Cycling Tips and Stories

According to a news release from National Bike to Church Day:

Bicyclists will be pedaling to Christ Lutheran Church - Overland Park, KS to celebrate the bi-annual National Bike to Church Day on August 29, 2010. The church is at 11720 Nieman Road Overland Park, KS 66210. Some of these bicyclists could be riding from as far away as more than 15 miles away. Christ Lutheran organizes snacks for the riders to eat before they take off for home again.

“We have been having a successful ride at our congregation since 2008, but we are looking to expand to other congregations across the city and the country” said John Blessing, one of the founders of National Bike to Church Day.

Currently Christ Lutheran Church is the primary location of the event, but the group encourages believers from churches around the nation to participate. The Facebook page for National Bike to Church Day reveals people from other Kansas City churches who have participated or given support as well as people from other cities in Kansas such as Emporia, Wellsville, and Wichita. Other states represented on the Facebook site are: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New York, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. There are a few people from Indonesia who have shown interest.

Betsy Ford of REI sent info about this great program.  You can recycle your used bicycle tires and tubes while supporting a local non-profit employer, W.A.C Industries.

Since 2008, nearly 3 tons of tubes and tires have been recycled and over $600 raised. Details:

RECYCLE BIKE TIRES (50 cents ea) & TUBES (free)

• REI (south of Galleria)
• Hub Bicycle (Webster Groves)  
• Big Shark (U City, tubes only)
• The Bike Center (Des Peres) 
• Mesa Cycles (Richmond Heights, tubes only)

RECYCLE YOUR USED BICYCLE

BicycleWorks (any condition, see www.stlbikeworks.com, under the 'donate' tab for specific details)


Each year about 50 at-risk kids from the city learn about bike safety and basic maintenance, while they earn a refurbished bike, helmet. lock, & light through the free Earn-A-Bike program.  In addition, BicycleWorks finds numerous other non-profit reuse opportunities for 1000's of bikes and bike parts that would otherwise go to the landfill.

Been wondering why you need to support bicycle advocacy organizations like MoBikeFed?

Take a look at this recent article from the St Louis Beacon.

If you like the idea of bicycling off the road every time a car comes by, or banning bicycles from all roads where the speed limit is above 20 MPH, then all is well.

If you don't--well, it's time to visit MoBikeFed's membership/donation page (if you haven't done so recently!)

From the Beacon:

While many St. Louis cyclists are happy with the area's cycling freedoms, several motorists expressed concerns about sharing the road and believe cyclists take too many liberties.

"In earlier times, bicyclists got onto the grassy or rocky portion beside the roadway when they heard or saw a car coming on the roadway," said Anna Jackson (right), a retired public school teacher from St. Charles. "More recently, I feel bicyclists look back at you with a look that says 'I have as many or more rights than you on this road. Just try to get around me.'

"It dismays me that cyclists share the roads but do not follow the rules and laws of the road. They often run stop signs, fail to yield to pedestrians, and do not signal for stops or turns."

Streetsblog does an excellent job summarizing recent research showing how much obesity is growing in the U.S.--and waistlines in Missouri seem to be growing even faster than the national average, as we've finally made our way into the Top Ten most obese states:

Two reports released last week underscored the increasing severity of America's obesity epidemic. And the eye-opening findings add to the mounting evidence that stopping the spread of obesity and its attendant health risks will require changes to the nation’s transportation system as surely as it demands altering our diets.

A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Tuesday showed the number of obese Americans has increased by 2.4 million since 2007. There are now nine states where more than 30 percent of the population qualifies as obese -- up from three states in 2007. (Just ten years ago, no state had obesity levels above 30 percent). 

The Bicycle Safety Activity Kit has fun games, coloring, and other activities appropriate for children 4-11.

The kit is designed to provide parents, caregivers, teachers, community leaders, and children with tools to learn the important basics about bicycle safety. It can be used in school or community bicycle safety programs or in conjunction with Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs.

The kit contains age-appropriate activities emphasizing crashes and related injuries while bicycling. While the activities focus on awareness and education, through applying this knowledge to actual safety behaviors we can help to save a life; the life may even be yours or that of your child.

The kit is produced and distributed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Hat tip to Car-free American for finding this great resource.

A few years ago, Time Magazine declared that 'bicycling is the new golf'--meaning that business people, politicians, and the like bike together and work out deals on the bike rather than on the putting green.

Well, Senators Kerry and Brown of Massachusetts--of two political parties and from nearly opposite ends of the political spectrum--are doing just that.

According to a story on KPLR news:

The political differences between John Kerry and Scott Brown get left behind when the two Massachusetts senators get on their bicycles and take off for a bike ride.

Their next session comes Saturday when Kerry and Brown mount up to participate in the Pan-Mass Challenge. . . . 

Brown says he and his Democratic colleague prefer biking to having beers or dinner together.

Kerry has ridden the Challenge seven times previously; it's Brown's first time this year.

The Liberty Tribune reports on a recent national title won by a 16 year old Jacqueline Denny:

Denny, a 16-year-old Liberty resident and junior-to-be at Faith Christian Academy in Kansas City North, earned the highest of honors at last month’s USA Cycling Junior National Championships.

Denny returned home from Bend, Ore., with a national title in toe. She placed first in the in the girls 15-16-year-old division of the 15-mile time trial race in 42 minutes and 23 seconds. Her previous best was a third-place finish in last year’s time trial.

Read more here.

A group of riders bicycling cross country, organized by Rev. Matt Ruhl of Rockhurst University in Kansas City, has arrive in Kansas City.  They are about half way through their planned cross-country ride aimed at raising funds and awareness to reduce poverty.

Most of the twelve riders are also from Kansas City.

The KC Star wrote:

Steaming from the 95-degree heat and humidity, the cyclists and an entourage of riders who joined them in Atchison earlier made a beeline for the shady campus quadrangle for cold beer and burgers.

It was day 50 of a 5,000-mile journey that began Memorial Day in Washington state and a chance to rest and raise money at home on their way to an expected Labor Day finish in Key West, Fla.

Rockhurst is across Troost Avenue from St. Francis Xavier Church, where Ruhl is the outgoing pastor, and more than 150 parishioners and other well-wishers were there to greet the cyclists.