Flint Hills Nature Trail -- Allen to Admire and back

July 7, 2013 

We got over an inch of rain last night here in OC so today since we already had to be over by Allen, decided to ride the trail between Allen and Admire. It was a very nice trail. They have had some wind & storms recently so there were quite a few limbs down. We cleared quite a few as we went. But not all. The ride was just a hair under 10 miles round trip. Be aware that it is mostly downhill going from Allen to Admire so the ride back was mainly uphill! There was a park in Admire that had bathrooms and water for us to refill our bottles which was nice! The Last Chance Cafe in Admire has adopted the last mile going into Admire and it has to be the nicest stretch on the Flint Hills trail we have ridden to date!

~~S

Flint Hills Nature Trail bridge between Allen and Admire

One of the many branches we removed from the trail between Allen and Admire during our ride today.

Admire school

Bathrooms in park in Admire, just a little north of trail. Water bottles needed refilled and other business needed attended to, so very happy to find them unlocked. :)

Park in Admire

On trail between Allen and Admire.  Northern Heights High School in background on Hwy 56.

Both of our full-size mountain bikes (one folding, one not) fit into the back of our little Honda Fit! Huzzah!!!

VIDEO:  2013-07-07 Flint Hills Nature Trail -- Allen to Admire and back

Flint Hills Nature Trail -- Osage City East to Fairlawn Rd

July 6, 2013 

My sweetie and I rode another 10 miles going East from Osage City. We took 9th to Brant street and rode it all the way out to Indian Hills. Anyone passing through, I would recommend using Brant which is about 150 yds North from the trail head at Indian Hills road, to get to 9th where there is access to Sonic, Jerry's and Caseys. Trail is pretty decent with a few rough spots going east all the way to Fairlawn rd where we turned around.

~~S

Two snakes in two consecutive trail rides. We could call a halt to that pattern thank you.

~~H 

Flint Hills Nature Trail at Wanamaker Road east of Osage City

Flint Hills Nature Trail at Wanamaker Road east of Osage City

Flint Hills Nature Trail at Urish Road east of Osage City with 88 schoolhouse in background

Flint Hills Nature Trail at Urish Road east of Osage City with 88 schoolhouse in top left background of picture

Flint Hills Trail -- Osage City west to Valencia Road and back

July 5, 2013 

Just got home from riding 10 miles on the Flint Hills Trail around Osage City. Rode west out past Valencia Road and then back and then attempted to traverse the trail through the city... ended up having to take side streets. From 4th to 9th is unpassable. From 9th out to Indian Hills road you can ride but I wouldn't recommend it. Going to check out on east from Indian Hills tomorrow evening.

~~S

Flint Hills Nature Trail at Valencia Road west of Osage City

Flint Hills Nature Trail near Valencia Road west of Osage City

Osage City -- 6.71 Mile Ride around town

July 3, 2013

Tonight we rode 6.71 miles in 1 hour and 4 minutes (but that included several drink stops), at an average speed of 6.3 mph, with a total uphill climb of 65 feet, and burned 591 calories. That's amazing to me. Most amazing of all is that it is fun, not "exercise".

~~H 

Craigs List purchase: Montague bike #1 (X50 Model)

The first bike we purchased off of Craig's List back in June.  He came fully equipped with the following accessories:

*A handlebar bag--with a Swiss Army thingie in it, also a padlock without a key LOL
*A handlebar GPS/cell phone mount
*A handlebar flashlight
*A left side handlebar mirror
*A rack on the back with a tail-light on it (we took that off so I could adjust the seat height)
*And apparently tubeless tires. 

Flint Hills Nature Trail -- Osage City west to Hoch Road

June 26, 2013

First night for me to ride my new-to-me Montague X50 mountain bike.  Here was my Facebook post about it after my first ride on it:  

"Oh. My. Hell. This morning, did I refer to my new-to-me ride as a rugged mountain bike? After that same 5 mile trail ride on it tonight, I'm upgrading that classification to Tank. In fact, that's its new name. 

Tank was a Craig's List purchase and he came fully equipped with the following accessories:

*A handlebar bag--with a Swiss Army thingie in it, also a padlock without a key LOL
*A handlebar GPS/cell phone mount
*A handlebar flashlight
*A left side handlebar mirror
*A rack on the back with a tail-light on it (we took that off so I could adjust the seat height)
*And apparently tubeless tires. Yes, solid rubber tires. Do you know how frigging heavy solid rubber tires are? Ask me. I can tell you."

**Update 07/13/2013: After delving more deeply into Tank's anatomy, we discovered that he does not have solid rubber tires.  He instead has the foam inner No-Mor-Flat type of "tube." Which is super awesome for the types of trails we have been encountering. I'm all for not having to change tires.   

~~H

Flint Hills Nature Trail at Hoch Road 1 mile west of Osage City

Flint Hills Nature Trail at Hoch Road 1 mile west of Osage City

Flint Hills Nature Trail bridge between K31 Hwy and Hoch Road, Osage City -- wouldn't want to go sailing off of there!

Starting this Bicycling thing! Gotta Just Keep Pedaling!

June 24, 2013

So, we are starting up the bicycling thing, my sweetie and I. After a couple of decades of living in this town, for the first time tonight, we checked out the Flint Hills Nature Trail from 4th street to Hoch Road and back again.

~~ H