Minnesota Bike Trails on Trails.com
Trails.com does a nice job mapping out the various bike friendly trails around the country, including those in Minnesota. This helped me discover more trails than I knew were within an easy drive of Minneapolis. MNTrails.com is another good sources for trail info, although they list fewer trails as of this writing.
Registration (and in some cases, paid registration) is required to access detailed info or topo maps. However, once you have a trail’s name, you can normally throw that into Google to find a free source of trail info such as a dedicated website to that particular trail.
On Saturday, I checked out the Lake Wobegon Trail starting in St. Joseph, MN. That trail is around 75 minutes from Minneapolis, in great shape, and had very low bike traffic for a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I highly recommend it.
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:18 am
Can anyone tell me why the most arrogant bicyclists insist on riding down major roads and highways when there are paved bike trails just yards away? This happens to me quite often and quite frankly, doesn’t do much for my tolerance for bikers. When told to use the trails, the most common response I get is “I have a right to be on the roads.” Yeah, and nutbags have a “right” to bring their guns to political town halls, too. That doesn’t mean it’s a real bright thing to do. I fully support building bike trails everywhere, but my enthusiasm is dampened when bikers don’t even bother to use them and choose to ride in traffic instead “because they have a right to.”
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:27 am
George, in situations like the one you describe, I’ve found it safer to bike in the road. The safety equation for me includes dealing with slower moving traffic on paths, such as kids or people walking dogs on 30-foot leashes. Also, road crossings seems more dangerous to me due to drivers cutting off paths they cross when they pull up to a light or stop sign, or drivers who turn onto a side street without checking for bikers first. Put that together and I find it safer to be closer to traffic and seen rather than further away, dodging other obstacles, and risking getting t-boned by an inattentive driver.
While there surely are bikers who bike in the road to make some sort of point, for me the point is to get from point A to point B quickly and safely.
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:39 am
George is probably a really nice guy and this observation is not meant to be a personal attack. I just find it ironic/funny that someone with the handle George Hayduke is ranting about people NOT following the “rules”. What would Seldom Seen Smith think of this?
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:03 am
So I guess I should rethink my support for building more bike trails since bikers prefer to use the roads? How bizarre. FYI, the last biker I advised to use a trail rode up alongside me, screamed awhile and then proceeded to roll through a red light and turn left at a major highway intersection–from the center lane, not the left turn lane. Maybe I need to start driving on the bike trails to avoid bikers who turn from non-turning lanes and roll through stop signs. The “danger factor,” ya know.
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:57 am
Groerge, I think you’d have to presume that I’m average in order to rethink policy changes.
If you’re yelling at a bikers, you’re seeing bikers rather than hitting them.
Yes, there are bad bikers and drivers.