BikeMN hosts several large group rides throughout the state, with a couple of new ones on the list in 2024! Not only are they fundraising opportunities for an awesome organization; they also serve to strengthen local chapters of this statewide coalition.
Links
- Minnesota’s Hidden Intercity Bus Network Revisited
- A Warm Welcome to Warmshowers
- Horizons by Loud Mouth Brass
- We Bike Rochester
- Lake Alice 100
- Med City Meander
- Tour of Saints
- Rock-n-Roll the Lakes
- Twin Cities Bike Tour
- Rosewood Gramble
Attributions
Our theme song is Tanz den Dobberstein, and our interstitial song is Puck’s Blues. Both tracks used by permission of their creator, Erik Brandt. Find out more about his band, The Urban Hillbilly Quartet, on their website.
This episode was edited by Jeremy Winter, engineered and transcribed by Stina Neel, and hosted by Ian R Buck. We’re always looking to feature new voices on the show, so if you have ideas for future episodes, drop us a line at [email protected].
Many thanks to our guests Emily Doskey, Luke Doskey, Ali, Becca Combs-Cawley, Ted Duepner, and Michael Wojcik.
Transcript
[00:00:00] Ian: You’ve been here at like the check in booth for pretty much the whole day. Um, what’s your favorite, like, bike that you’ve seen today?
[00:00:06] Ted: Oh, that’s a great question. Somebody was on a, I believe a Tern, uh, GSD. So that’s a um, electric assist, uh, cargo bike. And they had three children on the back of it. And I think like four different striders or other children’s bicycles strapped to it.
And it was amazing.
[00:00:22] Ian: So at some point in the ride, they were like, you know, unload everybody, you know, pedal yourselves for a while and then we’re going to load back up and whatever.
[00:00:29] Ted: Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s right.
[00:00:33] Ian: Welcome to the Streets.mn Podcast, the show where we highlight how transportation and land use can make our communities better places.
Coming to you from beautiful Seward, Minneapolis, Minnesota, I am your host, Ian R. Buck. The Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota is one of my favorite advocacy organizations, and we’ve heard a lot on the show about the work that they do at the state Capitol. But they’re not just a bunch of policy nerds. They also host several fun, organized rides throughout the state.
I’ve been enjoying using these rides as excuses to visit communities that I’ve never biked in before. 2024 is a particularly exciting year since they are spinning up two brand new rides. The Med City Meander took place in Rochester on May 25th and the Twin Cities Bicycle Tour will be happening on September 15th.
I had never visited Rochester before this year, so I was very excited to pack up some microphones, fold up the Brompton, and book a ride on one of the airport shuttles that Aaron Isaacs highlighted in a recent Streets.mn article. Stina and I were staying with a host we found on Warmshowers. Check out our episode from last October about Warmshowers.
Uh, and this host delighted us by asking us if we would like to borrow a tandem bike for the ride. What a fun way to explore a new town and try out a new type of biking all at once. We had a wonderful time on the, I think it was 27 mile route, uh, then we went to the after party and chatted with some of the fellow riders.
So first here are Emily and Luke Doskey. Do you guys, uh, are you kind of more like recreational cyclists? Are you utilitarian cyclists, commuters, whatever?
[00:02:19] Emily: I would say both. I, I think recreation definitely, but then we also actually bike to and from work on a daily basis, actually
[00:02:27] Ian: nice
[00:02:28] Luke: same.
[00:02:28] Ian: Yeah, where do you guys work?
What do you do?
[00:02:32] Emily: I am a clinical nurse specialist at the Mayo Clinic.
[00:02:36] Luke: I do research at the Mayo Clinic.
[00:02:38] Ian: Okay, so so you guys get to commute together, huh?
[00:02:42] Emily: Yeah, it’s very nice and it’s nice to have a partner in crime
[00:02:48] Luke: Obviously like we’ve done a lot of work with We Bike Rochester, you know trying to make like cycling a better experience here and, and, you know, increase the number of people who are able to do it.
[00:02:58] Ian: Um, how, like what, what are the issues that you feel are facing like, uh, commuters here in, in Rochester?
[00:03:09] Luke: Uh, I would say, um, we have a great trail system here in Rochester, and it’s a way for people from far flung areas in the metropolis to get downtown. Uh, but we have some, uh, pinch points when we, uh, try to enter into the downtown and mingle with cars and other means of transportation.
[00:03:31] Emily: I was just talking to another lady in the community and she was saying that one of the reasons that she doesn’t bike to her workplace is because she doesn’t feel comfortable with the heavy traffic. So I think advocating for the voices that are not as well heard is important.
[00:03:53] Ian: I like that you use the phrase far flung parts of this metro area. Um, from what I’ve seen, it seems like the metro area is about a 35 minute ride across, you know, from end to end. Uh, is it, what are, what are some of the farther out destinations that you, you know, try to get to that you’re like, ah, it’s kind of far?
[00:04:13] Luke: We live about a mile from downtown, but a lot of our, Um, places we go to, uh, can be, um, like, the 42nd Street area, so that’s like, every ten streets is a mile, essentially, so, like, about, like, three miles out, and sometimes those are a little bit hairy to get into, but we actually know several, uh, people from work that commute from that area all the way downtown, so there’s a lot of, uh, like, long distance commutes here in Rochester as well by bicycle.
[00:04:44] Emily: We made, like, a two mile path. So if it’s within two miles and the weather is safe, especially, I think the biggest weather that stops us is ice. It’s really hard to bike in ice, but otherwise trying to bike or walk within a two mile radius of our house. So that for us includes our work, our groceries, our faith, our restaurants, like local restaurants that we like.
[00:05:14] Luke: Recreation.
[00:05:15] Emily: Right, yeah.
[00:05:17] Stina: So today, today was a meander. It’s the first one ever. Have you done other cycling events in Rochester, and how do you think it went, and what would you do differently for next year?
[00:05:30] Luke: Personally, I haven’t done a cycle event in Rochester, um, I’ve done several cycle events elsewhere.
What was very different about this was that it was, it was clearly all ages and all abilities and it was really nice to highlight some of the Infrastructure that we do have and how to get around I hope that it will go on for several years to come and I think I think it was a largely a success. Yeah,
[00:06:00] Emily: I would agree.
