Bike-a-day: Riverfront Heritage Trail

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Biking in Kansas City doesn’t so much require a hard-headed sense of road entitlement as a spirit of adventure. With enough gumption and time, it’s possible to stitch together the disjointed threads of a few different bike paths.

Today’s example: The Riverfront Heritage Trail.

It’s 10 or so miles (one-way) of well-signed, on-street/off-street path that begins in the Summit Neighborhood, weaves up to the Mighty Mo’ and into Kansas to conclude at Kaw Point. (See our Google map after the jump.)

This city gets a pretty bad rap as unfriendly to bike riders. Sure, no drivers want to see cyclists riding three abreast on Southwest Trafficway, and frankly, most bikers won’t want to be seen there either. It’s scary as shit to get passed within inches at 50 mph, ya know.

The Riverfront Heritage Trail mostly sticks to back roads, which avoids the above situation — except for the little job on Grand Avenue about half-way through. The path traces the perimeters of a few parks before taking to the streets in downtown, through River Market and out to a metal observation platform thing. Walk down the metal steps to the riverfront trail, which dead-ends in a couple hundred yards.