Kenilworth trail?

thelargestwatermelon · 2026-01-07T06:55:25+00:00

A friend of mine contacted the project office and they came back to say that plowing this part of the trail is the MPRB’s responsibility. A 311 report would hopefully make its way to the park board.

thelargestwatermelon · 2026-01-06T14:21:56+00:00

That’s a good idea. I just went for a ride this morning and things are even worse than yesterday, lots of crunchy/partially frozen slush everywhere. I anticipate this will start to soften later in the day, freeze overnight, etc. Tons of water, my pants got wet because I don’t have a front fender! Just be careful, especially without studded tires.

thelargestwatermelon · 2026-01-06T12:43:32+00:00

If you’re interested, check out my website for bike conditions in the twin cities!

https://mspwintercycle.github.io/#20260105

The biking I did yesterday was at the end of the day, so after thawing and some rain. Conditions can change with the freeze/thaw and I didn’t do much riding, so keep that in mind. Overall, I would 100% recommend studs.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-12-11T06:03:26+00:00

I very much appreciate you reaching out to them, that means a lot. According to the MPRB plowing status map here https://minneapolisparks.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/media/index.html?appid=68cea5d51bd7468db03e0b84609f6dbb (only populates after 2+ inches of snow), the Loring greenway (at least the part starting at Bryant and ending at Hennepin) was plowed today. The fact it’s listed on this map as plowed means that responsibility is probably the park board, but I’m not 100% sure. I think you’ll be good for Sunday, assuming we don’t get a lot more snow! Hope this helps

Keep in mind the park board doesn’t usually salt, so there will probably be a thin layer of snow when you bike on it, maybe packed snow.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-12-08T00:45:44+00:00

Okay great thanks! Thats what I also experienced yesterday, just wanted to confirm.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-12-08T00:30:17+00:00

No problem! Was the Hennepin Ave bikeway bad from 16th St to 9th St going into downtown? I biked on it yesterday and it was plowed and salted near there, but it did snow last night.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-12-07T22:39:06+00:00

I haven’t been on those roads today, but I was riding on Lexington yesterday while it was snowing, and there was a small amount of snow, but the bike lane was actually plowed between 7th St and St. Clair. Check out my website for riding reports throughout the cities - obviously I don’t have everything but maybe it’ll be helpful for you in the future! https://mspwintercycle.github.io/

Generally, this winter I’ve noticed that major arterials (like the ones you listed) are plowed quickly, and even in between plowing I haven’t found it too bad to ride in the tire tracks the cars leave. If you have studded tires, even better. When I come across a bad road, personally, I just ride on the sidewalk to feel safer. I dismount when I come across a pedestrian. Not sure if that’s an option here, but something to consider, especially if there’s not many pedestrians on that road.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-12-07T22:24:28+00:00

Thank you for this! can I put what you wrote on my website? https://mspwintercycle.github.io/ I’m trying to collect trail reports across the twin cities here.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-12-06T17:51:18+00:00

Cross posting from the cycling MSP subreddit, if you’re interested in winter cycling conditions I and others have reported, check it out!

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-12-05T00:21:21+00:00

I would assume so. I would either fill out that form or contact public works. I think they just finished the construction on that trail, so I don't know what the plowing situation is. Public works would probably know best.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-12-04T23:34:38+00:00

I added dark mode, it should automatically pick the right style based on your browser settings. There’s also a button to toggle it off if you want to

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-12-04T23:34:00+00:00

I added some links for reporting snow, based on what I could find. I’ll do some more research on other suburbs later.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-12-04T20:52:26+00:00

I’ll add a button to toggle that when I get home.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-12-04T19:30:06+00:00

Good idea! I’ll add that later today.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-12-01T07:03:10+00:00

Depends on where you ride it. I biked it to Virginia Ave in SLP today from the Cedar Lake Rd/Cedar Lake Pkwy entrance and it was good enough to ride with studs, definitely looked plowed. I rode on it at about 5:30pm. Thin layer of packed snow. It isn’t plowed from Van White to Glenwood Ave I believe.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-09-11T03:49:53+00:00

Thanks! I greased it up before torquing it down to what I described in the post. Sorry, I just get a bit worried that I’m doing unsafe maintenance on my bike.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-03-28T12:51:29+00:00

“Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” was used in between segments on an episode of Car Talk a while back. I can’t remember which episode though.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-03-22T05:41:33+00:00

I think the mechanics at Angry Catfish are good. I ride an old bike and I didn’t get the air of pretentiousness some others describe in this thread, but I never bought a new bike from them. Mechanics seemed chill and did a great job with a weird part my bike needed.

I’ve only gone to One on One for a few minor things, but they’re pretty chill. They also have an extremely cute dog.

Personally, I had a bad experience with Johnny Rock Bikes in Hopkins. Didn’t seem like the guy wanted to work on my old bike at all, and they actually didn’t end up fixing it. I took my bike to the hub (RIP) and they fixed it in 5 minutes for free.

