The transit walk and the bike lift

March 6th, 2013

The following is a post written by Hilary Reeves, communications director, Transit for Livable Communities, that originally ran in the Downtown Journal.

Further study reconfirmed recently what makes sense intuitively:  moving your body as part of your commute or running errands is healthy. The “transit walk” is the focus of a new study in the March, 2013, Journal of Public Health, which found that people who live in cities with public transit systems that include rail tend to walk 30 minutes more than those without a rail system.

“Transit walkers in large urban areas with a rail system were 72% more likely to transit walk 30 minutes or more per day than were those without a rail system.” Nationally, the number of “transit walkers” (I am loving that term) rose by 28% between 2001 and 2009, while the number of people getting at least 30 minutes of “transit-associated walking time” rose 31%. Transit walking, the study concludes, “contributes to meeting physical activity recommendations.”

There you have it! Feeling in need of some exercise? Getting the signals that some activity would be good for you? Hit the rails, ride the bus! Happily our regional transit system qualifies (barely). We have one light rail line, with another almost open, and others in planning stages, not to mention connecting bus service. (Places like Denver, Salt Lake, Dallas, and Seattle have some really healthy people, judging by their rail lines.) 

But what about upper body workouts? If the train or bus is the new gym, how’s a person to buff the biceps, trim the triceps? I recommend the bike lift, though I don’t have any studies to back me up.  

I get at least two daily reps of the bike lift on my way to work. During winter, I often also get a round of evening reps, putting my bike on the bus to reach the bicycle paths along the Mississippi River (thereby giving myself a break from cold weather and sometimes snowy streets). I’m not sure how much my bike weighs, but let’s just say the beater bike I purchased for winter commuting is not carbon-intensive in more ways than one.

So, what are the basic steps to the bike lift? Here’s a brief guide to putting your bike on the bus—for those days when you are not getting in your transit walk.

Step 1:  waiting for the bus. Ride your bicycle to the bus stop, arriving a few minutes before it is scheduled to arrive. Tip: if your route tends to have a lot of bicycle commuters, try riding to an earlier stop on the route to see if you can beat the competition. If that fails, you can ask the bus driver if you can bring your bicycle on the bus, but it is totally up to the driver. Sometimes the driver will instruct you to get on and off via the back door. Sometimes the answer will be no, in which case, you have to wait for the next bus or lock your bicycle at the stop and return to it later via bus.

Step 2:  position your bike for the lift. When the bus arrives, roll your bicycle in front of the bus so it’s parallel to the front of the bus. Stand back about three feet. If the rack is closed, position your bike so that your front wheel faces left as you face the bus. To release the bike rack, reach up and squeeze the bar in the top center of the rack. It will open towards you. If the rack is open with a bicycle on it, position your front wheel facing to the right. This left/closed, right/open positioning is important for the lift to come.

Step 3: lift and place the bike.  Facing the bike, I grab the front stem and the seat post to lift it up, then place the wheels in the tracks or slots on the rack. That’s the lift! It gets easier over time. And, it’s always good to use the power in your legs to assist with the lift.

Step 4:  secure your bicycle. There is a metal arm by the front wheel that pulls out horizontally (if it’s stiff, yank it) and then raises up to clamp over the top of the wheel near the brakes. Once this is in place, check to make sure any packs or other gear on your bike is secure as well and board the bus.

Step 5:  don’t forget your bike. When your stop comes, get off via the front door and let the driver know that you will be taking your bike off the rack. (You wouldn’t believe how many people get off by the back door and watch their bicycle depart with the bus.)

Step 6:  The down lift. If two bicycles are on the rack and yours is behind, lower the metal arm and roll the bike toward you as you stand near the curb (the arms are positioned to keep you out of traffic when you unload the bike). If yours is the only bike on the rack, take it off and return the rack to the closed position by squeezing the bar in the front center of the rack and lifting it up. It sometimes takes a push to get it to click into the locked position. Take your bicycle onto the curb to wait till it’s safe to enter the street or bicycle path for your ride.

Note:  The Commuter Connection in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul Smart-Trips in downtown St. Paul have practice bike-bus racks. After doing this once or twice, it’s much easier than it sounds! 

 

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More places to walk—and better business too!

February 5th, 2013

The following is a post written by Hilary Reeves, communications director, Transit for Livable Communities, that originally ran in the Downtown Journal.

Winter Walking

Walkable neighborhoods are all the rage these days. The preference is growing for places where it’s possible to get to at least some of the places you need or want to go without having to get in the car (or find parking). The housing market is booming in this direction—in downtown Minneapolis, but also along the Midtown Greenway, along light rail lines, and in other places, too.

