-Dale Swindler

The first organized bike ride crossing Kansas from south to north was first accomplished in the Fall of 1975 by Phillip Hansen, Diane Smith, Ronald Turvey, Joni Brandt, Herbert Kuhn, Andy Kuhn and Sue McKinney. The ride started in Manchester, OK and ended North of Downs, KS. Periodically a group of riders would organize aN OK to NE ride in the years following. Recently, frequent BAK rider, John Janzen, made the trek up the State in one day in June of 2020. ​

In early 2020, the organizers of Biking Across Kansas knew that with the uncertainties of the Covid restrictions they needed BAK to take the year off. As the year progressed the restrictions of the Covid lockdown were easing but all the organized bike rides had been cancelled. I remembered Lawrence Kleiwer telling me about his experience in attempting to ride from Oklahoma to Nebraska in a day. That planted a seed in my brain and that seed sprouted into the idea of organizing some friends who might want to do that same ride, but in 3 days instead of one. The idea became Bike Up Kansas! BUK 2020 had 20 riders.

 In 2021 there was a resurgence of Covid to the degree that BAK was once again cancelled and BUK repeated with a slightly different course. ​BUK 2021 grew to 33 riders. In 2022 Glenda and I had moved to the west coast and Deanna Rühter-Lusk agreed to take over the scheduling of BUK and coordination of SAG volunteers. To avoid conflicts with BAK and other organized events, BUK was changed to a Fall event using a new route. 

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In 2023, BUK was held the first week of October but in 2024 we decided to take a break from the ride. 

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In 2025, BUK is back and will continue to utilize the first weekend of October. This year's 3-day route will have new starting and ending locations with overnights in Wichita and Salina. It will also have changes to Day 1 and Day 3 that will completely keep us off US highways. We look forward to meeting up again and having a blast on BUK 2025!!

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