DEVILS ELBOW— On Wednesday night the Elbow Inn in Devil’s Elbow was a real biker bar. It was invaded by cyclists.
The Hostel International-Gateway Council, based in St. Louis, is sponsoring a “Cycle Route 66” bicycle ride, taking cyclists on Route 66 from Miami, Okla., to Eureka. And the Devil’s Elbow restaurant was one of their main stops.
“I’ve been involved with the Route 66 Association for four years,” Elbow Inn owner Terry Roberson said. “I’ve supported every event thats been down here including motorcycle rides and classic car runs.”
But this is the first bike tour that he’s seen in conjunction with Route 66. And on Wednesday night, the bar was hopping with cyclists eating bar-b-que, drinking beer and playing trivia games.
“This is a real biker bar now,” Roberson said, “‘cause we’ve got both bikers here.”
The ride’s organizer, Mark Cokson of St. Louis, said his organization sponsors many bike rides around the state but have never done one like this.
“We do a bicycle ride every year, we cycle across Missouri” he said, “but we got tired of doing it in the humidity of June. So we said, why don’t we do it in the fall and do Route 66?”
Among the other rides the Gateway Council sponsors is the annual Moonlight Ramble, which is a relatively short (7-14 miles) ride through the streets of St. Louis that begins at midnight and typically draws more than 10,000 riders.
Ellen Matheny, of Columbia, was on the Council’s Web site looking for information on the Midnight Ramble this summer when she stumbled across information on Cycle Route 66. It sounded like a great idea to her.
“I’m from southwest Missouri so it was right here in my backyard,” said Matheny, who currently goes to school in Springfield.
Cyclists began the trip Saturday in Route 66 State Park in Eureka, where they left their cars and the nearly 300 mile trip to Miami in busses with their bikes.
They started from Miami on Sunday morning and plan on being back in Eureka on Friday. Along they way, they stopped in Carthage, Springfield and Lebanon. Today they’ll ride from St. Robert to Cuba and pass through Rolla, Rosati and St. James. They’ll finish their journey Friday, riding through Bourbon and Stanton— home of the Jesse James Wax Museum— on their way.
Riders are encouraged to stop and look around the communities they pass through. A representative from the Pulaski Country Tourism Bureau handed out brochures to riders on Wednesday and gave them little history lesson.
Roberson also talked about the history of Devil’s Elbow, including a few sites of interest like the old steel truss bridge across the Big Piney River and the rock wall built by German prisoners of war during World War II.
As for the ride itself?
“It’s been great,” Matheny said. The weather has been a challenge, but the ride is still a lot of fun.”
Linda Wheeler, a rider from Toledo, Ohio, agreed.
“It’s just great bunch of people,” she said. “And there lot of great optional side trips and things to see.”
The riders will leave today at 9 a.m. after a quick breakfast at the Star Motel and Restaurant in St. Robert.
For more information on the Gateway Council and information on future bike rides, visit its Web site at http://www.moonlightramble.org/.
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