The Dinner Bikes Tour is traveling the US with a chef, a writer, and a filmmaker. Thursday evening they will serve a delicious vegan-friendly dinner, preview an upcoming documentary about bike culture, and lead a discussion about bike advocacy and bike culture around the country. BikeWalkKC is hosting this great event at their office in the Crossroads Arts District.

Dinner and Bikes
Thursday, September 22nd, 7:00 p.m.
EventPort in the Crossroads Arts District
208 West 19th Street, Kansas City, MO
Tickets on sale at www.bikewalkkc.org

Go to familybicycleskc.com for the full schedule and details.

Some of the new events for this year include…

• Intro to mountain biking class and trail ride
• Commuter convoys – ride to work with experienced bike commuters
• Fixed gear workshop and track stand competition for all you fixies and curious
• Bike to see the Triplets of Belleville in the Central Library’s Film Vault
• Many, many more group rides for everyone from beginners to speed freaks
• New classes to help you choose the right bike, learn to ride in traffic, and get started as a bike commuter.

Of course the commuter challenge returns this year, as the Car-Free Challenge.  Sign up and see how many car trips you can replace with bicycling, walking, or transit. And last but not least, the question everyone is waiting to have answered – yes, Boulevard Brewery is hosting our big end of the week party again this year!

The phofo of the week is actually a bunch of moving phots.  Local cyclist Gabe has a bunch of videos of Critical Mass over the last year.  The KC Mass has blossomed into 150 or more riders every month.

enlarge

To promote Bike Week and the Car-Free Challenge, the city of Kansas City, MO has wrapped a KCATA Metro bus with a Bike There, Walk There ad. The message is that any trip under two miles can be on foot, and any trip up to five miles can be on bike. Tonight the bus was on the #39 route that runs across Midtown on 39th Street. I was at Jaywalkers at 39th & State Line Road when the bus went by, and we jumped up from our beers to run out in the thunderstorm to snap some photos.

Have you registered for the Car-Free Challenge yet? Do it now and see how many car trips you can replace with biking, walking, and/or the bus.

“A lot of people think a bike is a toy, but a bike can be a form of transportation. If you need to run to the grocery store for something, it’s just as fast to ride a bike, especially if you live in the Brookside/Waldo area. It’s very feasible for people to use their bikes for errands.”

The Wednesday Day Sun: Experience Kansas City’s sights, sounds by bicycle.

Experience Kansas City’s sights, sounds by bicycle
By: Kelli Bamforth, Staff Writer
The Wednesday Sun
Wednesday, March 26, 2008

 

Theresa Van Ackeren wants people to experience Kansas City from a different driver’s seat – that of a bicycle.

“It’s part of the whole philosophy of ‘stop and smell the roses,’” Van Ackeren said. “When you’re on a bike and going slower, you tend to look around and see things you don’t typically see from the hermetically sealed confines of a car. You come in contact with more people and hear the sounds of the city.”

Van Ackeren quit her day job in 2007. After working on a business plan during the summer and fall, Van Ackeren opened Family Bicycles, 7140 Wornall Road, on March 1.

Van Ackeren said she weighed location heavily.

“Frankly, it’s close to my home, and it’s close to a large population of people who appreciate cycling,” Van Ackeren said. “It’s close to the Trolley Track Trail, one of the few trails in Kansas City, and that was important to me as well. This is not a huge cycling area but it’s beginning to show popularity in Kansas City.”

Van Ackeren lived in Lee’s Summit for 11 years before relocating to Brookside in 2001, when she got back into the habit of cycling short distances.

“I’m a big proponent of using your bike instead of a car for short trips, like to the grocery store,” she said. “I’m somewhat of an environmentalist but I also support it for the physical fitness aspect, for getting people outside and enjoying the fresh air.

“I plan to ride to work everyday.”

Family Bicycles targets three types of customers, Van Ackeren said: people who have not ridden in a long time; people who ride infrequently and want to increase their number of rides; and people who use bikes to commute.

“A lot of people think a bike is a toy,” she said, “but a bike can be a form of transportation. If you need to run to the grocery store for something, it’s just as fast to ride a bike, especially if you live in the Brookside/Waldo area. It’s very feasible for people to use their bikes for errands.”

Any trip less than two miles will generally take as long in a car as on a bike, Van Ackeren said.

“In Kansas City we’re lucky that we don’t have to park far away from many places,” she said, “but traffic signals generally don’t work together so well and that can slow us down (in a car).”

Kansas City-area commuters need support, Van Ackeren said.

“I know people who live in Olathe and commute to downtown,” she said. “Thirty miles one way is too far for many, but for the average cyclist, I’d say 20 miles is OK. The majority of people here don’t have that long of a commute … when I worked my commute was 7.5 miles.”

Business is “going well” and is helped by foot traffic and word-of-mouth advertising, Van Ackeren said.

