Kansas City city bike ride for a tourist (Independence, Lee's Summit: storage, rail)

[Eddyline]

Looking for an extended city bike ride in Kansas City on a road trip from Colorado to Indianapolis.
For 30 years I have been flying from Colorado to Indy to see family, this October I am going to drive and bring my bike. Prefer off road paved bike trails over bike lanes on busy roads. Been to KC once in the winter and saw the potential for some great bike trails along the rivers. But when I look for trails online, I don't see any continuous trails, just short segments. 40 miles is a good ride and I love hills. I'll be on a mountain bike. Any thoughts? Thanks

[xenokc]

Kansas City Metro Bicycle Club, Inc. - Trails and Maps
Trails | KCBike.Info
Bike Trail Map of KC Region
http://mobikefed.org/motrails.php

I like to bike around Smithville Lake area N of KC for dirt trails. In the city, try Cliff Drive area and the industrial roads along and near the MO river to the old Downtown Airport, which has a circle bike path. Heart of America/Burlington bridge has a bike path to get across the River. There are few dedicated bike lanes in city core but is easy enough to safely get around if staying off the major roads.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Eddyline

Looking for an extended city bike ride in Kansas City on a road trip from Colorado to Indianapolis.
For 30 years I have been flying from Colorado to Indy to see family, this October I am going to drive and bring my bike. Prefer off road paved bike trails over bike lanes on busy roads. Been to KC once in the winter and saw the potential for some great bike trails along the rivers. But when I look for trails online, I don't see any continuous trails, just short segments. 40 miles is a good ride and I love hills. I'll be on a mountain bike. Any thoughts? Thanks

Good luck. Not much to choose from. While KC is a great city with a lot to offer, this is one area where KC has really dropped the ball and with all the parks and rivers, it's actually pretty sad. There are places to bike in urban kcmo, but nothing like what most cities (no matter the size) have now and especially coming from Denver where there are comprehensive urban bike trails everywhere.

If you really want to ride on some nice paved bike trails in KC, you will have to head to the suburbs. Johnson County on the KS side has some great paved off street trails that you can ride for a good 30-40 miles on. Those trails are mostly under tree cover too. There is also the Little Blue Trace Trail in Independence and Lee's Summit which is a nice trail, but it's mostly crushed rock. It's close to 20 miles long though.

I would say if you want a good long bike ride and you want to ride at least some in the city, I would ride from Olathe to the Plaza via the Indian Creek and Trolley Track trail. You can start out at 127th and Lackman and ride the Indian creek trail through corporate woods and into the Watts Mill / Waldo area of KCMO where you will pick up the trolley track trail at 85th and Holmes or Wornall. But you will have to get from 100th and Holmes to 85th and Holmes by riding on the streets. The trails don’t connect (which is stupid).

If you don’t want to do that connection deal, you could ride from Shawnee to Olathe and then into Overland Park and Leawood and cross into KCMO. That would be a good 30-50 miles of great paved off road trails through the suburbanized metro (so you are always close to services etc).

http://jcprd.com/parks_facilities/pdf/trlgd-ne.pdf

http://jacksongov.org/filestorage/44...untyTrails.pdf

KC has some great mountain bike trails if you want off road some of the best trail in the Midwest are in Blue Springs, MO at Landaul Park. Shawnee Mission Park in KS and Swope Park in KCMO also have some good single track trails.

But it really is a bummer that KCMO and KCK don’t have urban core trails along the river levees of the MO and KS rivers and have pedestrian bridges across the rivers that are well connected to such trails and the parks in the area and their trail systems. I know they have installed bike lanes on some of the bridges, but they don’t function well or connect to anything comprehensive. KC has a LONG way to go to catch up when it comes to urban recreation. I would say the city is at least 20 years behind most cities. It would take ten years of planning alone to build up the rivers into what most cities have now. But they do have shared bikes now, so that’s a start. Just trying to be honest here. No reason to send you on a wild hunt for urban trails that don’t really exist.

[xenokc]

I ride my bike in the city core often (and have in other cities) and agree that KCMO doesn't have many bike lanes (very few) but I also don't think it really needs them if staying off major roads, which is easy to do.

I just haven't had any issues in KCMO city core when staying off major roads. Secondary roads don't really need paths, major roads probably shouldn't get them and there aren't many areas where long contiguous offroad paths can be done in the city core. But it is pleasant to ride off road trails outside the city core. And there are quite a few around the metro.

Would be great to find a way to make it work in the city but it's not a hassle to bike in the city w/out them as long as you stay off the busy roads. Since it's not a major issue, it's not a high priority.

Anyway, it is pretty cool to ride in the industrial/rail areas of KCMO near the river and no, you won't find spiffy bike lanes for those who need to be guided. Think of it as a raw exploration for travelers rather than a guided path for tourists. Also check out W Bottoms.

There are some pics of W Bottoms here. Riding from Cliff Drive E of downtown to E Bottoms to W Bottoms and around the rail lines is a pretty cool raw edgy trip to take.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/kansa...t-views-2.html (More pics, no need for paths in this area)

[kcmo]

^ I agree. But there would be about 1000 times as many people biking, running etc in urban kc if there was better infrastructure there. Not just tourists, but suburbanites and city dwellers as well. I think it should be a priority and I'm sure KC will eventually get around to it. It's fun biking in urban areas without trails, I do it all the time. But I also know that you are only going to get a tiny percent of the population to do that. The west bottoms will always be there for those that really want to ride a bike around a place like that (very few and I can’t see anybody from out of town doing it).

KC needs to take advantage of all its green space, rivers etc. Not everybody wants to ride on streets, especially KC’s crappy streets (just being honest again). But a nice ride along the river levees, bridges over the rivers and trails or lanes connecting the rivers to places like Penn Valley Park would be amazing and a very popular regional destination.

[Eddyline]

Yah, I guess I am spoiled coming from Denver, Golden and Boulder where we have a VERY extensive trail network. From my one winter trip to KC and seeing the river corridors on Google Earth, I thought there would be a fair trail network. Even Indianapolis has a good trail system along the river, several major creeks, an old water supply canel and an abandoned railroad. I try to always travel with my bike because I've found it a great way to explore a new city, but as a tourist, it is easier to find marker trails than to find my way around on secondary roads which might or might not be good for riding. A lot harder when you are only in town for a day or two and don't know the lay of the land.

I've seen some of the suburban trails and trails out north by a lake, but really like to explore urban cities and river fronts. Thanks for the suggestions and good luck on getting the biking infrastructure.

[xenokc]

I kind of find river/rail biking more adventurous w/out trails but yeah, I understand they could be better for tourists who don't know the lay of land. KC has the second largest rail system that is mostly closely tied to the river paths, and it's technically illegal to be near the rails in many areas, so probably a logistical nightmare to bring regular bike traffic and build many miles of contiguous path w/out a conflict with the rail operators. The rail operators are like the Borg - they ignore the few crossing paths (I do it often) but are threatened by the many.

The bottom line is though that biking isn't difficult in KC area - some areas have paths if you want them, others don't and it's usually not big deal. The river area isn't one of them probably because the railyards/lines make it logistically difficult.