mstateglfr 

So I am up in the cities area a few times a year for work, but its always in the west or north 'burbs. Yesterday I stayed downtown and hit many a local establishment thru the night. Wow I was amazed to see how many bikes were chained up around the downtown area! It was nuts- if there was a pole/sign of some sort, a bike or two were attached to it. This went on for blocks and blocks in every direction.
I have read a lot about the great infrastructure for commuting up there, but dang that was still something to see! It was like this during the day and into the evening.

Just really cool to see.

tjspiel

I hope you enjoyed your stay. It sounds like if you didn't it wouldn't have been for lack of effort.

I'm personally annoyed with the lack of snow, - harder to get into the holiday spirit. But the warm weather has extended the riding season for those who normally put their bikes away in the winter.

BikingZombie

Hey back to you! Yeah, we like bikes here

CrankyOne

Those are decoration. Minneapolis wants visitors to think people there are fit and active all winter so they bought 10,000 used bikes and chained them up all over. They've a staff of 11 full time people who move them around to make sure it appears they're actually being used.

:-)

RPK79

QFT - They really like to get on top ten lists and "bike friendly" is an easy one to get on so they built a bunch of infrastructure and then maintain this fake fleet of bikes. It's actually a staff of 11 making minimum wage and then one Director who makes $600k a year. Cool gig if you can get it.

loky1179

Funny story, I was riding home on the MUPS last month. We'd had two days of heavy rain previously, so the trail was covered with wet, slick leaves. I made a mental note to be careful on the turns.

Two miles up the trail, I see a vehicle ahead of me on the trail. I get closer, and see that it is some sort of little maintenance truck that has a giant blower attached to it. It is BLOWING all the wet leaves off the MUP.

Yes, we live in a cycling paradise. .

revcp 

Let me know when you come back to the north burbs. I'll show you around. Not as many cyclists up here, especially commuters, but there are some riding jewels in the roads, MUPs and informal single-track.

Jim from Boston

hey Minneapolis commuters!

In the past, I have posted that IMO, the most commuting posts come from the Northern cities of Boston, Toronto, and Minneapolis (might add New York, Chicago and Edmonton) rather than cities of the more temperate South.


I've never been to Minnesota, though a Michigan native, and a big fan of Prairie Home Companion, and the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Not to get off topic, but BTW, if you ever get to Boston,

"Youse all come on down now, ya heah?

revcp 

Sorry, I wasn't clear. By "up here" I meant not the Twin Cities, but their northern burbs.

Jim from Boston

I knew that...burbs = suburbs

CrankyOne

Anoka county? The highest road fatality rate in the state? Over twice the rate of second place Hennepin? Them burbs?

revcp 

Yep. Fortunately we live in the southeastern corner. Great commuting (mostly on MUPs for me) and singletrack in the immediate area. Most of my road riding is in Ramsey and Washington just to the east and north.