It was a really nice turnout and really well organized by it We Bike Rochester and collaboration with Bike MN. Uh, and it was a nice way to highlight all the different bike trails and the abilities. And we had some friends that came out with young families and they were able to do the shorter rides and made it more accessible for them as well.
So, yeah.
[00:06:28] Ian: One thing that I liked was that even, um, You know, there was the really short kids, you know, loop, but then there, you know, beyond that, there was just one other distance, right? There’s the 25 mile, but the 25 mile, like kind of went out and back a couple of different times. So like, if you’re ever feeling tired and you’re like, well, we’re back in downtown right now, we can just go to the end right now.
[00:06:53] Luke: Yeah, I think that that’s great. Like, I think that, you know, everybody has different abilities and different comfort zones. And I think that Um, having something that can be adjusted based on your ability is huge, and I think it, it highlights, um, you know, the, um, positive things about cycling, um, and, you know, I hope for as long as I can, I’ll be cycling two things, um, it’s just a great way to see the world.
[00:07:20] Ian: Can you tell us about the bike or bikes that you were riding today?
[00:07:26] Luke: Uh, so I was riding my, uh, like Surly Long Haul Trucker. Uh, so yeah, very classic gets me through a lot of things. And, uh, yeah, it’s like my every day too, as well. So,
[00:07:40] Emily: yeah, I was writing my Bianchi Imola road bike. Uh, I’ve got it many years ago used and it’s been an amazing bike. And you know, the best bike you have is the one that you care for. And the one that you, uh, upkeep, so.
[00:07:59] Stina: Yeah, I was also really surprised at how, like, just the variety of bikes that we saw. Seeing other tandemers, we borrowed our friend’s tandem. Um, seeing people with electric bikes, trikes, uh, the recumbent style.
Um, kids in trailers, kids on the, like, tag along one. Couple of dogs in baskets. It was great.
[00:08:23] Ian: Dog in a backpack.
[00:08:24] Luke: Yeah, that was a first. I had never seen that and the dog looked really happy in his sunglasses. So
[00:08:33] Emily: we passed by this group of cyclers that were, they had some young, young children with them. And they were all on, like, road bikes, and they were, like, kind of practicing, like, how you would on a race.
And they were going, like, at a pace that would be very appropriate for a child. And it was just so amazing to see, like, how patient they were. And, you know, just whenever you pass by, like, a young child, like, you just never know. Like, you’re a role model to them. So, trying to be, uh, you know, encouraging whenever you did pass by, like, a little kid.
Even, like, a little incline for little legs. This is so hard, so, yeah.
[00:09:11] Ian: What was your favorite part of the ride today? Whether that was like a specific trail that you enjoyed, or like, was there any particular like, you know, at the rest stops, any of the events that were going on?
[00:09:25] Luke: I would say there was somewhat of a sense of nostalgia.
So I moved here eight years ago, and uh, like, introduced to trails there, and I moved throughout the city. And so there was, uh, the Bear Creek Trail, which was right near my, like, first apartment in Rochester, and it’s this curvy kind of road that’s by, like, a creek. And I just, uh, it brought me back eight years, so when I, like, moved to Rochester, and I was like, wow, it was a really fun time in my life, so it brought me back.
[00:09:58] Emily: I was gonna say the same thing. So, yeah, and the phlox, like, all the flowers that are out right now are stunning. Just, you know, there was a few spots that I didn’t know that were connected. Um, like over by the Rochester Honkers stadium, there’s like a connection there kind of behind to Quarry Hill. Um, I didn’t know about that, so that was nice to learn and the other areas, but yeah, I would agree.
The Bear Creek area was so pretty.
[00:10:27] Ian: Yeah. Speaking of the flowers being out, um, there was, I don’t remember the name of the street, but it was a fairly busy street, but we had a, you know, separated protected bike lane that also had a bunch of like landscaping and flowers and all the beautification on either side.
And I was like, Oh, you know, we have a number in, in, up in Minneapolis, we have a number of like separated, you know, low stress bike lanes, but I was like, Oh, we could make them beautiful too. Oh yeah. Right. That’s an option.
[00:10:57] Emily: Yeah. That’s a, that’s Broadway in Rochester and they just put in those separated cycle tracks and, I mean, honestly, they have an amazing, I think, infrastructure for our town and, uh, really for the most vulnerable that want a bike but don’t feel safe getting out on the road. Um, and safe is for pedestrians, those in the car, and cyclists, I think.
[00:11:28] Luke: Yeah. I would say that, uh, I would say that, uh, Rochester does a great job with, like, keeping spaces, uh, really, uh, clean.
And then also with, like, the, the flowers, etc. And, like, it’s, it’s great to see, like, uh, a variety of things in, in Rochester. Yeah.
[00:11:46] Emily: I think something that’s unique about Rochester is we are, like, a medical tourism town. So people don’t come in here typically for, like, They’re coming here for medical reasons.
But they’re always looking for something to do in the evenings and to kind of get their mind off of stuff. So, like the bike trails are an easy one that people can get out and, I mean, you can spend your whole day exploring Rochester via a bike trail and you can get very well connected and even connected to other, like, local, like, um, Pine Island, you know, and other like little towns that are close.
[00:12:24] Ian: Medical tourism is such a fascinating concept. Uh, like, like, tourism against your will. Kind of, you know.
[00:12:33] Emily: Yeah. Yeah, I mean as a nurse, um, you have a lot of patients that ask you what to do in the afternoon. Or you have a lot of families that are here supporting their loved ones. And they really need an outlet to help them find something to do.
Well they’re here on their journey and that could be a short term or that could be a very long term journey.
[00:12:56] Ian: Any other final thoughts about, about the ride today or about cycling in general in Rochester?
[00:13:01] Luke: I would say that, um, you know, this, like, cycling in this size of a city is like very, um, very nice. And working here and as a student, like, cycling has given me so much flexibility and joy. throughout, um, the eight years I’ve been here. And, you know, I, I wouldn’t, uh, have done it any differently.
[00:13:23] Emily: I would say just if you’re new to cycling, the best place to start is small stretches and then build up to what makes you more comfortable. And there’s a big community here, but there’s a big community in Minnesota of cyclists. So you have the support there whenever you’re ready to start your journey.
[00:13:43] Ian: Excellent. Uh, Emily, Luke. Thanks for coming on the show.
[00:13:47] Emily: Yeah, thank you.
