Great Lakes - Renting a Road Bike in Minneapolis

Hey Minneapolitans (first, do I have that right?),

I am going to be in Minneapolis at the end of April attending a meeting at the Convention Center and probably staying nearby. Where would you recommend I rent a road bike?

I'll be scouting out mapmyride, but any ride recommendations (40ish miles round trip), would be welcome too!

Thanks,
Jeff

I'm not positive about this but you could possibly start with the following:

http://www.flandersbros.com/

http://freewheelbike.com/

They may or may not rent bikes, but I believe it would be a good place to start... (Good Luck)

Freewheel does daily rentals. I have a load of riding recs; what are you looking for? Workout, scenic, etc....

also post up on mplsbikelove.com/forum if you want some riding buddies

Excellent. Thanks!

Nickel, while part of the point is to get exercise, being in a new town, probably smarter to take it a bit easier and look for more scenic rides. Again, I'll be downtown and will probably be doing early morning rides (I see civil twilight is just after 5:30 that time of year) so will be looking to ride for about 2-3 hours, somewhere between 20 and 50 miles depending.

I think doing a city loop is pretty good. Hopefully they will give you a bike map at the shop or I can let you borrow mine. The bike shop for the rental I mentioned is on the bike highway (Greenway) and you can go out and do nice laps around the lakes and go all around the city, connecting to various paths and nice places (can pass by the famous sculpture garden). You can do 20-40miles pretty easily.

Here is a short loop showing where Greenway, Lakes and Minnehaha Creek Trail are in relation to each other: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/382606

I'll give you a Mendota loop because I think it is the best way to come into downtown St Paul. Serious view!
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/382604
That will take you near Minnehaha Falls (popular park), through Ft Snelling and then across a nice bridge. Some nice rolling hills to get you to St Paul on top of the High Bridge. If you want, I bring you to the steepest hill in the area (up to 20% grade) but the map has the back way to avoid it. Summit Ave is an area that used to be fancy mansions but are converted to apartments.

Lake Minnetonka: This is another popular riding area being by the water (maybe too cold in April)
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/269003

You can pretty much ride to do anything you want to do.