Hundreds of bicycle riders are pedaling across Kansas this week. The 45th annual “Biking Across Kansas” event began on Saturday.

Biking Across Kansas is an annual, eight-day, bicycle tour across the state of Kansas. It promotes health and wellness through bicycling, the history and beauty of the Kansas landscape, and the warm hospitality of the Kansas towns and people. Biking Across Kansas, or BAK, started in 1975 with fewer than 100 hundred riders. Forty-five years later the tour is now capped annually at 900 participants.

The 45th year of the largest bicycling event in Kansas history, an over 5oo-mile ride across the State—began on Saturday. The eight-day tour started at the Kansas-Colorado line west of Goodland. Overnight stops this week will be in Hays, Wilson, Minneapolis, Clay Center, and Holton.

The tour is also routed through: Palco, Ellis, Russell, Lincoln, Bennington, Randolph, Onaga, Effingham, and others.

Many riders are from Kansas, but entries are represented from many other states.

The main goals of Biking Across Kansas are to promote wellness through bicycling, celebrate Kansas history and the beauty of its landscape, and enjoy the warm hospitality of its towns and people.

For more information on Biking Across Kansas 2019 visit www.bak.org.