I recently finished Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne which at least partly is about Urban Biking. As I biked I did some reflecting on some of his thoughts about livable cities and also noticed things that a livable city, like Minneapolis, has to provide to stay 'livable'.
First off is infrastructure: the city has been doing some sort of waterworks project on S. Cedar Lake Road and a couple of days ago placed dozens of longish yellow pipes in front of our neighbor's house (on the street). This morning they started putting them together. Here's a picture from our yard.
The pipes and workers forced me out the back alley, so I took Penn and crossed the bridge over 394 and took one of the official bike/walkways to cross the tracks.
I might try this again since it didn't seem to take that much longer AND I don't have to dismount from the bike and schlep it over the tracks.
Although I used to climb the hill up Kenwood Parkway to get to Lake of the Isles, I now avoid an arduous climb in the lowest gear and just take Cedar Lake & Kennilworth trails to 21st Street and turn left. This takes me past downtown Kenwood to the Lake of the Isles bike path. From there I am on trails that go around Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet. I had done the same route yesterday (Sunday): there was a lot less bike and foot traffic today.
However, there was quite a bit of activity on Lake Calhoun. At the main sailboat dock, there were a dozen or two adults huddled around a sailboat with an instructor showing them 'the ropes'. Then down the path a bit were a bunch of kids (10-12 year olds) assembling sun fish sailboats (with some instructors as well). About 30-40 minutes later, on my way back after going around the rest of Calhoun and Lake Harriet, I noticed from the far side of the lake a clump of small sailboats out on Calhoun, plus a cluster of the little sunfish hugging the shore. I am pretty sure that these classes are put on by the Lake Calhoun Sailing School (a non-profit). Of course the fact that Theodore Wirth and others had the foresight to keep these lakes 'public' makes this kind of thing possible.
Sunday, I noticed a lot of sail boats on Lake Harriet, but there were not too many (if any) on a Monday. However, there was plenty of foot traffic. Baby strollers, conversationalists and folks walking their dogs. And at least one professional dog walker -- at least I hope that the guy with 10 dogs on leash was a professional. Not very many bikes at all today, so my leisurely pace was stress free. (Usually, the fast Lycra crowd avoids the lake, but you do get a few).
I think these were among my first full "Tour de Lakes" trips this season. For long trips, especially on weekends, I often take the Cedar Lake Trail out to Hopkins and back. So I think it's been about two years since I've biked the full lake route. Last summer I didn't bike much because of hip replacement surgery (& aching hip before that). I remember a stretch at the south end of Lake Calhoun that used to go over old sidewalk. This has been replaced with new asphalt - infrastructure work and resultant livability continues!
Yesterday, my trip had a nominal errand value since I stopped at Calhoun village and bought a book at Barnes and Noble and a loaf of bread at the Rustica Bakery ... and I had a cup of Bull Run Coffee - made by the cup. Today I just stopped for coffee and read a couple chapters of "The Unbearable Lightness of Scones", the latest in the Scotland 44 Series by Alexander McCall Smith.
From Calhoun Village I took the Kenilworth bike way pretty much straight home. On the way I passed workers on three riding mowers mowing along the parkway, part of the Park Boards 'Parkway Maintenance'. Finally, on the last stretch of Kenilworth, a young couple going the other way passed me riding a couple of Neon Green Nice Ride Bikes. Although I haven't had a chance to use the service, it was David Byrne's appearance in Minneapolis for the official launch that led me to get my own copy of Bicycle Diaries.
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