When COVID hit, Greg Shannon decided to call it quits after 35 years in health care, seven of those years at Golden Valley Memorial Hospital.
Last Friday, the Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the KATY Trailhead for Katy Trail Tours and Shuttle, Greg’s new venture.
“I’m doing something I enjoy,” Greg said at the ribbon-cutting. “I am passionate about bicycle riding.”
His new business provides shuttle services for people and bicycles, baggage transfer and ride assistance for people riding the KATY Trail.
Greg describes himself as “semi-retired” but the new business is keeping him busy. After wielding the giant scissors, he was off to Sedalia in his station wagon, pulling a trailer, to pick up four pieces of luggage at the Bothwell Hotel and ferry them to the Hotel Frederick in Boonville. He also got a call about riders needing a shuttle from Sedalia, so was picking them up. The next day, he was scheduled to shuttle three people from Clinton back to Sedalia, he said.
The first step before putting the pedal to the idea was talking to people riding the trail to see if the need was there. Then he called the Chamber of Commerce and asked “Do you get requests for shuttle service?”.
“They said ‘All the time,’” Greg said.
The answer was a slight exaggeration — shuttle service for the KATY Trail is a seasonal business, he said. But the answer inspired him to incorporate the business last October. With the spring weather, his services are in demand, and he’s already had repeat customers, he said.
Greg also offers what he calls his “non-shuttle” option, which is picking up your car and driving you to the start of your ride, then driving your car to the destination, where it is waiting for you. It’s a service he is providing to a man from North Carolina, who is flying to Missouri to ride the trail. Greg is picking him up at the airport and driving him to St. Charles, then driving the man’s car to Clinton, saving the customer time that could be better spent on the trail, Greg said.
KATY Trail cyclists tend to be self-directed riders, Greg said, but in addition to shuttle services, he offers trip planning, with distances mapped out and places to stay set up ahead of time. Ride assist is another option.
“We do have people who are worried about being in a storm, or a breakdown on the trail,” he said.
Almost all of his customers are from out-of-state, he said, who are looking for a local contact. He’s even gotten a call from a woman in Ecuador. Cyclists he shuttles seek his advice on where to stay or camp in Clinton, and where to eat.
“I consider myself a complement to businesses in town,” Greg said.
He also has bicycles to rent, including regular bicycles, hybrids and electric(e) bicycles. Renting an ebike opens up the opportunity for Clinton residents to make weekend or three-day excursions on the KATY Trail, riding to Columbia or even Jefferson City, he said.
“Then they can jump on Amtrak and ride back to Warrensburg, where I will pick them up,” Greg said.
He recently met a 70-year-old woman from Georgia, who was riding an ebike on the trail, he said.
Greg said he loves to ride the KATY trail, but has never made any of the big supported rides, like Big BAM (Bike Across Missouri). This year, however, he has been hired to provide support for organized rides, including one sponsored by ROADS Scholars, for people over 50 .
Greg provides shuttle service the whole length of the KATY Trail, he said. At 240 miles long, it is the longest continuous recreational trail in the country, created when train tracks were removed from the bed of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, known as the K-T. The corridor is now a Missouri state park, with the trail winding through Missouri’s wine country and along the north bank of the Missouri River to Boonville, then dropping down through farm country to Sedalia, Windsor, Calhoun and Clinton.
Greg also provides tour and shuttle services on the Rock Island Trail, which connects Pleasant Hill, southeast of Kansas City, with Windsor, and which will eventually connect all the way to Kansas City.
For more information about KATY Trail Tours & Shuttle, contact Greg Shannon, Katytrailtours@gmail.com, or call 417-372-9220. His website is Katytrailbiketours-shuttle.com.
