Cycling Tips & Stories

Kansas City's new Induro Cycling and Cadence Cycling Club are designed to complement regular bicycle clubs and meet a need that is often overlooked--helping cyclists just getting into or returning to the sport develop the skills and endurance needed to join other group or recreational rides.

According to club coordinator Brennan Shirk, they "specialize in assisting folks with the introduction of the sport".

Induro Cycling features indoor sessions that are specifically designed to build endurance and skills for outdoor bicycling. The next step is outdoor bicycle rides in the controlled environment of the downtown airport, designed to help riders move to the next level of skill and confidence.

We will walk you through the necessary steps for you and/or your family and friends to obtain the essentials to becoming an active cyclist or complete the cycling leg of a triathlon. We specialize in equipping beginners to achieve their cycling goals. We can help you obtain a bike and all the necessary accessories and tools needed to hit the road or trail.

Our training sessions are held in no and low traffic areas allowing you a stress free environment.

If you have a friend or relative who would like to get into bicycling but just doesn't quite know how to get started--or someone who showed up to a club ride and got dropped and then discouraged--this looks like an excellent program.

More information here.

permanent link to article: "KC: Induro Cycling Club helps bicyclists get a leg up"
posted by Brent Hugh at 4/26/2006 01:02:00 PM |comment on this article

An article in the Columbia Tribune outlines how exercise helps build health and fend off disease:

"From the top of our heads to the bottom of our toes, physical activity is the stimulus that gets almost all our organs working at their best," Tufts exercise expert Miriam Nelson says.

She and her colleagues give 10 ways that inactivity can take a toll on our bodies because when we are inactive, our ability to transfer oxygen from the bloodstream to cells is diminished. When we can’t get as much oxygen out of our blood, we can’t walk up a flight of stairs as easily, and all our other systems are also affected by this loss. Here is the list:

* Diabetes. Insulin sensitivity appears to deteriorate when we are inactive, but it responds positively when we get back to regular training. . . .

* Cancer. A Harvard study says, "The evidence is fairly clear now that men and women who are physically active have a 30-40 percent lower risk of colon cancer compared to individuals who are not active." . . .

* Stroke. Active folks are 25 percent less likely to have a stroke than their sedentary counterparts. . . .

* Mental health. Those who are active are less likely to develop depression . . .

* Immune system. If you frequently get colds, you might need to boost your immune system. Thirty to 45 minutes of walking about five days a week is good, but for sure, don’t overdo it.

Read the rest of the article here. permanent link to article: "Exercise builds health in many ways"
posted by Brent Hugh at 4/25/2006 07:01:00 AM |comment on this article

According to a recent article in the Springfield News-Leader, the Ozark Trail Association is making real headway in extending the network of trails in Missouri. Most of these trails are open to mountain bikers, though a few are for hiking only.

About the Ozark Trail Association:

Mission: "To develop, maintain, preserve, promote and protect the rugged, natural beauty of the Ozark Trail," says the group's Web site. Leading southwestward from Castlewood State Park in metropolitan St. Louis, the Ozark Trail offers 200 miles of continuous pathways and runs more than 350 miles in total in Missouri; eventually hikers and cyclists meet with Arkansas west of Thayer.

About: Three decades ago it was a broad but simple vision: Build more trails in Missouri. A coalition came together, including the U.S. Forest Service, the state Department of Natural Resources, private landowners and environmental groups. They agreed there were few trails in the Show-Me State and organized as the Ozark Trail Council. The goal has been tweaked some over the decades and work remains, but a long-distance trail system running near scenic streams and through glades and hardwood forests of Missouri is close to reality.

permanent link to article: "Ozark Trail Association builds trails in Missouri"
posted by Brent Hugh at 4/20/2006 08:55:00 AM |comment on this article

According to this St. Louis Post-Dispatch story:

Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt will have some people seeing red instead of green this week with his Earth Day proposal to turn the Missouri River into a national park from Kansas City to St. Louis.

