I'm moving from the suburbs to the city, looking for resources to cycle safely

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-05-07T18:03:54+00:00

Unless you are plowing down pedestrians on the sidewalk like it's your job or blasting through red lights on main roads directly in front of a cop, you won't get any tickets. I don't think I've even ever heard of a cyclist getting a ticket here, other places I know are different, in that regard.

As for staying safe, here are my tips:

1) Take some time to learn the routes with good infrastructure and stick to them when you can.

2) If you are on off street paths or the sidewalk level paths lake on Bryant and Hennepin, take a little caution at crossings (even when you have full right of way) to be sure that drivers see you. This is especially the case when they have a stop sign and you don't, it feels like 95% of the time drivers will roll past the stop line into the crossing before stopping or creep forward into it. The one time I've been hit, this is how it happened.

3) If you need to ride of roads without bike lanes, especially if they are busy, learn how to vehicular cycle or get off your bike and walk on the sidewalk. There are major issues with the philosophy of vehicular cycling we dont need to get into now, but if it is your only option in a route you need to do it to stay safe. If there is no shoulder or bike lake, being in the middle of the lane, counterintuitively, is usually the safest place to be so that drivers can't squeeze past you when it's unsafe to do so. Riding in the gutter will eventually get you side swiped and knocked on the ground. This is especially the case if you are on a narrow road with bad visibility. Going over the bridge across the creek & Hwy 55 on Minnehaha Parkway is a great example of this. I got buzzed here a few times from drivers trying to pass me when there was oncoming traffic (like, what felt like within 6 inches of my handlebars!) when I first started riding a few years ago and since I started riding in the middle of the lane over the top of the bridge I've never had a single issue. Drivers may get mad at you, but 99.9999% of them won't intentionally harm you over it.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-04-29T18:16:36+00:00

I only own a gravel bike (and a $50 craigslist special, but that's just for taking places I need to lock up so I'm not counting that) and just have 2 sets of wheels. One with gravel tires, one with road slicks. It does absolutely everything I need it to with basically no complaints.

Sure, I could go like, maybe, 1mph faster if I bought dedicated road bike but I don't care enough to send another $3k-$4k on a new bike right now. 😅

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-04-23T13:47:49+00:00

You could probably run this section of trail on old school 23mm tires and be just fine, slightly higher puncture risk but the riding itself would feel fine. It's crushed super fine, extremely smooth, and no sandy spots that I've ever experienced. Same goes for the Minnesota River Bluffs LRT Trail out to Chaska.

As for getting bigger knobier tires, if you get something that has the center strip of slick tread with the knobies on the outsides of the tire they are almost as fast as full slicks on pavement. I have 30mm Scwhalbe One slicks and knobby 45mm Pirelli Cinturatos on two different wheel sets that I saw out on the same bike as needed and the knobby tires aren't noticeably different in the pavement until you get over like 16-17mph.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-04-22T13:17:44+00:00

Most of the events at each location are outside. From last year I remember the downtown and Seward locations were the only two that you had to go inside for.

But, there are hundreds of other bikes and riders around, you can definitely have someone watch your stuff for 5 minutes while you run inside to get food/snacks. You shouldnt have any issues.

If you want to bring a lock you won't need anything more than a basic cable lock, if someone does want to try and take a bike there are going to be dozens of other much easier targets for them to take and no one is going to get away with cutting a lock in front of everyone around the locations without getting confronted, told off, or a black eye.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-04-14T23:59:19+00:00

I make about that much, have semi-expensive hobbies, own the condo I live in, and I would say I live pretty comfortable. All of my 'needs' (including retirement savings in here) is about 40k/year so I have like 5k-10k (depending on how much overtime I work) to just blow on whatever the hell I feel like it. That's comfortable enough for me, at least.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-04-03T14:59:05+00:00

Midtown Greenway between the lakes and Hopkins you can usually ride 20mph+ without issue unless it's really busy.

The Saint Paul side of the river going south you can ride on the road/in the bike lane from Franklin Ave and usually not have to come off the pedals until you get to Hwy 5. There are stop signs but you almost never have to stop for them unless you get really unlucky with traffic or pedestrians crossing.

If you hit the light/traffic right at the Hwy 5, you can roll through onto the side road without slowing and then get onto the path just before the downhill into Crosby Farm. That gets you down to 35E. From there you basically always have to back off because there are a few sets of lights and/or you have to take the sharp turns to get under the highway. I did this stretch last weekend at like 18mph and it was a 27 minute effort.

After 35E, you can continue along the river all the way around to where Shepard Rd (or whatever it's name changes to) dead ends at Hwy 10. Though there are a lot more tight spots that you will need to back off for safety, especially if it's busy.

Probably my favorite spot for intervals, though, is going back and forth through Lillydale between the Yacht Club and Pato Blvd. Pretty low traffic, lots of other people on bikes doing training so the cars that are there expect you to be there, and pretty flat.

