Tag Archives: bicycle

The Best Bicycle Ride in Vadnais Heights

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bicycle vadnais heights

As you’ve likely guessed, I’m not a huge fan of bicycling in Vadnais Heights, at least compared to places like Shoreview that have relatively good and safe paths to ride on and much safer intersections.

bicycle vadnais heightsThat said, I will nearly always ride my bicycle for trips of one or two miles like to Festival Foods or Target which is a fairly safe and enjoyable ride from my house.

Having done so once, I will not cross 35E to get to Perkins or anything else on that side, it is simply too dangerous in my opinion.

bicycle vadnais heights panera bread

bicycle vadnais heights panera breadHowever, there are times when I quite enjoy riding in Vadnais Heights. Early on Saturday and Sunday mornings before there is much or any traffic on the roads is my favorite. I enjoy riding to Dunn Bros for a cappuccino or sometimes my wife and I will ride to Panera for breakfast. What’s great about our Dutch city bikes is that they’re easy to just hop on a go when we decide to do this.

It’s not The Netherlands or Copenhagen, or even Shoreview, but it does make for a great way to start the day.

Calhoun Cycle now stocks Gazelle

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Calhoun Cycle in south Minneapolis is now stocking the Gazelle Populair which is a full-on Dutch city bike. They have both step-thru and step-over models with 8-speed Shimano internal geared rear hubs and hub dynamo’s to power the lights. It has a ring-lock (grey below the seat) that makes locking up easy (as long as you’re not in a high crime area).

This is a great bike for hoping on in whatever you’re wearing for a quick ride around town, to dinner, school, the grocery store (get some panniers while you’re there for carrying lots of stuff), or along the Gateway trail.

Personally I prefer Azor, Batavus, or Workcycles to Gazelle. I find the Gazelle’s to be a bit cramped feeling with the seat and handlebars a bit too close together. That’s personal preference though. From a quality standpoint I think Gazelle is likely just as good as those others and rides nicely.

Note that these do not have a steering damper or even the usual attachment point for one nor do they have the usual mount on the left fork for a light when using a front rack such as a removable Steco (I believe the Gazelle front rack, which is not removable, does include a mount). These also do not include a Hebie center stand which you may want to order.

“A lot of people ride bikes here!”

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We’ve had a lot of utility construction along the Hodgson path in Shoreview the past few weeks . Most of the companies have been quite good about not blocking the path. One company that couldn’t avoid having a truck in the path also did a good job of creating a little detour in to the street with cones for path users that was very much appreciated.

Blocked bike pathYesterday, as I was riding down the path to lunch, I saw some guys from a new company moving their trucks out of the path.

As I rode by I thanked them and one of the guys commented “damn, a lot of people ride bikes here.”

blocked bike path

He said he’d never seen anything like it. “Someone rides by here every couple of minutes.” he said with some bewilderment. He went on to describe the hundreds of school kids, people who looked like they must be 100 but were riding a bike, and everyone in between.

I guess Shoreview’s paths are working!

Filling Up The Bakfiets

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When we need fuel for our boat, I’ll often ride my bakfiets down to the local station (about 1.5 miles each way). Not surprisingly, I get some interesting comments from people and rarely escape without at least one person asking what kind of gas mileage I get. I can carry three 5-gallon cans. Fun stuff.

Bakfiets, pumpkins, bicycle, halloween

Oh, it also carries 100 lbs of pumpkins, squash, green beans, and brussels sprouts home from the Shoreview Farmer’s Market (I ate most of the raspberries while I was there).

Ramsey County Projects Overview

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These are some road projects coming up in the Northeast Metro (Northern Ramsey County). If you want to see better pedestrian and bicycling facilities included in these projects then make sure you let your county commissioners and appropriate city council folks know. Planning often begins two to four years prior to construction and it’s difficult to get changes included after about 6 months prior to construction. Adding proper pedestrian and bicycle facilities now, during construction, is very minimal cost. If it’s not done now, it will be another 30 years before the chance comes around again.

I am not including general signal revisions or mill & overlay projects. These though can be found in the Ramsey County TIP Report. Even though not major projects, these do offer opportunities for improvements to pedestrian and bicycle transportation such as better designed signals and button placements or narrowing of vehicular lanes and/or inclusion of bike lanes, cycle tracks, or paths on mill & overlay projects.

2014

Lexington Ave from approx 694 to County Road F (AH/SV) – Reconstruction.

Maryland Ave @ Payne Ave (SP) – Reconstruct Geometrics/Signals.

Highway 61 through downtown White Bear Lake (WBL) – Mill & Overlay plus additional improvements

2015

Hiway 96 from 35W to Old Hiway 8 (AH/NB) – Reconstruction

Lexington Ave @ Hiway 36 (RV) – Reconstruct Interchange. It is critical that they include adequate pedestrian and bicycle facilities on both sides of Lexington as well as allow safe crossing of Lexington.

Hiway 10 @ County Rd H (MV) – Geometrics/Signals.

County Rd E @ Snelling (AH) – Bridge Reconstruction. Critical that they include adequate pedestrian and bicycle facilities on both sides of Cty E and include a bicycle path along Snelling (under Cty E). Sadly they have included no safe bicycling facilities where Cty E has been reconstructed this summer between Snelling and Lexington. This is doubly critical to provide students at Bethel Univ with a safe route to Lexington Ave retail (they currently use the railroad line & bridge).

Raymond Ave from Hampden Ave to Energy Park Dr. (SP) – Reconstruction.

2016

Rice Street from Cty B2 to Cty C2 (RV/LC) – Reconstruction.

Hodgson Road from Gramsie to Bridge St. (SV/VH) – Reconstruction.

Raymond Ave from Energy Park Dr to Como Ave. (SP) – Reconstruction

County E2 @ 35W (NB) – Bridge Replacement.

2017

White Bear Ave @ 694 (WB/MW) – Interchange Reconstruction.

Hiway 96 @ 35E (WB/VH) – Interchange Reconstruction

Cty Rd D from Cleveland to Fairview (AH) – Reconstruction

Rice Street from N. Owasso Blvd to Vadnais Blvd (VH/SV/LC) – Interchange Reconstruction.

Shoreview: Lexington Avenue Reconstruction (Updated July 23, 2013)

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Update (23 Jul, 2013): A crossing has been added across Lexington just north of the 694 ramps. This will be good news for Land O’ Lakes folks and anyone who ventures down the path on the west side of Lexington without realizing that it’s effectively a dead-end.

They are also exploring the addition of refuges.

They are exploring adding No Turn On Red signs at Lexington & F though agree that these are not always effective with U.S. drivers. They are also concerned about how this might delay motor traffic.

All path/pedestrian ramps will be full path width. I assume this means that cyclists can safely ride to street level at any point across the ramp. No word yet on dealing with the jarring bumps of current designs or with anti-skid rumbles.

More to come.

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Ramsey county plans, in 2014, to reconstruct Lexington Avenue between Red Fox Rd (just south of 694) to just north of it’s intersection with County Road F, as well as nearby portions of County Road F. Expanding the Lexington & F intersection is the primary driver of this project.

Click for latest project plan.

They have included some pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, but the current plan still leaves this corridor dangerous for both pedestrians and cyclists, particularly at the Lexington & F intersection that is the core of this project. Given the additional lanes, potentially higher motor vehicle speeds, lack of crossing refuges, and other elements, this corridor may be more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists after this project is complete than it is currently.

Shoreview has some of the best cycling and pedestrian infrastructure in the Twin Cities (and the U.S.). It will be a shame if this project does not continue this leadership.

Below are some concerns with the current plan as well as some possible recommended solutions.

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