At Interbike in Las Vegas, Saint Paul, Minnesota, was named to the League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle Friendly Community list for the first time. They check in with a Bronze designation, which is an excellent first-time recognition for the city.

As a sometime Saint Paul resident, I will testify [...]]]>

Enough about Minneapolis. Let’s talk about Saint Paul, baby.

At Interbike in Las Vegas, Saint Paul, Minnesota, was named to the League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle Friendly Community list for the first time. They check in with a Bronze designation, which is an excellent first-time recognition for the city.

As a sometime Saint Paul resident, I will testify to the city’s bikeability. While everyone knows Summit Avenue and the Gateway Trail, the city is also full of hidden gems, like the Battle Creek MTB trails, and the creek-level paved trail. The trails in Hidden Falls and Crosby Farm are often missed by cyclists who know the River Road routes. And let’s not forget the mighty climbs of the city — Ramsey Hill, Ohio, and Springside all come to mind, with the last being the steepest hill in Ramsey County. And can you bike past the House at Pooh Corner in Minneapolis? Nope. Saint Paul, bay-bee. Some of the best rest stops in the city can also be found in the capitol city.

The city’s been working on improving things for cyclists as well — everything from median tests to designating some new bikeways. The Saint Paul Bicycle Coalition has been growing more active as well.

And, in a rare statement, I’ve always been impressed with the knowledge city law enforcement has of bike laws and their enforcement.

I should also mention that La Crosse, Wisconsin, also received designation as a Silver-Level Community, and River Falls received an honorable mention. Hooray for them too. But Saint Paul is home, and I’m glad to see them finally request the recognition they deserve.

Something that is never mentioned explicitly in the ABC [...]]]>

The League of American Bicyclists teach the ABC quickCheck as though it were a religion. And, to be honest, it’s a good routine. It provides a solid basic bike check that can be customized to be used on nearly every bicycle by every rider, preschool age and up.

Something that is never mentioned explicitly in the ABC quickCheck, but which more riders need to do: Check your seat height.

You can have your seat at a perfect height, and a few rides later, it will sink. The only bike I’ve ever owned where regular readjustment hasn’t been an issue is the bike with a carbon fiber seatpost in a carbon fiber frame — probably something about the construction and relative friction of the material versus the friction of aluminum or steel, which are far more common as seatposts and frame materials.

The seat needs to be high enough so that you fully extend your leg when on the pedal downstroke. Not bent, extended. Not locked, but extended. Full extension is easier on your knees and puts more power into the pedalstroke, helping you go farther faster on the same effort. Having the seat properly adjusted helps you handle your bike more effectively, too.

So check that seat and adjust it, because it is good to do so, and it makes me happy when you do so.

And if you’re doing an event such as these or similar, your butt wants to talk [...]]]>

Mid-June is here, and in the midwest that is the prime season for multi-day bicycling events. These events can range from 2 days (like the already-complete MS150) to a week or more (events like Bike Across Minnesota, TRAM, CANDISC, RAGBRAI, etc.).

And if you’re doing an event such as these or similar, your butt wants to talk to you and make sure you’re prepared.

1. Training: A truism of a one-day event is that if you can usually do between 1/3 and 1/2 of the event distance on a regular basis, you ought to be able to finish. This is true for single-day rides only. Do not rely on such things to do day after day of personal best mileage. You need to put in some serious butt-in-saddle time before a ride like CANDISC or RAGBRAI. Do some shorter hammer rides on weeknights, longer rides at an event pace on weekends. There are many recommended mileage programs online and in magazines. Find one. Follow it.

   This will make the event more enjoyable (maybe) and also not make you a burden on organizers.

2. Bring several pairs of shorts. Do not bring any brand new shorts. Know your chamois. Know that it doesn’t leave bizarre butt pimples and rashes. It’s also best to bring shorts of different brands where possible if you aren’t a berserker brand loyalist or pro rider who is paid to be brand loyal no matter the brand. Different chamois rub in different spots day over day, so if something should emerge as a result of the extended use/multi-day opportunity, you have a backup that won’t keep opening that one sore. Yeah, THAT sore, the one that really hurts.
3. Events like this tend to roll rain or shine, save for the type of rain that comes with sirens and mayhem. Deeply consider your love of your white shorts. Do you love them that much? Wear them in the shower one morning then pose in front of the mirror. How’s the view? This is best not tested in field conditions, for the good of your fellow riders. There are some exceptions, but be absolutely sure that you are an exception in a mind other than your own before prancing in wet white shorts, please.
4. Chamois butter of some kind really is your friend, even if you’ve not used it before.
5. If you aren’t wearing bib shorts, be absolutely sure your jersey back covers down below the shorts waistband. Or, apply some lotion to the area between midback and buttcrack just to be sure. You will appreciate not having a burned waistline area later when trying to sleep.
6. Fiber. Eat it. Nothing is worse on a multi-day ride than having intestinal mayhem as a result of road food. Fiber won’t cure every possible issue, but it helps with many. Packing some Immodium tablets is a preventive measure that may make you someone’s hero (or even your own).

