Ironic

While riding the Tomahawk Creek Trail this morning I encountered a group of 3 people standing on the trail deep in conversation. Since they completely blocked the trail I rang my bell well in advance of reaching them. Then, I rang it again since they had ignored the first attempt. They finally moved ... which means the ones on the left moved to the right and the one on the right moved to the left not really changing anything. I squeezed the brakes, and slowly maneuvered through the little group. As I proceeded down the path I heard one of them say, "See, they're not all jerks."

Been There. Done That.

This morning, as a matter of fact.

"...hundreds of little spiders pendant on the end of long tough webs were floating about in it. These early-rising creatures, or rather their webs, caught upon the horse's and our own forms by scores, and ... we rushed along coverd with hundreds of long grey threads that streamed out a yard or more behind us -- and a very strange appearance they must have given us."

From the book Allan Quatermain, by H. Rider Haggard 

Elsewhere on the Indian Creek Trail...

From General Bike Pix

I'm sure the recent heat wave is the cause of all the vertical cracks that have opened up on the Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek trails. There are a few places where you could catch a tire and cause some damage to yourself or your bike. Be careful out there.

Indian Creek Trail is now closed at Switzer! For real.

As of today, Indian Creek Trail is now officially close at Switzer road until "March 2012."


View Indian Creek Trail Closure August 2011 to March 2012 in a larger map

The red line above is the section of the trail marked as closed. The blue line is the posted detour.

From General Bike Pix

I spoke with a polite gentleman at the Park Services Department a week or so ago and he had told me that they would be setting up a detour, but he admitted that it might not be completely bike friendly. He wasn't kidding, although only half of the detour causes me much concern.

From General Bike Pix

The signs went up within the last day or two. Here are the signs at 119th, just east of Quivera.

From General Bike Pix

The narrow sidewalk has several low hanging branches to contend with. Also, there won't be enough room for passing another bike or pedestrians. I believe there were eight places where you had to cross over streets or highway on or off ramps. 119th is a busy street and 69 highway and 119th is a busy interchange. Depending on the day and time of day, this could take a while to navigate.

From General Bike Pix

From General Bike Pix

From General Bike Pix

From General Bike Pix

From General Bike Pix

The detour also runs along Grant Drive between College Blvd. (111th) and 119th.

From General Bike Pix

From General Bike Pix

Once you're on Grant, things should calm down a bit as the street is wide enough for both automobile and bicycle traffic.

The detour adds 0.3 miles to the ride and the hill up to 119th and Grant is impressive. I'll still make the loop occasionally, but I believe I'll find some other places to ride until this is finished. Again, the 119th section is too narrow and busy to use more than once in a while.

Indian Creek Trail closure at Switzer beginning Monday

I noticed a sign today saying that the section of the Indian Creek Trail from Indian Valley Park to Swizer will be closed beginning Monday July 18th and will not be open until March 2012.

There is no good way around this. The sign didn't say that they'd be closing Switzer, just the trail under it. I may try the following route as a work around. At 109th just south of the Eilert Fountain, take the bike path adjacent to 190th, across Mastin, under Alternate 69 to the Access Road, carefully make my way across College Boulevard and take Switzer south to pick up the bike path again.

I'll try it early next week and update this post if it won't work.

Chris tries out his new road bike

Many thanks to Chris Kohl for inviting me out for a ride. Chris just got a new road bike and I was glad to go along for the ride. Sure it was hot outside and my knee was a bit stiff after the parent/son baseball game last night, but we mapped out a promising route on veloroutes and were ready to give it a try.

I made the mistake of looking at a bank thermometer just past the halfway mark - 109° I know it wasn't acurate, but it felt like it was...

From General Bike Pix

Here's Chris with his new Trek road bike as we prepare to head out.

From General Bike Pix

Having crested the highest point on our route, we finally get to enjoy a little downhill riding. I'll have to admit that on the long uphill stretch from 163rd to 179th on Switzer, we weren't too happy with the plan. After making the turn on Mur-Len to head north we decided the route was a keeper. Maybe next time it will be 10 degrees or so cooler...

Thanks again Chris.

King of the Zoo?

After watching today's stage of the Tour de France, I went on a ride to the end of the Indian Creek Trail in Missouri. I got several comments about the shirt I was wearing.

