RecumBum

Friday, June 6, 2008 – 29.26 miles, 2:09:27, 13.56 MPH average Biking Across Kansas started, as it did for many participants, with a long bus ride across Kansas. My wife dropped us (myself and a friend, Reed) off in Lenexa at 6:00am on Friday morning. The night had been stormy, but by morning the skies [...]

Biking Across Kansas (BAK) is an annual bicycle tour across the state of Kansas. The ride takes place each June, starting at the Colorado border and traveling east to the Missouri border. Each year uses a different route, this time across the norther tier of the state, starting in Saint Francis and ending in Atchison [...]

Google Maps is a great online mapping site, providing road maps of the entire US (and much of the rest of the world), as well as satellite views and the innovative “Street View” for selected cities. But you can’t always trust what it tells you. I’ve noticed this a few times just recently. I’d map [...]

It’s been a pretty solid week of riding, with a few really tough excursions. The week started with two take-it-easy type of days, Sunday and Monday, totaling about 55 miles at a very moderate pace on gravel roads on the mountain bike. Tuesday, a friend and I did a 70-miler, with me on the Django, [...]

I don’t care what the calendar says, yesterday was the first day I really felt that Spring had arrived. Oh, there have been days that have hinted at Spring, days that have teased and flirted with Spring, and days that have promised but not quite delivered. Yesterday delivered. Sure, with temperatures topping out in the [...]

The day started out very cool, with temperatures in the upper 30s with a brisk easterly wind. I had a group ride scheduled for 10am, and briefly considered bailing on it, but instead doubled up with two pairs of socks and two shirts, as well as the normal selection of shorts, tights, vest, etc. The [...]

For the first time this year, I’ve been able to ride the bike four days in a row. The weather wasn’t great, but it was good enough. We had one really nice day, two decent days, and one iffy day. I ended up getting rained on a bit on the iffy day, but it was [...]

Monday was an incredible day, hitting a record high of 69 degrees, mostly sunny, with manageable winds most of the day. Naturally, I was on the bike. In fact, I put in a half-century. Granted, it was a s-l-o-w half-century (13.1 MPH average speed), but that wasn’t the point. The mileage wasn’t even the point. [...]

It’s been cold here lately, with nearly two weeks of colder-then-normal temperatures. But at long last the cold snap has broken, with a 40+ degree day on Saturday, and a 50+ degree day today. A warm day in winter is a sin to waste, and although I’d gotten out for an hour on Saturday, it [...]

Since the first of the year I’ve been riding irregularly – mostly short rides every few days. Except for two glorious days the first weekend fo the month, when the temperature got into the lower sixties, it’s been mostly right around freezing. Three days ago, it snowed, then it turned colder and continued snowing off [...]