... and the road goes on forever

From afar, Adams Dairy Parkway late Saturday night looked as if it was infested by lightning bugs, emitting a trail of red instead of yellow.

But these red flickering lights came with noise – the grinding of gears coupled with the occasional honk – and a message.

“These are people who care about our parks,” said Pam Buck, who spearheaded the Blue Springs Night Bike Ride Saturday. The event was sponsored by the Blue Springs Parks and Recreation Department. All proceeds from the bike ride (Buck estimated the event raised about $2,000) will be used for bike trail maintenance and improvement in Blue Springs, with particular emphasis on the Adams Dairy Parkway bike path.

More than 130 cyclists turned out for the event, some sporting spandex and top-of-the-line bicycles, others wearing T-shirts and riding Wal-Mart-bought bikes.

“This is such a unique experience that you get people of every description who come out,” Buck said. “A lot of people look forward to this every year.”

Buck initiated the Blue Springs Night Bike Ride three years ago after participating in something similar in Lenexa, Kan. In planning the event, she works in close cooperation with Officer Mike Russell and the Blue Springs Police Department, who supplied four officers on bikes and three in patrol cars at potentially dangerous intersections. Also, arrows were spray-painted about 20 feet before turns, and where there wasn’t a patrol car, there was a volunteer giving directions if needed.

“We haven’t had any accidents so long as we’ve had this event,” Buck said. All participants were required to wear a helmet and have front and rear lights on their bicycles.

Cyclists were offered two courses: a 15-mile trek beginning at Ashton Drive that knifed through downtown Blue Springs before running the length of Adams Dairy Parkway and a 10-mile loop ending at Adams Dairy Parkway and Walnut.

“There aren’t a lot of hills,” Buck said. “This isn’t meant to be an endurance test but a fun, family-friendly bike ride.”

Blue Springs resident Mike Taylor and his 10-year-old daughter, Sophie, are regulars in the Blue Springs Night Bike Ride.

“Sophie and I have been involved in this since the beginning,” Mike Taylor said. “It seems like she was in training wheels just the other day.”

Afterwards, the Blue Springs Parks and Recreation Department provided refreshments as well as a live deejay at Centennial Pool-Plex.