[00:13:54] Ali: Hi, this is Ali, A L I. It’s very simple, I think.
[00:13:59] Ian: Ali, I heard that you were a bike marshal today on the Med City Meander. So, can you tell us, like, what does that entail? What was your job today?
[00:14:08] Ali: So, my job was to make sure the wayfinders were in the same place, in the perfect place. And also make sure their arrows are showing the right direction.
because some arrows were missing and also some arrows were not in the right place. So that’s why that was my role. And also I was helping other people, for example, helping them out to fix the flat tires, something like that. Yeah, that was my role.
[00:14:35] Ian: So were you, were you riding the route before everybody else to check all the arrows?
Or were you just like kind of in amongst like the whole group?
[00:14:42] Ali: There were three group of us. One of them, uh, that was Eric, and he started at 7, before everyone. I was at 9, uh, actually 4 of us. And, uh, another group, uh, started at 11, and last one was supers, that they started at 1 PM. So, there were 4 of us, I was at 9, I was riding with people, through the people actually, and going faster than them, helping them out, find their best route, and also, uh, finding, uh, the rest stops. something like that, yeah.
[00:15:15] Ian: Now, when you said helping to make sure that the wayfinding, are you talking about just the signs or are you talking about the humans who are out there, like directing us at a couple of different spots?
[00:15:24] Ali: Both. You know, because we have some dropouts yesterday, some of the people dropped from being a wayfinder, because it’s very hard, you know, standing in one place for two hours.
I can understand it totally. It’s very hard thing to do. So, some places we didn’t have any human to guide people, and some places we didn’t have enough, uh, arrows. So, for example, in the intersection of the 1st Avenue and East Center Street, there were no sign, and most of the people went through, uh, the wrong way.
[00:15:59] Ian: There’s all the construction there.
[00:16:00] Ali: Yes, yes, that’s, that’s, that’s the one. So, yeah, uh, I was helping them out and also fixing the, uh, arrows and bringing some arrows from other places to fit it in the right place. That was most of my thing doing today.
[00:16:15] Ian: So, so you have to be pretty familiar with the route, which is kind of challenging because this is the first year, so nobody’s ever done the route, you know, in its entirety before.
Um, like how much, I don’t know, training do you want to call it? Like, like what kind of preparation work did you guys do for
this?
[00:16:31] Ali:
It depends. I am living here for two years, and I had a lot of social rides with We Bike Rochester, so I learned a lot of most of the trails here.
I know most of them, but I think the best skill that everyone can have is to read the map. Actually, there was a map, and, uh, with the map, you could do everything. The best thing was using digital map. I was using, uh, Ride With GPS. Uh, the people of the organization committee here Uh, they prepared a very good and accurate gps map with Ride With GPS and I was following that so every time I went wrong so yeah, I I was one of the people that went wrong through that intersection and I got notice from the Ride With GPS. ” you are doing a wrong job” So yeah reading a map using Ride With GPS or AllTrails or Trailforks, whatever you use, that’s the best option that you can do, so you can download every GPS track that you want and follow that.
[00:17:34] Ian: We were, um, I don’t remember what the street was, but it was a pretty busy street, and it was like, right after we had come across a bridge, and we had to wait at a light to cross, and then we were supposed to take a left turn to go on a protected bike lane, you know, with all of the pretty flowers and everything on either side, And we were queued up at this light with a bunch of other people.
And the group just kind of proceeded on through and kept going straight instead of turning left. And I realized, cause I had on my phone right in front of me, like, Oh. I can see after a block that we’ve, we went too far. And so I told everybody else and the other people in the group were like, how do you know that we’re on, that we’re not on the route anymore?
And I was like, it’s, it’s here.
[00:18:18] Ali: Yeah. Yeah. That’s, that’s, uh, that’s the thing everyone should know because if you have a digital map, uh, specifically Ride with, uh, GPS, uh, it’s where it’s perfect because you can download the map. Everyone make it correct and everyone contributed to that route. So if you have it, you can go through the best route and you, you never missed any turn.
[00:18:42] Ian: So living here in Rochester, uh, what is your favorite like trail? Where’s, where’s your favorite place to ride?
[00:18:49] Ali: Definitely beer, Bear, actually Bear, uh, Creek is the best one because it, it’s covered with the, all of the, you know, trees. It’s very cool, have a lot of turns in it. The other one is Douglas Ray. I really like Douglas Ray.
It’s very close to the city and also it’s very close to my place. I ride it a lot.
[00:19:10] Ian: Yeah, I noticed when, when we were about to turn onto Bear Creek, I was like, I looked to our right and it was like Willow Creek. And then I looked to our left and it’s like Bear Creek. And I was like, Oh wow. Okay. There’s a lot, there’s a lot of creeks around here.
[00:19:23] Ali: Yes, that’s correct. There is a lot of creeks there. And that one is one of my favorite ones because it’s very, it’s very, you know, like a jungle forest, something like that. A lot of trees is there. You wouldn’t have sunshine that burns you. I like that one.
[00:19:40] Ian: The funny thing about the route that we did today is like, it goes like into and out of downtown so many times that we, you know, but like every time that we do, we’re on like a different creek.
So I kept thinking, You know, I kept feeling like, “Oh, are we doing the same section of trail again? No, wait, this is different.” Like, and just kind of, you know, seeing, uh, not being from here, like having to look around and being like, “Oh, wait, what’s, what are the big buildings? What’s the industry? Are we still near that one?
Like, you know, the college campus looking thing or, you know, whatever.”
[00:20:12] Ali: Yeah. Yeah. Bike tourism in Rochester is good. Sometimes it gets confusing. I understand it specifically in downtown because in downtown the bike trails are not connected to each other and you should go through the roads uh, and using you know, the separated bike lanes or not separated bike lanes But, except that, most of them are good.
Specifically, if you follow the map, it’s very good.
[00:20:41] Ian: Yeah, when I came into town yesterday, I tried to get creative and take a connection that I thought I saw, that Google Maps didn’t think was possible. And, I’m pretty sure it would have been possible, except that there was a bunch of construction in that park.
So, it kind of, uh, bit me in the butt.
[00:20:58] Ali: That’s the problem we are face, uh, facing now because Google Map and Apple Map are not doing very good at biking now. Apple Map is kind of better in my opinion, uh, better than Google Map, but it’s still, for example, one of my friends two days ago use Google Map and, uh, uh, the Google Map, uh, directed her to the highway.
