Kansas Cyclist - Kansas Bicycle Guide and Reference

The 2010 Winter/Spring Activities Guide from the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department features a cover story about bicycling in Lawrence, Kansas, written by Deepa Sampat:

In October 2004, the League of American Bicyclists recognized the city as a bicycle-friendly community. The award was based on the city’s continued efforts to promote bicycling for recreation and transportation, to educate the community on bicycle safety and to provide residents with safe facilities for bicycling.

The city boasts:

• 53.5 miles of designated on-road bike routes.
• 11.6 miles of on-road, striped bicycle lanes.
• 22 miles of paved recreational paths.
• 10 miles of designated off-road paths on the Kansas River levee, located in East Lawrence.
• 29 miles of trails at Clinton Lake and additional off-road trails east of North Lawrence (along the Kansas River).

The article also discusses the heath benefits of recreational and transportational bicycling, as well as the support system of local bicycling clubs and groups. All in all, it’s a good overview of bicycling opportunities in Lawrence.

You can read the article by clicking these images to view larger versions:

Or you can view the PDF of the Activities Guide here (warning, it’s a large file!).

This looks to be a really fun ride on April 3rd in Kansas City:

In the spirit of “The Golden Age of Bicycles” the Groody Bros. Bicycle Restoration Project cordially invites you to participate in the first annual Kansas City Tweed Ride – Velocipede & Tweed Indeed! Please join us on Saturday, April 3rd, 2010 at Loose Park in Kansas City, MO for an afternoon of sophisticated social revelry upon the most marvelous machines ever devised by man.

We will congregate under the shelter located at 52nd and Wornall Road at the hour of 12, with the ride to commence at approximately one o’clock. Dress in your finest turn of the century era wools, tweeds, silks and argyles*. Riders, and their machines, will have the opportunity to be judged and awarded prizes based on appearance, authenticity, originality, and creativity. Categories to include, but are not limited to:

• Most Flattering Female Finery
• Most Dashing & Debonair Male
• Most Period Authentic Machine
• Most Handsome Mustache (Masculinely Male)
• Most Delicate Mustache (Fictitiously Female)
• Most Intriguing Accessory upon a Person
• Most Intriguing Accessory upon a Bicycle

Our route will pass through some of the finest and most elegant neighborhoods in the Kansas City area with regrouping locations allowing for fine refreshment. The length of our journey will be no greater than ten miles and at a speed of the most casual nature. This is about style not speed, elegance not exertion. This is to be considered a family affair to be enjoyed by the young and old alike. Light refreshments of tea and biscuits will be provided. We invite you to bring your own picnic fare to share.

While at the event you can expect to have your image captured in candid fashion by none other than world renowned urban cyclist photographer, Chris Thomas.

Another local artist of the brush and canvas variety, Kevin Nierman, whose works have graced the covers of such esteemed and prestigious publications as Dirt Rag Magazine and Bicycling Times has generously donated an original painting created just for this event. This work of art will be made available to one fortunate member of the general populous through a chance drawing. Raffle tickets will be available for a nominal donation on the day of the event. The proceeds will benefit a local youth cycling endeavor and assist to defray a portion of the event expenses.

Current sponsors include Groody Bros. Bicycle Restoration Project, Poindexter Recruiting, Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac, Kevin Nierman Graphic Design, Chris Thomas Photography, Chipman Creative Design, Family Bicycles, LLC, other sponsors still at large…

Contact us if you wish to volunteer, donate prizes or become a sponsor. Please feel free to direct your comments, suggestions and inquiries to TweedRideKC@gmail.com . Any and all R.S.V.P. to this address would be greatly appreciated so that we might properly prepare for the onslaught of participants.

This event does not include rider support by those infernal internal combustion machines. All riders should arrive with a bicycle in proper working order and be aware that their participation is purely and completely at their own risk. Riders are expected to observe and obey all rules of the road and behave in a dignified and civilized manor during the course of the event.

