From Trailnet

Lots of fun bike rides for kids, families

Trailnet has announced its 2006 schedule of bicycle rides for the St. Louis metro area. The April-October schedule includes lots of fun rides that combine biking with attendance at community events.

Rides of special interest to kids and their families are 18 Bicycle Fun Rides and five outings in the Pedal in Our Parks Ride Series. The Pedal rides are co-sponsored by five local cultural institutions.

The Bicycle Fun and Pedal rides usually combine ride routes of varying length and a community event that riders will want to attend.

For instance, the Bicycle Fun Ride for Sunday, May 21, is the Berry Bicycle Ride and Strawberry Festival. Bikers start at St. Jacob, Ill., and have four different route choices. All routes are circular and end up back in St. Jacob, where riders take part in the town's annual Strawberry Festival.

Or, there's the first in the Pedal in Our Parks Ride Series on Saturday, April 22, sponsored by the Missouri History Museum. The short 5-mile route lets you explore lesser-known parts of Forest Park. After returning to the museum, riders can join either interpretive or guided tours in the museum.

Trailnet and the Great River Greenways District are working to improve bicycling opportunities throughout the greater St. Louis area. Their efforts include acquiring land and building bikeways.

Then, they help to increase the biking opportunities for area residents. A special emphasis is on encouraging young riders to explore their area while getting exercise outdoors.

Trailnet's website has a complete list of the 2006 ride schedule. There is a short description of each ride and ratings as to the difficulty of the rides. To plan a ride, go to www.trailnet.org. Then, click on the "searchable calendar" by putting in the month and the type of ride you want.

You can sort rides into categories such as "family-friendly," "Bicycle Fun Club" and "for beginners." Each ride description includes a chance to print out a map of the ride route.

Trailnet also has a printed "2006 Calendar of Rides." These can be obtained by calling (314) 416-9930 in Missouri and (618) 874-8554 in Illinois.

The Pedal in Our Park Ride Series includes rides sponsored by the Missouri History Museum (Pedal through the Past), Saint Louis Zoo (Puffin Pedal), Saint Louis Art Museum (Picasso Pedal), Missouri Botanical Garden (Petal Pedal) and St. Louis Science Center (Planetary Pedal).

Besides the History Museum's Pedal through the Past in April, other Pedal series rides are the Zoo's Puffin Pedal and Art Museum's Picasso Pedal (both in June), the Botanical Garden's Petal Pedal in July and the Science Center's Planetary Pedal in August.

All of the Pedal in the Park rides are five miles. That allows more time to explore the various cultural institutions.

Each of the Bicycle Fun Club rides has from three to four different routes. The mileage varies from as short as 13 miles to as long as over 50. Also, the routes oftentimes vary in degree of difficulty because of the height of the hills.

Be sure to check ride routes and degree of difficulty to match them to your riding ability.

Most of the Bicycle Fun Club rides include assistance from a SAG wagon. These vehicles provide riders with "service and gear" assistance along the route. For Fun Club rides, the SAG wagon also has "service and goodies."

The Bicycle Fun Club rides include:

In April: the Prairie Pedal on April 4 and the Spring Chicken Ride on April 23.

In May: the River Des Peres Ramble, May 7; the Lewis and Clark Departure Days Bicycle Ride and Recumbent Rally, May 13; the Berry Bicycle Ride and Strawberry Festival, May 21, and the Great Pizza Ride and Recumbent Rally, May 29.

In June: June Jaunt Bicycle Ride, June 4; As the Crow Flies Bicycle Ride, June 11; Bridge Birthday Bash and Bicycle Ride, June 25.

In July: Big Bottle Bicycle Ride and Summerfest, July 9.

In August: the Fahrradfour und Augustfest, Aug. 6; I Scream for Ice Cream Bicycle Ride, Aug. 13; the Peach Pedal, Aug. 20; Gateway of Hope Bicycle Ride, Aug. 26.

In September: Giro Della Montagna Bicycle Ride, Sept. 3; Tour de Wildwood, Sept. 17, and Lewis and Clark Currents of Change Bicycle Ride, Sept. 24.

In October: Ride the Rivers Century Ride, Oct. 1.