i could become a cyclopath

Yesterday was my 2009 inaugural bike ride to work. The weather was ideal, and I was feeling the need for some heart-pumping exercise. So I hopped on the bike and rode from the Merriam Park area in St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis.

I rode to work a few times last year, but hadn’t quite figured out the ideal route — one that was relatively safe, would take the least amount of time and didn’t leave me sweating like a pig by the time I arrived at the office. Since the 35W bridge construction closed off a portion of West River Parkway last year, I was forced to detour up to Washington Avenue (which is not exactly safe) to arrive at 1st Avenue via the bike lane on Hennepin Avenue (again, not my idea of safe).

Well, since the construction is now complete, and West River Parkway is open again, I decided to give it a go yesterday morning. Granted, I’m not in tip-top shape by any means, and the uphill terrain was a bit much for me — especially at 8:30 in the morning, when, typically, I’m barely awake. But I toughed it out, made my way to the exit off the parkway at 4th Avenue, and backtracked to 1st Avenue via 1st Street. The total trip was 7.31 miles and took me 55 minutes. I will say in my defense that the bike path on the parkway isn’t very smooth, which slows my bike down no matter how fast I pedal. I’m not a turtle.

Originally I thought that West River Parkway was the most direct route, but after trekking all the way into downtown on it, I figured there has to be a better route (and a flatter one, at that). I wanted to find a way to get to the Midtown Greenway, which would take me from the Lake Street light rail area all the way to the Lake Street bridge without riding on the street. But I had no idea how to get from 1st Avenue in downtown Minneapolis to the Greenway, just north of Lake Street.

After checking out a few different “bike routes minneapolis” search results, I stumbled upon a geowiki trip planner called Cyclopath, developed by the University of Minnesota. (I landed on the City of Minneapolis’ website, which provides a link to it, thankfully.) Jackpot! This clever tool lets you enter start and end points, and it maps a bicycle route, just like Google Maps does for driving directions. Routes are tagged with specific descriptors, such as “bike path,” “unpaved,” “hill,” and so on. I chose the tags that define my desired route (“bike lane” and “bike path,” to find city bike lanes that would take me to the Greenway bike path), and whether the search result yields a route with those tags or one that avoids them. For example, if you want to find a route with no hills, you choose the “hill” tag and select the “Avoid” button. And bingo, the app finds a route with no hills. 

Based on my search criteria, the app found exactly the route I was looking for: out of downtown via 4th Street South and Chicago Avenue to the Hiawatha LRT (an offroad bike trail that runs along the light rail route) to the Midtown Greenway, which connects to West River Parkway, spitting me out on the Lake Street bridge. From there, it’s a quick ride up Marshall Avenue to my neighborhood. I made sure to memorize the streets and turns to the LRT, because I’m terrible with maps and navigation, and I hadn’t used the 4th Street bike lane before. But after arriving home within 45 minutes (a 6.74 mile ride) and with much less muscle fatigue than the morning’s ride, I decided that the LRT-Greenway route is the way to go. It’s a much more pleasant ride, and it’s really cool to ride alongside the light rail — you can hear the residual electricity flowing through the tracks after the train has passed. A little entertainment for the ride.

With these new discoveries — Cyclopath and the new-found route – I know I’ll be motivated to bike work more often than last year. I won’t dread the morning commute full of uphill riding, only to be pooped out by 3 p.m. and dreading the ride home. Whew. Gotta love Cyclopath!

operation clean city

The weather this month has been remarkably decent, warm even. Doug and I have been using the opportunity to walk the dog more often, and for longer distances. Two weekends ago, Doug decided to pick up a few bottles and cans he spotted while we were walking in the Mac-Groveland neighborhood, and before we knew it, we had a plastic bag full of plastic and glass bottles, and aluminum cans. We took this as a sign that we could pick up trash and recyclables on all of our walks if we carried a few bags with us. While we couldn’t pick up everything in our path, it was a good start at least.

This past Saturday, Doug took along an empty trash bag (for garbage) and a reusable REI shopping bag (for recyclables). Within a half hour of our walk down Fairview Ave. northbound to University Ave., the trash bag was half full, and the REI bag was completely full. There’s a long stretch of hillside along Fairview that’s strewn with trash, which is discouraging, yet we felt like we helped a little by picking up what we could carry. We plan to find another Saturday to pick up more, when we don’t have the dog with us.

Yesterday, I needed a few vegetables for a dinner recipe, so we decided to walk to Mississippi Market and take the dog for a walk at the same time. With the REI bag and another paper grocery bag in hand, we picked up cans and plastic bottles along the 2-mile stretch of Selby Ave. between Snelling and Dale that we walked to the co-op. We wanted to pick up more trash, but I thought it was probably best that I didn’t handle the veggies at the co-op with dirty hands. We had to dump the plastic bottles when we got there so we could use the paper bag to pick up more cans and bottles on the walk back home; we’d filled both bags to the top on the way there.

Bottles and cans, just clap your hands: Our two bags filled to the brim at Mississippi Market.

I have Doug to thank for initiating this effort. Plus, he carries the bags — I look out for trash and recyclables to pick up and simply deposit them in the bags. But it really is eye-opening and makes me take notice of my surroundings; I have a greater awareness of my community and the importance of doing my part to help keep it clean for everyone.