*The sporting of denim, spandex or lycra is to be highly discouraged. The organizers of this event consider these fabrics to be in exceedingly poor taste. The wearers of such apparel can expect to be openly scorned, chastised and run the risk of being “tarred and feathered” by an angry mob.

You can learn more about the event on their web site or Facebook event page.

“Tweed Rides” are popping up in cities all over. Here are a few more you may want to check out: Austin, TX, Boston, MA, Philadelphia, PA, Portland, OR, San Diego, CA, San Francisco, CA, Washington, DC, and many more around the world.

Commissioners in Leavenworth County, Kansas recently approved an updated Comprehensive Plan for the county. The updates included:

• develop trail standards and require easements for trails on all new plats where appropriate and/or feasible
• include bicycle shoulders on all county road where appropriate and/or feasible

In reading that, I was initially confused by the term “bicycle shoulder”, since I don’t recall ever seeing that phrase before.

According to additional info from the Leavenworth County Planning & Zoning Commission, the term “bicycle shoulder” is apparently a colloquialism, and there’s no standard definition associated with it. What they’re referring to as a “bicycle shoulder” is a 6-to-10 foot paved shoulder adjacent to and connected to the road.

So it’s apparently just an everyday shoulder that bicycles happen to be able to use (and hopefully designed with bicycle-friendly rumble strips). And since the shoulder would not be for the exclusive use of bicycles, the state’s “sidepath” law would not apply — that is, bikes would not be required to use the shoulder.

As for the “appropriate and/or feasible” language, here’s what that apparently means:

Commissioners J.C. Tellefson and John Flower said it would be up to staff and the board to decide if the additions of bike lanes or trail standards would be appropriate or feasible and cost would be considered in that decision.

There’s obviously plenty of gray area there for the county to decide that trails or shoulders are not appropriate or feasible anywhere, but still, this seems to be a step in the right direction!

Read more from the Tonganoxie Mirror.

Thanks for Dale Crawford and John Garlinger of KanBikeWalk for helping research this.

Here’s an update on a rails-to-trails project in Pittsburg, Kansas:

Although it seems work on transforming former railroads near downtown into hiking and biking trails has been in progress since 2005, the real work dates back decades.

There are numerous obstacles to the project, making it difficult to turn rails into trails from First and Georgia streets to 11th and Broadway streets.

As designed years ago, the project has received plenty of financial support. The project has netted grants through the Skubitz Foundation, the Sunflower Foundation and the Pritchett Trust.

Further adding to the progress is help from Pittsburg State. Students in the Department of Construction Management are working on designs and implementation plans for creating a trailhead for the Rails to Trails project.

Ultimately, Kennemer couldn’t put a timeline on when the project would be completed, but said things are moving in the right direction. “It’d be nice to have it done by the spring or summer, but I thought that would be the case last year,” Kennemer said. “We’ve got four to five different groups involved. A lot of the problem is just getting everyone on the same page at the same time.

“We’ll just have to piecemeal it at a time. We’ll do what we can when we can and where we can.”

Read more from the Pittsburg Morning Sun:

• Rails to Trails making progress
• Pittsburg receives grant for hike, bike trail (Nov 19, 2008)

I’m not sure what the name is of the Pittsburg Rails-to-Trails project; it’s not listed in the national Rails-to-Trails Conservancy directory. I’m also not sure if this is the same project described in Hike-and-Bike Path Coming To Pittsburg, or a different one…

According to the Sunflower Foundation, they awarded a $10,000 to the City of Pittsburg “to build a 5,400′ long, 10′ wide compacted gravel and asphalt trail from Georgia Street to Broadway Avenue.”

This photo shows delivery agents for The Daily Free Press in Winfield, Kansas, taken about 1914.

It’s hard to see much detail, but it’s interesting to note that, with the exception of the way the riders are dressed — jackets, ties, and hats — the bicycles themselves wouldn’t look all that out of place nearly a hundred years later.