A grand opening celebration is planned from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 12, and customers can receive 10 percent off through the end of April.

“What we try to do (with customers) is have a conversation, find out their cycling experiences, what they’d like to do and what their goals might be,” Van Ackeren said. “We try to find out what the best bike might be to meet their needs. We tailor the sale to every customer.

“It’s really about trying to find a bike someone will use. I want them to buy it, of course, but also use it.”

I have always thought Midtown the cycling hotspot in KC, but tonight was unreal for this time of year.  I can’t wait to see what it’s like this summer.

Tour of Missouri
The largest sporting even in the history of Missouri kicked off here in KC on the Country Club Plaza. It was a huge success. The KC stage is rumored to have attracted the most spectators and economic impact, even more than the finish in St. Louis.

Cyclocross National Championships
The cycling world’s focus returned the region in December when KCK hosted the Cyclocross National Championships.

Commuting

• A national ranking placed KC dead last for bike commuting among major American cities, yet all signs indicate the situation is rapidly changing.
• Bike to Work Week had another record year. Almost 400 people road nearly 20,000 miles, keeping 18,000 pounds on carbon dioxide out of the air and $3000 in the pockets of local commuters.
• New bike racks were installed in Downtown KCMO on 12th Street and at the Sprint Center.
• North Kansas City began planning to install bike racks along Armour Road in its business district.
• The Greater Kansas City Bicycle Federation started a monthy Commuter Mocktail hour with free snacks and bike repairs.

Bike Culture

• An urban cycling culture continues to blossom in the Downtown/Midtown corridor where it is becoming obvious that all of the cool kids are riding.
• Critical Mass is setting new records, pushing 100 riders
• Alleycat races in the urban core keep multiplying and becoming more popular

Safety

• Fatalities and injuries remain hight, but efforts have been stepped up to make the city safer.
• The Share the Road Safety Task Force was formed with representatives of law enforcement, transportation departments, city officials, and advocates. It’s first enforcement operation demonstrated to all road users that you can get a ticket for disobeying traffic laws.
• The motorist who almost killed 13 year-od Juan Portillo pled guilty and will do jail time.
• Manslaughter charges were filed in the Gaunt and Chris Cooper killings, and trials are expected later in 2008.
• The Greater Kansas City Bicycle Federation starting distributing lights to cyclists in the urban core who might not be able to afford them.

Mountain Biking

• The Missouri General Assembly passed a new law to ease construction of trails in Missouri parks and conservation lands.
• Work began on a new trail system in Swope Park, finally brining mountain biking into the very heart of the city.

Advocacy

• KanBikeWalk was formed as the first state-wide group lobbying for the rights of bicyclists and pedestrians in Topeka.
• The nationally-syndicated Perils for Pedestrians program filmed an episode in the KC area.
• Bicyclists and pedestrians came together to help elect a bike/ped-friendly KCMO City Council, which resulted in the metro’s first political ad featuring bicyclists.
• After much advocacy, MoDOT consented to allow a bike/ped lane on the new Paseo Bridge, as soon as local governments find the money to pay for it.
• Local advocacy convinced the KCMO City Manger to hire the city’s first Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator.
• A multi-year campaign by the Missouri Bicycle Federation resulted in an agreement for extending the Katy Trail State Park into the Kansas City suburbs.
• Advocates from across Missouri descended on Jefferson City to meet with legislators.
• Coverage of bicycling issues increased in the local news media.

Planning

• KCMO, Lee’s Summit, Grain Valley, and Blue Springs all worked to plan and/or expand comprehensive, city-wide trails networks.
• Overland Park began planning on-street facilities to compliment its excellent off-street trail system.
• Olathe created a ground-breaking bicycle transportation plan to integrate both on-street routes and off-street trails.

Things to watch for in 2008

• Funding bike/ped lanes for the Heart of America and Paseo bridges
• On-street bike routes in KCMO, plus more bike parking and the replacement of hazardous storm drains.
• A new planning and zoning code in KCMO that will make the city more friendly for bicycles, pedestrians, and transit.
• The Missouri Bicycle Federation will propose new laws for Complete Streets and stiffer penalties for motorists who kill or injure bicyclists and pedestrians.
• The Tour of Missouri will return for a second year.
• KanBikeWalk will ramp up its efforts to lobby for the rights of Kansas bicyclists and pedestrians.
• Advocates will continue pushing for bicycle accommodations on road projects like Missouri Routes 45 and 150, Lee’s Summit Road, and 127th Street in Olathe.
• Construction should begin on a new trail along the north bank of the Missouri River in Platte County.
• The Riverfront Heritage will near completion with the construction of critical links in the West Bottoms, Kaw Point, and under the A.S.B. Bridge.
• Planning will get underway for the Katy Trail State Park extension to Kansas City.