Your butt and fellow riders will appreciate your compliance with these tips.

Wikipedia offers a good working definition of bicycle boulevard:

A bicycle boulevard is a low speed street which has been optimized for bicycle traffic. Bicycle boulevards discourage cut-through motor vehicle traffic, but typically allow local [...]]]>

I attended the RiverLake Greenway grand opening last Saturday, helping with an activity site and checking out the new route.

First: What is a Bicycle Boulevard?

Wikipedia offers a good working definition of bicycle boulevard:

A bicycle boulevard is a low speed street which has been optimized for bicycle traffic. Bicycle boulevards discourage cut-through motor vehicle traffic, but typically allow local motor vehicle traffic.

A boulevard can include formal bike lane striping, sharrows, or just traffic-calming to discourage through traffic. The new RiverLake Greenway offers all of the above.

The Route

One thing to know about this Greenway is that the whole route has not been subject to traffic calming. From West River Parkway to Nokomis Avenue, the Greenway follows 42nd Street. This route has long been a popular bike route, with some caveats. Sharrows have been painted along the way, with a few sections of striped bike lane. However, 42nd Street is what it has always been: A residential through-street where trucks are allowed. The street is a major truck route, and the traffic along the way reflects this.

Some snappy new signs have been added along 42nd, including signs at Minnehaha directing cyclists to Minnehaha Falls and Park, as well as the Midtown Greenway — which is a protected bikeway.

Past Nokomis Avenue, the route jogs over to 40th Street, where many more traffic calming measures can be seen.

New concrete barriers direct local traffic off 40th Street onto cross-streets, and eliminate the use of 40th as a through street:

Paint markings on the street, as well as signs, indicate the street’s status as a part of the bicycle boulevard:

Where concrete barriers exist for vehicles, curb cuts allow bicycles to use 40th as a through street. Pedestrians are also accommodated, with the concrete sections allowing refuge when crossing busier streets, like Chicago, Nicollet and Portland.

The Greenway goes through to Kings Highway, where it connects to the Minneapolis Lakes Area paths and bike routes. Users can also turn onto the Portland and Park Avenue bike lanes if those routes are desirable for their final destination.

Via the RiverLake Greenway, many connections can be made to neighborhood businesses, schools, churches and parks.

Community Impact of a Bicycle Boulevard

Some of the neighbors are delighted by the traffic-calming impact on the street. One group decorated their home and set up out front to celebrate the grand opening. I spoke to them for a bit, and they said that the impact on the street was nearly magical — no more drag racing, no more people trying to use 40th as a through street at higher speeds. The boulevard is calming their neighborhood.

A printable map of station locations is available online, along with an interactive online map that offers real-time information about station status, and, when open, bike availability.

Key new stations [...]]]>

To cap off 2011 Bike to Work Week, Nice Ride MN has announced the locations of  40 new bike-share stations to be located in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

A printable map of station locations is available online, along with an interactive online map that offers real-time information about station status, and, when open, bike availability.

Key new stations include several stops in North and Northeast Minneapolis — currently not well served by the network — as well as the Lake Street YMCA and light rail station. Funded stations in St. Paul will be near several of the colleges in St. Paul — Concordia, University of St. Thomas, Macalester College and Hamline, plus along Marshall Avenue and Summit/Grand, and several stations near/on University Avenue. The perky press release claims that “if you want to avoid congestion during the Central Corridor construction, Nice Ride will get you to your University Avenue destination fast!” but let’s all view that as publicity propaganda, because no one is getting anywhere on University fast via any mode of transport for some time. (Also, bring a breathing mask for the construction dust, gak.)

As expected, projected future St. Paul Nice Ride stations focus on downtown, the Macalester-Groveland area, and the Highland area. Aside from projected stations at the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus, stations are not presently planned for the Como and Phalen areas or Indian Mounds/Battle Creek, let alone the wilds of the North Side. Presumably in the longer term the park areas will be connected into the system, particularly Como.

It is good to watch this network expand, and it is to be hoped that future stations continue to reach into diverse neighborhoods and education centers.

Regular riders of the Greenway have seen the states of disrepair of many of the Greenway underpasses. A mobile operation will blast loose concrete off underpasses between Hennepin Avenue and Cedar, [...]]]>

The City of Minneapolis has started various bridge projects that will impact the Midtown Greenway for the immediate future and last through approximately mid-summer, weather permitting.

