Kansas Cyclist - Kansas Bicycle Guide and Reference

Despite recent news of progress in making Arkansas more bicycle-friendly (Bicycling Picks Up Speed in Central Arkansas), two recent news stories from the state show there’s still a rather long way to go in regard to bicycles being accepted as a normal everyday way to get around.

From the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

For the first time in seven years, Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas isn’t recruiting a horde to parade through morning-rush traffic in Little Rock and North Little Rock. So Little Rock police officers won’t be delaying auto travelers while cyclists wheel through red lights they ordinarily must obey.

It turns out that Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas is encouraging people to ride to work on their own — “no police escort, no sag service”. Oh my, is that even possible?

And from the “duh” file, this gem from KFSM-TV in Fayetteville:

Despite all the trails in Fayetteville, some people still say there are areas that aren’t friendly to bike riders.

Not everyone lives and/or works off a bike trail, which means they have to find an alternate route. According to the Fayetteville Police Department, it’s illegal to ride on the sidewalk, which means riders must share the street with regular motor vehicles.

Bicyclists might have to (gasp!) be accepted as part of traffic?

For years, it has seemed strange that Arkansas had no organized cross-state bicycle tour — something similar to Biking Across Kansas, the Oklahoma FreeWheel, or RAGBRAI.

Arkansas would seem to be a good fit for such a tour — it’s largely rural, with lots of low-traffic roads running through scenic and in many places, challenging, terrain. I, for one, would love to do a Bike-Across-Arkansas tour.

Well, it seems I’m not the only one who’s had that dream.

From the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette comes news of some folks that got fed up with dreaming about a tour, and just up and did it themselves:

After more than a decade of talking, talking, talking in which one spangle of excitement after another fizzled down to … more talking, six bicycle riders finally “just did it.”

These members of the Arkansas Bicycle Club grew tired of failed attempts to organize a cross-Arkansas tour on the scale of RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) or the Oklahoma Freewheel. So, by golly, they saddled up April 13 and went on their own little Bicycle Ride Around Arkansas (BRAA) or Bicycle Arkansas (BARK) ride – or whatever people want to call it.

Forget shuttle cars and insurance coverage and 210 parade permits or whatever. They announced their plan on bicycle club chat boards, inviting everyone to come along for all or part of a seven-day, no-sag, no-frills, no-fault bicycle-camping tour. At 9 a.m. on a rain-soaked Monday, Jim Britt, 59; Coreen Frasier, 65; John Linck, 59; and Brad Joseph, 55, launched themselves from the relatively dry porch of River Trail Rentals. Their wheels sliced through rapidly deepening puddles as they left the North Little Rock riverfront and headed north toward Arkansas 107. Two other cyclists joined them on the road. Seven days and 350 miles or so later, only two of them were willing to stay in the saddle all the way to their front doors. But Frasier says they all agree “the mileage was perfect all but the first day … Arkansas is a beautiful place to ride, and we picked a most beautiful and scenic course.”

The article details their route, which started in North Little Rock and overnighted at Greers Ferry Lake, Mountain View, Marshall, Tilly, Lake Nimrod, Hot Springs before ending up back in Little Rock (you can also view their route online).

The riders had to battle some rainy days, and “Boy, we went up some big hills. But we managed to get up the hills,” Linck says. “We only had one flat. Everybody had good equipment. Everybody came physically fit enough to ride those hills. We didn’t have a weak link, which really made it nice.”

Britt says they will try another BRAA or BARK or whatever next spring. No frills, no insurance. Feel free to join them.

Read the full story: 7-day Arkansas bicycle tour often arduous, usually scenic

May 2nd is the second annual Tour de Toad in Conway, Arkansas. The city is lobbying to become the first bicycle-friendly community in the state, and organizers are hoping the Tour de Toad can help raise awareness for the cause:

As Conway is on its way to becoming a more bike-friendly area with a city-appointed task force leading the way, Pruitt said he expects a good turnout.

