A Journey Across the State
19 area bike riders prepare for weeklong challenge of making it across Kansas
By Michael Ashford
Friday, June 8, 2007
Melinda Flohr would like to say she has been training hard for her 496-mile bike ride across the state of Kansas.
She would like to say she has put in hundreds on miles on her bike preparing for the eight-day trip from the western border of the state to the eastern edge.
She would like to, but she really can’t.
“I would be lying if I said I’ve trained a lot,” Flohr said. “I’ve tried to ride as much as I can, which, honestly, has not been nearly enough.”
The annual Bike Across Kansas event begins in earnest Saturday at the Kansas-Colorado border just west of Tribune and will feature a full field of 800 riders hoping to make it the entire way across the state of Kansas to Elwood in the northeast corner of the state.
It will be Flohr’s second year participated in BAK, an experience she called “quite a challenge” after her first attempt last year.
One can’t fault her for not trying to train for the event. It’s just that with being the orchestra instructor at Emporia High and an assistant boys tennis coach in the spring, she has had little time to get many miles in on her bike.
Still, she is excited for her second go-around with BAK.
“I have to admit, I am kind of looking forward to this year,” Flohr said. “I enjoy it from the standpoint of you get to meet a lot of really great people. It’s a fun time — just the interaction and the challenge of riding all the way across the state.”
Flohr will be just one of 19 area riders expected to participate this year. They range from riders like Kay McKnab, who began riding in BAK more than 20 years ago, to first-timers like Chase Ihde, who just graduated from Emporia High less than month ago and is set to go on the ride with his father, Steve.
“I got into it because I really needed to get some exercise,” said Joe Michaels, who will be riding in his fourth BAK along with his son, T.J. “I have bad knees, so I can’t jog, and I never really liked walking, so I got into biking. I set a goal to ride the MS 150, and I did that, so then I set a goal to ride my bike across Kansas, and I’ve done that.”
As expected, riding across the state is not easy. The more experienced riders can complete the stages — which range from 12 miles to 80 miles — in a couple hours. Other take the entire day to complete each stage, riding at a pace that is comfortable for them. For others, help is offered in the form of “shags,” which are trucks that come by and pick up bikers who can not go on any further and take them to the next stop.
“There were a couple days — the most windy, miserable days — that I decided it wasn’t worth it for me to deal with that, and so I did get a ride on a couple of the longer days,” Flohr said. “That would definitely be my goal this year, to ride the whole way.”
Another Emporian, Carl Antes, completed the entire journey in his first BAK ride last year.
“It just feels like a real accomplishment,” Antes said, “like the first time you started driving a car. It’s a great feeling to succeed in doing something that you worked quite a while for.”
The reasons for riding on a bike for eight days and nearly 500 miles across the hills and valleys of the Kansas terrain vary as much as the riders themselves. Some like the scenery. Some like the exercise. Some like the challenge.
But one recurring theme, however, is the people on the ride itself and also those the riders meet along the way.
“The people are just great,” Antes said. “You’re just out there in the middle of nowhere, and there’s not a lot of noise. All you hear is the wind and your friends visiting as you ride ... And all of the little towns were just awesome. They just treated you great.”
“It’s a lot of fun,” Michaels added. “You get to meet all kinds of wonderful people, and the communities along the way are so incredible.”
And don’t tell any of them that Kansas is flat.
“Kansas is certainly not flat,” Michaels said. “Just go ride a bike across it, and you’ll see that Kansas is anything but flat.”