Cycling Tips & Stories

The Frisco Highline Trail weighs in at 36 miles--the second longest rail-trail in Missouri.

To celebrate the trail's first birthday a new website has been created with a trailmap and info about the Frisco Highline. permanent link to article: "Frisco Highline Trail--2nd longest in Missouri"
posted by Brent Hugh at 3/30/2006 08:39:00 PM |comment on this article

All bicycle racing all the time, streaming over the internet on cycle.tv (note: clicking the link starts the viewer automatically).

If on the other hand you prefer the transportational cycling scene in the U.S., check out bikeTV.org, where you can select from a long list of clips and movies for online viewing.

permanent link to article: "All bicycle racing all the time . . . or not"
posted by Brent Hugh at 3/29/2006 09:44:00 PM |comment on this article

Independence attorney Bill Bundschu has been active in Missouri bicycing for many years. A recent KCStar article tells about some of his adventures cycling across the country:

A retired tax attorney, he had not biked for at least 50 years when he impulsively entered a raffle while he was in a shoe store buying socks. Much to his surprise, he won a bicycle. A short time later, a bike store sponsored a local ride. He decided to participate, but as the other bicyclists left the parking lot, Bill realized he had no idea how to ride the thing. Too many gears, brakes on the handle bars, not what he remembered. . . .

Later . . .

From his Independence home, Bill has biked most of the historic trails in the country, including the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, the Natchez Trace, parts of Route 66 and the Lewis and Clark Trail, 2,800 miles from St. Charles, Mo., to Astoria, Ore. His wife, Betty, their four children and seven grandchildren have learned to live with his travels.

Now, at 75, he plans a new trip. Next month he hopes to bicycle to Durham, N.C., for his 50th law school reunion.

Incidentally Bill was one of the MoBikeFed leaders who led the campaign for bicycle access on Amtrak trains in Missouri--a benefit we still enjoy today. permanent link to article: "Independence bicyclist Bill Bundschu"
posted by Brent Hugh at 3/25/2006 07:04:00 AM |comment on this article

Cal Woodward tells how to make a cross-country cycling trip work:

The best way to start a cross-country bicycle trip is to pretend you’re not doing it.
Convince yourself you are embarking on a series of day trips. It will do no good to anticipate the Rockies while still smelling the salt air of the Atlantic, or to think about the East if leaving from the West.

One rest stop to another, one day at a time, one state before the next. That’s the essential mind game. It will all add up to a journey exposing you to staggering landscapes, the kindness of strangers and abilities you didn’t know you had.

permanent link to article: "How to plan a cross-country bicycle trip"
posted by Brent Hugh at 3/22/2006 07:25:00 AM |comment on this article

According to a Kansas City infoZine article, Ron Coleman has been named Missouri Conservationist of the Year:
A citizen who has spent decades inspiring thousands of others to take active roles in conserving natural resources is the recipient of the Conservation Federation of Missouri's highest honor, the Conservationist of the Year Award. . . .

Urban parks and open space have been a special interest for Coleman, who currently is executive director of the Open Space Council for the Louis Region. He has helped secure rights-of-way for hundreds of miles of hiking and biking trails where Missourians can renew their bond with nature. Among his greatest successes was the creation of the Frisco Highline Trail between Springfield and Bolivar, the state's second-largest rails-to-trails conversion. The project coincidentally saved thousands of acres of wildlife habitat permanent link to article: "Ron Coleman Named Missouri Conservationist of the Year for preserving trails and open space"
posted by Brent Hugh at 3/20/2006 08:15:00 AM |comment on this article

Dona Reynolds and the Mark Reynolds Fund, established in honor of her son, were featured in a recent Orange County Register article:

Her comment reminds me of her Web site, www.markreynoldsfund.org, a site that is all about children.

“When he died,” Dona recalls, “I knew immediately what he wanted me to do. Mark never forgot his first bike. He loved giving bikes to underprivileged children. He would say, ‘Mom, that’s the greatest feeling I can have is giving a child his first bike.”’