So it was not a very good option to have, but afterwards we came back with it, you know, uh, my knowledge actually, because I knew all the separated lanes and everything else. But Highway 14 has a bike lane on it, so obviously it’s safe.
[00:21:35] Stina: No!
[00:21:36] Ali: It’s not separated. You know, as long as it’s not a separated bike lane, I don’t think it’s safe. Because, yeah, particularly if a bus passes you, yeah. So, yeah, that’s not a very good thing. And also trucks are going. I know that feeling I was in that feeling. I don’t like to be, I don’t like to experience it again. Separated bike lanes are good, but not separated one. Some people don’t respect that lane.
[00:22:07] Ian: All right. Any other thoughts about the event today or, you know, how you think, think things went?
[00:22:13] Ali: Everything, in my opinion, maybe I’m biased because I was one of the ride marshals, but in my opinion, it was good. Last time I was a ride marshal in Saint Paul Classic. I think this event was better than the other one.
It was better organized and also better arrows in the way. I know we had some problem with the second stop station. Uh, every, yeah, most of the people passed that because there were no arrow there. But it was, uh, in total, in general, I think it was very good and everyone enjoyed it. We got a lot of good feedbacks out of it.
[00:22:50] Ian: Ali, thanks for coming on the show.
[00:22:52] Ali: Thank you.
[00:22:59] Ian: Now, one of my favorite things about events like this is that at the rest stops, um, the organizers often put forth, uh, a lot of extra effort to have something interesting going on, um, and in particular, I’m always a fan of when there is live music going on. Uh, so at, uh, about the halfway point of, uh, the Med City meander, we were delighted when we rolled up to a rest stop that was like right there in the heart of downtown Rochester.
And there was a brass band playing, uh, loud, boisterous. , Awesome, I loved it. It sounded a little something like this.
And we were further excited when we got to the after party that we spotted some of the band members there. So here is Becca.
[00:24:09] Becca: The downtown is called Peace Plaza. There’s two ends of it. Uh, one is closer to the hospital and one is closer to University Square. So we’re at the Chateau end by University Square.
Peace Plaza in Rochester.
[00:24:21] Ian: And I hear that your, your band doesn’t just do events here in Rochester. I hear that you guys like to go to RAGBRAI.
[00:24:29] Becca: Yes, we, uh, I’m a cyclist myself and, uh, we love RAGBRAI, We go down and play with different vendors along the route, as well as just hitting up, uh, host towns and stopping and playing at, at different bars along the way.
And we’ve been doing that for six years now. So we’ve done, well, I guess there was covid one year, so maybe we’ve done five, maybe we’ve done six time doesn’t work anymore. ,
[00:24:54] Ian: Can you describe the, the, you know, the band, like what kind of music do you guys play?
[00:24:59] Becca: So we started out as a New Orleans-style brass band and we quickly kind of got away from that because we do a lot more pop covers and we don’t have, uh, two drummers a New Orleans style brass band is like what you would think of marching down the streets of New Orleans.
We have a set drummer and our players are a trumpet, a trombone, uh, two saxophones, a tenor and a bari and myself on tuba. We do a lot of pop stuff. We’ve got three albums of music that we’ve written ourselves, which is Also very poppy, has a big jazz influence in it. Um, yeah, we can, you can find us on Spotify. Like we’re real musicians.
[00:25:35] Ian: And, uh, yeah. Tell people the name of the band one more time so that they can find you.
[00:25:39] Becca: Sure. We’re Loud Mouth Brass.
[00:25:42] Ian: And I, so when we rolled up, we, when we looked at the map initially, we had overlooked that rest stop in downtown. And so we thought, like, Oh, there’s just some street festival going on.
We’re just gonna keep rolling on through. And then we realized, like, Oh, the band is wearing, like, cycling kit. They’ve got the little hats and they’ve got, you know, the jerseys and everything. So we were like, wait, these are our people.
[00:26:05] Becca: I texted everybody last night to say like, wouldn’t it be fun if we were cycling jerseys?
They’re like, no, we don’t have those. It’s like, I have so many, I have so many cycling jerseys. I will outfit all of you in jerseys and hats. Please, please wear them.
[00:26:20] Ian: So you guys weren’t like riding the ride and then stopping and like doing all the music and everything.
[00:26:27] Becca: Not today. When we do RAGBRAI, we ride to the stops and play at the stops and then ride out of the stops.
Um, some of the band members don’t ride very much, but there are three of us that are really avid cyclists. And I think that just the mentality of cycling really fits with, uh, What we do, it’s a little bit DIY, it’s a little bit like, out of what you would think of as normal. We really enjoy playing for cyclists.
[00:26:54] Ian: Um, what was your favorite piece that you got to play today?
[00:26:56] Becca: Oh, that’s, uh, man, that’s a tough one. I’m gonna, I’m gonna promote one of our songs, because it’s really easy to say like, oh, this cover is so good. Eric, uh, the Bari sax player wrote a piece called, uh, Horizons?
That’s just so stinking good. It’s very, we have a music video that goes along with it. It just, it hits really hard. It’s a fun tune that when you hear it, it just makes you happy. So I love playing Horizons.
[00:27:29] Ian: One of the things that I really enjoyed about seeing you guys playing today was the way that you, like, used the space of Peace Plaza because it’s, you know, it’s beautiful, like, there’s a fountain on one end, there’s, like, a whole water feature that kind of goes all the way through the space and you guys were, like, walking around and getting up on the stage and then down off the stage.
Does Peace Plaza itself, like, lend itself well to that or is that something that you guys are always, like, looking for, like, ways to explore spaces when you’re playing?
[00:27:57] Becca: Yes and yes. Peace Plaza does lend itself to being able to explore that space because it’s a beautiful, it’s a beautiful space. I don’t know if you saw the ground has like a giant poem on it.
Uh, they have the water feature there. The marquee is really pretty. Um, it just lends itself to exploring and I think that I’ve been in Rochester for 11 years and they’ve built that space up to be something worth spending time in. But we also do like interacting with folks. Um, some of my cycling friends that were on the ride today were just kind of off to the side And so I would go bug them a little bit, but we like kind of moving around and inviting people into our space There weren’t a lot of people up for dancing because there was quite a bit of riding to do but that’s okay We usually move around to get people engaged in what we’re doing.
