85 miles ridden – 4700 feet climbed – temperature 21C.

Today was great cycling but not so good for sightseeing. It was much cooler and overcast until mid-afternoon – we got splattered a couple of times by raindrops and went through occasional puddles but missed the forecast downpours.

There had been much discussion between us about exactly what ‘a 50% chance of rain means’. Is it that 50% of the target area will be rained on? Or perhaps it means that the whole area will be rained on 50% of the time? No one really seems to know, even Paul whose wife was a weather presenter on TV. Anyhow although it didn’t rain but we were absolutely  sodden due to our exertions in 85% humidity!!

The first 40 miles was rolling hills which requires a lot of gear changing and focus which means I don’t tend to look around so much although to be fair there wasn’t much new to see. Don’t get me wrong – it was very pretty, damp, overcast countryside.

Our SAG stops today were very welcome but the first one was in a petrol station next to an Interstate and the second one was in a non-descript strip mall so no need for any pictures. A highlight of first SAG was left-over Dominos pizza from dinner last night – it tasted great and I soon got over the discomfort and after-taste climbing the hill as we left SAG.

The last 15 miles saw us negotiating the outlying suburbs of St Louis. As we got nearer in we saw the decaying evidence of St Louis’s grand past. These buildings must have cost a fortune when they were built and now are shadows of their former selves.

Our hotel is right in the heart of downtown St Louis just by it’s most famous landmark, the Gateway Arch.

You can’t get any sense of the scale of the arch from the picture below but it’s 65 floors high – I guess that the London Eye would easily for inside and I will be visiting it tomorrow.

To date we have cycled 993 miles as my legs and backside will (un)happily confirm.