This morning we took advantage of the cooler weather and went for a ride. It's been in the 100s for the past couple of weeks and today's high was forecast-ed to only be in the upper 80s. We decided to ride the Gypsum Creek path in Wichita. We hadn't ridden this path in probably 20 years. We began at the South end at Planeview Park and rode to it's end at Douglas street. I think the trail is about 5 miles one way. Nova got an extra 2 miles in as we had a dispute over which way the trail went at one point so we separated ways and then she had to back track after determining I was right after all
At the north end of the trail we stopped at Target where Nova bought a shirt. On the way back we stopped to do a little car shopping on Kellogg and then stopped at the Bagatelle Bakery (just off of the trail to the West on Harry street) for coffee and a croissant.
Once back to our starting point we wanted to keep riding so we continued on the Planeview path and then over to the Arkansas River path and rode it up to Harry street. The South end of the Arkansas River path takes you across the historic John Mack rainbow bridge. The morning ended with a ride up the old Soap Box Derby hill. Here is the partial track from the ride. My phone battery went dead and didn't track the entire ride.

This morning was the first Mayor's Family Bike Day in the big city. Four generations of our family attended. We participated in a couple of rides, an obstacle course and the paper boy throw. Ally won a bike and Blake won a few bike accessories. We all got event t-shirts. Two nights ago the kids and I made Coasters t-shirts using printer iron on transfers. They wore them today.




More photos and a video here

Today we rode the K-96 Bicycle Path in the big city. We've been putting this one off because it didn't look like that great of a ride. It wasn't. The short section that goes through Chisholm Park is the nicest. The rest goes through business areas and along the K96 bypass. The path is poorly marked at the major street crossings leaving you to guess which direction to go after crossing. Conveniently there is a convenience store at the southern end point. This is probably a great path for getting around if you live in the area.
We rode about 14 miles total out and back.
After the ride we stopped in Old Town at Old Chicago for an after ride beverage and lunch.

Yesterday I attended a meeting for an upcoming bicycle event our club puts on. I hauled my New Belgium Fat Tire bike to the big city and then rode in to the meeting place. Here are some video clips from some of the ride.

Robert's post over at River City Cyclist reminded me we needed to go ride the new Chapin Park trails here in Wichita. Today we went to check it out thinking it my be to wet to ride after last night's rain. What they call the "multi-use" trail was good and dry due to the fact it's got such a thick layer of loose gravel. This thick layer of loose gravel also makes it difficult and no fun to ride (IMHO). I don't think it's feasible as a bike trail or at least not now. I don't know if this stuff will ever pack down but maybe then. There are some dirt trails down along the river but they were to wet to ride. This new park sits on an old landfill and edges the Arkansas River. It also has a dog park, model airplane field, picnic and restroom facilities. The park is 190 acres and is located at 3800 S. Hydraulic, just across Macarthur from Emery Park BMX track. Photos here.

After riding we ran by the bike shop to drop off my bike for repair (neither derailleur was shifting). While there we ran into Dave having some work done on his trike and Chad who was working on his rat rod project.

Video...


Map and stats from the ride. We piddled around (catching my breath) quite a bit.

Today starting at Harry and the river we rode the Arkansas River Path North to the Midtown Path to where it ends at DaNang (15th and Broadway) for lunch. A bike path that leads to your favorite restaurant. Doesn't get much better than that.
Nova was riding the Stratoflyer. I didn't have any pics of it outdoors so I took one. After the ride we were dropping off our bikes at the storage shed where we were spotted by Cody on his way to Tim's house who lives near by. They both rode over to see us at the shed and checked out our bikes. I rode Cody's new home-built swing bike and then we went over to Tim's to see and ride his latest project.

This evening we went on a 4 mile ride here at home. I rode my latest swing bike which rode really great.

For the second year we've decided to spend our extra hour wisely and go for a bike ride. Temperature was in the mid 70s! We rode from Planeview Park into Old Town for lunch and back.
Here's a video...

Found this video from a couple years ago. Riding to the Keeper Of The Plains on the Arkansas river.



And another along the river...