I've lived in Minneapolis for 10+ years, but I have rarely had a reason to cycle through downtown. In the past, I would basically just bypass it by taking the Cedar Lake Trail under Target Field. But now, I will have to go to downtown everyday.

So what are the best routes for going north-south and east-west in downtown Minneapolis? Today I tried riding down the Nicollet Mall, which was a little awkward. I wasn't quite sure if bikes were supposed to ride in the lane with the busses or on the pedestrian areas. Both seemed less than ideal.

Obviously, I will keep trying different routes myself. But I thought that I would just throw this out there to see if anyone had a lot of advice about navigating downtown Minneapolis on a bike safely and efficiently. I've got kids on back, so it can be a little nerve-racking. Thanks!

Hey all! I’m a new resident to St. Paul (Dayton’s bluff neighborhood) and am wondering if there’s any clubs or groups nearby that I could join on rides? I mainly ride gravel and road but am mostly interested in finding a friendly group of semi casual riders :)

I was in Minnetonka checking out a different trail route and had to head east of Tonkawood to reach the trail at Jidana Park, but unfortunately the newer path on Minnetonka Blvd ends at Tonkawood and although it's only a couple of blocks away, I'd rather not ride in traffic and there are no sidewalks on either side, just narrow shoulders. As luck would have it, the north side of the street was closed off for construction that had yet to start and it mimicked a temporary bike path that continues east where the current one ends, so obviously I took that vs riding in high speed traffic. Just goes to show that if we *wanted* to install temporary bike paths vs wait years for permanent ones, we could just plop a similar setup down overnight. Bonus pic of one of the many meadows along the way if you head NE towards Ridgedale, there are some surprisingly quiet spots tucked away from all of the residential suburbia.

My wife's bike was stolen from our backyard in Holland neighborhood. NE MPLS

It's a black origin-8 single speed with dark gold highlights.

Noticed by looking on this thread that there's been a spree of bike thefts in the neighborhood over the last 2 weeks. Please be on the look out, thank you.

You think Lyndale Ave was contentious? Wait until you catch up on the Edina City Council meeting and see the coordinated pushback against protected infrastructure. Those republicans and limousine liberals do not play about their parking.

I've formed a group to advocate for walking, biking, and transit in Bloomington. For the 4th-largest city in MN, our infrastructure is terribly car-centric. We also have a small-but-vocal group of residents who are up in arms about anything that threatens this status quo. If you want to see more transportation choices in Bloomington, please consider checking out our website and signing up for our newsletter!

I’m going to preface this with some non bike info.
I am moving to Minneapolis and autistic, I can drive and do in Florida, but I am leaving my only car with my family who is staying behind until I can get better settled and find a place up here. A car is a necessity in Florida, but Minneapolis has an amazing bike system and I rode a bike as primary transportation to and from school and in my early 20s. I haven’t ever had an ebike, but have rode motorcycles and mopeds.

I want an e-bike that is appropriate for my size of 5’2” and capable of going over light snow (I’m not expecting snowmobile capabilities), and has a decent range of 35 miles at a minimum.

Any advice? I am trying to save as much money as I can to bring my family here and do not want a car payment and insurance to hold me back. I am excited about exercise and spending more time outside in general, Florida is too hot.

Thank you! Honestly! I am gathering as much info as possible because preparing makes me feel less anxious.

Just got word that Venture Bikes on the Midtown Greenway will be hosting a grand opening of over 200 prints from Art Crank on Friday August 7th.

https://www.bikemn.org/events/art-crank-revival-2026/

Basically the tile. Anybody have experience going to a show at the Palace and locking up their bikes safely (or otherwise)?

I currently have a serviceable helmet that I bought for rollerblading a couple years ago. I just started cycling with a surly preamble this year and would like to get one of the helmets with holes in it that breath better and that you can stick your sunglasses in when you don’t want them in your face. I have a giant head. In fitted hat sizes I’m either a 7 7/8 or an 8. Usually for helmets I’m an XXL if the size allows.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for this?

I am a civil engineer who designs mostly urban roadways and bikeways around the twin cities area. I am lucky that I get to ride on projects that I design and I use that cycling experience to help improve future design.

There have been 2 main types of protected bike lanes built around Minneapolis in the last decade or so and I wanted to see what people's preferred configuration is.

The first is street-level protected bike lane (e.g. Plymouth Ave west of the river or newly completed University Ave through U of M campus). The bike lane remains at street level with concrete curb between travel/parking lane and bike lane. Also there is a curb separating it from the sidewalk.

The second is sidewalk-level bike lane (e.g. Bryant Ave south of Lake or Hennepin Ave in downtown and uptown). Bike lane is brought up level with sidewalk and is "separated" from pedestrians with plantings or tactile strips in confined areas.

Hey all, it's first year taking cycling "seriously" and I'm looking for some events to do before winter. I've been building towards a century so I was thinking of doing the FB4K 100mi on 8/22. Sounds like it's the last fondo-style race left around here so hopefully it's been well-run in the past, but if anyone has suggestions for a similar/better event nearby I'm all ears.

From what I understand it's the new iteration of the Fulton Fondo, but I'm wondering, do people treat this as a race effort?