[00:28:44] Ian: Also like We’re midwesterners, so like, how much dancing are people going to be, you know?
[00:28:50] Becca: I mean, I encourage people to go side to side at the very least. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A little sway.
[00:28:56] Ian: Yeah, no, I mean, uh, any other, like, thoughts about today? Um
[00:29:01] Stina: Because this is the first annual one.
[00:29:02] Ian: Indeed, yes. Yeah, are you guys planning on coming back next year?
[00:29:05] Becca: Uh, if they’ll have us, absolutely. I love working with Rochester cyclists, and we actually do really well with playing for events. We play for quite a few runs. We played for a 5K and then the, the marathon a few weeks ago. And it’s just, it’s nice because you have this, you know, audience that keeps moving.
What I really like about it is that if you get it right, just like with RAGBRAI, every 30 minutes, you have a new audience and you just have new excitement, which is different and nice. And it’s not the same experience as sitting in a bar and ordering a drink. And I love those crowds too. But when you get like.
A new force of people every 30 minutes. That’s where it’s at.
[00:29:45] Ian: We have a couple of friends who were way ahead of us on the ride because they, you know, registered and got to the start a long time before we did. And they apparently passed through Peace Plaza before you guys were playing. And, and that, you know, but they had a bunch of food available.
And by the time we got there, like, most of the snacks were gone. But like, you guys were there. And, you know, so Will was like, wow, we had like a totally different experience. Even though we did the same ride, you know, depending on the time of day that you get through. So,
[00:30:13] Becca: yeah. That is the cool thing about, about ridng and what I like about riding is you can go through the same space half an hour apart or an hour apart, and it is totally different. And it just has to do with what elements are there in that space. So it’s actually kind of cool that your friends didn’t hear us, but they can go back and be like, Oh, I want to go hear that band.
Or you can be like, well, maybe we’ll go earlier next year. So we can have snackies.
[00:30:35] Ian: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I would, I would have been very sad if we had missed the, the live music. So I think next year, you know, if, if we know that there’s live music and we get to a spot and where it hasn’t started yet, I’m going to stick around for it.
[00:30:49] Stina: Right. And I think, so this is our first year tandeming. We’ve never used a tandem bicycle before. And all I can think of was like, I’m sitting really upright. I could play an instrument back here on the back. So is that, is that the future of the band, is cargo bikes?
[00:31:07] Becca: Oh my gosh. Um, I can ride about two blocks with my sousaphone and no wind.
Because I’ve, because I’ve done it before. Um, absolutely no wind, I can absolutely do it. I, I worry about those two handed players like saxophone and trombone that I don’t know how we’d mount a drum kit. Um, we have played with trailers and played on trailers before, having someone else cycle. Um, we do a lot of bike related stuff, weirdly.
[00:31:34] Ian: Yeah, I imagine that like string instruments are probably easier to do breath wise, you know, like You’re not you’re not yeah
[00:31:43] Becca: When uh when you don’t have to breathe to play but you have to breathe to live it makes it a lot easier All
[00:31:49] Ian: Alright Becca, thanks for coming on the show
[00:31:52] Becca: Awesome. Thanks for having me.
[00:31:53] Ian: Right. Now that we’ve heard a little bit about what it was like to be on the ride, uh, let’s talk about some of the behind the scenes details. Um, I caught up with Ted Duepner right at the end of the ride. He was, uh, running the registration booth. So, uh, he had some, some raw numbers for me.
You, uh, work at Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota. What is your position?
[00:32:22] Ted: Uh, I’m the Supporter Relations and Engagement Manager.
[00:32:26] Ian: Sounds like a made up title.
[00:32:27] Ted: Right. Sounds like a very nonprofit title.
[00:32:30] Ian: Um, so, how, what was our, what was our numbers today? How many people did we have riding this thing?
[00:32:35] Ted: Yeah, so, first year event, um, I, I was, uh, really hoping, you know, to get about 300 riders.
And we ended up getting 445 per-registered and picked up another 60 or 70 day of. I mean, weather turned out really nice, so I think that’s why a number of people decided to come out.
[00:32:54] Ian: Yeah. Yeah. The, those of us who finished earlier, I think, uh, didn’t have to deal with this wind quite as much. Uh, here we are with all of the papers whipping around us right now,
[00:33:03] Ted: Yeah, I mean, you know, the, the last time I was down here to kind of talk to them about this ride, um, I was remarking how windy it was and, and everybody who’s locally here was surprised that, I was surprised it was windy because they’re like, you know, this is one of the windiest cities. In the US and they’re like Google it, you know, okay, and sure enough it definitely is
[00:33:24] Ian: Everybody’s got to have those like one or two things.
That’s just like the local pride, right?
[00:33:28] Ted: Yeah Yeah and I mean so there’s always like a you know a resistance level of you know, six or seven when you’re going into it and you get like almost that ebike like assistance, you know when it’s at your back.
[00:33:40] Ian: Yeah You’ve been here at like the check in booth for pretty much the whole day.
Um, what’s your favorite like bike that you’ve seen today?
[00:33:47] Ted: Oh, that’s a great question. I mean, I, I know I’m talking to somebody right now who showed up on a tandem that they’ve never ridden until today. I thought that was a great story.
[00:33:56] Ian: I wasn’t fishing though.
[00:33:58] Ted: I, I do have a picture I can text it to you, uh, later Ian, but um, somebody was on a, I believe a Tern, uh, GSD, so that’s a, um, electric assist, uh, cargo bike. And they had three children on the back of it. And I think like four different striders or other children’s bicycles strapped to it. And it was amazing.
[00:34:17] Ian: So at some point in the ride, they were like, you know, unload everybody, you know, pedal yourselves for a while, and then we’re going to load back up and whatever.
[00:34:24] Ted: Yeah, I think that’s right. And I mean, and where we are, um, you know, there’s, uh, the Cascade Lake, like fun laps. That’s kind of how we designated those. So it’s two and a half miles. So, you know, that’s That’s a difficult ride if you’re on a strider, you know, it’s a good way to tire you out, so, you know, you pop off the cargo bike, do that lap, and then maybe you jump back on, you know, for the ride after that.
[00:34:46] Ian: I love that you guys had like a, like a little skills course for like kids here at the start, uh, you know, with cones and everything. Um, what, what, like, what was the inspiration for that?