The boom may have to do with there being places to walk–grocery stores, places to socialize (restaurants, bars, galleries), and cool shops. Walkability has been true in Uptown for a long while, where it’s possible to get to the gym, the grocery store or your choice of restaurant or shopping. The same is true in Northeast. Downtown Minneapolis residents, long starved for grocery stores, now have a new Lunds on Hennepin to go with the Lunds in Northeast. The Whole Foods is under construction on Washington. And small shops like DeLish continue to build an audience, with cooking classes to go with their local food selections. New shops and restaurants—not only new breweries—are opening as well.

Turns out that this proximity of where you live and where you like to go has economic upsides. In Oregon, researchers asked people coming out of convenience stores, restaurants and bars, and supermarkets how they got there and correlated it with how much they spent. It turns out that people walking or arriving on bicycle spent more over the course of a month than people driving—except at supermarkets.

People on foot or on a bike, or arriving via transit spent less per visit but made more frequent trips. They became “regular customers,” the researchers found, with implications for how you build customer loyalty in neighborhood-based businesses. There also is an idea out there called “the green dividend” which says that if you’re using your bike or walking more often, your costs are less, so you have more money to spend out and about.

So, with the news that it’s good for business to walk, it’s also useful to note that we’re a great city for walking in winter. Bike Walk Twin Cities data shows that we’re  a hardy bunch, who tend to keep walking to get places in winter. Depending on location, there are 50-75% as many people out walking in the depths of winter as in warmer months.

Remembering that you can cover pretty good distance in a 15-30 minute stroll, here are some options for good walks this winter. Don’t forget a shopping bag!

*Downtown to Nordeast and back over the Hennepin Avenue Bridge. The lights on the river in winter are beautiful. Your reward for heading in either direction is any of several new places to stop on either side of the bridge. The area around Hennepin and University has seen several new storefronts open along with some perennial classics like Nye’s and Kramarcuk’s. Plan a side trip to the Soap Factory for their latest show or up to 13th Avenue in Northeast for the shops and galleries and eateries there. On the downtown side, head for Nicollet Mall or into the North Loop for galleries, eateries, and activities.

*Stroll to the Walker. Target Free Thursday nights are your chance to check out the latest in the always vibrant mix of art forms.

*Take the #18 bus from downtown Minneapolis to the corner of Nicollet and 26th. Stop in at The Bad Waitress, the Icehouse, or any of several restaurants with food from around the world. Stroll over to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Children’s Theater, and MCAD just a few blocks away.

Walking in winter is a great way to avoid the winter blahs. Hands in mittens and hat on head, winter is a joy, especially with so many great places to go.

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Greenways—a sign of spring

February 5th, 2013

The following is a post written by Hilary Reeves, communications director, Transit for Livable Communities, that originally ran in the Downtown Journal.

Minneapolis Greenways: Milwaukee Ave and 37th Ave North

Perhaps as one of those early signs of spring, discussion of greenways is on the agenda in February in Minneapolis. If you ride a bicycle, whether for recreation or transportation, the subject of greenways likely brings to mind the Midtown Greenway, a 5.5 mile former railroad corridor in south Minneapolis with bicycling and walking trails.

 If you only drive, you’ve likely passed under the Martin Sabo Bridge, the one with the huge mast and cables (yes, the one that needed major repairs in 2012). The Sabo Bridge gives cyclists using the Midtown Greenway a way over Hwy 55 as alternative to the street crossing. The bridge also connects to other bike routes, such as the Hiawatha LRT trail.

The Midtown Greenway is one of the busiest bicycle routes in the city, with a steady stream of bikes in rush hour. Some have called it a bicycle superhighway. And, people like it because it’s convenient.

As one South Minneapolis resident said, “My back yard literally butts up to the Greenway so it seemed practically criminal to not get on the Greenway–especially since I’ve been freelancing downtown. . . . It was slick and just as fast as driving and saved me anywhere from $7-$12 in parking a day, not to mention that I was able to incorporate exercise into my basic routine.”

Given the success of the Midtown Greenway (and here’s a shout out to the Midtown Greenway Coalition, that works to protect and improve the route), it’s no surprise that people have been looking for other possible places for similar dedicated bicycle and pedestrian routes.

There’s long been discussion of trying to extend the Midtown Greenway over the Mississippi River into Saint Paul, along a route adjacent to the railroad tracks and Ayd Mill Road. In Minneapolis, there are a few different routes under discussion (check out the web site of Twin Cities Greenways for a summary). A greenway route in North Minneapolis has gotten a boost in planning and community discussion via the City of Minneapolis Health Department.

