Star features Bike Escorts

This Sunday’s Star Magazine features a cover story on the Bike Escorts service that Jason Wingate has started as a way to get more people on bikes in the city. The Bike Escorts will help you plan a route to your destination, ride with you, and help you get used to riding in traffic on the city streets. For more info on Bike Escorts email k.c.bikeescorts@gmail.com for info or download the brochure (PDF).

Bike Escorts is an especially cool service if you are considering joining this month’s Bike to Work Week.  Contact these guys now for help plotting your bike commute.

Star Magazine: Making KC more bike-friendly.

Kansas City Star
May 6, 2007

Making KC more bike-friendly: Advocates for two-wheeled travel coach cyclists and help them find safe routes through the city
Story by EDWARD M. EVELD
Photos by RICH SUGG

Riding bicycles on streets and trafficways in the Kansas City area can feel like a counter-cultural activity.

To many motorists in the year 2007, a bicyclist zipping down Metcalf Avenue or commanding a lane on Holmes Road still looks out of place.

Exclusive bicycle lanes aren’t popping up across the metro, to be sure. But there are positive signs. Downtown is in the midst of an extreme makeover, and there’s talk of dedicated lanes at least on Interstate 670 overpasses.

Metro buses now have bike carriers. And in recent years officials have installed more bicycle “Share the Road” signs, a positive step, although some drivers interpret the signs as an appeal not to them but to bicycle riders. To wit: Get out of the way.

People who love bikes, love the good they do for the environment and for health, are working to make Kansas City more bike-friendly. Here’s just one thought: Can some TLC embolden more cyclists to take to the streets?

Riding along

“I’m a little nervous,” says Krystie Scott, a few minutes before she sets off from her apartment at 39th and Bell streets in Kansas City for a three-mile bicycle ride to 18th and Oak streets in the Crossroads District.

Still she’s ready with her Trek mountain bike, a gift to herself upon high school graduation 12 years ago, and a hired gun, Roger Link.

Link is a volunteer with Bike Escorts, a new initiative among many that activists are pursuing in Kansas City to make bicycling less scary and less lonely. At rush hour on a recent spring day, Link arrives on his bright orange Schwinn, a lime green bandanna tied under his seat.

Scott calls from her balcony that she was on her way down. They introduce themselves. Link explains to Scott the route he had planned, and they ride east on 39th Street, side by side, claiming their space in traffic.

Bicycle advocates

The matchmaker for this bicycling hook-up, this pairing of experienced and novice riders, was 30-year-old Jason Wingate, former Marine, former bicycle courier in Portland, Ore., and Chicago, and current Kansas City bicycle advocate.

Early this year Wingate was doing a little research on the Internet when he came across the ideas of Inge Hoonte. She grew up in the Netherlands, a place where bike-riding is an acceptable form of transportation, and moved to Chicago, where she felt suddenly disoriented on her bike. What helped were ride-alongs with a veteran Chicago bike rider.

The experience inspired Hoonte and a friend to create a free service, Bike Escorts, offering one-on-one assistance. The idea hit home to Wingate. When he chatted with Hoonte by phone in February, she suggested he create a Bike Escorts of Kansas City.

“I know it can be difficult to get motivated on your own,” Wingate says. “And then there’s the overwhelmingness of being out there in traffic.”

Wingate recruited bicycling friend Grant Redwine to design a flier for the new effort, using the Chicago service as a template. They began distributing them in March.

“Unsure about the best bike route to your destination?” the flier asks. “Want on-the-road city riding tips? Or are you new to the daily bike commute and just need a bit of encouragement?”

Such riders are told to send e-mail to Bike Escorts at k.c.bikeescorts@gmail .com by 7 p.m. the day before they want to ride. The hope is they will become more at ease on city streets, giving them confidence to use their bikes for errands, outings, commutes or to get more exercise.

Labor intensive

Wingate says new riders also are encouraged to join group rides. A Bike Escorts group ride meets at 3 p.m. Saturdays at Acme Bicycle Shop, 412 E. 18th St. A “Critical Mass” ride, part of an international effort, meets at 6 p.m. the last Friday of every month at Sunfresh, 4001 Mill St., in Westport.

Escorts generally ride in a square bounded by Armour Road, Prospect Avenue, 75th Street and State Line Road. But other requests are considered, Wingate says, and the boundaries could grow if requests for the service grow. Of course, more requests will require more escorts. It’s a labor-intensive effort.

Wingate predicted that escorts will recruit themselves: Former novices will want to help others.

“It’s kind of a pay-it-forward,” he says.

Wear a helmet

Volunteer escort Amy Ameis lives in Hyde Park and doesn’t own a car. She attends the University of Missouri-Kansas City — she wants to be a geologist — and works at Blue Bird Bistro at 17th and Summit streets.

She got her bike tuned last summer and started hooking up with Critical Mass rides.

“It’s a really powerful statement to ride with 40 or 50 other riders throughout the city,” she says.

Ameis, 25, grew confident riding in the street with traffic. She learned not to meekly hug the curb, especially not to ride too closely to parked cars. The sudden opening of a car door is a serious hazard.

A kind of awakening occurred about her right to ride: “I realized I’m a car, too.” Her evolution as a cyclist inspired her to want to help newbies.