Babbitt, a Clinton administration Cabinet member and a former Arizona governor, plans to make a retailored pitch for his controversial park idea in speeches in St. Louis and Columbia on Thursday.

His proposal gained little traction when he made it a few years ago. But Babbitt said that after talking with people along the river, some of whom he met walking the Katy Trail, he now believes that grass-roots support can be built on economic grounds because the 366-mile stretch is the lower river's most majestic.

permanent link to article: "Missouri River as a national park?"
posted by Brent Hugh at 4/19/2006 02:46:00 PM |comment on this article

MoBikeFed member Ray Scott's BikeKatyTrail.com web site recently won a well-deserved award from the American Trails organization for "Best Travel Website for a Trail".

If you haven't visited BikeKatyTrail.com lately, take a moment now--it really is one of the best trail web sites out there.

permanent link to article: "BikeKatyTrail.com receives award"
posted by Brent Hugh at 4/19/2006 09:36:00 AM |comment on this article

It's that time of year again and with gas prices hovering at or above $2.50/gallon, maybe it's time to think about bicycle commuting again?

Fred Oswald lists 10 Tips for Bicycle Commuting. A short excerpt:

3. Be Visible! Other drivers will not hit you IF they can see you. Bright clothes make you easier to spot in the daytime but they are little help at night; riding without lights in the dark is a very dangerous mistake. About thirty percent of cycling crashes occur at night although only about four percent of cycling is done then. The reflectors that come with new bikes are inadequate for nighttime safety. Always use a headlight and taillight when you ride in the dark. If you are caught by darkness without lights don't try to sneak home on the sidewalk. Walk your bike home or call for a ride. The photo at right shows the author's machine with two headlights. Notice how little of the bike is visible, other than the headlights.

4. Follow The Rules Of The Road. Everyone following the same “rules of the road” allows safe and efficient travel for all. This is the principle behind the Effective Cycling** program. Cyclists who make up their own rules are in great danger.

More here . . .

Paul Dorn has comprehensive bicycle commuting tips, including choosing a route and figuring out details like clothing and showers. permanent link to article: "Ten tips for bicycle commuting"
posted by Brent Hugh at 4/08/2006 02:47:00 PM |comment on this article

A St. Louis Post Dispatch article covers the Midwest Mountain Bike Festival, which starts this Friday, April 7th, 2006:

John Donjoian, coordinator of the Midwest Mountain Bike Festival, said St. Charles County offers the perfect setting for the festival because of the number of biking trails in close proximity.

"This area is really unique in the Midwest because you can do a 43-mile ride," Donjoian said. "To be able to do that in other areas you would have to be way out in backcountry, but here you can do it all with connectivity to the Katy Trail."

Klondike Park will be the home base for the festival and the starting point of Sunday's epic ride. The park, located in southwest St. Charles County off Highway 94 in Augusta, has five trails, ranging in difficulty and technical aspects that are connected by flat trails and form a five-and-a-half-mile loop through the park.

Representative Mike Sutherland, who has sponsored much of the recent bicycle-friendly legislation in the Missouri General Assembly (including a bill this year to make it easier to build mountain biking trails in MO state parks) will the event's kickoff speaker at 9:15 AM Friday morning.

The web page for the festival is on the GORC web site. permanent link to article: "Midwest Mountain Bike Festival"
posted by Brent Hugh at 4/05/2006 10:04:00 PM |comment on this article

Kenneth Walker of Kansas City's Major Taylor Foundation writes about some recent experiences with boys in his family and neighborhood:

Watching the boys, Dell spoke up and said he would like to try riding a bike. We went to the attic, pulled out a frame, some wheels, handlebars and a seat and fitted him, right there in our living room, with his first bicycle ever. I grabbed my camera before he got it, and when Christian handed that bike over to Dell...OH MY GOD!...that 13 year old cracked the first smile I had ever seen on his face. I wanted to cry... And I know it was real, 'cause it was gone just as fast. But I did get the picture! What a special moment for my family and MTFGKC! This is what we were MEANT to do.