Incidentally, here’s some interesting commentary on the effect of automobiles on Winfield:

By 1910 Winfield paved the downtown streets with brick, horses were no longer welcome. The mule drawn trolleys were upgraded to electric streetcars. Eventually the automobile changed the face of small town America. Main Street went from a gathering place for people and horses and wagons to a parking place for the ubiquitous automobile. The Trolley Cars were displaced to make room for more cars. The brick streets were covered with asphalt to provide a smoother ride for the automobile.

Courtesy of the Cowley County Historical Society Photo Archives.

Here’s a similar photo, this one from Topeka, showing delivery boys for the Topeka Daily Capital, circa 1900:

Courtesy of Kansas Memory, from the archives of the Kansas State Historical Society.

Biking Across Kansas, the annual week-long supported tour across the Sunflower State, has announced their 2010 route:

The tour leaves Syracuse, near the Colorado border, on Saturday, June 5th, and arrives in Leavenworth, on the Missouri river, on June 12th.

The route covers about 478 miles, with overnights in Goodland, Colby, Hill City, Osborne, Minneapolis, Herington, Osage City, and Eudora.

Learn more at the Biking Across Kansas web site.

The Garden City Comprehensive Plan endorses Complete Streets and possible bike/ped improvements in Garden City, Kansas:

It’s more than just how and where you drive your car everyday. Rather, it’s a holistic approach to how you move about the community. We need to plan for other modes of travel so that all members of the community can move about safely and conveniently. Garden City should continue to implement elements of “Complete Streets”.

The City should continue to enact policies that will reduce demand on existing infrastructure by promoting shorter commute time between citizens and their employers with more compact, pedestrian oriented designs, such as multi modal commute alternatives (i.e. extension of existing walking trails, and bike paths).

More info:

• Comprehensive Plan Home Page
• 2010 Comprehensive Plan (PDF)
• Comprehensive Plan Blog
• Comprehensive Plan Facebook Group

The first segment of the Blue River Rail Trail recently opened in Marysville, Kansas. This rail-to-trail conversion project, which has been in the planning stage for years, is now open from Marysville north about two miles.

The trail is built on the railbanked right-of-way of the Beatrice Branch line of the Union Pacific Railway, and will eventually stretch north 12 miles to the Nebraska state line, where it will connect with that state’s Homestead Trail, which runs through Beatrice to Lincoln, where it connects with the Mopac Trail east to Omaha and beyond (see graphic). The total distance between Marysville and Lincoln will be approximately 68 miles.

The initial segment of the trail was built by private donations plus funds from a $14,686 grant from the Sunflower Foundation. The next steps include a link to downtown Marysville through the old Union Pacific rail yard, and advancing the trail further north to the town of Marietta, then beyond to Nebraska, where the Homestead Trail is being expanded southward to meet it at the state line.

The trail is 10 feet wide and surfaced with crushed limestone screenings over the original railbed. The trail runs along the banks of the scenic Blue River, which offers a lush natural environment with abundant wildlife and birds to enjoy. The trail also has a small covered, red-roofed bridge over a small creek, which was built by a local volunteer group, Marshall County Connections. “It’s kind of a fun surprise when you come around the corner and there it is,” said board member Maureen Crist.

Judging from the local newspaper, the community is enthused about the new trail: Railbed project is exciting prospect:

A pedestrian and bike path on the former Union Pacific railbed from the Pony Express sculpture park downtown to City Park would continue to build on Marysville’s image as an inviting place to visit and live.

What a pleasant place to take a walk after shopping or eating downtown. What an attractive setting this could be for Marysville’s new farmers market and what a great walkway for our senior citizens going to and from the Helvering Community Center. What a boon this could pose for our quality of life.

See also: Rail Trail’s first stretch open for walkers, cyclists

Photo courtesy the Marysville Advocate.

This is episode 16 of the Kansas Cyclist Podcast, and this episode features an interview with Keith Gates, a bicycle commuter, Randoneer, and blogger, as well a short conversation with Chris Carr, the director of “Wheels for Wells”, a cross-country tour that is raising money for clean water in Africa.

