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Transportation open house set for Lawrence public participation June 21, 25 & 27

June 7, 2012 /

The Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization announced six Open House sessions as part of the PublicParticipation Process for the Transportation 2040 Plan (T-2040).

This effort will update the region’s main transportation planning document, the Metropolitan Transportation Plan, which includes a description of proposed future transportation system improvements. The events offer the community an opportunity to share ideas, speak with transportation planners, and comment on the future of transportation in Baldwin City, Eudora, Lawrence, Lecompton and all of Douglas County.

“This is an opportunity for residents to talk about a system that affects all of us – the multimodal transportation system,” said Todd Girdler, senior transportation planner. “Now is the time to talk to us about your transportation needs and your ideas for improving our transportation system. We really want to hear from you, about how we can make this system the best we can.”

Sessions have been scheduled for the following dates and locations:

Baldwin: June 11, 2012, 5:00-8:00p.m., Baldwin City Public Library Activity Room, 800 7th St.

Eudora: June 28, 2012, 5:00-8:00p.m., Eudora City Hall Council Chambers Room, 4 E. 7th St.

Lawrence: June 21, 2012, 5:30-8:30p.m., Union Pacific Depot, Community Room, 402 North 2nd St.

June 25, 2012, 4:00-8:00p.m., Lawrence Public Library Auditorium, 707 Vermont St.

June 27, 2012, 11:00-1:00p.m., Lawrence City Commission Room, 6 East 6th St.

Lecompton: June 20, 2012, 5:00-8:00p.m., Lecompton Community Building, 327 Elmore St.

An online survey is available at http://www.lawrenceks.org/mpo/t2040

The draft T-2040 Plan will be available for comment during Fall 2012 and the final version for comment will be available in very early 2013 or sooner.

Bike rides geared toward beginners start June 4th

June 1, 2012 /

The Lawrence Bicycle Club will host Beginners Rides on Mondays beginning next week. Riders who want to participate should meet at 6:15 p.m. at Cycle Works, 2121 Kasold (north of Hy-Vee), for technical tips. Rides will begin at 6:45 p.m.

The ride will go approximately 10 miles at 10-12 mph, mostly on the bike path. Helmets are required, and riders should bring a water bottle. All ages and abilities are welcome, but children should be accompanied by an adult. For more information, send email to [email protected] or Susan Twombly

Extreme cyclist Rebecca Rusch to speak 5/31 at Sunflower bike shop

May 31, 2012 /

Below is a reprint from WellCommons for the original story click here.

By Karrey Britt

Professional endurance mountain biker Rebecca Rusch will speak tonight at Sunflower Outdoor and Bike Shop in Lawrence. Rusch holds world and national titles in several long-distance races. by Contributed photo

BY ANDREW HARTSOCK

They call her the Queen of Pain, but don’t be misled.

Though the moniker is a tribute to her melding of passion and profession, Rebecca Rusch is no whip-wielding kinkstress. Outfitted in Lycra, not leather, Rusch saddles up and puts the hurt only on fellow mountain-biking masochists.

The nickname is both a nod to her ability to spank the competition and endure the agony that goes along with riding a bike for ridiculously long distances and times.

“It makes me laugh,” Rusch says of her nickname. “You don’t necessarily choose your nickname. Other people choose your nicknames for you.”

True, but many an outcast elementary schooler has been saddled with “Smelly McBooger-eater” but doesn’t make it his Twitter handle.

“I don’t want to inflict pain on myself,” said Rusch (@thequeenofpain on Twitter). “Maybe it’s more the Queen of Pain Management.”

Whatever the case, the QOP — who will be in town tonight to speak to at Sunflower Outdoor and Bike Shop — has become awfully good at what she does, which is pedal a bike longerfasterbetter than just about anybody around.

Just a few of her jaw-dropping bicycle results:

• three-time winner of the Leadville Trail 100 MTB and current record holder

• national cross country single-speed champion

• world masters cross country champion

• three-time 24-hour solo mountain bike world champion

• and 24-hour team mountain bike national champion.

“I have an affinity,” she said, “to go long distances, to put my head down and be in that pain cave. Everybody knows somebody who has done something super-hard, something where you’re thinking, ‘I can’t do it,’ and you do it. You finish something like that, it’s a very addictive drug. I guess I’m just chasing that reinforcement over and over again.”

Rusch, 43, didn’t always do it on a bike.

Her first taste of endurance racing came in high school on the cross country team. Then came skiing and adventure racing, and she was crazy-successful at all of them.

Then she lost her adventure-racing sponsor and, with a year left in her deal with Red Bull, Rusch looked around and wondered just what would fill the void.

“I hated cycling,” she said. “I was lousy at it. I was uneducated and unskilled, and you never like to do things you’re lousy at. That’s the last thing I would have chosen. But I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I was always in endurance. I was a lousy sprinter. When adventure racing folded, I racked my brain. Ultra-running came to mind, but you see those races and they seem to brutally painful on the body. The only other thing was mountain-bike racing.

“But I didn’t think I would start a cycling career. I was just doing something to fill time for the last year of my Red Bull contract. I did one, and it all snowballed from there and became a cycling career. It really was unexpected.”

That career has taken her around the world.

