Suggestions for St. Paul, MN to Stillwater, MN
 

In a few weeks my wife and I will basically be doing a self-supported bicycle tour in northern Wisconsin. I have the Wisconsin part figured out because I bought the maps, but haven't figured out the route from St. Paul to Stillwater. (We are flying into Minn/St Paul airport). Does anyone have any suggestions that gets off the busy streets once we leave St. Paul going east to Stillwater?

San Diego Cyclist

The route to Stillwater from the MSP airport has a few twists and turns to stay off the highways.
Your best source is the Twin Cities Bike Map.
You can order one at http://littletransport.com/store/?product_id=6
Good luck! and have a great trip!

Taking your question literally you are concerned with what to do "once we leave St. Paul." Try this:
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/st...s/tra00705.pdf which is known as the Gateway Trail.

If you know how to get from airport to St Paul then you don't need more help. If you don't you can use Google map to find Post Road (leaving airport) to Snelling Lake Road to Tower Road and then up the steep paved bike trail / walking path to the upper part of Ft. Snelling and over the Mississippi on Route 5 (bike path on north side of bridge) then up the stairs on the left (with incline along the side to push bike) and then north up the east side of the river along the road or bike path to Summit Ave and then east along Summit to John Ireland Blvd and then across the Capitol grounds to Jackson and north on Jackson to Cayuga and east on Cayuga two blocks to the Gateway Trail. Write if you need more help. Don't worry once you get across the river after leaving airport. There are many ways to get from route 5 bridge over the Miss. R. to the Capitol and most of them are pleasant - just weave through the neighborhoods staying south of University until you get to the Capitol. Good luck. Note also that part of Gateway trail will be routed onto city streets because of road work on route 36.

MNDOT has a decent bike route map up on the state website. Do a search for "Minnesota State Bike Map" and you should find it.


Gabriel

Nothing better than Highway 5/Stillwater Blvd if you want fairly pretty scenery.

If you want a bike trail, you can take the Gateway Trail pretty much all the way there.

Gateway trail. Go to mplsbikelove.com and go to the routes section and look for a post asking for a route from mpls to stillwater (posted by kyledr... what a shocker), and you'll even find a map detailing the whole route. It's a really simple/safe route.