If built, the North Minneapolis greenway would extend from the Shingle Creek Trail in the north and to approximately Plymouth Avenue North in the south. Extending a little over four miles, it would connect three schools and four parks and provide a very attractive north-south route for walking or bicycling, as well as new green spaces for the neighborhoods along and near the route.

A few different models and examples of greenways were considered by the community last fall, including a “full linear greenway’ (with no motorized access except emergency vehicles), “half-and-half” options that create a dedicated bike way alongside one-way or two-way streets, and a bicycle boulevard.

The discussion of options shows how, with bicycling and pedestrian routes, we’re just learning to expand our terms and sense of what’s possible. 

 Bicycle boulevards are sometimes called greenways.

In Minneapolis, there are several bicycle boulevards, but one of the most scenic and pleasant, the Riverlake Greenway, runs parallel and south of the Midtown Greenway, along 40th and 42nd Streets from near Lake Harriet to the Mississippi River. This “greenway” is an on-street bicycle route on residential streets with very low traffic. On this greenway, it’s easy for two bicycles to ride next to each other and for families to ride together. Bicycle boulevards are very popular routes with women. They also often have features that make walking safer, such as curb bump-outs and medians that provide a place to wait in the middle of crossing busier streets. In Portland, they call bicycle boulevards “neighborhood greenways.”

Greenways can also be “linear parks.”

Do you know Milwaukee Avenue in the Seward neighborhood? Or the 37th Avenue North greenway in North Minneapolis. Though both extend just a few blocks, they may be the closest models for what’s being considered on long stretches of the North Minneapolis Greenway. In the 1970s, a few blocks of Milwaukee Avenue (just south of Franklin Avenue) were closed to automobile traffic. Where the road used to be is now a pathway for walking and bicycling. Streets crossing Milwaukee were blocked off. The result is an oasis of greenery, with houses fronting a park-like stretch, aka a “linear park.” The owners of those houses use alleys behind the houses for driving access and to park their cars.

The preferred option for the North Minneapolis Greenway includes a mix of features, including not only the way the route is constructed but also things made possible by re-thinking how to use space:  playgrounds, community gardens, BBQs, and more. The options, once you start to consider them, are many. The response in North Minneapolis indicates that people like the ideas.

The North Minneapolis Greenway is the focus of a community open house on February 12 from 6-7:30 PM at North Commons Recreation Center, 1801 James Ave. N. Maps and information are available on the City’s web site: www.minneapolismn.gov/health/ship/northminneapolisgreenway

 

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Combat those winter blahs with a walk . . . to the park

January 31st, 2013

The following is a post written by Hilary Reeves, communications director, Bike Walk Twin Cities/Transit for Livable Communities, that originally ran in the Downtown Journal.

Kids Playing at Twin Cities Park in Winter

Photo Credit: Kirk Johnson

It’s tempting in winter to hibernate. Find a cozy spot inside to read a book. Catch up on movies you missed from last year. Tackle some indoor project, whether it’s a puzzle or learning to knit or draw or putting together model airplanes from other eras of flight.

But, there are lots of good reasons to push yourself—and any kids in your household—to get outside, even if only briefly. Not surprisingly, with the rise of computers and the internet, people are spending less time outside. Kids spend about 1/3 to 1/2 less time outside or playing sports than kids in the early 1980s. (Raise your hand if you grew up in the 1980s—were you outside much in winter?)

We also know activity is good, whatever the age. A few minutes outside in winter—fresh air, sunlight, and exercise—can do a lot to stir the spirit and the body in good ways. Unstructured play and free time “protects children’s emotional development,” says the American Academy of Pediatrics. And kids benefit from activity in several ways (according to the American Heart Association, Centers for Disease Control, and California Department of Education): weight and blood pressure control; bone, muscle, and joint health; reduction in the risk of diabetes; improved psychological welfare; and better academic performance.

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board throws out some strong lures for getting outside—including ice fishing! Walleye can be caught on lakes Harriet, Nokomis, Calhoun, Cedar and Lake of the Isles. If ice-skating, pond hockey, hockey, or broom ball are your thing, the daily status of each of the MPRB’s 47 ice rinks at 22 parks can be viewed online throughout the season at www.minneapolisparks.org/rinks.

Theodore Wirth’s 700-acres of urban forest offer cross-country skiing, snowboarding, tubing, snowshoeing, skijoring, cycling, and walking/running trails. Wirth Park can also set you up with gear, lessons, and a place to warm up with some hot food and drink.

For truly unstructured time and a chance to explore the world around you, a walk with your kids can be the easiest way to get outside. Here are some tips for making it a good walk.

