Mountain - Plains - Shout out for Kansas

For a list of tons of Kansas City area group rides see the ride calendar on the www.jcbikeclub.org website. For mountain bike trails see the "trails" link on www.earthriders.com.

I check this thread occasionally to see if anyone from Manhattan has posted. I realized I had not done it and decided I probably should. So, here it is. I ride a lot, you should do it with me sometime.

Just left Manhattan. I do not believe a better place exist!!

Hey, folks. I live in KC now, left Manhattan last summer, and grew up in the Wichita area. There are quite a few bikers in Manhattan.

Greetings---from Wichita, still in Wichita here!
Well, considering we're the 3rd least bike-friendly city in the US, here's to all the folks around here who traverse our rare bike paths!

Howdy Wichita!

There is not much action on our (Kansas) thread but welcome anyway!

Apparently I never posted here but hey Kansans! I'm in Overland Park and am doing JCBC rides around 5 days per week so maybe I've seen some of you.

Moved here from Ft. Lauderdale 2 yrs ago. I was having a great time here running with 2 different groups when my knee went bad and the doc said no more running. I dusted off my 1972 Peugeot UO-8 (10 speed) and have been riding both country and city for about 6 months. My downtube shifters get funny looks, but I'm having fun. The blacktop southeast of town is mellow. My two crashes in the city have been due to those nasty cracks parallel to the curb. Once on Central and another time on Pawnee, I wiped out in traffic. Skinny tires just fit in those cracks too good. Do others have the same problem? I know, watch where you ride. But, the city could fill up the worst cracks.

Jack

Hello all!

I live in KC also. I don't ride much anymore, balance problems... :(
I have been looking for a good tadpole trike but I have not seen anything I like yet. The streets around here are very rough. When I do ride it is on an old early 70's 10-speed road bike with downtube shifters. My wife rides more than I do. She has a matching bike.

BTW- From years of riding experience. Looking at a crack or an object in the road will almost guarantee that you will hit it. Look to where you want to be, not at what you want to avoid. I don't know why this happens but that object or crack can be several inches from your line of travel and you will automatically swerve to hit it if you look at it! Swerving to hit a crack will guarantee a wipeout. Keep your eyes on the open road, not at what is right in front of you. A person can actually ride thru one of those cracks if they keep their eyes averted.

Hi friends i am from Texas, recently i came here for spend my holidays. there any websites or suggestions for finding beginner to intermediate ride routes? I am basically just going out for a ride with no real purpose or destination, and would like to have a more structured route to ride.
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Hi friends i am from Texas, recently i came here for spend my holidays. there any websites or suggestions for finding beginner to intermediate ride routes? I am basically just going out for a ride with no real purpose or destination, and would like to have a more structured route to ride.

It's a big state. Where are you? If KC, look here (http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=7120152&postcount=201).

Howdy Wichita!

There is not much action on our (Kansas) thread but welcome anyway!

medicmike: What's the vintage-friendly shop in Wichita? Do you have a contact name for me?

Solveg,
If I knew specifically what you were looking for I could give a better answer, but I suggest Heartland Cycle or
Bicycle Exchange. Both are on douglass.

Actually the oldest bike shop in Wichita and most likely to have vintage parts is Tom Sawyer. It is at Broadway and Mt. Vernon. It is the only bike shop in Wichita that is older then I am (I turned 40 this year). I know last year my mother in laws bike needed some work which I did for her. She wanted a more cushioned seat then the original one that was still on there. The seat post though was an odd diameter compared to any seat available nowadays. Tom Sawyer had a seat post in stock that was made to adapt the older diameter to todays seats.

I have lived in Wichita all my life. If you are from Wichita and want to try to ride together sometime drop me a PM.

Believe it or not, I have a seasonal home in Conway Springs. I'm here for a few months in the early spring and late fall.

I have a Bridgestone MB-4 I'd like to get up and running so I can bring my Scott home for a winter bike to Minnesota. But all my tools and stuff are up north, so I thought I'd just drop it off somewhere that understood old steel.

I had my Rivendell down here, but it meant leaving it all winter and I didn't like it that far away from me, and I didn't like transporting it twice a year. It was great for the combo gravel and pavement down here. I'd like to get big apples on the Bridgestone if I can, and the bike was sitting for several years when it was found. It will take a bit of work.

I'll bring down my Klein road bike next spring, too, I think....then I'll hit people up to ride with. I'm slow, though--especially with this Kansas wind. It just sucks me dry.

I for got to mention Tom Sawyer. I haven't had any work done there but I got there often for cruiser bike parts and even some bendix two or three speed parts and advice. I'd still take the Bridgestone to Byron at Heartland Bicycle. Visit with him long enough for him to see how you feel about good quality steel bikes. He loves them as much as you do. Most places would treat the Bridgestone like just another old beater that probably won't get ridden after the repairs anyway. I'm always looking for riding partners in the area for gravel or pavement. I'm slow and would be slower if I rode to Conway to start a ride. Don't let the wind here get you down, it has the same affects on all of us.

Good point about avoiding cracks. I ride across the Broadway Bridge in downtown Kansas City, to cross over to the Old Downtown Airport and to ride up to Parkville,MO. There are many storm drain grates on the bridge, and if one is not careful you can drop a front tire in the grate and shake your fillings out of your teeth or bend a rim. I try to avoid the drain grates, but someimes this cannot be avoided. The best thing is to try to cross the grates at an diagonal angle, and look to where you want to put your front tire.:thumb:

T-Town wannabe Freerider here.

Yo!

Don't know how I missed this thread. Orginally from Garden City, home is now Wichita. At KU now.

