St. Joseph Bicycle News

Earlier this week the first route proposal for day one of the Tour of Missouri was released. Although only in the preliminary stage of development, the route begins at the City Hall in St. Joseph across from the famous Pony Express statue in City Hall Park. The famous Statue originally sculpted by Hermon Atkins MacNeil and dedicated in 1940 celebrates the legacy of the First attempt to transport postage from locations east of the Mississippi river in the 1860s to the West Coast of the United States Territory and California.

The proposed route then travels along much of St. Joseph's park system before heading to Weston and Platte City on its way to Kansas City. Actual routes for the Tour of Missouri will be released in later May or June. Weston, Missouri, the oldest settlement west of the Mississippi river incorporated in the mid 1830s and originally called "West Town". Famous frontiersmen such as William "Buffalo" Bill Cody were residents of Weston. Much of the original town still exists as it was in the mid 1800s and is a favorite tourist waypoint in the area.

Click on the following link to view the proposed route.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/mo/saint-joseph/639661895

St. Joseph's City Commissioners and city management are excited about the Tour of Missouri coming to St. Joseph. There is even talk of a permanent start point being constructed for future road and track events for bicycle racing and triathlons. St. Joseph has a long heritage being one of the earliest departing points to cross the Missouri river en route to the California and Oregon territories in the mid 1800s.

St. Joseph is currently in the development stages creating a North/South corridor to connect the Katy Trail with existing trails in Iowa and Nebraska. Quad States Trails of St. Joseph, Inc. and Saint Michael's Meadow Trail Foundation, Inc. are leading the effort. The corridor will be a hard paved scenic byway and follow parallel to the Missouri River traveling through the bluff hills that line the river.

St. Joseph has an active bicycle club. The St. Joseph Bicycle Club conducts meetings on the third Tuesday each month at the Rolling Hills Library on the Belt Hwy. Everyone is invited to all group rides on Saturdays and Sundays at 8:00AM meeting at Bode Middle School. There are also group rides on Sunday's at 2:00PM. Their web site can be found at: http://www.stjoebikeclub.org/ . Check their newsletter "The Seat Post" for a calendar of scheduled events each month.


The following are a few news links:
Cycling TV: http://cycling.tv/
http://cycling.tv/race-information/tour_of_missouri
VeloNews: http://www.velonews.com/
Big Shark Cycling: http://bigshark.com/page.cfm?PageID=22
2008 Tour of Missouri: http://tourofmissouri2008.com/
Wikipedia.org, Tour of Missouri: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_of_Missouri
Cycling News.com: http://www.cyclingnews.com/
Missouri Bicycle Federation, Tour of Missouri 2008: http://mobikefed.org/tourofmissouri/
VeloNorth.Ca (MTB News): http://www.velonorth.ca/index.php
Heartland Challenges: http://www.heartlandrace.com/
USA Cycling Pro Championships: http://www.usacyclingchampionships.com/index.php
2008 Amgen Tour of California: http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/
2008 Tour of Georgia: http://www.tourdegeorgia.com/index.php
Union Cycliste Internationale: http://www.uci.ch/templates/UCI/UCI5/layout.asp?MenuId=MTYxNw
USA Cycling: http://www.usacycling.org/

Related:

TourOfMO: Tour of MO report--from 2nd place GC winner

TourOfMO: First Proposed Route for Stage 1 St. Joseph to Kansas City

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