Over the last few years the Lenexa Midnight Ride has become a very popular event for bicyclists of types. Unfortunately there are some big changes this year that might not be so great. In the past the ride has started in Old Town Lenexa and traveled closed city streets and an underground business park. This year the ride will just be a giant circle around Shawnee Mission Park.
Even though the old ride use police to block off the streets, it seems that part of the move to the park is about security concerns for kids and inexperienced bicyclists. However, Shawnee Mission Park is quite hilly, so this will present a new challenge for the kids and newbies. I don’t want slam the organizers of the ride, but sure sounds like this new plan will take a lot of the fun out of a traditionally great event.
So… plans are already being hatched for alternatives to riding in circles. Anyone up for an Un-Lenexa Midnight Ride???
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Great way to destroy a popular ride!
I’ve loved the traditional LMDR for several years now. It’s become a tradition with my friends and I. What’s the fun in riding circles at Shawnee Mission Park? It’s way to hilly to be family fun. Sadly…I’m out. Just can’t see doing that stupid ride in the park. I’ll just do my own dog-gone ride and end up at IHOP for pancakes! If the planners bring back the old ride or something else fun, I’m back in the flick of a gear!
The Traditional bike ride was way more fun than this year trying to negotiate some major hills and trying to find the edge of the road in the near dark. It was in no way an event this year for just the casual bike rider, because of the grades/hills involved. I consider myself an avid cyclist but I will not return to Shawnee Mission Park for another Lenexa Midnight Bike RIde annual event. IF safety was the key then the Parks and Recreation/City of Lenexa, should have made sure that the park lights actually worked before changing the route. IF safety had been the key in thsi event then they would not have made the course so difficult that many people had to push their bikes up the hills. It was dangerous with cyclist not listening at the beginning and pushig their bikes up hill on not only the right side fo the road but the left side of the road or in some cases walking 2 or three wide and blocking other cyclists. Rear reflectors were required but they are very difficult to see with the limited lighting that was available and there were many near accidents. The Optimist Club of Lenexa did their very best and the number of riders went from just a little over 1,000 riders from last year to just barely over 600 this year. I beleive that shawnee mission Park should be excluded for the average street rider, and for this annual event and bring the fun of the gentle climbing streets back to the public as well as the number of riders. There must be better streets, routes that are available for such a great event.
I will only participate in preparations/setup in the future unlesss the route is changed. Sorry, but SAFETY should be the main concern and this year the difficulty of the hills and lack of appropriate lighting made safety a major issue.
The 2009 Lenexa Midnight Ride was a failure in my opinion. I am an experienced cyclist, but my girlfriend is not. She had to bail out after just one lap (which meant I did too) because she had already run 6-7 miles earlier in the day. I’ve had fun at this event in the past, but if the 2010 ride is at Shawnee Mission Park I’m out.