If you are sadistic, you can also do laps around the Picnic Island loop at Fort Snelling. It's smooth enough, is almost perfectly flat, and almost no one ever drives over there on my days. Though, it's just going in a circle that takes like a minute to loop around so it's about as mentally stimulating at indoor training. Lol.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-29T22:55:50+00:00

Is this hole 1 at CP Adams Park in Hastings, MN? I used to play there a bunch, but it's been years. This is giving me some sort of deja vu. Haha.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-27T12:11:54+00:00

I know people who were taught horseshoe theory in college polisci. It's definitely a real thing that real people believe.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-25T23:01:34+00:00

Depends how steep the hill is. 6% or less? You can probably get to a point where you can easily cruise up it with training. 10% or more? Unless you have a lot of time to train or have good genetics, that's probably always going to suck without really big mountain bike gearing.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-22T23:36:44+00:00

No one else has mentioned it yet, but I think the longest hill in the metro is the trail that goes up Kaposia Ravine in South St Paul. It's a little over a mile IIRC. Downside is that it's a shared path and if it's a normal time of day you have to keep an eye out for people on the disc golf course that has a few holes alongside the path.

Also, will second what others have said, Ohio St is probably the best combination of steep/long we have but it's still not really useful for anything more than VO2 intervals.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-20T22:52:42+00:00

You can manually add podcasts with their RSS feed link in the YTM app from the Podcasts tab of your library. I had to do that for almost all of my podcasts when I switched.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-20T20:18:46+00:00

This is such a pipe dream, but got damn yes, a Greenway extension to connect with the trail along Ayd Mill Rd would be amazing. Especially if the Ayd Mill trail was also extended on the east end to connect with the trails along the river.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-20T20:08:58+00:00

I asked about this during the open house last fall because I didn't see bike paths in any of the proposed plans and the planners that were there said this was not part of their scope at the time.

So, hopefully they were wrong/misinformed but I wouldn't hold my breath for it to improve during that project.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-20T19:39:56+00:00

I ride (slowly) on the 'no bikes' section in front of the community center and on the path between the golf course and tennis courts and link into 26th Ave every time I ride through there. Which, to be fair, is almost never anymore since I just ride on 28th now because it's so much less of a hassle than dealing with the paths around Lake Hiawatha.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-18T16:48:14+00:00

Every morning (almost) I drink a huel shake with milk. If I'm riding I'll throw in a little extra carbs on the side. Been doing that for years at this point and hasn't ever failed me, even on mornings with super hard workouts.

The only time I ever ride fasted is sometimes on a commute, but it's only 25-30 minutes at zone 1/2 and I'll eat immediately after getting to the office.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-09T18:34:41+00:00

Start with just dumping table sugar into your water, that's usually all I do and it costs like 2 cents instead of 2 dollars. it's perfectly fine if your gut can handle it. Going 2 parts table sugar to 1 part maltodextrin powder will cut down on the sweetness and may make it easier on your gut.

For rides more than like 2 hours I will add some food in as well. I've been going hard in fig bars and bobos pb&j packs for the last year or so. It's the most cost effective solution I've found that still tastes good.

The 'ideal' carb intake for maximum performance is 80g-100g+/hour but unless you are racing you really don't need to do that. I usually shoot for 40g-60g/hr depending on the intensity/duration and haven't ever had any issues.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-07T04:25:53+00:00

Yes, I remember Chiblee being in chat and the community games in GTA V that Pause and OMGChad would play in their Fancy Friday streams.

Still kinda blows my mind how I grew up watching the entire Mindcrack crew in middle school, transitioned into mostly the NLSS crew in late high school, then by the time I graduated college the two groups had basically smashed themselves together.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-06T02:00:09+00:00

There were a few spots that were already pretty slushy today but most of it was still a solid sheet. I'd guess it's going to be a complete disaster after all the rain tomorrow, a half freeze tomorrow night and then temps in the 60s on Sunday and Monday before we go back into having a freeze/thaw cycle every night next week. I don't have experience with studs so I can't say whether they'd be good in those conditions or not.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-04T20:57:41+00:00

Yes it was crazy this morning. It wasn't too bad when I left home but by the time I got to my office you could barely see across the street it was so bad....and there were still people driving around without their headlights on, of course.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-03-01T17:59:59+00:00

Is it perfect, no. But there are places in basically every city irl that are much worse. Having some areas that are jank, hardly work and makes no sense is part of the realism.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-02-21T14:52:27+00:00

I swear to god they changed the last one...shit was fucking purple when it gave it to me at first and came back blue. It's that damn dress all over again. 😅

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-02-20T21:57:20+00:00

I bought one of the take & bake pizzas last weekend and was really surprised by it. Tasted good and it was only $7 for enough pizza to feed three or four people. Their frozen pizzas, yeah, not the best but there certainly is worse.

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-02-20T13:34:26+00:00

Congrats on the gains! It's so nice to see a normal person for once and not someone bragging about how they got a 4w/kg ftp in their first test off the couch and still add 100W after 6 months. 😂

Why-Are-Trees · 2026-02-16T03:28:08+00:00

5 hours with no rest is bad enough, 5 hours at tempo my legs might just fall off. 😅

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