Landahl!!!

[Bexter]

I can't believe I have not gotten down to the KC area this year to ride Landahl again. I plan to take a trip to KC in November sometime to visit friends and no doubt will incorporate a ride at Landahl in there somewhere -- weather permitting. You KNOW how awesome this trail system is, or if you DON'T know, you will WANT to experience it for yourself. Here is what Earthriders say about Landahl:

This trail is a 9 mile loop comprised almost entirely of nice, tight singletrack. The course here will throw everything at you; extremely technical rocky stretches, sketchy climbs up loose and rocky slopes, long smooth descents where the only limit on your speed is your guts, and correspondingly long lung-busting climbs.

The front part of the trail is pretty gentle but the back part is not for the faint-of-heart. There are several stretches of very difficult, tight and windy rocky passages with some decent drop-offs and tough areas were just navigating the path without dabbing is about all you can hope for....as for taking these parts at speed...forget it.

(http://earthriders.com/trails/trail.php?s=mo&file=landahl.xml (http://earthriders.com/trails/trail.php?s=mo&file=landahl.xml))

I am looking at a weekend in November (my October is booked). I know November could be cold, but it will be slightly warmer down there than here. I have any of the first 3 weekends open at this point. The second weekend in November is my preference, but I'm not firm on that date. My second pick would be the first weekend, but then I would miss a wedding that I should attend. The 3rd weekend brings more possiblity of cold weather.

We could pile in a few hotel rooms to cut down on costs. I am NOT staying with Cannady even if he refrains from consuming power bars or goo packs. Sorry Buddy for calling you out like that! :fart:

Any interest? I'm going, just not sure when, so thought I would throw it out there to see if there is any interest. So, anyone interested? I know it's late in the season... but we ARE mtn bikers... and FORCers... like to have fun... and we ROCK!
:beer:

[jimithng23]

interested......weather permitting

[AG]

I'm interested. The first and 3 weekend work the best for me (no kids). Also K.C. and I were looking to get away sometime around them. I'll get back to ya.

[Bexter]

OK, got confirmation from one of my friends in KC -- the first and third weekends are best. Waiting on the other friend as far as availability.
:cheers:

[Bexter]

I realize now that we have been discussing this trip via email and I have not updated the forum. The official plan is to make a road trip to the KC area this weekend (11/6 or 7) and ride Landahl and BuRP. Some are still up in the air as far as when they plan to drive down.

I am leaving the QCA Friday afternoon (off work at 12/12:30ish), driving down to Missouri and staying with friends. Plan to ride Landahl on Saturday, hotel it Saturday night, ride BuRP on Sunday and head back home. Extending our weekend through Monday is also a possibility for me. So, if anyone has interest in that, let me know. We can add Crowder to our lineup.

Here's the link for Landahl: http://www.earthriders.com/trails/trail.php?s=mo&file=landahl.xml (http://www.earthriders.com/trails/trail.php?s=mo&file=landahl.xml)

And BuRP: http://www.earthriders.com/trails/trail.php?s=mo&file=blueriverpark.xml (http://www.earthriders.com/trails/trail.php?s=mo&file=blueriverpark.xml)

And, a local who we met last time we rode Landahl said Crowder is a fun ride (if we decide to stay through Monday): http://www.earthriders.com/trails/trail.php?s=mo&file=crowder.xml (http://www.earthriders.com/trails/trail.php?s=mo&file=crowder.xml)

Weather says dry week in Missouri and Friday night through Sunday mostly clear with lows in the upper 40s, highs around 70.

Last 2009 weekend trip for outdoor riding I would venture to say.... Landahl is a blast to ride! Fun rocks, flowing singletrack, awesome fun.

[SweetSVT99]

Can't wait! I think Mielke and I are heading down early Saturday morning and heading back on Sunday afternoon. It's a lot of driving for a weekend trip, but is probably going to be the last weekend trip of the year!

[mcwrath]

You guys are going to have a great trip! Landahl is my favorite trail in the whole midwest. I wish I could tag along. Oh well, I will be there around Christmas holidays Im sure visiting my wife's family from KC.

[SweetSVT99]

You guys are going to have a great trip! Landahl is my favorite trail in the whole midwest. I wish I could tag along. Oh well, I will be there around Christmas holidays Im sure visiting my wife's family from KC.

A group of us went down last year, we all had a blast! As much fun as Landahl was, I think I had more fun at BURP. It was more of an adventure than anything.

[Bexter]

Gonna be a blast!!
Gonna be a blast!!
Gonna be a blast!!

High of 70 all weekend, dry weather, great trails, no doubt cold beer :cheers: and clearly awesome friends!!