Rusch, who still marvels that she can call herself a professional athlete, rules Leadville, the brutal 100-mile Colorado race contested at altitude and has competed in the Moroccan dessert and Costa Rican jungle.

Next up is Saturday’s Dirty Kanza 200, a 200-mile gravel-road sufferfest beginning and ending in Emporia.

“Dirty Kanza has a cult following,” Rusch said. “Registration fills up in a few minutes. Lots of people don’t finish. Call me a glutton for punishment, but those things appeal to me. I was in Morocco. The next most exotic locale I could think of was Kansas.”

Rusch, who lives in Ketchum, Idaho, said tonight’s visit to Sunflower was a culmination.

She rides for Specialized Bikes, and Sunflower is a Specialized shop. Occasionally, Specialized lets its athletes and dealers get — and ride — together, and Rusch thus came to know Sunflower owner Dan Hughes.

Hughes is an accomplished racer himself — he can pedal what he peddles — and so caught Rusch’s attention.

She had heard of Dirty Kanza (of which, incidentally, Hughes is the reigning solo-division men’s open champ) and was intrigued by the challenge. She counts Olathe-based Garmin among her sponsors.

And then there’s Hughes.

“We have a friendly competition,” Rusch said. “He doesn’t like to get ‘chicked,’ that’s for sure. … But he’s a super-strong rider, and he loves what he’s doing. I always wanted to visit his shop and Kansas, and since I’m racing there, there were just a lot of good reasons to go there.”

Her talk, tentatively titled “Commitment and Reaching Your Maximum Potential,” will start at 7 tonight at Sunflower (804 Mass. Street). It’s free and open to the public.

Report recommends Kansas implement bicycle helmet law to help prevent deaths, injuries

May 23, 2012 /

Below is a reprint from the WellCommons website

Liberty Memorial Central Middle School students Eleanor Matheis, 13, foreground left, and Mary Reed Weston, 13, right, put on their helmets before bicycling home from school Tuesday, May 22 2012. Kansas has the 27th highest rate of injury-related deaths in the country, according to a new report. Kansas does not require children to wear helmets, but Lawrence has passed an ordinance requiring children, ages 16 and under, to wear a helmet, but doesn't enforce penalties. Traumatic brain injuries account for more than 50 percent of bicycle fatalities among people 20 and under. by Mike Yoder

Kansas has the 27th highest rate of injury-related deaths in the country, according to a new report. The rate, 60.4 per 100,000 people, also is higher than the national average.

To help prevent such fatalities, the report suggests the state implement a bicycle helmet law and expanding its motorcycle helmet law to include all riders.

“Injury is the third-leading cause of death for all age groups in the U.S. and one person dies from injury every three minutes,” said Andrea Gielen, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy and a contributor to the report.

The highest rate was in New Mexico, where 97.8 per 100,000 people die from injuries. The lowest was New York with 37.1 per 100,000 people. Nationally, each year:

50 million are medically treated for injuries.
29 million are treated in emergency rooms for injuries.
2.8 million are hospitalized for injuries.
$406 billion is lost in medical costs and productivity because of injuries.
180,000 die from injuries.

The report found that millions of injuries could be prevented annually if more states adopted policies and programs such as child safety seat and helmet laws. For example, an estimated:

69,000 lives were saved between 2006 and 2010 because of seat belts.
8,000 lives were saved between 2005 and 2008 because of motorcycle helmets.
1,800 lives saved because of child safety seats from 2005 to 2009.

The 76-page report, “The Facts Hurt: A State-By-State Injury Prevention Policy Report,” was released Tuesday by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The report looked at 10 key indicators that states can take to prevent injuries. Kansas met all but three:

• Motorcycle helmets. It does not have a law that requires helmets for all riders, but 19 states do. Kansas does require riders under age 18 to wear them.

• Bicycle helmets. Kansas does not require children to wear helmets, but 21 states do. Lawrence passed an ordinance in 2004 that requires children 16 and under to wear a helmet, but it doesn’t enforce penalties. Nationally, about 700 bicyclists are killed each year and 52,000 are injured. Bicyclists under age 16 account for 13 percent of those deaths.

• Teen dating violence prevention. Kansas did not receive an “A” grade in the teen dating violence laws analysis conducted by the Break the Cycle organization in 2010, but six states did. Kansas was among 16 states to earn a “C.” The analysis looked at access to civil protections, access to sensitive services and school response.

“We need to redouble our efforts to make safety, research and policy a national priority,” Gielen said. “There’s compelling evidence that we should adopt, implement and enforce many existing policies and programs to help spare millions of Americans from needless harm.”

The report is available at the healthyamericans.org.

GP VeloTek Cycling Venturing Crew Pizza Ride is May 21st

May 18, 2012 /

Cycling Venturing Crew #2159 and Team GP VeloTek are hosting the 1st annual Pizza Ride Monday May 21st!

1. It's open to all youth and all teams. Boys and girls. Slow or Fast, Big or Small. Adults that want to help youth grow on and off the bike.
2. Kyle Rainey, Venturing Crew Team leader, can take questions. Kyle Rainey 785-727-3193 [email protected]
3. Thanks to Nate Goldberg for the awesome pizza ride flyer!
4. If you just want Pizza show up at 7:30pm

The levee trail is safe with no cars, it's flat with chipped cinder and road bike are ok unless it's been raining for days.

Ride Lawrence