Now that warmer weather is attempting to make a comeback, we’ve got lots of events and activities on the horizon to help get you moving. Mark your calendars:
Wednesday, April 18: Advanced Maintain Your Ride. Ready to dive deeper into bicycle maintenance? Join our instructors to build on the content covered in Maintain Your Ride, with a more advanced spin.
Saturday, April 21: Head for the Cure Bike Ride. This great ride includes two routes through the city, and concludes with a post-ride Irish “Hooley” at Browne’s Irish Marketplace. Proceeds benefit the Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative and KU Cancer Center, and $1 of every ride registration benefits BikeWalkKC.
The City of KCMO is studying several streets in Midtown for Complete Streets improvements, which could include things like bike lanes, sidewalk upgrades, road diets, and more. This plan is an opportunity to begin transforming prominent streets in Kansas City’s most walkable neighborhoods.
Unfortunately there is some opposition to Complete Streets, including a variety concerns around a reluctance to make changes that might make motor vehicle traffic less of priority.
May is National Bike Month, and we want the Kansas City region to show the rest of the country how it’s done! The regional Bike Month website is up and running, featuring events, activities, and resources for your organization, school, or business. Click here to view the site, and add your own events to the community calendar.
National Bike to Work Day is on Friday, May 18, and we’re working with our partners and friends to organize encouragement events around town. If your business, school, or organization would like to serve as a Commuter Coffee Stop location from 7:30-9:00am that morning, please contact info@bikewalkkc.org so we can add you to the list!
Here are some other key dates and BikeWalkKC activities during Bike Month:
Wednesday, May 9: National Bike to School Day. Strap on your helmets, raise your kickstands, and join the thousands of students, families, community partners, and elected officials all around the country who will be participating in this year’s Bike to School Day on May 9.
And did we mention: the Tour de Bier happens in May?? Read on to learn more!
Tour de Bier: Explore KC History by Bike
Our signature fundraising event, the Tour de Bier, rolls again on Sunday, May 20. This ride explores Kansas City’s brewing past and present, with stops at up to nine of the KC-area’s excellent breweries and three different routes. Proceeds benefit the advocacy and education programs of BikeWalkKC.
Registration is now open and includes a fully supported ride, souvenir map and t-shirt, samples at each brewery stop, lunch and two drink tickets at the post-ride party, and opportunities to mingle with other cyclists, partners, sponsors, and vendors. The ride starts and ends at the one-and-only Knuckleheads Saloon in the East Bottoms.
To get you ready to ride, we’ve organized some warm-up activities:
Monday, May 7: Warm-Up Ride with Mondays Aren’t So Bad. Interested in a group ride to help you get ready for the Tour? Join this FREE fun ride from the Gregg-Klice Community Center at 18th and Vine, and enjoy a short, no-drop ride to Chicken n Pickle in North Kansas City.
Monday, May 7: Tour de Bier Social at Chicken n Pickle. Let’s kick off Bike Month and celebrate the Tour with a “handlebar happy hour” at Chicken n Pickle! Join us for discounted pickleball rental, plenty of games and fun, and delicious food and drink. Meet fellow cyclists, local vendors, and some of our brewery friends.
Since the City of Kansas City, Missouri, passed a Complete Streets Ordinance last December, BikeWalkKC has been working with our partners and leaders to identify next steps in this important effort.
Beginning with the Northeast KCMO neighborhood, we are launching our first Complete Streets Advocacy Workshop series to engage and train community and neighborhood leaders, small business owners, and individuals in the Northeast who want to see a change in the built environment.
This FREE seven-session series includes such topics as:
– Introduction to Active Transportation
– Identifying the Problem
– Built Environment Design
– Built Environment Toolbox
– Identifying Campaign Targets
– Your Campaign’s Message
– Tactical Training
Sessions will be held from 6:00-8:00pm on Thursdays from May 20 – June 21 at the Independence Avenue CID.
If you live, work, or shop in the Brookside area, you’ve undoubtably seen the construction project at 51st and Brookside Boulevard: Brookside51. This multi-use project will include apartments, a Whole Foods, UMKC’s Student Health Services, and yes – a bike share station!
The new station is located on the Trolley Track Trail side of the complex, and is slated to open when the project concludes in mid-spring.
“We’re excited to add a new bike share station in this location,” says Eric Vaughan, Director of Bike Share and Business Services. “It provides an important connection between our Plaza stations and our stations in Brookside and Waldo. It will be a convenient option for those who wish to shop and visit Brookside51 and the other shops and restaurants along 51st Street, and offers a great way to travel along the trail.”
Provide Your Input: Federal Funding for Local Bike/Ped Projects
Several local projects are currently seeking federal funds for things like bike lanes, trails, bike share, Safe Routes to School, Complete Streets, and more. These federal funding applications are now open for public comment. All projects selected for funding would be scheduled for 2021-22.
Your input on these applications is an important part of the selection process as the Mid-America Regional Council makes decisions about the next two years of transportation funding in the metro area.
As you may recall, last fall BikeWalkKC was selected as one of 25 grantees for the Aetna Foundation’s Cultivating Healthy Communities program and awarded a community grant to work in partnership with Children’s Mercy Kansas City.
Since then, we’ve been hard at work delivering education programs, conducting data collection and evaluation, meeting with stakeholders, and engaging with parents and school staff.
We’ve created a new page on our website where will provide updates and links related to the project’s progress. We are thrilled to partner with community partners, parents, students, KCPS administration, school staff, and advocates to deliver programs and activities that positively impact public health in the Northeast KCMO neighborhoods.
Hot off the presses: BikeWalkKC’s 2017 Annual Report includes storytelling by some of our program champions, updates on our programs and activities, and long lists of those who make our work possible: our members, volunteers, funders, sponsors, partners, and program participants. We thank all of you for another record-setting year!
Our members power our work: we can’t continue to expand and grow without the support of individuals like YOU. Your support is reinvested into the programs and activities of BikeWalkKC, which works to redefine our streets as places for people to build a culture of active living.
Our signature fundraising event, the Tour de Bier, rolls again on Sunday, May 20. This ride explores Kansas City’s brewing past and present, with stops at up to nine of the KC-area’s excellent breweries and three different routes. Proceeds benefit the advocacy and education programs of BikeWalkKC.
As you may recall, last fall 
Our members power our work: we can’t continue to expand and grow without the support of individuals like YOU. Your support is reinvested into the programs and activities of BikeWalkKC, which works to redefine our streets as places for people to build a culture of active living.