Dress warmly. Layers are best. Make sure the layer closest to the skin wicks away moisture. Avoid cotton clothing or socks, as they can soak up perspiration and offer little warmth. Wear a waterproof coat and boots. Body heat is lost through the head, so wear a hood or hat that covers the ears. Gloves or mittens with long cuffs help keep snow out. If it’s getting toward dark, wear bright, reflective clothing, and attach blinking lights to your clothes.

Make it fun. In general, keep walks short, especially for younger kids, and/or build in warm breaks. And, everyone likes a warm reward at the end of the walk. 

  • If you’re out with little kids, remember: they have shorter legs than you. Go slowly and let them explore the world around them. Pretend you’re on an expedition. Study clouds or watch squirrels.
  • If you’re out with kids of different ages, pick a safe space to try letting the older child lead the younger, while the younger closes his or her eyes. This can be a great way for the older kid to increase awareness and attention to others and for the younger to identify everything that he or she hears or smells. (Make sure to supervise both children yourself.)
  • Remember that older kids like a destination or a goal—go see the frozen waterfall at Minnehaha Park, for instance.

Be aware. A walk is a good time to teach younger kids how to navigate safely and to remind older kids what they learned when they were little. Always walk on sidewalks; if there is no sidewalk, walk facing traffic. Cross only at corners or in crosswalks. Look both ways, and signal your intention to cross. Always watch for traffic to ensure you are seen. A good walk is also a chance to note the safety features around you, such as curb bump outs that make crossing distances shorter, count-down timers at crosswalks to let you know how much time you have to cross, or medians in the middle of the roadway that give people walking a safe place to wait. What features in your neighborhood make it safer for walking?

Event note:  If you like a good walk, don’t miss the fifth annual We Love Our President’s Walk in Northeast Minneapolis, Saturday, February 16. Walkers, bikers, even pets gather at 10:00 a.m. at Edison High School (between Washington and Monroe).  The Northeast Urban 4-H Club will lead walkers up Central; along the way they will stop at designated points to share trivia about the presidents. After a stop for hoc chocolate at the Eastside Food Coop walkers will head East on 29th for a hot lunch and program featuring a trivia contest, drawing, prizes and a brief presentation.

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Nice Ride season over, but consider the bus for short trips

December 12th, 2012

The following is a post written by Hilary Reeves, communications director, Bike Walk Twin Cities, that originally ran in the Downtown Journal.

Now that Nice Ride bikes are tucked away for the winter, consider using the bus for your quick trips to lunch, meetings, doctor’s appointments, or shopping. Using Metro Transit is an ideal way to save on car and gas expenses, improve our local air quality and enhance your personal health.

It’s always sad to see the green bikes and stations taken off the road for winter. But, there’s much to celebrate about the 2012 Nice Ride season. There were 274,045 rentals on the system this year, a new record. And the green bikes and stations expanded into downtown Saint Paul and along the Mississippi River.

The folks at Nice Ride report that people who subscribe to Nice Ride (and get their own key fob for locking and unlocking bikes) use them primarily for transportation – including getting to work or school. Those who walk up to the stations and get day passes are using the bikes more in off-peak, non-commuter times of day. For example, many people took Nice Rides all night long during the Northern Spark event last June. During the Uptown Art Fair, Nice Ride provided a bike valet and bike parking, accommodating 1,000 bikes each day of the fair.

Nice Ride stations are strategically located near both bus and light rail stops. On the Hiawatha LRT line, Nice Ride kiosks are near every stop between Lake Street and downtown. Bike stations have already been located near every station on the Central Corridor (aka Green Line), ready for its opening in 2014.

Use the bus for your short trips

This winter, consider taking the bus for the trips you might have made on the green bikes. If you need to move around the city for lunch or appointments, meetings or shopping, check out Metro Transit’s HiFrequency routes. It can be easier and faster to jump on board a bus than to drive. Here are some examples. 

  • Downtown Minneapolis to Uptown? It’s a 15-minute trip on Route 6, which departs every 7 to 10 minutes during rush hour and every 15 minutes off-peak. Example: catch Route #6 at Hennepin Avenue & 8th Street downtown and get off in Uptown in about 14 to 17 minutes. No worries about parking! 
  • Downtown Minneapolis to Phillips Eye Institute, Children’s Hospital, or Abbot Northwestern? The #5 Route from Nicollet Mall arrives to these locations in about 15 minutes.
  • Over the river for lunch to restaurants in Nordeast? It’s 10 minutes on the #10 from Nicollet Mall & 7th Street South to the corner of University and Central Avenues in Nordeast. Or stay on the bus and check out some of the new restaurants further up Central.
  • MSP Airport to downtown Saint Paul? Route #54 from the Lindbergh Terminal to 5th & Minnesota takes about 23 minutes.
  • Downtown to the Kingfield neighborhood for Sunday brunch at Currans or a match at Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center? Route 19 takes about 20 minutes from downtown Minneapolis.