[00:34:56] Ted: Yeah. Um, so, uh, one of the local partners there who hosts bike rodeos and a number of them, um, was just asked to kind of bring the same equipment and set up that they usually do. And yeah, it was a blast. I mean, I saw some adults doing it as well. There’s a little ramp too. I even saw a couple of kids like kind of, you know, somewhat crashed into each other, but they were all laughing while they were doing it. So yeah, it seemed like it was really fun. I mean, who knew like how much fun you can have with just some cones and pool noodles, you know?
Yeah. It’s really fun.
[00:35:26] Ian: Yeah. We were kind of hoping that it was still going to be set out by the time we got back so we could try the tandem on it and see like what kind of turn radius we can get.
[00:35:33] Ted: Yeah. You know, it’s got a little bit of, uh, almost. Like little league, um, like New Belgium urban assault ride vibes. Um, I’m not sure if you’re familiar, but like every, that was like a checkpoint race, almost like an alley cat, but at each stop you had to like perform like some kind of obstacle course. And some of them were things like that. You’d have to do like a bicycle limbo. You know, or, uh, maybe you’d had to ride big wheels, like through like a cone course or something like that. Just, just little ridiculous things. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I, I, you know, yeah, I think a number of adults were kind of jealous of, uh, you know, kids getting things like that and they’d be happy to do those as well. And, you know, and, and we’ve seen those like, you know, Minneapolis bike parks, like reutilizing like these dilapidated tennis courts, you know, to set up little, little features and stuff like that. And man, I see. You know, kids and families doing that stuff every day.
[00:36:23] Ian: Any other final thoughts about the inaugural med city meander today?
[00:36:28] Ted: Yeah. You know, I just got to give like so much credit to, uh, our local chapter here, We Bike Rochester. I know they’re apprehensive. Like there’s a, a number of perfectionists in this group and, and a lot of times they do deliver on that, but this is going to be a learning experience, but I think came away with a lot of smiles.
Um, there’s a lot of interest in doing this again. You know, and yeah, I think it’s overwhelmingly successful for a first year event. So I’m really, really proud of We Bike Rochester. They should feel really great about this.
[00:36:57] Ian: Yeah. I’m, I’m excited to come and do this again next year.
[00:37:00] Ted: Yeah, absolutely. It’s let’s get more people down to Rochester, you know, like, um, I’m not super familiar with the area and every time I come, I find something else, uh, that I really like about it.
[00:37:09] Ian: Yeah. I’m, uh, I’m excited to stick around tomorrow and do a little, you know, some more touristy things and check out some of the museums and stuff. So,
[00:37:15] Ted: yeah. Excellent. Yeah. I think there’s a lot of hidden gems here for sure.
[00:37:18] Ian: All right, Ted. Thanks for coming on the show.
[00:37:20] Ted: Absolutely. Thanks, Ian.
[00:37:28] Ian: And finally, let’s chat with Michael Wojcik, who is the executive director of the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota, about both, you know, the Mid City Meander, but also how do all of the rest of these rides fit into the vision of the Bicycle Alliance. This is the inaugural, uh, event. It’s going to be annual, is that correct?
[00:37:50] Michael: It sure is after this.
[00:37:53] Ian: So, um, so yeah, let’s kind of debrief, you know, what went into the planning of this, how do you think it went, um, where are we going from here?
[00:38:03] Michael: Well, I mean, there’s a lot to unpack there, but, um, I think when people come out and enjoy these events, they don’t always understand how much hard work goes on behind the scenes to make it happen.
And in particular, we’ve got this local chapter of Bike MN called We Bike Rochester here in Rochester. And, you know, my own background, I’ve been in Rochester now for 25 years, and I’ve served on the city council here, so I’ve always had a passion for doing something in the community like this. And everything finally kind of came together so that we could actually put on an event.
And, um, the one thing that you can’t control is the weather and you throw in some amazing weather today, um, tremendous, uh, work up front, a lot of teammates doing good work. And we really had an outstanding event that, um, exceeded our somewhat aggressive expectations.
[00:38:54] Ian: So when you say everything kind of came together, I mean, one of the key pieces I imagine is, the executive director for BikeMN is now you, you know, and you live in Rochester. So, like, you’re much more familiar with the area. You’re interested in promoting cycling in the area. Um, how, yeah, how big of a, like, deal was that for making this happen?
[00:39:17] Michael: I think that would have probably been the biggest factor in actually making it happen, but I can’t, um, credit myself with doing any of the actual work.
I was more of an inspiration saying, Hey, can we do this? Pretty, pretty please with, uh. sugar on top, but, um, uh, in my time in the city council, I served 12 years on the Rochester City Council. I was pretty passionate about, um, not only building out a system of, uh, trails and lanes here, but making sure they connected well with each other.
And, um, the park that we headquartered this event at Cascade Lake Park is also a project that I worked on greatly. So I was able to take some of the, uh, projects that I was passionate about for many, many years and. Build the event around that and maybe the most rewarding thing is the people who have never thought about going to Rochester to ride a bicycle for fun before, um, just being blown away with how amazing the system of trails are down here. Yeah.
[00:40:14] Ian: Yeah. Very pleasant surprise. I try not to judge communities before I spend some time in them, right? But yeah, I mean, you don’t hear about the bike trails in Rochester very often. Um, I, I did notice as soon as I got into town and I was trying to have Google Maps like, you know, route me to different places. I was like, there are no straight lines in this town, are there?
[00:40:37] Michael: You know, what people forget is that, uh, Rochester is relatively a new town. From the standpoint that we weren’t that big of a town 50 years ago. And it’s really been with the growth of the clinic that we’ve gotten a lot bigger. And our growth happens to coincide with lots of cul de sac, suburban style development.
Which is just terrible for getting around biking, walking or transit, right? So we’ve always had those as challenges, but we have a great backbone of our system with the rivers that run through our community and little by little we’re making connections in the dense, uh, busy downtown core and other places to make sure that you can get from point a to point b when I When I was on the City Council, my go to phrase was that we have a great bike trail system as long as you don’t need to get anywhere.
And that’s what we’ve been working to improve.