Dang! I wish I had known about this. Sounds like fun...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/mtjames/scavengerhuntsmallcopy.jpg

I'm from Kansas (Paola/Lawrence/Lenexa) but I've moved to some place much flatter: Sacramento, CA.

Guess I will make the first post in here for 2009! I live just SW of Wichita, am 51 and purchased my first bike this past June. I have been having a great time and at this point only ride the paths (have to haul my bike to and from home.)

My bike story - long story short - is that I went in to Dick's sporting goods one day shoe shopping and came out with one of their "comfort" bikes. I rode it a month or so, discovered this forum somewhere along the way, found a 20 something year old ridged Specialized Rockhopper on Craigslist and now spend most of my time on it. Since my sole reason for riding is for fitness and fun it is doing me fine. My job will not allow me to commute. I did swap out the knobby tires for a set of 1.95" road tires, and put a set of bar ends on it mounted backwards. Looks like a mustache bar from a distance. I like the different hand positions on rides longer than an hour or so. Almost like riding "drops."

Having said that I do look at Craigslist daily, and may splurge for a new ride some day. Thinking along the lines of cross type more than a pure rode type. Those Long Haul Truckers and Cross Checks sure have a lot of fans on these forums!

Anyway, this forum has been a great place to learn things.

Happy New Year!

I am from Newton but am currently in Topeka going to school.
I am mainly a commuter, but I like to go ride with those trouble making critical mass kids every once and a while. We also do some rides on the first friday of the month. Free food and such at local art galleries.

I am in Shawnee just over the border from Lenexa. When there is more daylight and it warms up I plan to commute by bike downtown at least once a week which I was doing last summer and fall. Its is 15 miles but it is an interesting ride.

Did anyone else see the Kansas City Star article regarding, Nuns needing help fixing bikes for export to third world countries? I am thinking about trying to get some friends over for a build/repair bike night.

Yes, I saw the article. I'm sure they would appreciate your help.

I'm from Hutchinson. We've got one trail, although it can be considered three depending on where you start. It's a very safe place to ride, even late at night, but there are VERY few places that have a place to lock your bike up. I ride my bike instead of driving quite frequently, so this is an issue for me. But I still like it here.

Hello Jayhawkers! Happy that spring is here at last. There is nothing better for cardio than a 30 mph south wind.

Hello Jayhawkers! Happy that spring is here at last. There is nothing better for cardio than a 30 mph south wind.

That's what I always say!:lol:

Happy Spring Kansas! or winter. or wind. or whatever. Enjoy the weather, you know it will change in a few days to something different. Be safe and God bless!

Yep, we sure have had about all the weather choices there are the last few weeks. The wind kicked my butt last night and tonight too. Seems like it is always against you no matter wich way you go!

That wind was killer yesterday evening. I had to shorten my 20 mile ride to 10 miles, and I still got worn out more than usual. It was a bad day to ride a single speed.

Commuter from Wichita checking in...

Hey I forgot about this thread. I am in Wichita for exactly 4 more days then off to Colorado before moving back to Lawrence.

Getting ready for a ride today, it's my day off so will do a slow and easy one...but that is my usual. Here in Great Bend. Love these Cool July days.

Thought I'd stop in and say Hi to you Kansas folks. I'm a native Kansan, born up in KC and raised in Edwardsville. I've been living in Hutchinson for the last 5 years, and was sidetracked for 10 years living out near Seattle.

Bioflamingo, we've probably crossed paths on the trail one time or another.

I'm happy to keep this thread going. I'm in Manhattan, where I've lived for a little over three years. Not much in the way of paths/trails (or even bike lanes) around here, but I've found some pretty good road rides. There's lots of beautiful scenery out in the Flint Hills. The only problem is that for every hill you go down, there's one you must go up :)

Overland Park. Northern part of town.

My only problem with this site is how old some of the threads are. They should thin out some of the older stuff. I'll see something that interests me, want to respond and then realize the last post was two years ago.

This one's been around a while, but I may as well jump in. I live in Olathe (Kansas City burb for the unfamiliar) and have always said, anyone who says Kansas is flat has never ridden a bicycle here.

My only problem with this site is how old some of the threads are. They should thin out some of the older stuff. I'll see something that interests me, want to respond and then realize the last post was two years ago.

This one's been around a while, but I may as well jump in. I live in Olathe (Kansas City burb for the unfamiliar) and have always said, anyone who says Kansas is flat has never ridden a bicycle here.

Hi from Virgil Ks. (NE Greenwood Co.) The eastern edge of the Flint Hills. And No Kansas is definitely NOT Flat!!

Hi from Virgil Ks. (NE Greenwood Co.) The eastern edge of the Flint Hills. And No Kansas is definitely NOT Flat!!


That and there is always headwind, to and from where your going :-) seems as there is never a break from it for me anyways.

I'm in Hutch. If you see someone riding their bike to work, it's me!
I head down 4th from west of Fun Valley and NEVER see another cyclist!

So what happened to all the people who showed up on Bike-to-work day?

Hey everybody, I live in Chicago now but I'm originally from Lawrence and looking forward to training for BAK in June come spring. Who all's doing that?

Hey everybody, I live in Chicago now but I'm originally from Lawrence and looking forward to training for BAK in June come spring. Who all's doing that?

I am going for it this year I think. I'm in Wichita though...

I probably will not be able to do the BAK... the word is busy. On the other hand I will get in the miles, even though without the group. I am now in Pratt, was in Great Bend for a while.
Keep on keeping on

a bump 4 wichita

Scott City

I worked in scott

What did you work on? It's a great place to live. All American City.

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