Commuting - Rural Highways

Hello all!
Just joined this forum... starting to get into biking...

Anyway.. i plan to bike to Kansas City from Lawrence, KS sometime in the near future. Maybe make it a bi-weekly ride or something as i get fitter (I just started)...it's bout 35miles one way.. :rolleyes:

So..the point is this...i can't ride on the Interstate, cos KS law prohibits it... i use MapQuest to plot my route, and the best route they gave me was thru Hwy 24/40. Which is a rural Hwy... 65mph (people fly at 70mph - cos that's how most folks drive out in the country hwys).... no much of a shoulder at all...i'd say maybe a "white-line" on the side of the road, 1 foot of tarmac, then grass/ditch. Do you think i should even try this crazy trek? I did go out on Saturday and made it about 1/3 of the way. (Reno, KS - it's unincorporated :D ). I'll prolly turn off into a back road..once i get into a "city" - Tonganoxie and get off 24/40 cos it changes into a 4 laner.....and head North to Leavenworth road... ...

It wasn't too bad... did get a couple of motorcyclists getting really close to me and scream like the Bansheeeeeeeeee as they passed me... nutcases...and a couple of semis....but overall i felt pretty ok...but i would ask for you guys thoughts on this... "epic" ride.... and i'm doing it alone....

The route is fairly hilly...not much "killer" hills... it's Eastern Kansas... :D

Get some good maps from AAA, Rand McNally, etc. Delorme's Atlas & Gaetteer is a really detailed book of topo maps that shows all kinds of dirt roads, they're about $20. www.delorme.com. The trouble with MapQuest, etc., is that they are intended for people driving from one place to another. You can set up the route searches to avoid Interstates, etc., but you're really better off getting an up to date, detailed paper map or atlas and plotting your own route. Google Earth and Map24.com are useful mapping websites for showing what the terrain and roads might look like, but you still need to bust out the paper map and plan your own route.

I never understood people who don't plot their own route: to me exploring different routes is, like, half the fun of riding. :D I love Google Earth - have no idea how I lived without it before! Yes, it has some inaccuracies and is pretty much useless for remote sparsely populated areas, but most of the time it does the job fine. You might not even need paper maps.

Here (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=395144) is your area on gmap-pedometer. It seems to me you have an abundance of choices! Lots of smaller roads. Why don't your ride or drive between the towns to check out various roads and piece together a peaceful commute?

Of course, if you're fine with Hwy 24, you can go with it too. But keep in mind that there will probably be a lot more traffic on a weekday at rush hour, and drivers will likely be more impatient too! If I were you, I'd look for other options.

www.bikely.com listed a route from lawrence that goes about half way to the city. Ends short of the Shawnee area. Try calling officers in bike clubs in the area for help. I will bet Kansas City is big enough to have a bicycle activists group that has turned out an area map of bike routes.

Please check out Frisbie, KS for us, what a nice name and on the river.

ADD: Check out www.ksdot.org/burrail/bike/biking/KsBicyGuid.asp Your own DOT will send you a free map rating roads by size and traffic level so people can choose better routes. I am getting one and I have not been in Kansas since the 1988 Race Across AMerica.

Use google maps satellite view. You can see all the shoulders on your proposed route.

Whoa. I never thought the resolution was good enough to see shoulders, let alone distinguish paved ones from unpaved! But perhaps it is that sharp for some regions.

It varies...some areas are "un-charted"... i guess my route is pretty "charted" so i get to see some...
But so far, i think my route is pretty much....NO SHOULDER....

I plan to bike on a weekend or something, where traffic is going to be light, and also around 9am. When commuters (if any) are already at work.

But definitely not gonna go ride on a 4 Laner even though it's got a 3 foot shoulder....... i'd be roadkill in a flash... i did find routes that run parallel to the 4 Laner...so i'll take those instead.... safter.. but i'll have to contend with Hwy24/40 for a little bit till i get to Tonganoxie...

WHat advice for training? Winter is coming, and i doubt i'll invest in any hardcore gear... unless i strike it rich....my bike cost me quite a bit...

If you might get caught in dawn/dusk/darkness, and/or bad visibility conditions like rain, then here are some visibility suggestions from a visibility nut. :D

A neon-lime ANSI Class III reflective safety vest would be a good investment. I just got a Lime version of this one: http://www.hivis.biz/products/ansisafetyvests.asp?pg=1&tid=4&pid=78 I regret to say it's a little different than the photo, no snap closure (Velcro instead) and it fits a bit loose. But I'll take a little tuck in the sides with some safety pins and it'll be fine. :) Since it's an outer layer, I can wear it day after day without washing it all the time.

For your described type of roads & traffic, with winter coming and the days darkening, I would also use (*drum roll*) a very powerful daytime-visible rear flasher. And guess what, I been there, done that :D more info in this thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=202062). As you can see, one of these strobes is more visually intense than a car headlight, although smaller. You can also team them, you could have two of them set up to fire in sync or alternating. For my single one, I use a little NiMH 9.6-volt RC-car battery I got at Radio Shack. For duals, I'd get this rechargeable battery kit from BatterySpace (http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2371).

Other visibility suggestions:

If you have fenders, plaster reflective tape onto them. The DOT Conspicuity Tape used on semis is easy to find at auto-parts stores, and doesn't cost a lot. It's also good for sticking to your rim beds, and maybe your crankarms if it'll stay put.

Reflective legbands are good because they move in a way that catches attention, plus they're cheap. I'd get a pair of the Jog-A-Lite ones in clear: http://www.jogalite.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.productone&product=55

For a secondary rear flasher, you could get a Cateye TL-LD1000 to provide redundancy. It's daytime-visible too, although not nearly as bright as the Nova. Because its "hot spot" is a small one, be careful to mount it rigidly on a strong bracket and aim it just right.

If all that sounds a bit overboard, think about driving your car on a wet narrow roadway at 65mph and having a semi go by the other way. What happens? Yep, billowing mist assault. Flip windshield wipers to HIGH, wait for it to settle down. Do you as a cyclist have the visual "punch" to show up from even 100-200 feet in those conditions? Ah so, grasshoppah... :) All of a sudden, dual Novas and the rest of it are no longer overboard anymore.

I look at the map and see lots of alternative routes. They may not be quite as fast but are quite likely safer. I don't like ride major rural roads except on Sunday mornings when traffic is light.
Craig

Yeah.. i fully understand the safety aspect if it... but biking alone can be a little intimidating on the back roads... but we'll see...it's getting close to cold weather, and i've no idea how to "winterize" my bike.. so i doubt i'll be biking out to KC anytime soon.
I was biking on a saturday afternoon around 11:30 or so. Traffic was decent, like i said, a few semis, couple of crazy motorcyclists...other than that it wasn't too bad. I did get some glares from folks from the opposite direction.. must be thinking i'm Insane to bike on the Hwy...
I used gmap-pedo to calculate the distance and the calories burnt...holy cow! it's like 2000!! and that's ONE WAY!!!! - of course, my return leg will be in a car. I'm gonna pop my front wheel off and put my bike in the back of the trunk...and come back to Lawrence with my friends... :D - Personal challenge you know, but one day i'll make a return leg...once i get my fitness up, or i travel with a group.
I got a Trek 7.2Fx not too bad a bike i must say, but my brakes a little weird, and i've gotten it fer less than a month...i need to squeeze em real hard before i notice any real deceleration. PRolly need to tighten the cables a little.
Do you guys think that getting "Aerobars" for a hybrid bike is overkill? I mean, i've got barends to help in the climbing already...- thank goodness for barends!!