Category: LiveWell Lawrence (Page 3 of 6)

Get On Your Bikes and Ride!

June 7, 2017 /

There are some great family friendly bicycling events for you to check out here in Lawrence and you can even represent Douglas County in the National Bike Challenge! It's easy and gets you out to enjoy the summer.

There are 4 great events (and other weekly ones) for you to check out. They are free and fun for the whole

July 15: Summer Community Bike Ride
Aug. 13: Family Fun Ride
Aug. 19: Family Fun Ride (watch for more details)
Sept. 16: Fall Community Bike Rid e

But there's another cool event running through the rest of the summer. The National Bike Challenge is a nationwide event uniting thousands of current bicyclists—and encouraging countless new riders. It is a free and easy way to challenge yourself, your colleagues and your community to ride more while competing on a local, state and national level.

They use an app called Strava to keep track of all the miles people ride. Currently, Lawrence is in second place in KS by just a hair to Witchita. You can help us over the edge.

The Challenge is a great way to get involved and bicycle more as individuals, companies, and communities, together as a nation. It's not just for hard-core riders, it's for recreational riders too, just get out there, log your miles and represent Douglas County!

To read more about it check out the National Bike Challenge website https://nationalbikechallenge.org/

Miles Ridden in KS as of 6/8/17

Ride To School Day 2017

May 11, 2017 /

Lawrence Schools participated in the 2017 Bike to School Day.

National Bike to School Day provides an opportunity for communities across the country to join together to celebrate safe, active transportation and, where needed, to bring attention to necessary changes so more people can safely bicycle to more places. Participation in the annual event grows every year and as of today, over 2,500 schools in 49 states have registered events on the official Bike to School Day website, walkbiketoschool.org. The success of Bike to School Day is thanks to the enthusiasm and commitment of tens of thousands of students, parents, volunteers, school administrators, elected officials, and community leaders.

“Bicycling is a wonderful way to exercise, have fun and can be a means for some students to get to school,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao. “National Bike to School Day is an opportunity for communities to highlight the many benefits of bicycling and promote bicycle safety for Americans of all ages.”

“On Bike to School Day, we’re pleased to report that places around the country are celebrating the fun of biking to school and prioritizing children as they look to improve transportation safety for their entire communities,” said Nancy Pullen-Seufert, Director of the National Center for Safe Routes to School. “For example, Chicago, New York City and many rural and small town communities are seeing school zones as priority places to address speeding traffic – which can have safety benefits for everyone.”

Here's a great story 6 News Lawrence did on happenings here in Lawrence.

Lawrence Kansas Recognized as Bicycle Friendly City by League of American Bicyclists

November 16, 2016 /

The City of Lawrence received great news and Lawrence Central Rotary (who sponsors the Ride Lawrence website) is proud to have helped the city to be able to achieve this designation!

The City of Lawrence has been honored again as a Bronze Rank Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC). The City first received this designation in 2004 from the American League of Bicyclists. There are now 404 communities recognized in the U.S. as Bicycle Friendly Communities; this is Lawrence’s fifth successful application. The Bronze level BFC award recognizes Lawrence’s commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through investment in bicycling promotion, education programs, infrastructure and pro-bicycling policies.

Lawrence-Douglas County Bicycle Advisory Committee members prepared the application utilizing information, such as data collected from bike/pedestrian counts, safety material, outreach efforts, and lane mileage. This year’s application featured Lawrence’s completion of a number of projects that will form the “Lawrence Loop”, a 22-mile paved off-street path around the city, the bicycle education provided by Lawrence’s League Certified Cycling instructors, the on-bicycle safety education at local elementary schools, and the recent commitment in the city budget for bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure improvements. The Lawrence Central Rotary Club’s Community Bike Ride, Safe Kids Douglas County Bicycle Rodeo and Helmet giveaways, the Tour of Lawrence, the Lawrence Mountain Bicycle Club’s partnership with Parks & Recreation for the development and maintenance of the Lawrence River Trails trail, the National Bicycle Challenge, and 100 percentage of buses equipped with bike racks were also highlighted as part of the application process.

By the numbers, Lawrence now has 16 miles of bike lanes, 9 miles of shared-lane markings (sharrows), 39 miles of signed bike routes, and 45 miles of paved shared use paths.

Four Kansas communities have received the Bicycle Friendly designation: Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan, and Shawnee. Find out more information online at www.bikeleague.org/bfa.

Lawrence Fall Community Bike Ride a Rousing Success!

September 25, 2016 /

The weather was beautiful and around 100 riders and volunteers came out September 17th for the Lawrence Fall Community Bike Ride organized by Lawrence Central Rotary. “We had everyone from novices and kids on training wheels to local professional riders come out,” said Central Rotary Club President Jim Peters, “our club rallies around these events and it’s great to be able to provide a safe and encouraging event for bike riding.”

Event chair Steve Lane coordinated volunteers and organized the sponsors from all over Lawrence. “Steve’s organization and prep for this function like a Swiss watch,” said club member Tobin Neis, “we wouldn’t be able to do it without him.”

Lawrence / Douglas Country Community Health Planner Charlie Bryan was on hand showing attendees the proposed “Lawrence Loop” bike / multi-use path. LiveWell Lawrence and partners continue to advocate for finishing this 22-mile loop trail around Lawrence everyone could enjoy.

Exciting for both local Rotarians as well as attendees to see was an assembled ShelterBox which Lawrence Central Rotarians have heavily supported over the years. A ShelterBox is a simple and effective solution to deliver the essentials people need to survive and begin to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of a disaster.

ShelterBoxes are tailored for the particular disaster being responded to, but typically includes a disaster relief tent for a family, thermal blankets and groundsheets, water storage and purification equipment, solar lamps, cooking utensils, a basic tool kit, mosquito nets and children’s activity pack.

Thanks to all our sponsors and volunteers who made this happen!

Summer 2016 Community Bike Ride Recap

July 29, 2016 /

There were concerns the Wednesday before, but the weather worked out and it was a beautiful day for a bike ride. Just under 200 people (with volunteers) came out to the Lawrence Rotary Arboretum to enjoy a beautiful July morning to ride bikes.

Thanks to Central Rotary member Lynn O’Neal and to local bike enthusiast and photographer Eddie Davalos for all the awesome pictures!

Thanks to all our sponsors and everyone who came out. And be sure to save the date on your fall calendar for our fall Ride on the Burroghs Creek Trail September 17th. (More info Coming soon)