Taking a trip to Minneapolis need to know where to ride rode bike

djpage

I will be going to see some family in Minneapolis area in late June and I was wondering where I could ride my rode bike.
Thanks.

keydates

Don't really know the Minneapolis area, but I believe there are plenty of trails around the city...especially around any of the lakes. If you don't mind driving a little (west), then Minnetonka is a pretty nice place to ride. A lot of bike-friendly roads. There's also the Luce Line trail in Plymouth and beyond, and another trail whose name seems to have left me. Both are crushed limestone/paved. Since I haven't really biked in the Minneapolis area, I can't really tell you which parts to avoid, however your family could probably tell you that.

Dan Hansen

I've been riding in the Twin Cities for decades - never been hit or harrassed. Pretty good environment for safe riding wherever you go. Regarding road conditions, obviously this will vary randomly across the area (from your perspective) but you should be able to divine high traffic roads/times knowing that this metro area exhibits typical sprawl pattern - study a map. If you prefer not to take any chances and stay on trails only (a pity in my perspective - you should play around w/ this city), there is a very nice, paved 19.5km loop which basically follows old railways. Starts one km W of downtown Mpls. - flat of course. No good topo relief in this town but if you head East toward Stillwater (there is a rail-trail starting around Lake Phalen in St. Paul) you can get some of this action.
Mpls.-St Paul metro area is pretty large right now. Where you ride might depend on where you start. Good luck! (Ps. I now see that I am a month late - ah well - I'll post it anyway).

keydates

Isn't St. Paul relatively hilly?

Dan Hansen

Relative to what? I guess that I don't mean to say NO topo relief - but everything around here is pretty easy to blast up - no two hour, uphill, hard-cranking battles in these towns!