Since launching the fund, Dona estimates the non-profit charity has given away more than $30,000 worth of bikes to children in Orange County, Missouri, Illinois and elsewhere.

“I’m a mother on a mission,” she says. “I see the smiles on their faces and it takes me back 30 years and I see Mark on his first bike.”

Dona even managed to raise money on Jan. 7 during a trip to Anaheim, Calif., for a motocross show. Still, she’s not ready to visit Whiting Ranch, and declined to join her husband for a trip to the bench Mark’s friends put up.

Reynolds lives in St. Joseph. permanent link to article: "Mark Reynolds Fund continues to give bikes to children"
posted by Brent Hugh at 3/14/2006 11:22:00 AM |comment on this article

Rex Garrelts and Mark Viets rode the entire Lewis & Clark trail by bicycle. Here is an excerpt from their ride journal when they rode through the Kansas City area:

We were on the road by 8:50. The weather was cloudy and mild with wind out of the south, cool enough for a jacket. The shoulder is wide and paved at this point, so we could ride together and catch up on everything. We stopped after a couple of hours at a gas station for doughnuts and coffee. The temperature was warming and we removed layers accordingly. We turned north on Hwy 291 after 29 miles and had an immediate speed increase with the wind at our backs. However, the road was rough and very congested with traffic and construction, and Bill picked up a nail and flat tire just before the Missouri River bridge. We repaired the flat and were back on the road, but again into a headwind after we turned SW onto Hwy 210, which continued all the way into North Kansas City.

We stopped for lunch at Wendy's and then turned onto Hwy 9 west toward Parkville, still fighting the wind. At Parkville we stopped for pictures at the river and a brief rest before heading north on Hwy 9, where we again picked up a welcome tailwind. We turned west on Hwy 45 into rolling hills, traffic, and wind again. An alternate route along the river through Waldron would have been better.

After several miles the road turned north and flattened out - bliss again. We stopped at Farley, where a young boy and his sister, who were very impressed with the "cross country bike riders", greeted us. They directed us to one of the few available faucets in town, outside the Post Office, where we refilled our water bottles.

permanent link to article: "Lewis & Clark Trail by bicycle"
posted by Brent Hugh at 3/13/2006 06:03:00 PM |comment on this article

This site documents some of the most, um, interesting bicycle facilities in Great Britain:

No expense has been spared in order to create this cycle route in Warrington. The start is very clearly indicated, first by a blue sign, then some corrugated paving, followed by a cycle symbol painted on the ground (upside down for some reason). A few centimetres further on, the end of the route is marked by 'END' painted on the ground, some more corrugated paving and another blue sign. Cyclists are then filtered on to the right hand side of the road.

All that is lacking are cycle stands at each end of the route so that cyclists have somewhere to secure their bikes at the start and finish of their journey.

permanent link to article: "Worst bicycle facilities photos"
posted by Brent Hugh at 3/11/2006 08:32:00 AM |comment on this article

The Sierra Club has some good, practical tips for getting started with bicycle commuting:

Join Forces. Is there a bicycle club in your area or, even better, a bicycle-activist organization? Getting together with other cyclists is a good way to learn about routes, improve your skills and technique, and find fellow commuters. There's greater safety in numbers.

Plan Your Route Carefully. Don't assume that the shortest, most direct route is the best - quality beats brevity. Look for quieter streets that aren't packed with buses and trucks. If you must ride on busy streets, use those with bike lanes (if you can find any), or at least wide lanes. Multiple-lane, one-way streets are often good. And stay off sidewalks - it's usually illegal and always dangerous.

Read the rest of the article here. permanent link to article: "Sierra Club's guide to bicycle commuting"
posted by Brent Hugh at 3/08/2006 08:45:00 PM |comment on this article

Railbiking? That's when you ride abandoned railroad lines on specially adapted bicycles.