[SweetSVT99]

Gonna be a blast!!
Gonna be a blast!!
Gonna be a blast!!

High of 70 all weekend, dry weather, great trails, no doubt cold beer :cheers: and clearly awesome friends!!

Well now that you put it that way, I'm staying home!! :poke:

[Bexter]

Happy dance!
Happy dance!

Going to Landahl and BuRP! Kansas City, here we come!!!! Whoo hooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!
:dancenana:

Rock on my beloved FORCers!

For those of you NOT going to one of the most awesome places to ride in the Midwest, get out and ride locally. Great weather, and more terrific weather in the forecast!

[Bexter]

Saturday, November 7, 2009 -- 9 AM. Pshhhhh snap! :cheers: First beer opened while enroute to the Kansas City area with visions of riding the most awesome singletrack in the Midwest... I knew THAT would get your attention, FORCers!

Sunny, 75 with a slight breeze (remember, it's November)... we rode Blue Ridge Parkway (BuRP) first and had a ball from the first creek crossing, through flowing and oftentimes rocky, leaf-obscured singletrack all the way to the final ride out of the woods back to the parking lot. The trails were great and finally dry after being plagued, like ours, by wet conditions. If you like rocky stuff to play on, BuRP is waaay cool. In proper FORC style, after we tamed BuRP, we settled in for a delightful dining experience at 75th Street Brewery. Tired, full and pretty gaseous :fart:, we embarked upon the quest of finding a reasonably priced hotel. Mission accomplished. More flatulence. A little more beer drinking (shocking, I know), tantalizing conversation, and shuffleboard and pool table competition lead to us all crashing and sleeping as sound as the dead.

Sunday, November 8... another gorgeous, sunny, warm day! More flatulence, showers, and a breakfast to write the world about... we head to Blue Springs, MO to tackle Landahl. People, I am talking LANDAHL here!!!!! Ride! Ride! Ride! :dancenana: We had made arrangements for a local to be our tour guide and that was really cool (thanks Keith). We got to ride the best of the best thanks to Keith. Fast, flowing singletrack that seemed downhill the whole way and all of a sudden BAM!!! a rock outcropping to play on. Oh yea! Tons of rocks, tons of fun sections to play on (or crash your brains out), great photo and vid ops. I was asking myself about 3 or 4 miles in why in the world I decided to bring my hardtail and not my fully. Blond moment, apparently. Won't do that again! I'll bring both next time!

One challenge that we did not experience when down there last year was the leaf cover. That made things considerably more challenging due to the leaves obscurring the trail (and rock and roots). Rage and Mark, love you guys! :bowdown: I was at Sunder last night and the leaf-cleared trails were fabulous!!! Quite a few miles, a few pinch and thorn-induced flats, and one blown up derailleur later, we were all tired but smiling a mile wide pulling back into the parking lot. Ahhhh... we're mountain bikers and we just got done riding what I consider one of the best trail systems in the Midwest. We packed our stuff, rehydrated (well, sort of) for a short while, and then buzzed over to Arthur Bryant's for world-renouned BBQ. WOW! Another "must-do" experience. In our case, it was a re-do experience after last year.

Tired, stinky, and full, we piled in the vehicles and hit the road talking energetically about when we plan to return to the KC area for a repeat... 2010... who is in?? Stay tuned for details...

XXXOOO
Your Social Coordinator

[konabiker]

thanks bexter and forcers!
it was just what i needed
indeed the best trails in the midwest
i'd be happy if all away trips were to kc

great trails
great weather
great food
great beer
great company

[Dr.Dover]

Glad you guys enjoyed the weekend down here. We've got some awesome trails with awesome trail folks in the area. I know that our guys had a great time talking to you and showing you around.

Here is a map of all the trails in the KC Metro area. (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=112681663010811485620.000001122fafe2444bb58&z=9)

You can fill an entire weekend full of riding down here from dawn to dusk, heck you can ride into the night too. Most of the systems are within 1 hour or less of each other.

Let us know when you will be down again. We will be glad to show you around some other systems in the area.

Ben
Prez - EarthRiders Mountain Bike Club

[konabiker]

can we nominate you guys to host the midwest mountain bike festival?

[Dr.Dover]

I believe that we hosted it in 2000. I'm not sure that we are quite ready for it again. We do have some work going on for a festival based out of Landahl this coming year. No hard details yet, still in the planning.

We've got one major new trail system, Swope Park, that is going to be a humdinger when it is completed. A few more years to go on that and we will have nearly 50 connected miles of trail within the heart of Kansas City.

Ben

[farmboy]

I wanna go next year. Purty Please?