Her ride to school takes only about 10 minutes, she says, faster most times than the bus. She recently switched routes from Rockhill Road to Troost Avenue for a more level route. About a month ago she lost her balance while riding, took a spill and broke a tooth. Fortunately, she was wearing her helmet.

“My No. 1 tip is to wear a helmet, no matter how uncool you think it looks,” she says.

Takes the weight off

Grant Redwine also signed on as a bike escort. He commutes to work on his bike three or four days a week, and it’s a substantial trip, 14 miles one way. He carries his gear in a messenger bag, including a change of clothes for work, if needed.

Redwine enjoys it and thinks others could, too.

The 27-year-old Redwine acknowledges an addictive personality. His bike-riding compulsion, a healthy addiction, he noted, started for him as a youngster on the swim team. He rode his bike to practice but realized he would rather just keep riding.

“It got to the point that I hated swimming, but I loved riding my bike,” he says. “I would ride around for 45 minutes and end up late for swim team.”

Redwine was a chubby kid, and it was bicycling that trimmed him down. Later, after moving to Los Angeles and parking his bike for a time, he packed on 80 pounds. Restarting his bicycling habit took the weight off.

“The more you bike, the healthier you’ll be and the longer you’ll live,” he says.

More bike friendly?

Link and Scott arrived safely in the Crossroads in about 20 minutes.

They rode two abreast all the way, with Link to Scott’s left. A pickup truck cooled its jets behind them on two-lane Roanoke Road, and traffic got a bit snarly on Southwest Boulevard. They easily held their own, though, and the trip was uneventful.

“I feel a lot safer when somebody is riding with me,” Scott says.

She lived in Minneapolis for a time and found that city to be more bike-friendly, especially downtown.

“I rode my bike everywhere,” she says. “Hopefully, things will get better here.” ★

Increase your bike comfort level
May is a great month for that. Bike to Work Week, when folks are encouraged to try commuting by bike, is May 14 to 18.

The “Commuter Challenge” takes place all week. Use your bike for work, errands and outings and register at kcbike.info to be entered for prizes.

And try some of these bike events during and near Bike to Work Week. Go to bridgingthegap.org or call (816) 561-1061, Ext. 114.

•Bike Safety Family Day, Longview Lake beach, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 12. Free family event includes a ride to the beach, bike scavenger hunt, safety lessons and helmet fittings.

•Beginners Group Ride, 6:30 p.m. May 14. Practice bicycling skills and the dynamics of group riding through the streets of Shawnee. Sponsors are the city of Shawnee and the Trek Bicycle Store, 10412 Shawnee Mission Parkway. The ride departs from the store.

•Criterium Training Race Series, 6:10 p.m. May 15. Local road race teams compete on a 1-mile closed course every Tuesday at Kansas Commerce Center, 9801 Legler Road in Lenexa.

•Fun ride, 6 p.m. May 16. Beginning riders take an easygoing tour in the Northland, departing from Cycle City, 7749 Prairie View Road.

•Ride of Silence, 7 p.m. May 16. Cyclists worldwide join in a silent, slow-paced ride in honor of those injured or killed while riding bicycles on public roads. Leaves from Brookside parking lot at 62nd Terrace.

•Ride to Dinner, 6:30 p.m. May 17. Experienced bicyclists lead novice riders through city neighborhoods. Bring your own money for dinner. Leaves from Brookside parking lot at 62nd Terrace.

•Take your bike on a Metro bus or on Johnson County Transit, the Jo, and ride for free, all day May 18.

•Breakfast on the Trolley Track Trail, 7 to 9 a.m. May 18. Free morning munchies on the trail at 51st and Brookside and 74th and Wornall from representatives of the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, UMKC and Clean Commute.

•Bike Swap, 6 a.m. May 19. Sell or trade used bicycles and bike gear at ACME Bicycle Co., 412 E. 18th St.

•Cycle City Saturday Ride, 8 a.m. May 19. Ride a little farther, 38 to 50 miles, and a little faster with experienced bicyclists. Leaves from Cycle City, 7749 Prairie View Road.

•Tour de Cow Town, 5 p.m. May 19. Cyclists gather for a scavenger hunt race through the city. Starts at ACME Bicycle Co., 412 E. 18th St.

Riding safely in traffic
Here are a dozen ideas for safe riding. Check out the organizations in the resource list for more tips.

1. Wear a helmet and make it a good fit.

2. Roll up your pant leg or get an ankle strap to stay clear of the chain.

3. Wear shoes with some tread.

4. Wear bright clothes, even during the day. Wear reflectors at night.

5. For your bike, get a loud horn, a mirror, reflectors and a blinking red rear light.

6. Ride in the street rather than on the sidewalk.

7. Ride in the same direction as vehicle traffic and follow the rules of the road.

8. Use hand signals for turning.

9. Be visible in the lane. Hugging the curb can be dangerous, especially if someone opens the driver’s door on a parked car.

10. At traffic lights, stop directly behind the car in front of you.

11. Ride predictably. Weaving, passing on the right and running red lights are dangerous tactics for bicyclists and motorists.

12. Make eye contact with motorists.

Resources for bike information
Group rides and other events, classes on bicycle safety and maintenance.

•Greater Kansas City Bicycle Federation, kcbikefed.org, (816) 221-2045

•Missouri Bicycle Federation, mobike.org

•kcbike.info

•Kansas City Bicycle Club, www.kcbc.org

•Bicycle shops across the area are great resources for group rides and other events.