With September 11th quickly approaching, we’re reminded of the tragedy that occurred in our country almost ten years ago. 3000 people lost their lives that day.

In the next couple of weeks we’ll start seeing newspaper articles, documentaries, tributes to the fallen and hearing chatter among our coworkers, family, and friends.

For those of us not directly involved, it’s easy to return to our normal lives and to place this horrific attack out of our minds. As a defense mechanism it makes it easier for us to function and move on. We feel it’s important now to stop for a moment and to reflect on what happened that Tuesday morning 10 years ago to remember, memorialize, and pay our respects to those who lost and gave up their lives during this horrific day.

Although we see heinous acts of murder and retaliation all over the world, we do believe there is greater good than evil in this world. We can see it by those who gave up their lives to save others; in the way we came together to support and encourage one another; and the strength that has been displayed by healing and moving forward to recover from the assault on September 11th.

In the upcoming days ahead, please take some time to remember those whose lives were cut short; not only from September 11th, but by the years that followed. All over the world there are acts of violence where people have lost their lives due to terrorist acts. Military, firefighters, police, and innocent civilians all over the world have had their lives cut short due to these acts of violence. Let us pay our respects to them and to revel in the courage and hope that has come out of this event.

We will never forget.

M&C

The link below is a timeline of events as it happened that day.

September 11th Timeline of Events

We are very excited to be a part of this year’s KC Cyclist Calendar for 2012 benefiting Revolve KC  (a local non-profit dedicated to providing green options in the areas of health, transportation, and skill development) and BikeWalkKC (a unified voice for active living, promoting a healthy, safe and accessible outdoor experience for all in a vibrant, engaged community)!  Thanks to our friend Caroline Smith who is organizing the photo shoot, we have signed up to dress up in our finest threads and have our mugs shot with our favorite bikes!  Last year’s calendar was a 12 month calendar featuring women in their “little black dresses” pictured in various shots with their bicycles.  This year’s calendar will be a 52 week calendar showcasing individuals, couples, young and old alike, with their cherished velos.  On September 11th we’ll be lucky enough to be participating in a photo shoot in the hopes that we can share how bicycling has positively affected our lives.  We can’t wait to share the finished product with all of you!  Printing is targeted for the month of November, and we’ll be sure to let you know where you can buy a 2012 KC Cyclists calendar…so be on the look out!  For those interested in donating or finding out more information on RevolveKC or BikeWalkKC, click on the links below:

BikeWalkKC: https://bikewalkkc.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=2

RevolveKC: http://www.revolvekc.org/Contact.aspx

Cheers!

M&C

“Why do folks on bikes insist on riding on the street with a perfectly good sidewalk next to them??” That was a question I got from a friend of mine the other day. It reminded me of a time that I had words with a guy at a stop light. I was on a neighborhood side street that had plenty of room to fit both of us comfortably. As he passed me he yells out the window, “Bicycles belong on the sidewalk!” I was confused as to why he was saying this to me? I always stay to the right of the road by the shoulder as much as I can, and it was not a busy street so he could have easily gone around even if it was a narrow road. I managed to catch up with him at the stop light, and after an exchange of a few words, he was committed to his statement that bicycles do not belong on the road and should be on the sidewalk and threatened with “Well the next time maybe I will just run you over,” as he drove off. While I was just an inconvenience to him, he would rather attempt a homicide than to go around me?

Now when my friend asked me this question, he was not being condescending or judgmental; he generally didn’t know and turned to me for an answer. I started to wonder, how many other people out there don’t know the answer to this question? As I was walking downtown pondering this question, ironically, a guy on a bicycle breezed past me from the rear on the sidewalk. Although he cleared me, I was still a bit startled. As I watched him further on down the sidewalk, I noticed another guy coming up towards the cyclist, looking down at his smart phone. The cyclist had to skid to a stop to avoid a collision while still never getting off his bicycle and passed the guy on the phone with a shoulder brush. This could have ended up badly. Not only do motorists not know the rules and the laws, but obviously some cyclists as well.

As to the question, why I don’t ride on the perfectly good sidewalks, here is a list that I came up with off the top of my head:

• It’s actually illegal to ride on a city sidewalk, per the Missouri ordinance 300.347. Obviously this is not strictly enforced, but it is a law.

• Most city sidewalks are too narrow and don’t leave much room for error. If you have a cyclist going at a speed of 14 to 20 mph, not too many pedestrians would be happy about them being buzzed at this speed. Plus, even if they are not going that fast, it’s too easy to get confused as to what to do when a cyclist comes up behind them. Injury can happen too fast in the blink of an eye to either person, as I almost witnessed.

• Older sidewalks are uneven and in need of repair. They can cause flats or bend and ruin the rims of bicycles. Yes, there are some good sidewalks out there, but they don’t last for long when traveling by bicycle. There are also plenty of streets out there that don’t have sidewalks at all. They just have somewhat of a gravel path and is very unsafe to travel by bicycle.

• It is way too dangerous to be riding on the sidewalk and then decide to jump on the road when it gets bad or run out of sidewalk. This is not giving the cyclist or the motorist much time to react in a hurry.

• Most importantly, it’s all about safety. Sidewalks are just as they are named, they are made for walking.

I’m sure there are more examples that I can add here, but these are just off the top of my head as to why I don’t generally ride on the sidewalk. There are exceptions to this. As it states under the ordinance “Whenever any person is riding a bicycle upon a sidewalk, such person shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian and shall give audible signal before overtaking and passing such pedestrian.” Either way, cyclists should be on the road and not on the sidewalks. We all have to get somewhere, whether it be by automobile, bicycle, or walking, and if we all can follow the rules and respect others’ surroundings, things would be much easier on everybody and safer.

