I picked up a 2006 Scattante R550 from a guy on craigslist. Its way better than anything I was shopping for and the seller threw in a ton of extra goodies (pedals, shoes, computer w/ HR, jerseys, shorts ( :shifty), a hand pump, a CO2 pump.... More than I'll be using right away for sure!

Before I picked this up I was riding my uncle's classic Campy Ciocc. It was great but way too small. Before that it was all mountain bikes (I sold my mountain bike yesterday to fund the road bike purchase).

TONIGHT, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23rd 2007
Battle of Westport Alleycat/Ride
Meet at 7, start at 7:30
Westport and Pennsylvania in KCMO
10ish miles - the first 12 checkpoints on this auto-tour battlefield map. Bring a pencil.

http://tinyurl.com/2kcmjb

will I be chastised if i ride my geared road bike?

I started riding road bikes again (after a 22 year hiatus) and live in Lawrence. I am getting a little bored of: 1) the bike path and doing circles around the dam 2) Lawrence to Lonestar lake and back. Anyone have other interesting routes to suggest? Would be great if there was a coffee shop stop midway.

One of my favorite rides when I lived in Lawrence - even without a road bike- was to ride out to lakeview road - where there is an old oxbow of the Kansas River and I've seen cranes out there. I would take Michigan all the way North, then turn left on River Ridge (where it ends) then right on N Iowa (until it ends) then left to 1200 I think, but there is a bunch of cabins out on the lake - I think it is called the River Club.

Pretty scenic, and fairly close to town, but not huge hills and not a lot of traffic.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=3...8665&z=14&om=1

You can take the 'scenic river route'
I forget the names of the road.. I believe it's called Route 438 or something. Head toward the Westar powerplant... keep on the same road and head west toward Lecompton... there will be a sign that reads "Scenic River Route" make a right turn, and keep going...

Hope that helps.

Rockchalk~

I used to live in Lawrence.

In addition to Lawrence to Lonestar (I could probably still ride it in my sleep...), I liked:

- Lawrence to Baldwin, past Vinland
- Lawrence to Oskaloosa, up the Wellman road.
- Also, put your bike in your car and go up to Oskaloosa, McLouth or Perry and take loops around Jefferson County.

I'm in Wellington Kansas. I rode to within a mile of Conway Springs today.

You're in Wellington!!!!! What exact route did you take to Conway Springs? Wellington will be my first long ride when I get down there in March.

Go east from Conway to Anson road, south through Anson, a mile or two south of Anson turn east,
turn south at the T intersection several miles later. Sorry, I don't know the names of all the roads.
About 42 miles round trip, I only went 40 today. There is also a nice loop from Conway to Viola and
Clearwater and back into Conway from the southeast.

OK! I drive that way a lot, and was thinking that was going to be my route, but I wasn't sure.

I rode today! So proud of myself to be out there in what started out as high 30's, dropping to around 32 as I headed back home after an hour on the rode.

We need more activity in Kansas!

I heard it was a perfect day down there today.

I live in Olathe and commute to KC (Westport). The cold is manageable with the right equipment, but the snowy conditions have kept me on the bus a few days. I logged 6,600 miles in ’07 and hope to break 7,000 this year.

It was 7 degrees in the late afternoon here in MN. If I were in KS today, it would have been 47 degrees in Conway Springs. I think I'd die of heat exhaustion.

It would be hard to ride down there in the winter. You'd have to have 2 bikes, one with studs. Up here I am riding a "snow" bike until I get back to KS.

olathe to westport
 

Ray you are so the man! I'd love to be able to ride to work. Unfortunately, where I work it's too difficult to get to by bike, so I take mine with me and ride on lunch.

If I log half as many miles as you do this year I'll be very happy.

I'll be in KS about March 15th....

Is there more than one bike shop in Wichita? I like the one I found (can't remember the name of it right now) but I'd like to check out all of them....

Bicycle Pedaler, Heartland Bicycles, Continental Cyclery, Bicycle Exchange, L&M Schwinn, and Tom Sawyer Bicycle Shop are in Wichita. Spoke-N-Things in Arkansas City is another one I like.

I envy Kansas folk for having Mt. Sunflower and the largest hand-dug well in the World. That, and you have a really good state wide bike map your Governor sent me for free.

Anybody going for BAK 2008???

Jan. 27 Sunday - anyone riding in the Lawrence area today? Temp. to reach around 50.

Sek
 

New to road biking. Anyone near Ft Scott interested in riding 2-3 days/week?

Bak
 

I am wanting to do the BAK with my daughter, she will be 10. Are there many younger children riding?

I'm near McLains (ghost town, intersection of SE36 and Woodlawn), half-way between Newton and Whitewater.
Someone asked about trails around here. They aren't paved, but with a suitable bike the farm roads to the south and east aren't bad riding at all. Richland Township actually has some scenery.

Hedgeapple, I used to be in Newton, and rode your direcction once ina while. Yellow Lightning P-38 or LWB Linear. However I stayed on the blacktop...down to the outlet Mall.
Others;; I'm not doing BAK but hope you can...you will find friends