Benefits of Metro Transit

You can save a lot of money by using the bus for short-term transportation, instead of a car. According to a 2012 report by AAA, it now costs nearly $9,000 per year ($8,946) to operate an average sedan, driven 15,000 miles annually. Not to mention the cost of parking.

In comparison, a one-way fare on Metro Transit is $3.00 or less – even at rush hour. GoTo Cards (available at many retail locations and online) make it very easy to mix the bus into your normal transportation routine. It’s like a pre-paid fare. When you board, you pass the card over a reader and it deducts the cost of that trip. Refill the card at LRT stations, retail locations, or online. Transit passes (which work like GoTo cards) are frequently available through larger employers and colleges and universities.

You might be surprised to know that Metro Transit boasts some of the cleanest-running vehicles of any operating in the Twin Cities. With a fleet of buses running on hybrid energy or ultra-clean diesel, not to mention no-tailpipe light rail, Metro Transit vehicles produce just a fraction of the per-person emissions of individual motor vehicles.

When combined with bicycling and/or walking, riding on the bus or light rail system can significantly improve your health. People who use public transit are more likely to meet the Surgeon General’s recommendation to get physical activity by walking or bicycling for transportation, according to a recent report from the Journal of Public Health Policy. People who use transit walk about 19 minutes per day compared to only 6 minutes per day for non-transit users.

When you think of how public transit operates, its benefit to individual health makes sense. Since public transit is not a door-to-door service, it requires some amount of walking or bicycling to board. That habit of walking or bicycling, to get to and from public transit, apparently begets more walking and bicycling. People, it would seem, are the epitome of Newton’s first law of motion: “An object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion.”

 

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The Great Christmas Tree Adventure…via Bike!

December 11th, 2012

The following is a post written by Bri Whitcraft, Special Projects Coordinator, Bike Walk Twin Cities.

It all started with a video as inspiration and a Tweet as declaration.

(My mom thought it was a joke.)

Map & Route

From my home in South Minneapolis, I biked to St. Paul to borrow the trailer from Cycles for Change where I also work. Special thanks to Max, who hitched the trailer to my Trek 720 Multisport. I also ran next door to iPho by Saigon and grabbed a couple of delicious, mock duck Banh Mi for the road. Then I was on my way.

Just north of the State Capital, I hopped on the Gateway Trail. It was slow going due to the wind, but the tree farm was just off the trail. Very convenient!

When I arrived at Stillwater Christmas Tree Farm, the tree guys said this was a first! They were nice enough to let me bike into the grove. It took me a while to find the perfect tree to cut, but I finally chose a beautiful Fraser fir.

On the way back to the Twin Cities, I refueled with my mom’s Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies, bananas, and plenty of water. Along the trail, lots of people commented about my cargo, many did a double-take, and some were actually speechless. At a rest stop, I spoke to a runner who had exclaimed, “That’s wonderful!”  He told me that he knows a woman who literally runs to the store with a backpack to shop, while he instead jumps in his car. In admiration he stated, “There is another way and you are doing it!” He asked to take a picture of me with his cell phone and then he agreed to snap one of me with my camera.

By the time I returned to South Minneapolis I was hungry and tired, but I still had enough energy to decorate the tree with my friends Kristina and Cole. The 60-mile, all-day excursion was definitely worth it. The tree is perfect.

Try it yourself: Pick up your holiday tree by bike and join the #christmasfeats

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Bicycling an increasingly year-round activity in Minneapolis

December 5th, 2012

The following is a post written by Hilary Reeves, communications director, Bike Walk Twin Cities, that originally ran in the Southwest Journal.

Practical, affordable and surprisingly rewarding, winter bicycling has become increasingly popular in Minneapolis, recently named one of the top five cities in the nation for winter bicycle commuting by MetaEfficient. That’s amazing when you consider that Minneapolis is colder, on average, than Montreal or Moscow during the winter.

More than one-third (36 percent) of summer bicyclists still ride on clear, winter days in our area, and 20 percent ride even in cold and snow, according to survey data from Bike Walk Twin Cities. And local bike shops report increasingly brisk business during the winter. That’s far different than a few years ago, when many bike shops relied on selling skates, skis and other winter gear to stay open during the colder months.

The fact is, while bicycling is a sport for some, it’s also a means of transportation for many, such as Kirk Johnson of Edina (pictured above), who regularly commutes to his job in downtown Minneapolis by bike – even during the winter. Eight years ago, Johnson sold his car to create a fixed-gear bike and has not regretted the change in his transportation habits.

