Cycling Tips & Stories

"Olathe Joe" used his GPS unit to track his rides on several KC-area mountain bike trails, then used the TrekAnalysis web page to overlay his movements on actual satellite photos of the area. The result is a series of neat satellite maps of the trails.

You can compare the satellite maps to descriptions of, directions to, and maps of the same trails on Earthriders.org.

permanent link to article: "Satellite imagery of KC-area mtn bike trails"
posted by Brent Hugh at 12/23/2002 04:31:00 PM |comment on this article

My six-year-old son, Jonathan, and I decided to take advantage of a nice 60-degree December evening and take a bike tour of the Christmas lights near our home in Raytown. Click here for photos and story . . . permanent link to article: "Bike tour of KC-area Christmas lights . . ."
posted by Brent Hugh at 12/19/2002 08:02:00 PM |comment on this article

Looking for a trail to ride in the Kansas City area? MARC (the Mid-America Regional Council) has information on the MetroGreen project, which is a proposed 1144-mile system of interconnected multi-use greenway trails. The page has an interactive map of proposed trails, and also a printable file listing all existing area trails (PDF format).

A sub-page also lists proposals and plans for connecting the KC area to the Katy trail, including this overview of possible greenway corridors (PDF format) and an overview of on-road connections (PDF format).

Earthriders maintains an exhaustive list of single-track trails in Missouri and Kansas. permanent link to article: "KC-area trails"
posted by Brent Hugh at 12/13/2002 04:39:00 PM |comment on this article

The Gateway Council publishes a great resource for cyclists in the St. Louis area. It's called the BiState Bicycle Tour Book and contains more than 150 different bicycle routes that have been developed by members and friends of the Gateway Council. All of the routes listed in this fourth edition have been updated to reflect changes in routes and traffic in 1997. The cost of the book is $12.00 and you can obtain the book from many of the area bicycle shops as well as the Council office which is located at 7187 Manchester Road, St. Louis, MO, 63143, phone (314) 644-4660. permanent link to article: "Guide to bicycle routes in the St. Louis area"
posted by Brent Hugh at 12/10/2002 04:18:00 PM |comment on this article

If I could have what I really wanted for Christmas, it would be a quick fix for a complex problem: Bringing the Katy Trail on into Kansas City from Clinton, so that the rails-to-trails project would span the entire state of Missouri.

But I'm afraid that's going to take some doing.

So I'll have to content myself for now with the sixth edition of The Complete Katy Trail Guidebook . . .

Read the rest of this review on the KCStar's web site. permanent link to article: "Katy Trail Guidebook"
posted by Brent Hugh at 12/08/2002 12:05:00 PM |comment on this article

Riding to the trailhead my stomach if full of butterflies, I've waited for this for almost 2 years, and I'm finally here seconds away from riding the famous North Shore! . . .

Not too bad starting off, kinda rough with short 1' drops rooty and rocky, the ground is soft and strange compared to the black dirt around KC. . . . So far it's been challenging, but not too scary. We come up on the first major stunt, a small jump/drop and a 4-6" wide skinny that has 3 bends and ends in a downhill log ride…

(A '4-6" wide skinny', in case you're wondering, is a 4- to 6-inch wide board suspended 3- to 4-feet in the air. This one is 30 or 40 feet long and has three curves. It does get a bit wider at the curves. It ends on a log--imagine the trunk of a large pine tree lying on the ground--and you ride the log another 40-50 feet down a hill.)

Click here to read the rest of this excellent story of Patrick McCue's trip to mountain bike Vancouver, including some great photos of the trails, on Freeride permanent link to article: "Riding the North Shore"
posted by Brent Hugh at 12/06/2002 01:53:00 PM |comment on this article

An hour and forty-five minutes on this late November morning it took me to pedal here to Excelsior Springs from my home in Liberty - up gentle, block-long Natchez Street hill from my house to Southview Drive, turn left past the old Petty farm, now deserted and for sale, the used car lot and the Lutheran Church to the Thomas's house . . .

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of this story by Ed Chasteen in the Gladstone Sun News. permanent link to article: "Riding from Liberty to Excelsior Springs"
posted by Brent Hugh at 12/04/2002 11:16:00 PM |comment on this article

Winter is upon us . . . but that's no reason to stop bicycling! The Bikewinter Project, from Chicago, has a lot of helpful winter riding tips and inspirational stories.

The site has a nice profile of Missouri's own Dan Kliman.

Dan also recommends the IceBike web site. permanent link to article: "Winter cycling . . . "
posted by Brent Hugh at 12/02/2002 05:04:00 PM |comment on this article