I want to thank the Mayor and everyone on the City Council who voted in support of the Bicycle Coordinator position yesterday. And I want to thank everyone who fought so hard this week to keep this important position moving forward and who showed up at the meeting yesterday.
Sometimes the seemingly little things are not so little. And here is one reason why…
Yesterday I began my Labor Day Holiday early and had planned to kick it off with a much needed bicycle ride to clear my head, exercise my body, and do the thing I love. Simple enough concept, but sometimes things do not work out how we plan them.
Five miles into my ride something went horribly wrong with my bicycle. Climbing the first hill of the Transitway, I heard and felt a SNAP in my shifter. Uh oh… Since I knew my husband was also out on a ride and no on would be able to come ‘rescue’ me, I knew my choices were to either head to one of two bicycle shops, or home. Since the shops and home were equi-distant and I knew I needed my bicycle fixed, I decided to ride on to the bicycle shop.
I generally knew how to get there, but what was really awesome about riding my newly fixie-fied bicycle slowly along, trying to alleviate any additional damage, was all the great help I received from the City. What help?
Wayfinder sign headed NE on the Greenway
Well first of all, when I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to get to my destination, a sign like this appeared like a beacon to a ship pointing to Franklin Avenue with a bicycle on it. Perfect! Thank you Minneapolis! Suddenly, I knew exactly my path and was relieved I wasn’t going to have to ride where I thought I was going to. Has anyone else noticed all of these wayfinding signs around town? Aren’t they awesome??!!
Secondly, thank you to Minneapolis AGAIN, I rode down what previously would have been a street I would have tried to avoid in this predicament ~ Franklin Avenue. I still see some sketchy driving over here, but I felt much better limping along in my lycra in the bicycle lane to get to the bicycle shop than I would have without. And the bicycle lanes carried me almost to the front door of the shop.
What I am trying to say here is, Minneapolis impresses me time and again with being so bicycle friendly. I ride my bicycle a lot and I appreciate the bicycle improvements I have seen. When I see bicycle friendly improvements it makes me happy because it not only makes my rides easier, it makes rides for everyone easier, and safer. These things don’t happen with magic, so with the help of a person dedicated to continued improvements, this City is only going to become a better and safer place for us all to ride our bicycles. Without such great signage and bicycle friendly routes yesterday, my already difficult situation would have been much worse. Instead, I got myself to a ‘medic’, got my bicycle fixed up, and rode on bicycle lanes and bicycle paths the entire way home.
Thank you Minneapolis! And thanks in advance Bicycle Coordinator!