From General Bike Pix

When I wear the TdF tee shirt that Curtis got for me in Paris I think "King of the Mountians." My wife thinks Put Me in the Zoo

Library Run

From General Bike Pix

Lunchtime ride to the Central Resource branch of the Johnson County Library. It was nice to have some company in the bike rack. Usually there are only one or two other bikes there.

Glad I wasn't sitting there

From General Bike Pix

A tree blew over, smashing a park bench on the Tomahawk Creek Trail. I believe this happened Tuesday evening when the huge squall line blew through town.

NYC DOT's new ad campaign

For what it is worth; I like 'em.

Bike America Overland Park - Rocks!

Bike America, at 95th and Nall, is having another swap meet this weekend. There are a bunch of bikes and bike parts and supplies for great prices. If you're into cycling and are close to the Overland Park area, they'll be doing this tomorrow as well.

Mark Rainey was kind enough to contact me to see if our boy scout troop would be willing to sell refreshments during the weekend. Bike America donated the food and we jumped at the chance to be part of this.

From Scouts - Bike America

Bike America Overland Park - Swap Meet.

From Scouts - Bike America

Troop 251 begins setting up shop. The generous folks at Bike America provided hot dogs & fixin's, chips, and drinks and donated the proceeds to our troop. Without exception, their staff was wonderful.

From Scouts - Bike America

The grilling begins.

From Scouts - Bike America

Local cycling phenom Mark Rainey samples the brownies which we baked in dutch ovens.

From Scouts - Bike America

Bill and some of the boys take it on the road.

From Scouts - Bike America

Saturday's turn out was great. We're looking forward to tomorrow as well. the swap meet will be running from 11a to 4p Sunday. We'll be grillin' dogs from 11a to 2p.

From Scouts - Bike America

They've got a bunch of stuff inside too.

From Scouts - Bike America

Peter's been thinking about building up another bike from scratch; the one he did a few years back has been outgrown. Here is the beginning of his next project.

A huge thank you to all the staff at Bike America for allowing us to be part of this event.

Hustle and Bustle

In his book Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton wrote:

"It is customary to complain of the bustle and strenuousness of our epoch. But in truth the chief mark of our epoch is a profound laziness and fatigue; and the fact is that the real laziness is the cause of the apparent bustle. Take one quite external case; the streets are noisy with taxicabs and motorcars; but this is not due to human activity but to human repose. There would be less bustle if there were more activity, if people were simply walking about." 

I might add ...or riding bicycles. He continues:

"Our world would be more silent if it were more strenuous."

Chesterton wrote this in 1908. As I read it last night I found myself lamenting that there is nothing new under the sun and that the more things change, the more they stay the same. This morning I reminded myself that cities like the often cited Copenhagen have proved that in some places cyclists and pedestrians have reclaimed some of the streets. So, there's hope.

One other Chesterton quote from last night's reading:

‎"Man must have just enough faith in himself to have adventures, and just enough doubt of himself to enjoy them."

Now, get out there and cycle up an adventure or two.

For Whom the Chimes Ring

Sometimes you'll find that riding a bike reveals certain things about your body that need attention. With the change in my riding habits over the last year, that has become very evident. I now know that some minor aches and pains were due to my riding. Minor stuff. On the other hand, riding less has had it's consequences too and I much prefer the minor aches; now that I'm aware of them, I can adjust technique or equipment to deal with it.

What I may not be able to deal with is my brain. The last few weeks I've developed a strange Pavlovian need to check my cell phone due to ...




WIND CHIMES!!!

I'll be riding through the neighborhood and every block or two will faintly hear something that makes me reach for my cell phone. Here's the problem, there are no ring tones on the phone that sound,remotely like wind chimes. I don't get it. And where have all these wind chimes come from? I've never seen or heard this many in my life.

I used to love the sound of wind chimes. My parents had wind chimes hanging on the back porch that lulled me to sleep in my childhood. Now I react and then cringe when I hear them.

So, here's a public service announcement that you'll most likely not come across anywhere else: Say no to wind chimes. Think of the cyclists.

Trail, Hallelujah

This year started out to be a low-mileage, utility biking year. During yesterday's ride to the library and grocery store I decided I really needed to get back out on the Indian Creek Trail for a recreational ride. 54° F and sunny today. Everyone else in my family was off doing their own thing, so I decided to go for my first just-for-the-fun-of-it ride of the year.

