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New Year's Day offers good weather for a

Red Eye Ride

By ERIN MATHEWS

Salina Journal

For John Cooper and more than 30 other people, the fifth annual Red Eye Bicycle Ride was an opportunity to start the new year out right.

"If I don't go, then I'll kick myself for not going," Cooper told his wife, who encouraged him to load up his bike and drive from Hutchinson for the 18-mile ride that started Thursday afternoon from the parking lot of New Community Christian Church, 530 E. Cloud.

"I guess you really have to want to ride to do stuff like this," Cooper said.

This year's weather -- with a temperature that got up to 45 degrees -- was friendlier than it had been for the past two years. There was snow on the ground last year during Cooper's first Red Eye. He remembers riding into the biting wind when he turned around to come back about half way before the end.

Still, he was looking forward to doing it again this year. The chance to visit with biking friends while eating soup afterwards was as appealing as the ride for Cooper.

Cyclists who made it the entire distance took Ohio Street to Magnolia Road to Kipp Road and back.

"This is a fun way to start the year out," said Bruce Whiteley, who organizes the annual ride and led the riders on his recumbent bike.

"That's what I decided," said rider Mike Minihan, who drove from Blue Rapids to try the Red Eye for the first time. He met the Whiteleys four years ago during his first Bike Across Kansas.

"I thought it would be good to come to Salina and see my biking friends," he said. Minihan said although he also has a Harley Davidson, he's put more miles on his road bike in the past year. He got into biking when his 15-year-old son, Dan, announced one day he intended to participate in BAK.

"He's been a real life influence for me," Minihan said. "At the time, I didn't exercise or anything."

They started practicing on a couple of old Walmart bikes but doubled their miles the week they invested in road bikes. While they were training, they rode 60 miles in three hours, only to learn that participating in the actual BAK event was much easier than their training had been.

Also among the riders Thursday was Whiteley's granddaughter, Nickole Croomes, 22, who has a lot of experience riding with grandpa and has already ridden the BAK six times.

"She's been riding ever since she could sit up on the back of grandpa's bike," said Whiteley's wife, Nancy.

Nancy Whiteley followed behind the bikes in a support vehicle in case anyone decided to cut their ride short. She was accompanied by Judy Fowler, who drove from Wichita for the Red Eye, even though she couldn't ride this year because she was recovering from surgery.

"We're organized enough to make sure nobody gets stranded out there," Nancy said.

There were riders who had all the gear to look serious about it -- like Salinan Irene Kinard, who wore a rearview mirror mounted on her sunglasses.

"This is a pretty day; it's going to be really nice," she said. "I'll keep a steady, even pace. I don't ride too much in winter."

Croomes and Whiteley wore cleated shoes that fastened onto the pedals of their bikes, making it possible to both push and pull the pedals.

And there were riders who looked less like professionals but were still up for the exercise and a challenge.

Brian and Jennifer Motter brought their daughters, sixth-grader Sarah and fifth-grader Elizabeth, to try the ride out after they heard an announcement about it during church. The girls, who were also riding with their grandparents Glenda and Bob Hopkins, didn't think they'd go the whole distance.

Jennifer Motter said she thought it was a good way to spend New Year's Day.

"The Y wasn't open," she said.

n Reporter Erin Mathews can be reached at 822-1415 or by e-mail at emathews@salina.com.

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