“We get a lot of race day registrants with tours and if it’s a nice day, we could have 250,” Pruitt said. “It’s kind of a toss up on the number of people, but I’ll be praying for nice weather.”

This year’s Tour de Toad will feature lengths of 33, 46 and 68 miles with a new Family Fun Ride offered for cyclists of all ages and skill levels.

Pruitt, who is vice president of the literacy council board, said so many options are being offered this year because the group just wants residents to get outside.

“Getting people out there on their bikes and giving them some education is important,” Pruitt said. “We are wanting to get people out there to experience it. People are so scared to ride on the roads by themselves, but this way it’s going to be a lot safer with a large group of people and police present.”

Although promoting a bicycle-friendly community is one of the missions of the Tour de Toad, it is not the main purpose.

“I would encourage residents to participate because for one thing, it supports the literacy council and all money goes to supporting its programs for adult literacy in Faulkner County,” Pruitt said. [read more]

The ride is part of Conway’s annual Toad Suck Daze, a 3-day festival of food, family and fun held on downtown streets. The ride starts at 10am at the Conway High School field house.

The Ouachita Challenge is an early-spring mountain bike race that takes place in the Ouachita Mountains of Southwestern Arkansas. It is the largest mountain bike event in Arkansas, and draws hundreds of participants from all over.

This year’s race took place on April 4-5, and was once again a huge success, with many riders from our region participating. Here is video from the race:

And here are some rider reports:

• Jeff Kerkove (winner)
• Joshua Stamper
• Ben Shockey
• Cameron Chambers
• Cornbread
• EnduroSnob
• Lanterne Rouge
• Chris Locke
• Gateway Off-Road Cyclists

Complete results

Arkansas is known as a state with incredible natural beauty, and it has long been a mecca for mountain bikers, but the state boasts no bicycle friendly communities, and it was ranked in the bottom third (39th out of 50) in the League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly States program.

However, things may be looking up in Arkansas. Bentonville, Conway, and Fayettevile have all made some progress within the last year, and now efforts in Little Rock appears to be gaining momentum.

Gerard Matthews of the Arkansas Times offers a look at the state of bicycling in the Little Rock, Arkansas region:

Every Sunday at 1 p.m., members of the Arkansas Bicycle Club and Bicycling Advocacy of Central Arkansas gather at the end of River Mountain Road near the Arkansas River and set out on a 35-mile ride. It’s laid-back but fast, challenging but fun. Riders of all levels are invited to come and if you fall behind someone will always be there waiting for you.

The ABC ride is just one of many you can join any given week. It’s part of a biking infrastructure that has grown up around Pulaski County over the years. Central Arkansas’s reputation as a bike-friendly culture has grown with it but there are still some improvements to be made. For every cyclist that says Little Rock is a bike-friendly town, there’s another who says the city doesn’t have enough bike lanes, signs or cool-headed drivers on the road. And while almost all can agree that the Arkansas River Trail has been a boon to not only bikers, but joggers, walkers and skaters too, critical parts of the trail remain unfinished.

“Ten years ago, you wouldn’t have believed it but we’re a biking destination now,” says David Holsted, who is organizing the 6th annual Tour de Rock bike race that takes place in June. “People come here from out of town and they know to bring their bike, and that reputation is going to continue to grow.”

Part of the draw is the soaring Big Dam Bridge pedestrian and bike path over the Arkansas River, which connects the North Little Rock and Little Rock portions of the River Trail. But the River Trail’s planned 14-mile loop is incomplete, and a group called Close the Loop, a task force created by BACA, is pushing for completion of the trail.

North Little Rock’s portion of the trail is ideal — bikers share only a tiny portion of the 7-mile route with automobiles. The rest is dedicated to bikers and hikers, a wide asphalt path that takes a scenic route along the river and includes a side loop through woods near the Big Dam Bridge. But less than half of the Little Rock trail is on a dedicated path and when it emerges from Rebsamen Park Road to climb to downtown Little Rock, it requires bikers to share the four-lane Cantrell Road and take some complicated turns on city streets to find their way to Riverfront Park. To cross the river again, bikers have to share the road with traffic on the Broadway Bridge or use the Junction Bridge, which requires an elevator ride.