[00:41:26] Ian: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, beautiful trails. Super fun to ride on. And also, like, yeah, when we’re almost doubling the time that it takes to get from one place to another because the only, like, safe route to get there is, yeah, very windy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
In the kind of big picture, thinking about all of the different rides that Bike MN hosts throughout the, the state, right? You know, we have, um, the Rock, Rock-n-Roll the Lakes down in Albert Lea. We’ve got the Tour of Saints up in St. Joseph. You know, like, like, what role do those events play in, Like, the, the advocacy objectives of BikeMN, what, like, is it just fundraising, or like, what, like, what’s the purpose?
[00:42:13] Michael: Well, and, I think you hit on a question that internally we’re trying to figure out a little bit on our own as well, and, um, I think a successful event is going to check a number of boxes. First and foremost, let’s be perfectly clear. These are important for fundraising. We are a nonprofit organization. We do raise funds through these activities, but there’s also a great amount of community building that goes on around these as well.
And that means, um, strengthening our local chapters that help with these on, um, as, as a nonprofit, when you rely on a lot of volunteers, you always have to inspire people to become involved. And these events can certainly help with that, especially as we go into new places that haven’t had these events before.
Um, and I think there’s a big advocacy piece as well. Most people know, uh, BikeMN through our statewide advocacy and we’ve been incredibly successful with that. But one of the things that I’d like to focus on as Executive Director is really, um, empowering local communities to also take local advocacy into account because that’s where a lot of important change takes places.
And we highlighted some great routes here, but we can also point to some places that what if we closed this connection and made this a little bit better. And I think that’s important for our local communities to do their advocacy as well, and I think we can help them with that.
[00:43:27] Ian: Right, yeah. Are all of the rides associated with a local chapter? I think probably Tour of Saints, I can’t think of one.
[00:43:36] Michael: No, um, Tour of Saints is not affiliated with a local chapter. Pretty much everything that we are involved in is affiliated with a local chapter. And there may come a time, too, where some of the communities around the Tour of Saints, um, one of the things that makes Bike MN special is that we are truly a statewide organization, not only in name, but we actually have active people and we serve all 87 counties.
And an event like, what we haven’t done in the past with the Tour of Saints is try to, um, build some local advocacy through that. But I do think that’s an opportunity, uh, in that, uh, region in the future. Yeah.
[00:44:10] Ian: Cause I think some of the rides were, like, homegrown within Bike MN, right? But I think Tour of Saints was kind of inherited from?
[00:44:18] Michael: Yeah. That’s, um, currently that’s our only ride that we don’t own ourselves. And, um, but we have a, um, fantastic partner with that event and, um, A, a, a kind of person that you can’t help but like to work with, and uh, Michael Doyle is his name, and he’s been doing a nice job, and that ride typically gets about a thousand people year, so it’s, it’s very worthwhile, it gets a lot of people out in a part of the state that we’re not otherwise too active in.
[00:44:43] Ian: Yeah, and I, I guess that’s a good kind of perspective, you know, to think about here with the, the inaugural Med City Meander, we broke 500, uh, I heard from Ted, on, on ridership. Um, yeah, how, like. What’s the ridership usually for all the other, you know, events that we do?
[00:45:02] Michael: Um, and we’re going through a transition phase in a lot of these events as well, but we feel that our mature events should always be into the four figures kind of paid riders.
And even here in Rochester, I mean, we set a very aggressive goal of 500 riders for the first Meander. We ended up exceeding that goal by a fair amount. But that’s not counting all of the, um, free family activities that we set up at the same time as well. And we had hundreds of kids and families just coming out to do laps around Cascade Lake, doing our riding a strider obstacle course.
And, um, that’s how you make this a more sustaining event. It’s something that families look forward to every year, and that’s important to us as well.
[00:45:45] Ian: Yeah. You also have the Twin Cities Bike Tour. This is the first year of that one. Um, let’s plug that a little bit.
[00:45:52] Michael: More than anything else that’s new since I’ve been at the Bicycle Alliance in Minnesota, I am really excited for this event.
Minneapolis hasn’t had a signature bike ride for a number of years. And, um, this, as far as we can tell, this is going to be the first ever organized bike ride that takes in both the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Grand Rounds. And that’s just a fantastic opportunity to do it in a way that’s supported. The total routes about 46 miles. If you do the long route.
[00:46:20] Ian: And I was looking at it and I was like, wow, this is like significant, you know.
[00:46:25] Michael: It’s, it’s incredible. And, um, you know what? You don’t necessarily, I think people even that live in the Twin Cities don’t realize how amazing of an asset this is because they don’t always put it together for transportation and recreation purposes.
But we’re talking about two of the best park systems in the country and the absolute highlights of it. And all of these, um, businesses along the way that are supporting it. This is going to be a really incredible event. And, um, this is going to be the first annual Twin Cities bike tour. And it’s, um, an opportunity for people to be there from the start.
And one other thing that I would say from other events that we’ve done in the past is, one of my goals as Executive Director of the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota is that when we do events in communities, it should look like the community that we’re in. And that means in places like Minneapolis and Saint Paul, where half of the youth population are children of color, that should be representative in our, in our rides. So we’re working with Minneapolis and Saint Paul and trying to figure out how we can work with the schools and other organizations to have a number of low cost, low barrier to entry, Free type activities that just get people out enjoying the amenities that are part of their community.
[00:47:34] Ian: And, and doing that as part of the Twin Cities Bike Tour, okay.
[00:47:39] Michael: We’re, we’re always going to have that donor class ride where we’re putting on a 46 mile ride. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do other activities, uh, with it as well that really encourages people to come out for their first time and maybe they get involved and become more active in these other ones in the future.
[00:47:54] Ian: Nice, yeah. Bike MN was involved in putting on, I mean, you know, like really running the, the Saint Paul Classic for many years. Why are we transitioning from Saint Paul Classic to the Twin Cities Bike Tour?
[00:48:07] Michael: So we don’t see the Twin Cities Bike Tour as necessarily being a competing event. It’s a very different event.
[00:48:13] Ian: And it is the same time of year.
[00:48:15] Michael: It is. It is the same time of year. I mean, it’s hard to beat the fall in the Twin Cities, so we always have that. But, um, the reality is, is, uh, Bike MN has never owned the, uh, Saint Paul Classic, it’s owned by an individual party and, um, you know, some of the things that we were trying to accomplish with the, um, with our rides, like the, um, inclusion factor, um, were sometimes pushed back upon.
