afternoon.”
I rode a similar route in 2018 when it was a 5 day event. This years event is approximately the same 346 mile distance. We will ride to a town destination, whereby riders will camp or find lodging at the local hotels. The first 2 days are the longest in the saddle. Day one ends after 83 miles at Willard, and after 71 miles, we will ‘camp’ in Lebanon. Days 3, 4, and 5 are the short day rides of 35 to 40 miles ending in Waynesville, Rolla and Cuba. From Cuba, it will be a 60 mile ride to Eureka.
Most who participate are a ‘relaxed’ adventure seeking people. I think you have to be to ride a bicycle 346 miles in less than a week! I’m looking forward to seeing more of the Mother Road and how many of the communities have held on to the history of the famous route through Missouri. The shorter miles on those 3 days will allow all the riders to have time to recover from the days ride and take more time in our neighboring towns. What impressed me the most on the previous ride was how well all the riders were received in the towns we rode through to refill our water bottles towns that provided lunches for a fee for the riders. Miller MO stands out as one of the best, we had welcoming signs posted miles from Miller and many civic groups had food and water for us for donations only.
Over 130 people have registered who will see the Ozarks from a different perspective. We will be riding across the northern portions of our renowned Ozark hills and to be quite honest, it is a taxing challenge at times. Believe me when I say I’m overjoyed we are not heading to the Branson area and have those hills but just as large are the hills around the Rolla and Waynesville area. Rider ages are from their 40’s to near 80, all should be able to do the daily rides. If not, there is always a SAG vehicle at the back who will pick up riders if they choose not to complete the days ride.
Big BAM is a fully supported event. Each riders gear will be transported to the next town for camping, hot showers are provided at the camp sites, a bicycle mechanic will accompany the support vehicle, water and relief stations every 15ish miles. Nightly regional bands will be provided to the riders by Big BAM for a nice and relaxing evening. What more could we want after sitting on a bike for 80 miles! According to the entries, I will be riding with people from 20 States from California to Texas, Florida and up to Ohio. It will be nice to converse with these people from across our nation during the evenings events each night.
A group of 12 riders will come from the Jasper County area, most have not ridden the Big BAM in the past and are looking for an exciting 6 days. In my previous Big BAM ride, I had many questions relating to our beautiful courthouse, Read Oak II, Marlin Perkins and the “whoopty hill” that we rode over on Oak Street.
The first day of the ride is June 13th, we will come into Carthage on Old Route 66 or what is now Oak Street, east on 4th to go around the East side of the square on Grant to Central Avenue before heading out on Highway 96 to Kellogg lake. From the hours of 7:30 a.m. to possibly 9:30 a.m., those streets will have a string of bicyclists as riders travel at different speeds. So don’t be surprised if you are having morning coffee on the square that and see people dressed oddly, wearing a helmet and have shoes on that go clackity clack on the floor.
If you are interested in participating, go to www.bigbamride.com to register or get any further information about the event.