I fitted him with some riding clothes, shoes, helmet and gloves and made him go get dressed in them. When he came out, you could just see that somehow he was different. It was just in his face. He rode around in front of our house on that bike for hours.

permanent link to article: "First bike . . ."
posted by Brent Hugh at 4/04/2006 01:21:00 PM |comment on this article

If you are willing to take positive steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, like riding a bike, carpool, combining trips, or turning down your thermostat, then it turns out you are in good company:

At least 90 percent of [Americans surveyed in a telephone poll] are willing to take several steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Those steps include recycling, combining trips when running errands, and turning down their winter thermostats by two degrees. . . .

And about 70 percent promise they could drive less, and walk, bike, car-pool or take mass transit.

permanent link to article: "Are you willing to take steps to reduce emissions?"
posted by Brent Hugh at 4/03/2006 10:29:00 AM |comment on this article

The Baltimore Sun reports:

Every Sunday, a 19th-century silence descends upon [Bogota, Columbia]. Some 75 miles of connecting streets are closed to traffic from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. As many as 2 million people pour forth to walk, cycle, Rollerblade, jog and simply socialize in communal peace.

No cars. No pollution. No gridlock. No roar of traffic.

"Ciclovia," as it's known, is the world's biggest block party, an urban transformation that borders on magical.

"It's like everyone puts on a new suit of clothes," says Cantori. . . .

Bogota's Ciclovia is all about changing behavior on a mass scale. The throwback Sundays began more than 20 years ago, initially involving only about four miles of roads. Over the years more miles were added, plus more activities.

Cantori describes Ciclovia as a weekly carnival. Along the winding route you can stumble upon everything from free outdoor aerobics classes to mini-concerts. . . .

Enrique Peñalosa - a Duke-educated economist who was mayor of Bogota from 1998 to 2000 (the law forbids serving two consecutive terms) - presided over the greatest expansion of Ciclovia. It became the symbol of a philosophical shift in the use of public spaces, making Peñalosa something of a celebrity in urban-planning circles. . . .

No American city (or mayor) is ready to take that radical a quality-of-life step, but officials in Boston, Cleveland and Philadelphia reportedly are contemplating Ciclovia-inspired weekend road closures. Chicago, however, may be ready to roll this fall. Mayor Richard M. Daley has signed off on a "Sunday Parkways" program that would block off three to eight miles of city streets from noon to 5 p.m.

So who's going to be the first city in Missouri to do this?

[Thanks to Karen for the tip . . . ] permanent link to article: "Bogota closes miles of city streets every Sunday"
posted by Brent Hugh at 4/03/2006 09:27:00 AM |comment on this article

A tandem team rode into town and stopped at a saloon for a cold drink. Unfortunately, the locals always had a habit of picking on strangers, which they were. When they finished their drinks, they found their steed had been stolen.

They go back into the bar, the captain handily flips his gun into the air, catches it above his head without even looking and fires a shot into the ceiling.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU SIDEWINDERS STOLE OUR STEED?" he yelled with surprising forcefulness.

No one answered.

"ALL RIGHT WE'RE GONNA HAVE ANOTHA COLD DRINK, AND IF OUR STEED AIN'T BACK OUTSIDE BY THE TIME WE FINISH, WE'RE GONNA DO WHAT WE DUN IN TEXAS! AND WE DON'T LIKE TO HAVE TO DO WHAT WE DUN IN TEXAS!"

Some of the locals shifted restlessly.

They had another cold drink, walked outside, and the tandem is back! They mount up and start to ride out of town.

The bartender wanders out of the bar and asks, "Say partner, before you go... what did happen in Texas?"

The captain turned back and said, "We had to walk home."

More bicycle humor can be found at the teamestrogen web site. permanent link to article: "Tandem Team at the Saloon"
posted by Brent Hugh at 4/02/2006 09:25:00 PM |comment on this article