Tag Archives: cycling

Fit and Healthy on Route 66 – Rogers Parkway to Memorial Park

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This article was originally published on June 30, 2012 and has been retrieved via the Wayback Machine.

Trailhead for Rogers Parkway, Brentwood, Missouri

If you’re traveling on the Manchester alignment of Route 66 through St. Louis County and are in the mood for a short, easy bike ride or a walk for you or a canine companion, try the Rogers Parkway in Brentwood, Missouri. Brentwood is a small city but has a lot of little parks, most with water, some with restrooms. You’ll pass through several during the route I’m about to describe. You won’t see anything spectacular, but you’ll enjoy charming older suburban neighborhoods with large trees and pleasant shade. The trail is pet-friendly with plastic bag dispensers for waste and a water fountain with a basin at dog’s height. If you don’t know the area well you’ll want to download and print out this map to take with you.

If you’re traveling west on Manchester, start looking for the trailhead shortly after you cross over Hanley Road. The trailhead will be on the right, in between American Locksmiths and Brentwood Place Apartments. You’ll find an asphalt trail heading north that takes you to Broughton Park. Follow the trail until you reach Swim Club Road, where you’ll cross over to the other side of the street.

Intersection of Trails

Continue until you get to an intersection of asphalt trails. Turn right, and you’ll pass some handball, tennis, and volleyball courts. This is Hanley Park. You’ll see some signs along the way suggesting different fitness exercises that you can do if you like. The trail splits in two, and the more interesting route is to the right. You’ll cross a creek and follow along it for awhile on the Lee Wynn Trail until you get to Oak Tree Park. If you feel like doing some hill climbing, you can continue past the park and up a ridge to explore the streets a bit. If you’re not in the mood for climbing a hill, head back the way you came until you get past Hanley Park and back to the intersection. You can turn left here and get back on the Rogers Parkway, or you can turn right and continue for a short distance into Memorial Park. If  you’re hungry or thirsty, there is usually a snack stand set up here. If you care to head toward the huge American flag toward the northeast, you’ll come across a large shopping center that has a Trader Joe’s and a Target, both places where you can pick up some items for a picnic lunch. (If you turn right at the huge flag and continue for a few blocks, you’ll see some light rail tracks – turn left and there is the Brentwood I-64 Metrolink station if you want to explore more of the St. Louis area – bring your bike on board). If you don’t want anything from the shopping center, I recommend turning around in Memorial Park and heading back the way you came at this point – you’re roughly 2/3 of the way through the entire route if you’ve taken no detours.

If you’re on foot, you’re probably satisfied with the length of your excursion, but if you want a little more, you’ll notice some dirt trails on the right as you head back. Explore the small wooded area if you like.

If you’re on a bike, you might want to extend your ride considerably. If so, I recommend looking for Eulalie Ave. (this is the spot where you crossed the road previously upon reaching Swim Club Road) on the way back. It’s a little confusing because if you look left, the road is called Dorothy and if you look right, the sign is missing. Nevertheless, take a right turn and you’ll come to an intersection with Brentwood Blvd. Use the light and cross Brentwood Blvd. here with care – it’s very busy and the drivers are not necessarily attentive to cyclists or pedestrians.

Once you’ve crossed Brentwood Blvd., continue west on what is now Litzinger Rd. Look for four Lustron houses on your left. Continue for several blocks on Litzinger until you get to Tilles Park, a large park in the city of Ladue with a nice trail, more fitness stations, water, restrooms and more. There is a small lake with a shelter if you’ve brought a picnic lunch. Go around the park as many times as you like, then head back to Brentwood Blvd. on Litzinger and cross back over. Make a right when you reach Rogers Parkway and you’ll be back to the trailhead shortly.

Two applications that are making me even more outdoors-mad than I am already!

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So far in the St. Louis, MO area we’ve had some really nice weather in April which is an intoxicating antidote to the awful winter we just endured. I’ve been finding it very difficult to stay indoors to actually do any work (except in the garden of course!). As if I needed any more motivation to get outside, I’ve recently tried out a couple of applications that really help pump my enthusiasm.

The first is one that a lot of people have heard of but I only discovered it last week. It’s called MapMyRide.com and since I like to hike, ride my bike, kayak and explore the outdoors, there are a lot of things I can do with this app. On my computer, I can plan out a route and then send it to my smartphone. I can use the smartphone app to record an excursion then look at the map later on my computer. Why would I want to do this? I can look at the map in satellite, road map or topo map view and see if there is anything interesting I missed that I might be able to find on a return visit. Some features are only going to be visible on one of these views so to be able to toggle back and forth is a great help. If I want to share my adventure with others I can take screen shots of the maps to make them into a graphic. Topo maps sometimes show old roads and old place names and can be a help when researching an area. For people who like to explore old roads such as Route 66, the satellite view is a great way to find things that are very difficult to see from ground level. For example, this old cut-off piece of Route 66 had to be shown to me by a guide and I didn’t remember how to get there again. Now I think I’ve found it with the satellite map and will be back to see if I’m right.

What if you are in an unfamiliar area and want to find a bike trail? Or you just want to find some new ones in your own area? You can set the app to show bike trails and zoom out to move along your route. When you see some green lines, zoom in to see details about a trail! It doesn’t seem to have a feature for finding walking trails only but most bike trails are also ok for walkers to use so it’s a good start. When you record your workouts, MapMyRide also tracks the calories burned for you and you can enter in your meals to use it as a calorie counter. And all of these features are in the FREE version.

The combination of MapMyRide and the weather had me so amped up last week that I walked 12 miles and rode 5.35 miles on my bike in six days. That’s not a lot for some people but it is for me. I’ve also started logging my miles on another web site also called 100 Missouri Miles, where the Governor and First Lady challenge you to match their active miles. It includes running, walking, hiking, geocaching, rolling, cycling, paddling, riding, swimming and skating. Missouri residents can use this site to motivate themselves to keep up with other active people. You also get badges when you reach certain goals. There are also features for finding interesting trails and events. A great way to enjoy the “Best Trails State” in America!