“There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes,” Johnson says, as he explains his zest for year-round bicycling. Plus, there are added bonuses, he says, such as the sublime aural thrill of bike-riding on snow.

“There is nothing like rolling on fresh snow,” Johnson says. “Super-cold weather makes fresh snow sound squeaky. Mildly cold weather makes it sound pleasantly fluffy.”

Bike Riding During Winter 

If you’ve never tried winter bicycling before, it might initially seem daunting, but the more you know about it, the easier it becomes. And keep in mind that until (and if—remember last year) we have persistent ice and snow, riding in winter can be much like any other time of year except that it’s darker and colder. Minneapolis’s network of bike routes—which nearly doubled in recent years to 81 miles of on-street bikeways and 85 miles of off-street bikeways—will serve you well.

Perhaps surprisingly, winter bicyclists are less concerned with getting cold than dressing too warmly. While it’s important to wear appropriate clothing when bicycling, such as thick socks and high-quality gloves, it’s also important to dress in layers to prevent overheating. Wickable undergarments help keep sweat away from your skin, while outer garments with zippers can be easily opened to provide natural air conditioning. Stay away from cotton!

Besides a quality coat and gloves, Johnson’s typical winter-bike attire includes jeans and long johns, a balaclava, ski goggles and helmet cover, and special winter bicycling shoes, which are insulated and waterproof. On especially cold days, he’ll don an extra balaclava.

When the snow falls and ice accumulates, more route planning is required. Side streets, which are great for riding the rest of the year, are often too slushy for good traction. While efforts are made to keep bike lanes clear, over time the build-up of snow at the edges of roads can push parked cars into the bike lane. When this happens, the best routes for cyclists often are roads with two lanes in each direction—and a willingness on the part of the cyclist to take the lane in order to be visible and safe. This is what state law says: to ride to the right unless safety and obstructions require the cyclist to take the lane.

Snowy weather might also lead to some equipment changes—a different bike and studded tires. Considering that in a real Minnesota winter, you’ll be bicycling through snow, slush, sand and salt, you won’t want to regularly bike in the winter on a top-end machine. Many winter bicyclists, including Johnson, prefer riding a single-speed or fixed-gear bike, for their simplicity.

Bikes with internal geared hubs are a relatively new and increasingly popular alternative. Available from multiple manufacturers, these bikes offer multiple gears, but all of the moving and shifting parts are contained with the bike hub, protecting them from the elements. Local bike shops also have options—including used “beater” or “winter” bikes that you can buy cheaply and use for the season.

Other tips for winter bicycling success: 

Get good lights – One of the greatest potential hazards in winter bicycling is being improperly lit. Invest in bright front and back lights for your bike, and consider also adding side lights and wearing reflective clothing and/or arm or leg bands. The more you can be seen in low-light and no-light conditions, the better!

Ride slowly, as needed – Just as you reduce speed when driving a car through snow and ice, so also with winter bicycling.

Lower your seat and tire pressure – If you need to stop quickly, you’ll want to be able to quickly plant your feet on the ground. A lower tire pressure provides greater grip, and helps smooth a bumpy ride.

Give motorists extra attention – Despite the increasing popularity of winter bicycling, many motorists are still unaccustomed to seeing bicyclists riding in cold weather. Ride accordingly. Be cautious and alert.  At marked intersections, try to be sure that all drivers see you before proceeding. 

Many regular winter bicyclists, such as Johnson, particularly love the reliability and self-sufficiency of their activity. Unlike with motor vehicles, a bike always starts, regardless of the temperature. It only needs you to get going. “The biggest challenge (in winter bicycling) is staying organized for all of the extra layers of protection,” Johnson says.

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Bicycling drives business at Beez Kneez

November 20th, 2012

We’ve heard a lot about Kristy Allen and her business, Beez Kneez recently. We’ve heard stories of people spotting her on the streets–bee gear and all. And we know she’s a big part of our local bike community here in Minneapolis/St. Paul. So, we thought what better way to recognize this small business owner and avid cyclist than to give her the stage here on Bike Walk Move. See what Kristy has to say below about how she got into cycling, what routes she takes when bicycling for business and how bicycling has impacted–and driven–her business.

Why bike delivery, as opposed to delivering by car, or using a package delivery service like UPS or the USPS?

Bicycle delivery does less damage to my pocket book, to the environment and is great exercise.  Many people try to order honey from the suburbs or other states but we would rather keep it in a distance I can bike to.  We really believe that the less we can contribute to an oil based economy, the better everyone will be in the long run. Obviously, we can’t avoid it completely but where Beez Kneez can make an impact, we will.

