baby bike commuter

[Heatherkay]

Not riding a baby bike, but just getting started with bike commuting.
I rode a lot when I went to school in Lawrence, and I'm not afraid to
ride in traffic. But there's traffic and there's traffic, you know?
Plus, I'm not very fast, so I don't want to cause more disruption than
I have to.

So, I live near KU Med and work in the River Market, and I'm trying to
figure out routes. I'm thinking that I can go down SW Blvd, then up
Walnut to the Market. Or SW Blvd to Cesar Chavez, then through the
Bottoms. Coming back, either through the bottoms or down Main.

Anybody have any recommendations?

[Bob Pisciotta]

If you're on SW Blvd., consider turning north on Summit.  Straight to West Pennway (a couple of traffic lights) and turn left.  At the top of Pennway, you'll see Beardsley which is a straight shot to the River Market area.  Bob Pisciotta

[Noah]

Southwest to Walnut isn't a bad way to go. I usually use Main, which
sounds like a death-trap, but depending on the time of day, it's
really not bad. It isn't terribly hilly (given the adjacent roads) and
motorists are used to seeing cyclists there. It's got two lanes in
both directions, which makes safe passing easy for motorists. You can
take the lane.

Main becomes Delaware north of 7th street. Watch out for the storm
drain just north of Independence Avenue, though, as it will kill
tires. I really wish they'd replace it.

To get back, you can cruise down Wyandotte to get out of River Market,
then cut over on 12th or 14th and take Baltimore south. Those two
roads are seldom used by hurried drivers. Sections of them are
one-way-only, and Baltimore, sadly, is not cut through to River
Market. Alternatively, you could just take Delaware and main down to
19th/Southwest.

[Noah]

On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 10:30 AM, Bob Pisciotta<bpis...@kumc.edu> wrote:
> If you're on SW Blvd., consider turning north on Summit.  Straight to West
> Pennway (a couple of traffic lights) and turn left.  At the top of Pennway,
> you'll see Beardsley which is a straight shot to the River Market area.  Bob
> Pisciotta
>

That's also a good call, I forgot they re-opened Beardsley recently!

[Michael Coons]

I agree with all of the routes.  You can also remember that if it rains, the 47 bus goes from 10th and Main to 39th and Bell- and the Max will get you quite a ways through downtown to 39th and Main.

Once you ride a few different configurations, you'll figure out which way is best.  Also remember that even if a hill kicks your butt the first time, they do get easier the more you ride...

---

From: Heatherkay <heathe...@gmail.com>
To: KC Bike Commuters <kc-bike-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 10:12:19 AM
Subject: [KC-Bike-Commuters] baby bike commuter

[Noah]

On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 12:11 PM, Michael Coons<mcoo...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Also remember that even if a hill kicks your butt the first time,
> they do get easier the more you ride...

Or you just get faster. :P

-Noah
http://kc-bike.net/

[Heatherkay]

On Aug 21, 12:45 pm, Noah <focusha...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 12:11 PM, Michael Coons<mcoon...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Also remember that even if a hill kicks your butt the first time,
> > they do get easier the more you ride...
>
> Or you just get faster. :P
>
> -Noahhttp://kc-bike.net/

That's the goal! Actually, those are both the goal.

Thanks for reminding me about Beardsley, that would be good, too.

Only downside for the 47 bus (well, only bike-related downside) is the
fact that they sometimes run the shorter buses on that route, the ones
that don't have bike racks.

[Heatherkay]

So after a test run this weekend, I rode in yesterday. The route
along Beasley was easy-peasey. Coming home through downtown was also
pretty easy. Of course, the last mile or two, up Roanoke, was more of
a bear, given the south wind and the incline. After work meetings
this week mean that I probably won't ride again until Friday at the
earliest, but all in all, a pretty successful experiment. Thanks for
the help!