Guest post from veteran KC urban bicyclist Shawn Tolivar Winter bicycling at first might seem like a daunting task, It’s cold, dark, wet, and miserable. Why would anyone in their right mind do this? For many, bicycling seems like a Spring, Summer and Fall activity, and it’s only natural to store the bike for the…

Riding in on the State Liner (Route A) at 7:05a this morning, I was reminded how peaceful this route can be. By the time I reached the first busy street, the Southwest Boulevard, which is three-fourths of the way to my office, I had been overtaken by but a single car. That’s five miles of…

I use Route B: the Midtowner often to get from my office in the Crossroads to the Broadway Cafe in Westport. I would usually ride over to Main Street at 20th to pick up “B” and take it the rest of the way, and was perfectly content with that route. Then Kevin Klinkenberg suggested I…

I’m not one to let a little forecasted rain keep me from e-biking. But I don’t like riding in the rain either. That makes my choice of weather app important.  I use AccuWeather (#2 weather app on Apple’s App Store; free). It provides a circle graphic that shows projected precipitation for the next 120 minutes.…

Want to see just how close KCK and KCMO downtown are? Just hop an e-bike and head west out of River Market. There’s a couple of options to get down to the West Bottoms, but taking Woodswether is the most enjoyable. The bridge coming out of River Market provides a great view of the river,…

North-south travel patterns dominate in KC, making identification of east-west (crosstown) routes difficult. There are fewer options; they are generally narrower and carry heavy traffic. So we’ve been slow to identify recommended crosstown routes. However, after a summer or riding, and thanks to the suggestions of readers, we’re beginning to add such routes to the…

Fall is a wonderful time to ride the Katy Trail, and e-bikes are allowed. The trail speed limit is 20 mph and e-bikes are not subject to a power limit. Here’s a year old archived Reddit post about riding the Katy on an e-bike.

Note: Quick Take posts are comments from a single ride along a route. As such they aren’t intended to be comprehensive evaluations or conclusive. Today I strayed from my regular morning commute on Route A to take Route C: the Hyde Parker to get an impression of this route during rush hour. In particular I…

Our downtown routes use Walnut Street, one block west of the official Grand Avenue dedicated, unprotected bike lanes that were over seven years in the making. In the spirit of always searching for a better route and always questioning the existing routes, I reconsidered whether we were right–whether Walnut beats Grand. And after all, a…

California Governor Gavin Newsom has just signed legislation that expands the state’s Clean Cars 4 All program to include vouchers for e-bikes. The bill is California Senate Bill 400 (SB 400). The program has provided support for buying electric, hybrid, and plug-in cars and mobility options such as car-sharing memberships and transit passes. Now e-bike…