Holstead says completing the trail — which would include turning the Rock Island Railroad Bridge on the Clinton Library grounds into a pedestrian bridge, a long overdue project — would make the ride safer for younger and more inexperienced riders, and also bring business into the River Market.

Dan Lysk, manager of Arkansas Cycling and Fitness in Sherwood, says that Central Arkansas has a trail system like no other state in the South, offering both long, smooth rides and off-road routes.

“Arkansas has some phenomenal mountain trails and the River Trail provides access to a lot of them,” Lysk says. “You’ve got Burns Park, Camp Robinson, Allsopp Park. I can’t think of any other metropolitan city that has the trail infrastructure of Arkansas.”

It’s good to see another city in the region waking up to the fact that building cycling infrastructure and making streets safe for cyclists not only offers health and recreation benefits, but can make a major economic impact, saving its citizens time and money, reducing the wear-and-tear on streets, and attracting visitors and new residents.

And beyond the health and tourism benefits, there’s something more: “The success of the Big Dam Bridge is now showing everyone that it was the right thing to do,” says Lysk. “There are a lot of people that use the trails and the bridge that normally wouldn’t see each other. People are down there, smiling at each other and connecting with others from different parts of the city. It’s really improving the community.”

Sounds like thinks are looking up in Little Rock!

The Highway 71 Classic is an annual ride held on US scenic Highway 71 in Northwest Arkansas, starting in Fayetteville. This year’s edition of the ride takes place on Sunday March 1st, 2009.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recently ran a feature on the ride:

Begun about eight years ago, the Highway 71 Classic is an early-season road-cycling tour that allows riders to test their fitness on the hilly pavement between Fayetteville and Mountainburg.

“The ride has historically been early [in the year] so as to avoid conflicting with an already-packed cycling calendar in Northwest Arkansas,” said Laura Kelly, chairman of the Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks, the group organizing the event.

There are two out-and-back routes. The first is 36 miles and takes riders 18 miles to Brentwood before they turn around and head back.

The second route is about 75 miles, running up and over the slopes of Mount Gaylor then down into Mountainburg before sending riders on a lung-burning spin back over the mountain for the return trip.

It’s a challenging task, Kelly said.

“Most of the Mount Gaylor climb is about 3 percent [grade], with a short section of 8 percent climbing.”

So riders who haven’t tested their legs much over the winter may be in for a rude and painful awakening as the road tilts upward.

There is a payoff, however.

“The descent is thrilling, to say the least,” she added.

Riders of varying skill levels participate, and about 100 are expected to take part.

Read more: Scenic cycling tour is already a classic

The Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks is a non-profit group working to create a more bicycle-friendly community in Northwest Arkansas. “We devote almost all our energies into educating young cyclists on lawful roadway etiquette and the importance of visible, predictable cycling techniques,” Kelly said. “Cycling offers such a wide range of benefits, from increased health to big cost savings, that we wish to share the benefits with more people.”

North Little Rock, Arkansas is to be among the first communities in the state to add the shared lane markings known as “sharrows” to some of their streets:

A new pavement marking that bicyclists hope drives home the message that motorists must share the road with them is on its way to central Arkansas.

It is known as the shared lane marking, or sharrow.

The marking, intended initially for qualified roadways popular with bicyclists, is chiefly designed to alert motorists that bicyclists may be on the road and signal to bicyclists their proper place on the road, said Casey Covington, an official with Metroplan, the long-range transportation agency for central Arkansas.

“Sharrows have been used on lower-speed urban roadways throughout the United States and have generally been accepted by bicyclists throughout the United States, and those in the engineering profession,” he said.

“It looks like they are trying to conform to what will become or hope to become a national standard,” said Jim Britt, president of the Arkansas Bicycle Club. “It’s the beginning of recognition that bicyclists are out there. We’re just trying to make use of the streets and get somewhere [just like motorists]. “We still get people who don’t think bicycles are supposed to be on city streets.”