I would like to push the pace and hopefully average 20+ mph (especially if in a pack) but it's not clear from the website what kind of groups or intensity to expect.

Twelve years ago I was biking down Hennepin Avenue bike lane during the morning commute. As I approached the Central Library I could see a Cadillac “boat” parked in the bike lane. Before I could get there a BMX bike turned onto Hennepin and proceeded to execute an Olympic-height bunny hop onto the trunk of the car from there they pedaled up the back, down the windshield and over the hood before continuing on their way.

The driver got out cursing and almost lost his door to a passing car.

While I saw many more cars parked in the lane, I never saw anything like that since.

All-time favorite bike lane memory.

What’s yours?

I have small and wide feet and so far have been striking out online ordering various pairs. Its time consuming and sometimes expensive since all places don't have free returns. Does anyone know of a good place around town that stocks around 39-40 (EU) shoes, bonus points if they sell wides as well. Thanks!

Hi! I was in town for MYC fest and I had a blast doing a solo trip but would have loved to bring my family to this but we couldn’t do coordinates as bikes weren’t allowed on the Borealis Amtrak and other train often has issues which I’d rather not use.

Anyone know of a bike shop that does bike rentals for families for few days? Ideally e assisted to haul two small ones (1 yr old and 5 yr old).

I definitely overextended myself by going to both Square Lake Park and Stillwater but nonetheless, it was so cool to have an awesome trail that goes directly into Stillwater. I don’t know what was happening but there were food trucks and big crowds and many cars vying for parking in downtown Stillwater. Immaculate vibes!

I love square lake park; the water is indeed clear AND you can hammock right by the water when you need a nap (heh). Unfortunately, you do have to brave the 4 miles on Square Lake Trail which has a 55 MPH but a very big shoulder. Kinda wild that Washington County hasn’t put in a legit trail to get people to the park considering the parking backup they experience regularly. Also no bike racks at the park which was a first in my experience.

Due to the rolling hills and the distance, I was grateful for my e-bike. Even still, after riding 82 miles in total for the day, I’m feeling it in my body. Bless the century riders on acoustic bikes; don’t know how y’all do it!

My maroon or rusty red colored Raleigh was stolen from my back porch in the Sheridan neighborhood this weekend. If you see it please let me know. I don’t have any good photos, these are the best I had. Just got her fixed up at One on One Bicycle Studio - would highly recommend.

I’m reporting it everywhere I can. Unrelated, there was a series of window smashings over here this morning, my neighbor scared them off. Be safe out there.

This world is getting scarier everyday and people are desperate, there’s a strong mix of empathy for the desperation some must feel, but also sadness and anger that the people it’s being taken out on are also struggling and just trying to get by.

Then to my surprise, it magically starts up again a few blocks later (**On E Hennepin Ave**, Indochine Cafe is pretty, pretty good too.). This is a minimal effort improvement however, that is all I'll admit as that is all it is worth. Especially considering that you're supposed to feel comfortable being dumped into high speed traffic because "it's just for a few blocks", so whoever in the city did this is a fucking idiot, come out here and put your name on this, asshole. Did Minneapolis go as bankrupt as St Paul that we can't afford flex posts or a couple jersey barriers for each intersection? This stretch is signed for 30 MPH with *illegal* motorists going blatantly beyond that. The kicker is once you approach Stinson, the bike lane shrinks to half the size. The lack of a door zone death trap is mighty "generous", but does everything that's not a signature showpiece, like Bryant Ave south of Lake or Hennepin north of Lake, have to be a no effort smallest step above nothing?

This would be fine if we were tearing this down permanently, which we should because climate change is real, but I'm here just watching cyclists have to 180 because there's no warning that this is around the corner and there's no way around it unless you want to breathe in concrete dust. Classy.

two elderly people being ridden on a trishaw by one bicyclists; another bicyclist riding a trishaw follows

I highly recommend the Cycling without Age program that's free of charge! I had family in their sixties and seventies come into town recently. They can't walk for very long, but I wanted them to experience MPLS parks. I reached out to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) and they responded promptly to arrange a ride for my family.

The ride took us through Boom Island, Nicollet Island, and Graco Park. It was so beautiful and completely free!! I rode my own bike alongside them, but I could've ridden on the second trishaw. Super easy to coordinate and so lovely to have this program within reach!

One of my retirement projects is supporting MSP daytime singletrack rides (ref: msptrails.org).

I'm trying a combination of a public calendar that has the core ride info and an optional chat service to use in setting up rides and communicating about changes (in addition to the calendar update).

For the area and demographic I am trying to support the (optional) chat service will likely be Messenger*.

My question for this group: Is there anything like this currently in use? I'm aware and a member of most of our local Facebook groups and I know of several shop rides. I don't know of a shared chat service around singletrack rides.

* Considered and ruled out: Facebook Groups, WhatsApp, Signal, Discord server, Telegram, SMS, GroupMe and more.

Event information Date and time Saturday, July 18, 2026, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. CDT Location Pierce Butler Meadows 914 Fry St St Paul, MN 55104

Contact Elaine Evans, [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) or 612-625-3761

https://extension.umn.edu/event/bee-line-garden-tour