Below are a couple of links that are helpful and informational for both Motorists and Bicyclists.

Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation

Missouri And Kansas Bicycle Laws

Again, please be safe out there and obey the rules of the road. Share the road and be courteous. This goes for both cyclists and motorists.

M&C

“First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen?  Then prepare to accept it.  Then proceed to improve on the worst.”  ~Dale Carnegie

 Much of training for a marathon comes down to preparation: plotting out your training program; planning your diet; picking out and timing your needed supplies during the actual run. While you can read books and research online and ask other runners for tips, it comes back to trial and error and figuring out what works for you.  While training for a race, your longer runs can be something of a race simulation.  This is where you try out your shoes, your clothes, the types of supplements you’ll take as well as the timing in when to take them to figure out what is going to be best for you come race day.  A rule I always live by is “never try anything new on race day.”  You never know if those new pair of shoes will cause blisters if you haven’t broken them in; that new sports bra or running shorts might cause intolerable chafing; that new energy gel or sports drink might make you sick to your stomach.  You’ll want to try those out during training runs to see how your body will respond before the big day.

I usually drink an energy drink before my workouts (before running and cross training/lifting weights) called Ephedra Tea.  They come in fruit punch and mango tea; the mango tea is my favorite!  It gives me mental clarity and gets my body warmed up and ready to go before actually starting my workout.  It’s a nice little umph to get me moving!  If I’m running anything under 10 miles, I usually just stick to water.  Anywhere from 12-15 miles I’ll plan on taking a carb gel around mile 8 or 9.  Carb gels are basically just that: carbs easily ingested to give your body a quick shot of energy.  This usually gets me through the next 45 mins to an hour of running before I need to take in something else.  The carb gels I’ve taken in the past are PowerBar brand, but I’ve recently stumbled upon Clif Shots Turbo Energy Gels and have taken a liking to them.  The kind I’ve found that I love is Double Espresso, and it has the equivalent of 2 shots of espresso; I like having a little bit of a caffeine boost during my run. I would suggest not taking another gel or sports drink with 3 miles or less during your run; by the time you ingest the gel and it has a chance to work, you’re finished with your run!  The Clif Shot Bloks are another good source of energy and electrolytes; they’re a gummy chew that’s the equivalent of the gel or a sports drink like Gatorade.  These also come in varying caffeine levels (0-2). Once I get into my longer runs (18 miles or more) I like to take in some sort of carb with protein as well.  Taking in protein during lengthy workouts (90 minutes or more) helps your muscles from breaking down and canibalizing.  Something as simple as gatorade with some whey protein powder mixed in will do the trick; or if you’d rather you can find a Hammer product such as Sustained Energy or Perpeteum.

Part of the fun of training is trying new things and using trial and error to figure out what your body will respond to best.  Don’t be afraid to try something new; you may be surprised by how much you like it and how it can aid your workouts!  Please feel free to send me a message or to suggest something that is working for you.  I’m always up for trying new things to get the best formula for an amazing race!  Good luck, but most of all have fun!

Mandy

Our good friends over at Bike Walk KC have started a wonderful campaign called Put Paint to Pavement and we want to help out. Now we are asking for you help! You see, this is not just for them or for us. It’s for everybody that wants to be safe on the road when they are running, walking, or bicycling. How many times have you decided not to take that bike ride because you are worried for your safety? This campaign will help. We have helped sending our message to the Mayor, putting out the word, and also putting out post cards that you can mail into the city. Click here to see some post cards from local folks.

(Taken from Bike Walk KC) In efforts in making our city safer for everybody, the city has plans for 100 miles of new bike lanes in Kansas City, focusing on just 22 miles to paint this summer. The entire metro area has made great strides in planning new trails, adopting new policies like Complete Streets and educating the public about the health benefits of bicycling and walking. Now it’s time start implementing all of these great plans and policies.

So far, over 500 Kansas Citains have joined the call to Put Paint to Pavement by sharing their personal stories about how more bike lanes and crosswalks would improve the safety, health, and wallets of their families.

Can you help us get to 1,000 by the end of August? We want that stack over on the right to be as tall as possible before we deliver the postcards to local mayors.

Local officials have been listening.  We are already seeing great progress around the region this summer. Armour Boulevard in Midtown now has permanent sharrows, or shared lane markings, thanks to strong public support for last year’s pilot test. KCMO is also updating its bike plan with greater specifics on which routes should be bike lane, sharrows, trails, etc. This much-needed data will finally provide the engineering case to start striping bike lanes when streets are repaved.

There are many reasons why bike lanes and crosswalks are important…

• encourage bicycling and walking for transportation and/or fitness
• provide safe transportation options for all
• help define road space
• promote a more orderly flow of traffic
• bike lanes encourage bicyclists to ride in the correct direction, with the flow of traffic
• crosswalks encourage crossing the street at safe locations
• bike lanes remind motorists to look for cyclists when turning or opening car doors
• remind all roadway users to share the road safely
• bike lanes reduce the chance that motorists will stray into cyclists’ path
• bike lanes reduce passing motorists swerving toward opposing traffic

If you haven’t asked for more bike lanes and crosswalks yet, please take a minute to do it now. Send an electronic postcard today, and then fill out a Dear Mayor postcard at these events:

August 9th – Maintain Your Ride class.
August 20th – Sprint Family Fun Day at the Power & Light District
August 23rd – Dress Your Bike for Success class
August 27th – Confident City Cycling Class

Dear Mayor postcards are also available at SPIN! Pizza group rides, The Wheel Cyclery, and Family Bicycles.

Ask your local mayor to Put to Pavement for more bike lanes and crosswalks.