Keith Gates lives in Olathe, Kansas, and has been a long-time bicycle commuter, earning the handle “commuterDude”, and has been sharing his commutes via his blog for many years. commuterdude.com offers a wealth of advice and information about bicycle commuting, including choosing a bike, selecting gear, finding a route, and conquering the mental blocks that often keep us off our bikes and locked in our cars.

Keith is also an accomplished long-distance cyclist, participating in the midwest randonneuring scene. Randonneuring is a non-competitive sport in which one rides to test oneself against the clock, the weather, and a challenging route – but not to beat the other riders. The ethos of randonneuring is self-sufficiency and mental toughness. Randonneurs USA is the governing body of randonneuring in America, and the local chapter, Kansas City Ultra-Cycling, organizes a number of local events, including Brevets of 200km (about 125 miles), 300km (186 miles), 400km (249 miles) and 600km (373 miles).

In 2008, Keith earned an R-12 Award by riding a 200km (or longer) randonneuring event for 12 consecutive months, which, as daunting as that sounds, is even tougher given the unpredictable and sometimes brutal — wind, rain, cold, snow — weather conditions in the midwest. Way to go, Keith!

You can follow Keith’s commuting and randonneuring tales on his web site at commuterdude.com, or via the Facebook fan page.

Next up, we talk with Chris Carr, director of Wheels for Wells, a cross-country tour that is raising money for clean water in Africa. The ride begins in California on June 27th and ends in New Jersey on August 7th. It passes through Kansas July 12th through 18th. They’re still looking for cyclists to ride week-long legs of the trip; if you’re interested read more here. You can also follow Wheels for Wells on Facebook and Twitter.

Here’s a quick summary of the rest of the podcast, with links to more information:

• Stafford, Kansas Cyclist Killed
• Wichita Cyclist Dies From Hit-and-Run Collision
• The U.S. Bicycle Route System in Kansas
• Winter Bike To Work Day 2010
• 2010 Cottonwood 200 Honors Bob Frederick
• Guru’s Gravel Grinders
• Trail News: Big Creek Trail, Wyandotte County Lake Park Trails and the Trail Masons Association

And finally, thanks again goes to Mark Franzke for providing the original music you hear on the Kansas Cyclist Podcast.

As always, we hope you’ll listen to the Kansas Cyclist Podcast, and consider subscribing to future episodes. We welcome your feedback, so please send in your comments or suggestions or call 913-938-6855 to leave a voice message.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:43:25 — 94.7MB)

Kansas Trail News for December 29, 2009 from Sunflower Recreational Trails:

Rail-Trail Building Seminar Scheduled

A “How to Build a Trail” seminar will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday February 6 in the McPherson Public Library located at 214 W. Marlin St. John Purvis and Doug Walker of the Kanza Rail-Trails Conservancy and others have been invited to present “best practices” for building rail-trails quickly and cheaply despite opposition. Purvis has been building the Landon Nature Trail and Walker has been building the Flint Hills Nature Trail. Central Kansas Conservancy is sponsoring the free seminar which will be held after the SRT meeting (see below).

Sunflower Recreational Trails Meeting Feb. 6

All trails enthusiasts are cordially invited to attend the next meeting of Sunflower Recreational Trails, Inc. at 11:00 a.m. on February 6 in McPherson at Tres Amigos, 121 W. Marlin. Items of discussion include the status of the state’s rails-to-trails program; legislative matters; fundraising, and a possible organization name change. A field trip on the Meadowlark Trail will be held following the meeting.

KC’s Riverfront Heritage Trail Gap Closed

The following editorial was published in the Kansas City Star (1-15-10)

One of Vincent Gauthier’s dream projects opens today, when Kansas Citians on the Riverfront Heritage Trail get a new opportunity to stroll oh-so-close to the Missouri River.

