Bike Week rolls out across Missouri

Here are a few of the activities going on across Missouri for Bike Week 2011:

Kansas City Breakfast with Mayor James kicks off Bike Week

• Kids roll out Bike Week in Columbia:
  
  The Kid Bike Safety workshop served as the kickoff for PedNet’s 2011 Bike, Walk and Wheel Week, which includes a variety of events such as trail rides and cycling classes.
   
• St. Louis started the the week with a major race, the Tour de Grove.  The City of St. Louis used the opportunity to roll out an interesting idea--the Better Blocks concept.  Better Blocks has had a huge impact in cities around the U.S.  This is the first time we know of that it has come to Missouri. According to the St. Louis Beacon:
  
  

  If nothing else, Saturday allowed Green and his co-horts a chance to test out their idea in the great outdoors, instead of just the world of theory. That said, attention toward the event did blossom in cyberspace.

  “Overall, we were pleased with the amount of good press we got on social media,” he said. “There seemed to be a lot of interest in this.”

  Pointing to one of the buildings, with people huddled in the doorway, he add that “even today, with the rain, this is the most amount of people that have hung out outside of these buildings in a decade.”
   

• Springfield rolls out "The Link" just in time for Bike, Bus, and Walk Week:
  
  "The Link" is a planned bike and pedestrian route. It'll help connect Springfield's existing and planned greenway trails, bike lanes, stores and schools.  
  
  It comes at a good time - Bike to Work Week begins Monday, May 16.  More about Bike to Work here.
  
  Springfield has had excellent media coverage of Bike, Bus, and Walk Week--and especially the opening of the The Link.
   
• Kansas City is rolling out Bike Week activities, including a breakfast with the mayor to celebrate the city's Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly Communities award. A KCStar editorial sums up the city's recent progress in becoming more bicycle friendly and another celebrates the city's BFC award.
   
• Patch profiles several bicycle commuters in the St. Charles area:
  
  Francis Howell North senior Coleen Grone said she is looking forward to participating in National Bike to Work Week for the first time this year. She said that aside from her track meets in Troy, she will be biking everywhere this week. 
  
  “I feel like I’m a step ahead of everyone else in fitness," she said. "Even though a lot of people make fun of me for it, I like putting in the extra work. I feel like it’s more of a challenge for me to ride my bike everywhere, and I love myself a good challenge. Plus it’s a perfect week to do it.”
  
  However, Grone said the city could work to make the roads more friendly to bicyclists, either by extending the shoulders or adding bike lanes on roads.
  
  Another article highlighted plans to do just what Grone asked for--create a system of bicycle routes throughout the county.  A public meeting on the bike plan is planned for Thursday at St. Peters City Hall.
   
• The KCStar profiled a new ride, the Tour de Brew Kansas City May 22nd, that is helping fund the startup of a new bicycle & pedestrian advocacy organization in the metro area, BikeWalkKC.

Did we miss something going on in your community for Bike Week?  Let us know in the comments section.

Photo courtesy MARCKC on FlickR