Railbiker Dick Bentley tells about one of his many railbiking adventures:

Horseshoe lake, though remote, is accessible by a dirt road. During the summer months a succession of tent and trailer campers cluster along the shore near the foundation of the old railroad station. We crept past, not wishing to disturb any of the residents tucked cozily within their tiny circles of yellow light. By now I had begun to realize how the ghostly appearance of our fandangled contraption, looking halfway between a peddlers wagon and a small blimp, might affect someone should we descend upon them out of the dark.

Leaving Horseshoe lake, we both gave a sigh of relief. The worst had passed. The track from here stretched nearly straight, and sure. The air felt warm. The moon glowed bright overhead. And, our adventure began to feel more like what we had imagined.

permanent link to article: "Railbiking adventure"
posted by Brent Hugh at 3/08/2006 08:43:00 PM |comment on this article

The Columbia News Service has a nice article on bicycle commuting:

Five Christmases ago, Mark Wyatt and his wife bought each other matching yellow Diamondback mountain bicycles. They decided to break in their presents on a recreational biking trail that had just opened half a mile from their home outside Iowa City. The Wyatts huffed and puffed their way through a five-mile ride.

“I thought, ‘Wow, that was tough,’" Mark Wyatt, 35, recalled.

But he kept pedaling, and now, Wyatt, a paramedic, wakes up before dark, pulls on his cycling clothes and bikes 8 1/2 miles to work before he starts a 24-hour shift. Unlike workers who fight rush hour in their cars only to flop into their cubicles annoyed and exhausted, Wyatt relishes his commute.

“The bike ride changes everything,” he said. “Before I biked to work, I used to go home after those long days at work and take a nap. Now if I ride my bike home I can stay up; I don’t feel like sleeping.”

permanent link to article: "Bike commuting stories"
posted by Brent Hugh at 3/06/2006 09:09:00 PM |comment on this article

Bicycling magazine reported on a ride with President Bush:

Ever since the White House announced in December, 2003, that the President's doctors had ordered him to stop running, and I learned that Trek CEO John Burke, a member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness, had given Bush a zooty full-suspension Fuel, bicycling and Mountain Bike have been nagging the White House press office for an invitation to check out the President's velochops.

Bush's fitness has never been in question. The President has publicly noted that he kicked an addiction to alcohol with an addiction to exercise. His results have been impressive, at least for a 59-year-old guy with a stressful job. Bush's prowess as a runner (20:29 for a 2002 5k) suggested the presence of a big engine, and the results of his most recent physical placed him in the 99th percentile of fitness for his age--his resting pulse of 47 would be the envy of any Cat 1 road racer. . . .

"Like a lot of Baby Boomers, my knees gave out" from running, potus tells our group in a pre-ride chat. "I like to stay fit. I think you can do your job better if you're fit." Bush says he was drawn to mountain biking because of "the exhilaration," because "it brings out the child in you" and because "I like to get my heart rate up." He sports a top-of-the-line Polar heart rate monitor and--a first, as far as I can tell, for the non-gravity set--a mouthguard, and explains that the rips in his baggies are a souvenir of July's "Scottish incident" at the G8 summit at St. Andrews, in which he lost control on wet pavement and took out a bobby in the process. He says he'll never be seen in "form-fitting Lycra" and that his newly installed clipless pedals have given him a 15-percent increase in efficiency. He says he'd like to road bike, but that the Secret Service can't find the 40 to 60 miles of secure roads he'd need to get his workout. "Lance Armstrong gave me a road bike," he notes, referring to one of the Treks that Armstrong rode in the 2001 Tour de France, and which should be in a museum. "I hook that up to a stationary wheeling thing. I put it on Air Force One. It's a pretty neat feeling to be heading to wherever and to ride for an hour."

permanent link to article: "POTUS goes for a ride"
posted by Brent Hugh at 3/01/2006 01:27:00 PM |comment on this article