As the ride started I had plenty of company; a few cyclists, several joggers, and families out walking. But after I passed Roe Park I seemed to have the trail to myself.

As I hit this open stretch my MP3 player randomly shuffled to "Hallelujah Trail" by Elmer Bernstein. It turned out to be the perfect piece of music for my mood and as it ended I couldn't help saying "Awesome." The only thing that could have made the ride better was if the foliage was a bit more green.

For now I'll just have to imagine the forthcoming Spring.

Wishful Thinking

Blizzard 2011

For my colleagues in the Dallas and California offices...

Brain Freeze

What's the deal with every morning having the same 18° F (-8° C) temperature? Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying getting out in it, but some variety would be nice.

This morning I actually had two goals in mind when I set out on my bike:

Take one of the boy's forgotten-in-the-rush backpack to school.

Coffee -- NEED COFFEE (trip to grocery store)

A half mile into the ride (right in front of the frozen fountain) I noticed that my head felt colder than it should. I'd forgotten to put the wrap-around ear muffs on over the balaclava. Still, it wasn't terribly uncomfortable. As I walked into the school and, later, into the store I got a couple questioning looks but no one said anything about it being too cold to be out on a bike. Perhaps the people in the school office are just used to seeing me this way. Perhaps no one in the store wanted to talk to someone who was peeling off layers to let out some of the heat trapped within. Perhaps winter cyclists are becoming so common that no one gives them a second thought anymore. Naaaaahh.

I got home and swapped biking layers with dog walking layers and headed out for another morning walk wherein I show my dog that I'm the pack leader and that animals are in subjection to humans.


Here she waits patiently while I bag her waste. Wait. What!?!

Pastoral Ride

This morning I was musing on how 28° F at 7:30 to 8:00 a.m. seems to be the ideal setting for maximum squirrel activity when I rounded a corner in Founders Park and saw her. A beautiful doe standing right next to the trail. We eyed each other cautiously as I coasted past and I thought to myself -- it's great to be back on the path.

How Warren got his Groove Back

I've gone through a lot of phases with my bike riding. Bike Commuter, Recreational Cyclist, Utility Cyclist. It's no secret that the end of my commuting put a damper on biking and blogging; and that is fine, we all go through that kind of ebb and flow in various aspects of our lives.

This last year my interest in cycling waned. There were lots of excuses: I'm working from home now, walking the dog in the morning, working on the house and yard, the apprehension that came after a couple of friends had been hit by cars, and, to be honest, the thrill was simply gone.

For some reason I turned the mental corner a few days back. Perhaps it is just because this is my favorite time of year for riding. Yes, it is getting cold, but cold weather riding is not uncomfortable if you're wearing the proper clothing. It also means I'm a bit more visible with my highly reflective and hi-vis jacket. Also, the air is "crisp" and I like that.

Now, as a case in point, I needed to make a quick run to the bank this morning which would be 3.5 miles round trip. I knew it would be cold so I dug out my balaclava and quickly checked the temperature: 28°. I checked my list of what clothes to wear based on the temperature and hit the road. (I do need to adjust the list again now that I've discovered the miracle of wool socks.)

When I got home I realized that the joy of riding that has been missing for months is back. I also feel energized; I don't know how else to put it. Maggie and I will still get our daily walks in, but I'm going to make time to get out on the trail early in the morning so I can have this feeling throughout the day. So, when you see cyclists out in the cold, don't feel sorry for us -- we're having a blast.

Reasons to ride

In all the articles I've poured over concerning reasons to ride bikes I always see items along the lines of riding being good for the environment, good for the body, good for traffic calming, and FUN! I hardly ever see anyone else mention Rock Star Parking, although Noah has been kind enough in the past to mention it.

So, Saturday I spent part of the day replacing a faucet and when I found myself needing a couple of faucet connectors I knew it meant a trip to Home Depot. I almost drove but since the round trip would be less than a mile and a half and the weather being nice, albeit windy, I hopped on the bike and grabbed a parking spot right in front of the door. I just wish they had a proper bike rack.


As I was unlocking the bike, a guy who lives down the street was headed to his car and came up to say hi. He said "I'd never thought of riding my bike." I told him I just wanted to get in and out and this made it quick.

Guess who made it home first... [Me]