How did bicycling become such a big part of Beez Kneez?

As a year round commuter in Minneapolis, biking became a part of my lifestyle. When I started farming, especially with bees, I became aware of how much driving was involved.  I wanted to combine my two passions as best I could so the beginning of the Beez Kneez bicycle delivery was motivated by two equal parts; my need to paint my bike to make it through another winter and a proposition by my Aunt and Uncle from Bar Bell Bee Ranch to sell some honey in the city.

How did you get into bicycling in the first place?

After owning a car in the city for years and realizing I didn’t need a car in Minneapolis, I sold it and bought a good bicycle.  The reasons were financial and moral.

Logistically, how do you deliver the honey? Do you use trailers? Panniers? And, what’s the most honey you’ve delivered in one run?

I use both trailers and panniers.  On the busiest delivery day, I hauled over 120 lb’s in one run but every Saturday and some Sunday’s, I would bring well over 100#’s of honey to the Kingfield and Fulton farmers markets

What routes do you use the most often in your work? Which do you find most useful?

It depends.  What makes my bike delivery so possible is the existence of all the amazing bike paths we have in the city.  I regularly use the Midtown Greenway and the River Road Parkway, Bryant Ave. Bike Boulevard and 38th Ave. I love Minnehaha Parkway, too. However,  I would love to see a north and south version of the Midtown Greenway without cars.  

How far away is your typical delivery or how far is a typical day’s route?

I average 20-25 miles.

What about weather? Does bike delivery of honey work in colder months?

It does work.  I have to stop more frequently and warm up, I use the Freewheel locker room and café, and the YMCA hot tub/sauna are a must for mental and physical recovery, depending on the day. I have the right gear to make it work and plenty of practice.  However, the mild winters are making it easier.

What are the biggest benefits of running a business entirely using bikes? Challenges?

Cost and exercise are probably the biggest benefit and it really makes a difference when you are delivering in the city. The exposure one can have on a bike, connecting people who are passionate about biking with farming and the very important issues facing our pollinators.

Do you believe most of the people who do business with you do so, in part, because of your commitment to sustainability and your bike delivery strategy?

Yes, but many also like the product for taste and the health benefits in raw honey as well as a desire to support the issues facing honeybees.

How does your bike delivery system–as a visual marketing tool–help generate sales for your business? What percent of your sales have come from people who originally saw you or others from Beez Kneez on a delivery?

It is hard to give exact numbers but I can gather its effectiveness by the amount of attention I get on or off the road.  I have passed out cards en route on the Midtown Greenway numerous times. Almost every day, I get recognized as the “bee lady” or friends of friends say they saw me on this day on this or that street.  Also, most of my retail locations and a good portion of restaurants have approached my business, not the other way around.

What do people (in cars, out walking, or on bikes) say to you and others when out on a delivery run? What’s the funniest thing someone has said to you?

I could write a small novel on this question and I should really blog about it more but people say lots of things. The most common is “I like your helmet.”  Or “cool socks.”  Last night some guy asked about seeing me at Powderhorn 24 and then said I knew because of your antlers. One woman on Minneahaha Parkway asked “if I got good reception?”

You’re a big part of the local bicycling community. What’s one thing we could do, as a community, to help get more people on bikes?

We do pretty good job in this city but I would say add more bike lanes, especially north/south that are strictly for bikes, make more roads that can safely include very visible bike lanes like Park Ave. and Portland Ave. in Minneapolis and encourage the combination of public transit and bikes.  I put my bike on the train the first time the other day and it was a really easy experience. More health campaigns that involve rewards from health insurance companies if you bike more. 

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Are you familiar with all the different types of bike lanes?

November 16th, 2012

The following is a post written by Hilary Reeves, communications director, Bike Walk Twin Cities, that originally ran in the Southwest Journal.

If it seems like there are suddenly more bike lanes in our community, you are not mistaken!

Since the start of 2011, Minneapolis has nearly doubled its bike lanes on city streets from 45 miles to 81 miles (as well as 85 miles of off-street bikeways). St. Paul has 77 miles of on-street bike lanes, with more in the works, and many suburbs, such as Edina, are also adding substantial new bike lanes.

Besides expanding the amount of bike lanes in the city, Minneapolis has also increased bike lane types: the city is home to nine different varieties of on-street bicycle routes, not including off-street bicycling paths. 

About Bike Lanes

Bike lanes are defined as “a portion of the roadway which has been designated by striping, signing and pavement marking for the preferential or exclusive use by bicyclists.” In general, all bike lanes are one-way (carrying bicyclists in the same direction as adjacent traffic), on the right side of the roadway, and located between the traffic lane and the parking lane (if there is one).

