This Saturday New Belgium brewing is going to be bringing all-sorts of bicycle related tom-foolery to the Twin Cities with the return of the Tour de Fat.
For those who have not attended the Tour de Fat, it is hard to describe, one part costume, two parts, circus and all bike is the best description that we can come up with. It all goes down starting at 9:00 am from Loring Park in Minneapolis. You can register and be part of the parade, but you had better come dressed for the occasion.
“For those who haven’t experienced Tour de Fat, it is a thrilling rite of passage that includes an unparalleled costumed bicycle parade, New Belgium beer, eccentric entertainment, local food, unusual bike contests and much more.
The free event, which raises money for local nonprofits through beer and merchandise purchases, just exceeded the $2 million mark for total funds raised since its inception 13 years ago. Last year’s Minneapolis Tour de Fat stop raised more than $16,000 and had about 2,000 attendees.”
9:00 AM – Parade Registration
10:00 AM – Parade Begins
11:00 AM – Main Stage
12:00 PM – Side Show
1:30 PM – Slow Ride
2:30 PM – Bike Trade
3:30 PM – De Finale!
Summertime is construction time here in the great state of Minnesota, and while this impacts drivers more than cyclists, we aren’t immune from ongoing work. Right now in the City of Minneapolis there are several projects going on that you should know about:
– Midtown Greenway Hiawatha Spur
Includes short at-grade connection just east of Hiawatha Ave S.
Effective: Tentatively July 25-26, 2012
– Riverside Avenue South Closure
From: Cedar Avenue South to 22nd Avenue South
Effective: May 2012
Duration: Through August 2012 (tentative). Additional closures to continue through 2012.
– Plymouth Ave Bridge Closure
From: West River Rd N to Sibley St NE
Effective: July 16, 2012 through October 2012
– Sections of Cedar Lake Trail will be temporarily closed July 24–31 while City of Minneapolis crews perform joint sealing and sand sealing work.
The work will extend from Royalston Ave. N to Highway 100 and occur in four separate stages, each lasting 1-2 days. Three detours will be marked to facilitate the four closures. Click here to view a map of the trail closures.
Stage 1 – July 24–25
Royalston Ave. N to Luce Line Trail – Follow marked detour via Glenwood Ave. N, Cedar Lake Rd. N and Luce Line Trail/Bryn Mawr Meadows.
Stage 2 – July 26
Luce Line Trail to Kenilworth Trail – Follow marked detour via Luce Line Trail/Bryn Mawr Meadows, Cedar Lake Rd. N/S, S Wayzata Blvd., Cedar Lake Rd. S and Cedar Lake Pkwy.
Stage 3 – July 30
Kenilworth Trail to Cedar Lake Pkwy. – Follow same detour as Stage 2.
Stage 4 – July 31
Cedar Lake Pkwy. to Hwy 100 – Follow marked detour via Ewing Ave. S, France Ave. S, Forest Rd., Parklands Rd., Cedarwood Rd., Parkwoods Rd. and W 23rd St.
For a map of major closures and detours that may affect Minneapolis bicyclists and pedestrians, visit the City of Minneapolis Bicycling Detour page.
Considerably slower weekend,but it looks like nice weather so get out there and enjoy yourself on a bike.
Saturday:
Ride for Home: 4330 Cedar Lake Rd S. St Louis Park, MN 55416 “Join Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity on Saturday, July 21, as we Ride for Home. This one-day bike ride event will start and end in St Louis Park and offer riders the option of a 40-mile loop or a short family ride. Both are fully supported with rest stops and a lot of trail riding. Ride for Home will raise money and awareness for Twin Cities Habitat as we begin construction on the 2,000th Habitat home in Minnesota! Join us in July to commemorate this incredible milestone. At the conclusion of the day, all riders will have a chance to spend the afternoon with local Habitat homebuyer families at a potluck picnic lunch.”
Sunday:
Southside Sprint: Looking for some fast racing action in South Minneapolis, well Sunday morning is it! Read all about it in our post from earlier this week.
Hey, its Wednesday, which means it’s time for us to catch up on all of the week’s cycling news that you haven’t been reading about on Cycle Twin Cities. Admittedly it has been a few weeks since we have done this, so let’s get caught-up.
The sixth Annual Freedom From Pants ride took place in Minneapolis back on July 4th. 2F4L on Flickr managed to both attend the event and take some pretty funny pictures. Be warned before hitting the link, some of the pics are probably not safe for work, but definitely are entertaining.
The always well-written Jim Thill of Hiawatha Cyclery has penned a decently sized essay about the “unracer”. This article was prompted from their recent visit from Grant Petersen “Mr. ‘Unracer'” himself. If you have a few minutes during the lunch break today, why not give it a read.
Cycles for Change, just got a nice big chunk of change to help grow their program. $30,000 in change to be exact from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. There are a whole lot of programs out there like this one, however, they really seem to have a lot going for them. Constant funding increases, not to mention doing good in the community. Chapeau.
If at all possible we try our best to avoid Franklin Ave. when biking. It is a bad combination of little space, fast cars, and angry drivers. Luckily the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition is trying to help improve the street along with Bike Walk Twin Cities. They are hosting a public meeting to discuss some option for improving Franklin, and here is a good primer on the subject.
We always like to get an outsider’s perspective on our fine cities and the cycling infrastructure within it. This edition comes from north of the border, and gives an interesting perspective. Check it out.
As always we wrap it up with a video. This is called Twin Cities Cycling and someone obviously worked hard putting it together.