apple juice

It’s worth checking out this post (and blog) if you are interested in transit issues in Minneapolis…

Penn-ed in

“About 65% of Minneapolis residents have lived in their current dwelling for less than 10 years, according to the Census Bureau.  After 30 years, 89% of the city’s dwellings will have exchanged occupants.  Why then, is the design for a facility that will last for at some 60 years determined by the whims of the immediate neighbors?”

(Via Getting Around Minneapolis.)

Sonja told me about this the other day, but I didn’t realize that there was only one in the whole country! Anyway, pretty cool and another reason why minneapolis is such a great bike town!

Emilia and I did all of our errands via bike + bike trailer yesterday. Hardware store, veggie pick-up, lunch.

Bike Fixtation is a cyclists dream vending machine: “Bike Fixtation kiosks are rare. In fact, they’re so rare that only one (located in the Uptown Transit Station in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN metropolitan area) exists in the U.S. However, Bike Fixtation inventors Chad De Baker and Alex Anderson are trying to pitch the cyclists’ dream vending machine to cities, organizations and individuals across the nation. Pair these up with some carsharing and public transportation offerings, and you’ve got yourself quite the non-traditional mobility options.”

(Via AutoblogGreen.)

I had a great feeling of civic pride watching the video found here: Minneapolis named America’s best city for biking

My favorite day of the entire year this year was our bike to school day a few weeks ago. All the bike racks were full and we rode in with a bike group of kids from all over the city. Awesome.

Finally, I had no idea about this website, Mpls Bike Love, but I’ll be frequenting it now!

The nation’s first large-scale bike share program will be launched in Minneapolis next spring and could become a model for programs in other cities. If all goes well in raising $1.6 million in private matching funds for a $1.75 million federal grant, one thousand bikes will be available at 75 kiosks located primarily in the downtown, uptown and university areas.

via MinnPost – From Our Partners: Twin Cities Daily Planet: 1,000 bikes coming to Minneapolis?.

Great news! When we were in Paris a couple years ago, the bike sharing program there had recently begun, and it sounds like it has been very successful there.

The Brooklyn Bridge is an important front in the bike publicity war; it is a place where bikes are losing.

via A Modest Proposal – Bikers, Take the High Road – NYTimes.com.

Great article about biking in the city. And regarding the brooklyn bridge, I witnessed a number of near misses and one intentional shoulder-check as bikers sped past the walkers.

Now this is awesome!

Cyclopath

It’s a geowiki for twin cities cyclists. Meaning that anyone can create an account and add information about where the good places to bike are. Very cool!

I finally had a chance to ride my bike into work today. Luckily it was a late start today at work, so the fact that I was totally unprepared for riding was fine. When you haven’t ridden your bike to work, there are a lot of little things to worry about. I have a small wardrobe in my office to store some essentials, but from time to time I forget things. For example:

• Do I have socks, underwear and an undershirt to change into? Yes.
• Do I have deodorant? No.
• Do I have a belt? No. (Borrowed one)
• Do I have shoes? Yes.
• Did I remember my keys? Yes.
• Did I remember my bike lock? No.
• Do I have a towel? No. (Borrowed a clean one from the trainer’s room)
• Do I have a dress shirt and tie? Yes. Pants? Yes.

Anyway, it’s a beautiful time to ride your bike to work. Cool and crisp in the morning. The sweat factor is basically zero. Just give yourself a little extra time those first couple days to make sure you have everything in order!