Designated bike lanes offer several benefits to all roadway users, including motorists and pedestrians: 

  • Safety– With bike lanes present, motorists and bicyclists stay in safer, more central positions in their respective lanes, according to recent research by the University of Texas. When passing bicyclists, motorists decreased their incidences of wide swerves into adjacent lanes (nearly nine out of 10 times) or close passes. And bicyclists traveled a more predictably straight path within the bike lane.

    In addition, adding designated bicycle lanes typically has a calming effect on vehicle traffic. For example, a study found that a city in Washington was able to dramatically reduce average vehicle speed from 44 mph to 35 mph (the posted speed limit) by converting a busy two-lane suburban road into a roadway with narrower traffic lanes, bike lanes, landscaping and sidewalks.

    Bicyclists are also less likely to ride on sidewalks when bike lanes are present. Studies have shown that bicyclists increase their accident risk by 25 times when riding on the sidewalk, due to the fact that motorists typically focus on street traffic, and do not notice bicyclists suddenly exiting sidewalks onto the street, and the risk of pedestrian crashes.

  • Roadway cost-savings – For the cost of paint and roadway signs to designate bike lanes, cities can instantly increase the capacity of their existing roadways, without costly expansion. For example, 91 bicyclists ride every two hours on West Franklin Avenue, just west of Nicollet Avenue, according to the 2011 Bike Walk Twin Cities Count Report.
  • Decreased vehicle traffic – Each bicyclist (or pedestrian) you see potentially means one less person travelling by motor vehicle. This frees up roadway capacity for motor vehicle users.
  • Economic development benefits – Areas that add designated bike lanes often enjoy an economic renaissance. For instance, when Orlando, Fla., converted a four-lane undivided roadway into a three-lane road with bike lanes and on-street parking, city officials noted that pedestrian traffic increased, and several new businesses opened on the street.

Types of Bike Lanes

While Minneapolis has nine distinct types of bike lanes/markings, they basically fall into one of three categories: 

  • Traditional bike lanes – These are the most common of bike lanes. They are typically at least 5 feet wide, and marked by solid bike lanes with a white bicycle symbol in each block.

  • A variant of this type is a green bike lane – these are pavement markings used to highlight locations where motorists merge across or turn across a bike lane. The green paint is to alert motorists they must yield to thru bicyclists.

    Another close cousin of the traditional bike lane is a bike boulevard. Designated with a painted bike symbol and “BLVD” marking, bike boulevards are found on lower-volume, lower-speed streets.

  • Buffered bike lanes – These are bike lanes which are buffered from immediately adjacent vehicle traffic through either a painted buffer (marked with white chevrons), or with parked vehicles, which is a special type of configuration called a cycle track. When riding on a cycle track, bicyclists pass parked vehicles on the left, with the curb on the right. Motor vehicles may not drive on top of buffered bike lanes.

  • Shared bike lanes – These are bike lanes that are shared by both bicyclists and motor vehicles. They are typically installed on roadways which are too narrow to accommodate traditional or buffered bike lanes. Shared bike lanes may take the form of an advisory bike lane, marked with a dashed white line, or shared lane markings, marked with a symbol of a bike and “sharrows” (derived from “shared” and “arrows”). A motor vehicle must yield to a bicyclist in a shared bike lane, and may pass the bicyclist only when it is safe to do so.

Learning these types of bike lane configurations may take some time, practice and patience, but the reward is a likely much safer, free-flowing and effective traffic community. To learn more about all of the new lane markings in Minneapolis, go to the city’s Web site at: www.minneapolismn.gov/bicycles/understanding-bicycle-markings.

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Goodnight Nice Ride

November 7th, 2012

Nice Ride officially closed its operations for the season on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012 with almost 275,000 rentals for the year. So, in honor of another fantastic year of “Nice Riding”, we thought we’d share a little poem from all of us at Bike Walk Move (with apologies to the late, great Margaret Wise Brown). 

 

Goodnight Nice Ride,

Goodnight trusty green bike,

Goodnight fun rides,

To the places I like.

 

Goodnight docking stations,

Goodnight Nice Ride key,

Goodnight bike-share system,

Helping me be where I should be.

 

Goodnight squirrels,

Goodnight sparrows,

Goodnight immediate chances,

To traverse our city’s sharrows.

 

Goodnight teeming streets,

Goodnight gentle parks,

Goodnight to the neighbor’s schnauzer,

Who greets me with his barks.

 

Goodnight towering trees,

Goodnight wood thrush,

And goodnight to Mother Nature,

whispering “lush.”

 

Goodnight hours of sun,

Goodnight balmy air,

Goodnight Nice Ride friends, everywhere.

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