Car Free Challange Results

Well, it's two wins in a row. Last weekends Hare Scrambles and I won the bike division of the Car Free Challenge. Yes, I am still the Champion :-). There were 545 riders participating in the bike division of the challenge.

5 years ago Eric Rogers and a few others got together and started the Kansas City Commuter Challenge. This year they changed the rules and added car pooling with mixed results. One guy logged his trip to Wisconsin as a car pool. Looks like they have since removed his miles and posted a comment that out of town miles do not count. I only bring this up because I am seriously thinking of not participating in the challenge next year. I'm just kind of getting tired of hearing folks and groups complaining about this one and that one making up errands or "how did he do that many miles", etc. I will continue to commute like I always do, but this might be my last commuter challenge. They say it is best to go out on top....

Individual Results - Bicycle Miles

All commuters
1	Chris Locke	Cow Town Cycling Team	331.00
2	Tom Awe	The Wheel Cyclery Team	306.51
3	Steve Cosentino	DST ChainGang	258.20
4	Ray Craighead	RSG Rollers	256.15
5	Jeffrey Haug	Cow Town Cycling Team	249.50

Some statistics from this years Car Free Challenge:

• Total Miles: 41,011
• People Registered: 1093
• People who have logged trips: 798
• Teams: 61
• Solo Commuters: 163
• First-timers: 216
• Carbon Dioxide saved: 38,877 pounds
• Gasoline saved: 2,278 gallons and $8,362
  

Bike Week 2008: Day 5

Final day of the 2008 Bike Week. Hurray! I am getting tired of awaking so darn early...

Actually I have enjoyed keeping the vehicles in the driveway and riding my bike. I have done a poor job so far this year of commuting in, but now I am in the habit of riding in and plan to do so at least 3 times a week.

For having nearly 300 miles in my legs I actually felt very good this morning. I think yesterday's intervals did me good. Even though my legs felt good I kept the effort level very low and plan to do the same on the return trip home. Heck, my butt even feel good that's to a plentiful supply of Chamois Butt'r. That is some good stuff

I have noticed several sections of graffiti during my rides this week. Some of this "artwork" actually looks very cool.







Things are looking good for me. I just got an email declaring it Chris Locke Day.

Daily Drawing Winners:

May 10th: Janie Oldberg of the Prairie Village Yacht Club team
May 11th: Megan Kegley of the MoBikeFed Wheel Wizards team
May 12th: Ken Sonnenschein, organizer of the annual Bike 4 the Brain ride
May 13th: Matt Schafer of the Patti Banks Associates team
May 14th: Joseph Istas, a carpool commuter with the Garmin Bleeding Edge (305) team
May 15th: Chris Locke Day:
#1. a bicycle commuter with the Garmin Bleeding Edge (305) team
#2. a bicycle commuter with the Cow Town Cycling Team

Cliff Drive is now open to only bicycles on the weekends. The "Grand Opening" if you will was yesterday. I didn't get a chance to go to it, but Cliff Drive is part of my route to work. Earlier in the week it was a mess, but by today the city had done a great job of cleaning it up. I wish we had more routes like this in Kansas City. Did not see any cyclist on my ride, but I did see a gentleman in a wheelchair enjoying the beautiful day.

Bike Week 2008: Day 4

Another solo ride in this morning.....I need to start paying attention more. I nearly got hit this morning. My fault entirely. In the early morning hours I sometimes go for miles without seeing anyone and you kind of start day dreaming.....

Some pictures and a test video from this mornings commute in:

Test video taken on the levee along Front Street.

Ride home was a little windy which was good for my planned interval workout. Intervals are one key item that I have left out of my training in preparation for the longer distance events that I did such as the Cohutta 100. Fartlek intervals were on tap today. The beauty of fartlek training is that the intervals are completely random, done according to how you’re feeling on any given day. Today I was feeling good on the hills so that is where I opened it up.

As I approached Riverside I started my cool down. I noticed at the new shops at Hwy 9 and Briarcliff there was a sign for a weekly farmers market every Thursday, so I decided to stop by and eat a Cliff bar to aid in my recovery. I saw this guy with a Cow on his truck selling beef. I went over to say hi and take a picture. Funny thing is he recognized me from earlier in the week when I took a picture of the CowTown T-Shirts. Small world sometimes....

Since Carolynn is getting her hair 'done', Christopher and I are going to ride to get dinner. A easy ride will do me good and help loosen up the old legs. Subway here we come....

Bike Week 2008: Day 3

Very slow going this morning. I really wanted to stay in the bed, but the Challenge must go on. I tried a Mean Bean as a test. Before I left I checked the old BB and saw that I had missed a call. A quick call to my voicemail let me know that I was riding in solo today as Dave had to work during the night and was doing what I wanted to do - stay in bed. As I started my commute in I was still very tired, but after 30 minutes of riding I started to wake up. It might have been the Mean Bean or just a fellow commuter that caught my attention in North KC. The remainder of the ride I felt good and enjoyed the North wind that added my ride to work.
The sun has started to rise very early. I took a little break while crossing the river to snap a sunrise picture. Only need my lights now for about half the commute in. Good thing too because this morning my battery died out on me....

Bike Week 2008: Day 2

What a great ride in this morning. The wind was calm and the temperatures were very nice, especially since I under dressed yesterday and froze during the morning ride. My legs felt great and I was in a good mood.

I rode up Green Hills Road expecting Dave to come flying down at any moment. No site of Dave so after a few miles I headed back to 68th street thinking that he took another route. No such luck. After about 15 min I decided to head into work without him. It was already 5:30 am and I needed to be at work by 7:00 am. Before I clipped in to take off, an older guy comes by on a motorcycle and stops and asks me what I was doing. Apparently a bicyclist standing on the side of the road in the early morning hours in the Northland is an uncommon site. I assured him I was up to no harm and was just waiting on Dave.

As I got to AA Highway I got a funny feeling that I was being followed. I turn around and sure enough it is Dave pedalling for all his worth trying to catch up. We took it easy going through Riverside, but then picked up the pace as we worked our way to North Kansas City....

....As I waited for Dave (Do you see a theme here?) at the entrance to Harrah's Casino. He was still having some ill effects from his effort to bridge up to me earlier in the ride and my attack on Hwy 210 did not help this at all :-). I thought to myself who goes to these gambling places to risk all their hard earned money. Then it struck me that us riders gamble everyday. Not with our money, but with our lives when we ride on these crazy Kansas City streets. Some of the drivers out there just don't care.

I just had to stop and take a picture of CowTown T-Shirts.

Another good ride home this evening. We hit Cliff Drive and this time I rode some of the dirt mounds which only added to my mileage :-). Still don't know what they plan to use all the dirt for, but they are fun to ride none the less. ..started to rain a little once we got near The Wheel Cyclery. It was nice having some fenders to prevent the water spray.