Why Minneapolis is the real No. 1 biking city:
Posted on December 5th, 2007 – 6:05 AMBy Roadguy
Because Portland, Ore. (the official No. 1 biking city), gets 6 inches of snow a year, while Minneapolis (officially No. 2) gets 56 inches a year. Shouldn’t that 50-inch difference count for extra credit or something?
34 Responses to "Why Minneapolis is the real No. 1 biking city:"
I see what you’re saying, but couldn’t you also argue that a city that gets snow from November through April CAN’T be the #1 biking city, since the vast majority of those people put their bikes away for half of the year? Nothing we can do about it, obviously, but that’s how it is.
TheTruth, while many recreational cyclists put their bikes away for 6 months, there are a shocking number of bicycle commuters who do not.
My wife and I were eating at the Bombay Bistro (yum!) on Marquette last Saturday during the snowstorm and we couldn’t believe how many cyclists were out, and it was snowing pretty good by that time.
YES!!! Kudos to those people who can tolerate this stuff… I would not be able to.
My bf had to bike from Mpls to Edina all winter for work, when MetroTransit went on strike a few years back. People were really impressed that he was able to tolerate that, but he doesn’t have a car, so really it wasn’t a choice.
Anyone ever tried chains on their bike tires? I’m trying to decide if they would be worth getting.
ahem. bicyclists in the snow are my no. 2 pet peeve during commutes like last night.
sorry–i know they have a right, i know it’s some people’s only way to get around, i know it’s far greener than the rileymobile.
all i’m saying is i have enough to worry about with people tailgating, clogging the intersection, me steering around parked cars, worrying about sliding into someone, and then to have someone pedaling along in front of me, far out into the street because of course the side of the road was too snowy for them—well, i kept picturing them wiping out and then me crunching over them, and it just added to my snowdriving angst.
(my no. 3 peeve? pedestrians who think, “oh, it’s snowing! that means i can walk in the middle of the street!”)
@Suz
most people I know who feel they need the extra traction get metal studded tires.
otherwise wider tires with less air pressure seems to work pretty good
Interesting idea, Suz. Though I wonder how the chains would need to be routed. I could see it working of you have disk brakes but a disaster if you have the “old fashioned” rim brakes. Unless you could route the chains around the tire’s circumference, which I would think would be difficult.
You just made me consider buying a disk brake mountain bike, dang it.
I agree with Roadguy on this one. There ought to be some sort of adjustment made to the rankings to recognize our weather obstacles.
An even more important point to make is that Portland has invested much more in its bicycle infrastructure compared to Minneapolis. If we had Portland’s weather and Portland’s bicycle infrastructure Minneapolis would dwarf Portland in the number of cyclists.
Go Minneapolis!
riley,
All of us road users have to deal with (and accept) all of the other road users. Cyclists could make the same complaints about cars being an inconvenience to them on the roads (and we often do).
While I appreciate your comment, you do point out in your comment that other motorists and their actions give you far more to worry about than a cyclist on the street. As I think you seem to understand, the cyclist is not the problem here.
I saw a cyclist biking on the sidewalk last night, actually. I think that was smart of him to avoid the roads… I’d fear for my life trying to bike through that mess of traffic downtown, not to mention the slippery snow.
Becky, although a good idea in concept, it is still illegal for bikes to be on sidewalks in downtown. Normally I wouldn’t have a problem with this, but as most people don’t ride 1980’s bikes with fenders anymore, bikers can be a mess (literally) for pedestrians.
Riley, while I disagree with you about bikes, as it is not there fault but the lack of plowing to the curb, I agree completely about pedestrians! Driving through the University of Minnesota, peds think that they don’t need to push the walk button since there is a small pile of snow around it. Then, when the light turns green, they just keep walking and walking until the light turns red. Well, at this point, I can’t take a left because I have to wait for these idiots to get across the road and the left turn signal cycle lasts about 10 seconds total. It’s pretty frustrating, to say the least.
Unrelated comment to Roadguy:
Congrats! Looks from the new layout of the site like you got promoted to a new, more prominent location. Even above KK! Wow!
@ suz and botski
My buddy made his own chains outta nuts and 1/16″ aircraft cable. He made it so it only sat on the tires, leaving the rims open. He did it for pretty cheap too. However you could check out the icebike website (www.icebike.org), they have just about everything there is to know.
After struggling to drive home last night, I think I would’ve gotten home faster on a bicycle than in my car.
I live in Woodbury and work in NE Mpls. At 5 pm I knew there was no way I’d get home in any decent amount of time, so I meandered up to Rosedale Mall, which was nearly empty, and did some Xmas shopping. Left the mall at 6:45 pm and headed south on 280, east on 94 and was home in 45 minutes, my normal drive time. But if it snows again tomorrow, I’ll just take vacation time and leave at noon!! People gotta learn how to drive in this stuff, are there that many newcomers to the Cities that have never seen snow before???
Sometimes I do bike in the dead of winter. I use the knobby tires with studs and I hang on. I did chicken out on this double storm. If they plow the streets thoroughly, I will havta get back to the bike. Pumping gas into the tank feels like sticking dollar bills into the toilet.
And, Riley, yes it’s scary when you have to drive around a bike–just relax and understand we’re all in this together.
well, i kept picturing them wiping out and then me crunching over them
Solution: Increase your following distance to allow for unexpected traffic changes ahead (wise advice even if it’s another car in front).
Suz writes
“Anyone ever tried chains on their bike tires? I’m trying to decide if they would be worth getting.”
You might consider the studded tires instead. Go to your fave bike shop & ask about alternatives. One brand is nokian, if I’m remembering correctly. You’ll want carbide studs, not plain steel.