Britt sees the sharrows as a less expensive alternative for communities that have planned bicycle lanes. “They are a fairly easy and cheap thing for local governments to do,” he said. “City planners think we need dedicated bike lanes. It’s difficult to come up with that extra space.”

Read more from NWANews.

People in Searcy, Arkansas are getting excited about the idea of expanding their community’s bike trail:

Momentum is growing in Searcy like an old-fashioned bike rider going down a hill with his foot on the coaster brakes, with citizens talking about more places to ride bicycles without competing with cars and trucks, and for more parking spaces and entry points on the existing bike trail.

Overlooking the fact that using coaster brakes would decrease, rather than increase, momentum, there does seem to be growing enthusiasm for the idea of improving bicycling opportunities in Searcy, with talk of expanding the trail around the western and southern part of the city and connecting it to new housing, parks, and medical facilities.

They’re also looking to improve a very dangerous road crossing:

Another idea to improve the current bike trail is to reroute it under the Beebe-Capps Expressway, providing a way for trail users to go from Market Street to the sports complex without crossing Searcy’s busiest thoroughfare. Traffic at that point on the expressway goes 50 miles per hour. Although some cyclists using the trail cross by going down the expressway’s shoulder to the traffic light at the Benton Street intersection, then coming back on the expressway’s opposite shoulder to the other trailhead, some use a “Frogger” technique to dodge dangerous traffic and cross the highway — action not recommended by safety officers.

Yikes, that sounds like it was poor design to begin with!

There are also discussions of improving on-street bicycling facilities, with bike lanes and expanding bike route signage. Hmmm, could Searcy have designs on becoming the state’s first Bicycle Friendly Community?

Read more from The Daily Citizen: Bike trail expansion ideas keep rolling along

American Trails presents the 19th Annual National Trails Symposium in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 15-18, 2008.

The Symposium provides an opportunity for the worldwide trails community to come together for an inspirational and educational conference. The Symposium agenda addresses both non-motorized and motorized issues and our vision for trails and greenways nationwide. Dozens of speakers and keynote presenters cover the top topics in the trails community with presentations from across America. And, mobile workshops give you the opportunity to walk, ride, hike, or paddle some of the great local trails.

Besides the educational opportunities found at this biennial symposium, networking with a wide variety of knowledgeable people working on trails today, including advocates, agencies, land managers, designers, planners, technicians, vendors, builders, developers, and enthusiasts, is one of the best benefits of attending this conference.

Another highlight of the Symposium is the National Trails Awards, which recognizes the people, agencies, and organizations that are creating trails for all Americans. The Symposium will also celebrate the 40th anniversary of the National Trails System.

Learn more about the National Trails Symposium at americantrails.org.

Courtesy of Biking Bis:

Nearly 200 years ago, many towns began springing up along the Mississippi River shoreline to play host to the flatboats and steamboats that brought commerce up and down the great waterway.

Today, Bob Robinson says those towns can cater to touring bicyclists who pass through on the backroads and bicycle paths that make up the 3,000-mile Mississippi River Trail.

Robinson is a bicyclist from Fort Smith, Arkansas, who has just written and published the definitive guidebook — Bicycling Guide to the Mississippi River Trail — for bike travelers wanting to explore this historic route.

The Mississippi River Trail follows the Mississippi River from its headwaters in Itasca, Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. The book guides you along the designated route, turn by turn, and includes information on the available services, points of interest, and history of the areas you pass through, so cyclists can better appreciate the communities and scenery along the route.

Bob Robinson has been an avid cyclist for over 25 years, and during this period he has raced both road and mountain bikes, organized races for both road and mountain bikes, built mountain bike trails, served as cycling club president, organized bicycle tours, and worked as a committee member for the National Trails Symposium.

Bob looks forward to meeting cyclists, and sharing stories with them around the campfire, during his future rides along the Mississippi River Trail, as he researches updates to the guidebook.

If you’re interested in exploring this amazing trail, you can purchase the guidebook from Bob Robinson or from Amazon.com.