Regular riders of the Greenway have seen the states of disrepair of many of the Greenway underpasses. A mobile operation will blast loose concrete off underpasses between Hennepin Avenue and Cedar, enhancing safety and cleanliness — in some locations, concrete has been crumbling onto the trail. The bridge work will impact approximately 25-30 bridges. City workers will be working on these bridges during the week, usually during core hours of 7:30-3:30. Closures will be clearly marked and offer reasonable detours for trail users.

Additional bridge rehab work is planned near the Lakes — specifically, on the bridges over the Lake Calhoun-Lake of the Isles Channel, Lake Calhoun Parkway, and Dean Parkway. Work on these bridges will help widen the Greenway and extend the life of these bridges. Trail closures are not expected during this work.

In both cases, cyclists are asked to respect workers and posted closures and detours. In situations where the trail is narrowed but remains open, cyclists are asked to show respect to other trail users in lane placement and travel speed.

More information is available from the Midtown Greenway Coalition.

While there are [...]]]>

Spring is here, and thus the season of Minnesota bicycle event rides begins. The traditional season-opener, the Minnesota Ironman, is coming up May 1, slightly later than usual this year due to the lateness of Easter. Thus, it’s an ideal time to review how not to be a jerk when riding at an event.

While there are events that really do tilt to the very experienced cyclist, like randonneur events, the bulk of big bike rallies are what many call t-shirt rides — they offer multiple distances, participants get t-shirts, there are rest stops, hooray. Depending on the event, the mileages can attract a very wide range of riders — Ironman gets many kids and novices for the 17- and 30-mile routes, but the metric and the century attract dedicated and experienced cyclists. Some metrics will also pull in the less experienced looking to make the leap, although Ironman hasn’t traditionally been a strong event for that due to the season.

Events tend to have a broad draw, though, so it’s important for newer cyclists to try to get the hang of things and not create problems for others, and for experienced cyclists to behave in a way to not make novice or less accomplished/ambitious cyclists think they are spandex-clad jerks. There are a lot of cyclists for whom the 25-mile supported ride is the apex of their ambition and ability, and that’s fine — these recreational cyclists can help advocate, can share the roads when they drive, and represent a bigger chunk of the population than the cycling fanatic.

Here are some tips for everyone so we can all just get along and get to the rest stops like civilized cyclists:

• If you’re a fast rider or doing a long distance, start early. Many events have a 2-4 hour registration and start cycle. Even if you are a fast rider who can do the century in 5 hours, it will benefit everyone if you start on the earlier edge of start times. That way you can get OUT of the registration zone without having to weave and be irritated by the slower/more novice/indecisive riders.
• If you need to adjust your bike, your layers, find a water bottle, scratch your ass, whatever, get off the road. Don’t care how experienced you are, the people who stop in traffic and stand around in the lane doing whatever it is they need to do are an irritant to all, and it’s often unsafe as well. Get out of traffic, including the traffic that is other nice bicyclists wanting to bicycle in the nice bicycle event.
• Allow room for other cyclists to pass. Even if you can really pound and hold a good pace, make sure there is passing room around you. The need to allow passing room increases as your speed decreases. If you are a family riding 8-10mph, do not ride four abreast, I beg of you. Be like the ants and march two by two (hurrah, hurrah).
• Allow room for motorists to pass. Pay attention to the course. A lot of people assume “This is a bike event! This is safe!” Not every road at every event is closed to traffic, and not every event has dense groups of cyclists and a lot of notice for people using the roads. Watch for cars and allow them passing room.
• Know your road closures. As stated above, not every road at every event is closed to traffic. I have seen people on roads open to traffic cross center yellow lines in areas with hills and blind curves, and it makes me very, very nervous, especially in rural areas. (Getting run over by a logging truck would ruin your day, and it’d ruin MY day to see it happen.) Even when roads are shut down for events, in many cases the closure is one way, and traffic is allowed in the opposite direction. Maps and signs from organizers should give you guidance. Take it.
• Don’t take piles of food at rest stops that you won’t eat. Seriously? Just rude. Many organizations, if they have leftover food, either carry it forward to other events if the food is suitable for such things, or they give the leftovers to battered women’s shelters and the like. Take what you personally will need.
• Don’t leave junk on the route. Carry your wrappers to the next proper trash container. Blow a tire? Bring the bad tube to a trash can if you aren’t going to patch it. Litter is a nuisance for residents near the routes and make them think worse of cyclists and the event. Litterbugs are a thorn in event organizers’ sides.
• Don’t be a snob. I’ve seen a bit of this from the more experienced cyclists on some of these rides. There’s some element of treating the novices like something nasty stuck to their cleats. Don’t. Really, please don’t. We were all newer at one time. You can either be nice, and maybe help people be better cyclists, or you can be a jerk and make them think everyone in spandex is a twit. The former is a lot better.

When everyone tries to share the road and the event, everyone has a better time. Give it a try.