Gauthier, the Port Authority’s executive director, watched large ice chunks flow down the river on Thursday while showing off a long-needed connecting walkway under the ASB Bridge.

“Look, you can almost touch the water,” he said while standing at one of the lookout points on the new pedestrian underpass. OK, the river was actually about 50 to 60 feet away. But it is winter, and the river is low, so during many other months people on the trail near downtown really will be tantalizingly at the water’s edge.

The opening of the $3 million project is a key victory for pedestrians, bicyclists and all other users of the trail. Finally, people headed west from Richard L. Berkley Riverfront Park will be able to continue on the pathway to the River Market area. And vice versa.

The project, overseen by the Port Authority and mainly financed by Ameristar Casino funds, will help people get around the gates that for years have kept them off a sliver of property controlled by BNSF Railway where its tracks enter the ASB Bridge. The gates blocked people from full use of the trail.

The underpass includes wide concrete pathways that meet accessibility standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. A small resting area near the tracks will let kids (and their parents) stand just feet away as trains go by on the ASB tracks. Ipe — a light red hardwood from South America — has been used as a decorative railing and a flooring material on parts of the underpass.

Tall, thin black poles hold lamps that will light the trail at night; landscaping will be completed in the spring.

Kansas City’s system of trails still requires major improvements, including construction of hundreds of miles of bike paths. But completion of the ASB trail underpass does provide a crucial connection for an important path in the city.

Topeka Approves Landon Trail Extension

The following is excerpted from the Topeka Capital-Journal (1-13-10)

The council on Tuesday also voted 8-1 to override Mayor Bill Bunten’s veto of the proposed construction of an extension of the Landon Trail. Woelfel dissented, saying he couldn’t justify authorizing the project at a time “when money’s pretty tight.”

The council had voted 8-1 on Dec. 15, with Woelfel dissenting, to approve the project to issue $100,000 in general obligation bonds to build an extension of the trail, with that amount being matched by $429,600 from federal transportation enhancement funds.

Total debt service over 20 years is estimated at $144,389 for the project, which will extend the trail from a point just east of 25th and S. Kansas Avenue north to a location near S.E. 32nd, just west of the Hi-Crest neighborhood.

Bunten vetoed the project Dec. 18. Council members initially considered seeking to override the veto last week but deferred action for one week after legal questions about the trail were raised.

Assistant city attorney Braxton Copley told council members Tuesday he studied the matter and felt convinced the city has a right and a duty to develop the trail.

KRTC president John Purvis, J.D. reports that “The language of the present lease agreement requires development by the city and the assistant city attorney told the council that specifically. He also told them that the Kansas Recreational Trails Act required them to develop the trail also.”

The City is also going to apply for federal Transportation Enhancement funds to do the next section between 34th and 45th Streets. Plus, the City and KRTC are going to revise the current agreement to expand the trail corridor lease to the new city limits at 53rd St. which has a trailhead.

Legislative Watch

This legislative session is expected to be a contentious one due to the recession triggering budgetary problems (caused by reduced tax revenues). Agencies have already made steep cuts and now parks, recreation, wildlife protection and environmental protection could face additional cuts. During this highly-charged atmosphere, legislative attacks on rail-trails could be used to divert attention away from other issues. So, state officials are recommending that trail groups keep a low profile until May.

Cold/Snow Slows Trail Projects

Several trail construction projects are on hold due to the snow and extremely cold temperatures. In Lawrence, the Burroughs Creek Trail project has been delayed by several months. With the current frost level in the ground, it will be well into spring before it is dry enough for work to resume (construction of the 10-foot-wide concrete path south of 19th Street). However, the City is working on landscape plans for the linear park and park and recreation staff has been discussing signs and an official name for the trail and linear park.

Kansas Trail News is published monthly by Clark H. Coan, Public Information Specialist for Sunflower Recreational Trails, P.O. Box 44-2043, Lawrence, KS 66044, 785-842-3458. Reprinted with permission. If you have any trail news you’d like to share, please contact us.