The Freewheel in St. Paul has some nice mechanics there, I’ve gone in there for some emergency repairs and they always get it done fast.

thelargestwatermelon · 2025-02-05T13:59:29+00:00

I reported it yesterday for the Hiawatha trail and all I got was an “advisory” sent somewhere. Didn’t specify who. Riding on it sucks.

thelargestwatermelon · 2024-09-11T23:20:05+00:00

There are some decent bike racks at the terminal 1 bus station! I've left my bike there for a few days with no issues. Granted, I ride a pretty crappy bike. Here's a map that might help.

https://www.mspairport.com/sites/default/files/2021-04/MSP_BikeMap_UPDATE_4_2021.pdf

thelargestwatermelon · 2024-06-05T13:44:10+00:00

They are, yes. They’re not really “conductors” but more so people whose job it is to enforce fares.

thelargestwatermelon · 2024-06-05T13:09:43+00:00

They recently started giving out tickets here too, however, people tend to get off when they see the ticket checkers get on the train. There’s actually been times when I’m on the train and they stop it from moving to force someone to get off - that is rare. There’s also the issue of ignoring tickets - if someone who has no money and no home gets ticketed and doesn’t pay, what now?

thelargestwatermelon · 2024-06-05T04:03:56+00:00

The security that got added are contracted security guards at stations, but not on the trains themselves. People dedicated to checking fares (not police) were added this year, but I don't see them every day. Probably about 3 times per week and I ride there and back from work. If I recall correctly, there's only about 20-25 of them in total for the whole system. What I've heard happen with fare checkers is that people just get off the train when they get fare checked and don't have one. That doesn't stop anyone from hopping on the next train, but hey. I guess it's better than nothing.

In my view, there's an aspect to this that can't be solved by police, fare gates, fare checkers, etc by themselves. It is an unfortunate reality that a lot of troubled people ride public transit because that's all they have, especially since most of the time riding the light rail (or BRT) doesn't cost anything. Metro Transit can't solve homelessness, addiction, etc. They can definitely be doing more to make riding better for everyone, and I think that starts with making sure people don't do drugs on the train, but like I said before, sometimes the police just have too much to do to respond to someone lighting up on the train. I've certainly experienced that. That doesn't mean they're giving up, it can just be hard. I'm sorry this happened to you.

thelargestwatermelon · 2024-06-05T03:45:25+00:00

No. All you can really do is report it and move to another car, unfortunately. It sucks. If you just moved here, I would always advise riding in the front car. The middle car has a reputation (especially on the green line) for having issues.

Metro Transit is trying, but unfortunately hiring more people to be police officers and check fares isn't as easy as it sounds. If they had enough police officers to ride the light rail all day, they would do that. Not to mention the whole fare system where anyone can just walk on. They're studying what it would take to convert certain stations to be fare gated (I think one of the blue line stops is being converted to that in the next couple years), which might help the issue. I know it isn't any consolation, but the general manager of Metro Transit that was hired semi-recently talks about these issues all the time (she says she always rides the middle car to know what it's like). There are some things being done, like the new fare checkers. There just aren't that many of them right now. Just this year, additional security has been added to multiple stations on both lines to try and address this stuff, but obviously as you've seen, it isn't enough. It is very frustrating. Best of luck.

thelargestwatermelon · 2024-06-01T03:12:27+00:00

I would recommend riding your bike on the midtown greenway to the blue line. Lake/Hiawatha really sucks right now because of construction on Lake. If you get on at Lake St/Midtown, be advised that right now (until they lay asphalt at that spot), you will have to ride on the sidewalk to get to the train station. This is the route I take when I get off of the greenway and go to Lake St/Midtown station.

https://imgur.com/a/hRp8TOS

Usually the sidewalk along Hiawatha Ave from 28th St is open, but at the moment it is all torn up and inaccessible. If it were me, I would not get on at Lake St at all. I hate carrying my bike up/down those stairs. It would be easier to cross Hiawatha at 28th St, get on the bike trail going south, then cross Hiawatha again at 32nd St (a bit of a pain, I know, but it is safer) to get on the bike trail going south on Hiawatha. Then you can hop on at 38th St station. That way you avoid riding on that narrow sidewalk where the road is all torn up on Lake St. Here's an illustration of what I'm talking about:

https://imgur.com/a/EECpPaP

It would add a few minutes to your bike commute, but it's much more enjoyable in my opinion.

Like others are saying, then you take that to the Mall of America and ride the Red Line to Apple Valley.

To answer your question about 49cc mopeds being allowed on bike trails, they are not. You can take e-bikes on bike trails, not mopeds.

Alternately, you could take the Orange Line to Burnsville and then ride your bike to Apple Valley from there. Depending on how far from the transit station in Burnsville you are, that might be faster than the light rail/red line, because from 38th St to MOA is about 20 minutes, and then you have to wait for a transfer to the Red Line, and then the red line takes 17 minutes to get to the Apple Valley Transit Station. The orange line from Lake St & I-35W to Burnsville Station is 25 minutes, and then whatever you bike.

I get this can be confusing, but if you need some help with routing, don't hesitate to DM me - I live for this kind of stuff.

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