*sigh* I want to be one of those bikers that will ride in the snow… but I was out Monday night, long after the roads were plowed from Saturday and well before Tuesday’s snow started to fall… What little snow I did encounter freaked me out (even with studded tires!).
I guess I am just a wimp and will have to admire snow-bikers from the bus window….
Mike,
I would love to see how your buddy rigged up the tires with the nuts and cable. After nearly biting it the other night when I went from my plowed alley to a ne’er-plowed-well street of St Paul, I decided I need to do something to my tires.
BTW, is Mpls #2 in terms of absolute number of bikers, biked-miles per resident per years, number of biking commuters, or what?
–Steve
matty: you’re right; bicyclists are not my number one peeve. my number one peeve is piggy drivers.
my big concern about bikes in the snow is that i will kill one of them. i can’t veer in snow the way i can on dry pavement.
it’s all about safety. i love bikes and i use mine often….but not in winter.
jack–i was only referring to bikes during snowstorms. not bikes in general in winter.
I believe the rankings are based on percentage of commuters who get around by bike.
My own bike conveniently decided to need expensive repairs that it’s not going to get. Now I’m having an unpleasant reminder of how much I dislike the transit service in my neighborhood. You have to wait forever and transfer to get anywhere. Time for a new bike!
The 2000 census data reflect transportation in the week before April 1, 2000. In Minneapolis, the temperatures ranged from about 26 degrees to 49 degrees that week, with no precipitation. Good biking weather, in my opinion, but not the sort of temperatures that bring out big numbers of cyclists. Unless you biked more days than you drove that week, you would not be counted as a bike commuter at all. If the census were in June or September, we’d probably beat Portland.
I did chicken out on the cycling the past couple of days. The bike lane was several inches deep in rutted brown glop, and I didn’t feel like fighting rush hour traffic in the traffic lanes in the dark.
Yep. The first snowstorm is always fun because I put the road bike away and get out the old mountain bike. It’s fun to crunch around through snow piles and such. This past snow storm I was trying to make my way down Franklin Avenue during rush hour but all the cars were moving so dang slow. I hopped up onto the sidewalks, which were unplowed and bumpier than the streets. Even WITH the rougher terrain, I was moving WAY faster than any of the cars and having fun romping over piles of snow. …But, to be certain, by the end of winter I’ve had enough of snow and brown goopy stuff everywhere and wish it was dry.
Riley, any form of transport is gonna be more dangerous in a snowstorm. Some people (SingleSpeed) like the challenge.
I could be wrong, but I thought many car/bike collisions are in really good sunny weather when people think nothing can go wrong and just do whatever they want.
Stephen Gross -> Mary
It’s based on the % of bicycle commuters who work in Mpls. and comes from a recent census report (it does not include suburbs or St. Paul or various other residents such as students living in dorms). It does not measure recreational use or non-work trips.
The report is here: (Look under ‘Detailed Tables’): http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/american_community_survey_acs/010230.html
John — do you know anything more about the 2005 data-gathering? When I checked the census website, all I found was the stuff on the 2000 census, with the dates it was collected and the details of the question on commuting (that it only asked about transportation to work, and that it only asked about the method used most days in the previous week). This would miss all the students biking to school. Even if every single person in the city biked to work two days a week and drove three days, you would get 0% bike commuters.
If that’s all they measured I’d rather they say “bicycle commuting city” or something like that. Otherwise the implication is recreational riding or other non-commuting riding somehow isn’t “biking”.
A lot of those surveys are skewed by the way they ask the questions. I recently participated in one about how “green” your lifestyle is. Your choices were bike-commuting 5 days a week or none. If you bike-commute 2, 3, or 4 days a week, you couldn’t give an accurate answer.
Mary -
I don’t. Maybe this is of interest to you?
Mpls did a major bike count recently. It’s here: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicycles/bicycle-counts.asp
Some older bike/ped #s here:
http://www.metrocouncil.org/planning/transportation/TBI_2000/TimeofDay_7county.pdf
Mary, go to this website: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicycles/10000Bicyclists.asp
Then click on “US Census Bureau.” That has some details on the 2005 count. Also, if you go here: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicycles/Count_Report.pdf, and scroll down to page 12, there is a bit more information as it relates to Mpls. On the actual census website, you have to click on American Factfinder and then American Community Survey to get to the non-2000 information (I know way too much about this stuff;) It does miss kids under 16 (biking to school), and it doesn’t count you as a cyclist commuter if it’s not your most frequent form of commuting. They do send out the surveys year round now though, which is quite different from the old way of doing it in early April (they’re now dropping the long survey every 10 years - the last one was in 2000).
to Jack on pedestrians
“…then, when the light turns green, they just keep walking and walking until the light turns red. Well, at this point, I can’t take a left because I have to wait for these idiots to get across the road and the left turn signal cycle lasts about 10 seconds total. It’s pretty frustrating, to say the least.”
You wanna talk about frustrating? What is UP with Minnesota drivers? In every place I’ve ever lived, the pedestrian has the right of way. Yet here in the Twin Cities, drivers regularly cut off pedestrians to make a left or right turn. You actually call pedestrians ‘idiots’ for daring to cross on the green. In the six months that I’ve lived here, I’ve been nearly hit 3 times because I was idiotic enough to think that the green light and the walking man meant it was ok to cross the street… and that Minnesota drivers (like most drivers elsewhere)might at least have the courtesy to let a pedestrian cross the street. After the 3rd near-miss, I finally began to realize that the drivers in question aren’t the oddball a-holes, but rather, are indicative of the auto-centric, “get-outta-my-way”, Twin Cities driving culture. I’ve witnessed it time and again, and you, Jack, just provided further evidence.