So, by having our own event now, we are going to be able to do more to make it an inclusive event. And I think the other part that’s pretty key with this is that, um, Ultimately, we didn’t own the Saint Paul Classic and we did make an offer to continue to operate the Saint Paul Classic, but ultimately the owner of that event opted to not renew that contract with us.
So it wasn’t necessarily even, even us walking away. This was something, this is the situation that we inherited and we’re going to make the best of it and do something that’s really great for the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul and surrounding areas.
[00:49:11] Ian: Yeah. Looking forward to it.
[00:49:12] Michael: I am too.
[00:49:14] Ian: One thing that, as a car free cyclist, right, that I always think about is, How am I going to get there with my bike, right?
Um, for some of the events it’s easier than others, right? Like, um, one of the reasons that I did the Tour of Saints last year, was because, uh, you can get up there on the Northstar, right? With a full size bicycle. Um, now I own a Brompton, and so I was able to come down here to Rochester with a folding bike on, you know, loaded up on the, the, uh, Groome shuttle, right?
What are some, like, solutions or ways that we can encourage people to be able to come to these events in different parts of the state, you know, who might not have their own, like, motorized transportation?
[00:49:55] Michael: And, you know, this is one of the things I absolutely love about reading Streets MN and other sources as well, is that, um, the reality is, if we’re a statewide organization, that means we’re doing events in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.
[00:50:07] Ian: Right.
[00:50:07] Michael: And good luck getting there by public transportation.
[00:50:09] Ian: Right.
[00:50:10] Michael: And, um, I think that’s something that we have to acknowledge as a, you know, as a state, is that depending on your geography and where you live, there are greater challenges and as an organization, we believe we start at the local level because every community has some core that they can build upon. But, um, getting between places can be very difficult and, you know, here where we’re sitting in Rochester right now is a unique challenge. In that, um, there are a lot of places that the rail lines back in the day ran. And you can go back and put a train in like the Northern Lights Express to Duluth. There are no train lines between Minneapolis and Rochester.
And um, so, and there’s not a good mass transit system between there. So ultimately it is a gap that we acknowledge and um, We, we do not live um, on an island. We understand that there are a lot of organizations doing transportation work that care about these issues. And we try to be a good partner for these organizations.
But, fundamentally, transit between regional centers in Minnesota is fundamentally broken, and we need to do more to make it better. And um, certainly Rochester to Minneapolis is one of those challenges where we have to come up with some feasible solutions, because that’s the only real path forward to truly decarbonize and democratize our transit.
[00:51:31] Ian: In the meantime, do you think, like, as the organizing Organization of the event. Is there a way to like pair up people, you know, who might be coming from different parts of the state? You know with other like, you know carpool buddies
[00:51:45] Michael: yeah I actually think that’s a fantastic question because I had that conversation with somebody here I was pitching them on the Twin Cities Bike Tour And they’re like, you know, but I’d have to find a way of getting up there because I live car free here.
And I’m like, you know, that is a good point. And I almost guarantee you as part of that registration, if you send that comment to us, there’s probably somebody else coming from that same region and to the extent that we can pair people, which is beneficial in a number of different ways. It just, um, increases the ability of people to participate in our events, and that’s really awesome.
[00:52:19] Ian: Yeah. That’s everything that I can think of asking about the bicycle events. Do you have any other final thoughts that you wanted to touch on?
[00:52:28] Michael: You know, maybe one other thing that I’d like to, um, maybe throw out there is that when BikeMN is functioning at our, at our peak, we are a connector of different groups who care about the same issues particularly with our statewide, uh, influence. And, um, you know, to somebody who might be listening who’s interested in, like, how do we make this happen in our community, it really starts with a few people who are willing to step up and say, hey, we’d like to do something like this. It doesn’t have to be grandiose.
Not everyone’s going to have many hundreds of people at their first annual event. But it really is about building community. So we want to be a statewide organization. We encourage people to contact us. If this is something they’d like to see in their community, because we’d like to be their partner in it.
[00:53:13] Ian: Yeah. Yeah.
Alright, let’s wrap up this episode with some information about each of the six, uh, big group rides that Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota hosts throughout the year. So each one of these are annual events.
Uh, first we have the Lake Alice 100. Which happens every year on the Saturday before Mother’s Day. Uh, this is the only one that is free. It takes place in Fergus Falls, and it has probably the most unique route of any of them. Uh, it is a, a short loop around Lake Alice. Uh, it’s a little bit over a mile, and the idea is that you, uh. Circle the lake as many times as you want to throughout the day, um, and just have fun. I’m looking forward to checking this one out in future years because Fergus Falls is the end of the Central Lakes Trail. Uh, so I’ve been meaning to check out that route for a long time. And, uh, getting to go to a big group ride, uh, as well sounds like a lot of fun.
The Med City Meander, as we’ve been, uh, talking about for most of this episode is every Saturday before Memorial Day, and, uh, has several different distance routes available all on paved trails.
If you are listening to this episode on the week that it was published, uh, the Tour of Saints is the one that’s coming up really soon. Um, in 2024, Tour of Saints is happening on Sunday, July 21st. Uh, this one is out by St. Joseph, Minnesota, just a little bit northwest of St. Cloud. Um, and you have three different, uh, distances to choose from there. An 18 mile, a 35 mile and a 50 mile, uh, route. And the nice thing about the 35 and the 50 mile ones is that, uh, you don’t have to choose which one you are doing until close to the end of the 35 mile route. So if you get to that point and you’re feeling like you’re about done, um, you can turn and go towards the end and you get the 35 mile route. Uh, otherwise, if you are feeling like you still want to keep going, uh, you can do the 50 mile route.
Rock and roll of the lakes is in Albert Lea. This year, it’s gonna be on August 10th. Um. Named, uh, because they are the hometown of rock and roll icon, Eddie Cochran. They have 10, 30, and 50 mile routes for this one.
The Twin Cities Bicycle Tour is going to be on Sunday, September 15th, 2024. We have three different, uh, distances available for this one: a 6.6 Mile route, uh, family friendly route for $10, $30 for the 20 mile route, and $46 for the 46 mile route.
And finally, the Rosewood Gramble is going to be on Saturday, September 28th, 2024, up in Thief River Falls. This is the only one that includes significant, uh, gravel options. So they have a "sweet 16" paved route. Uh, they have the Rosewood route, which is a 30 mile paved route, and then they have two different versions of the "Gramble." Uh, the Gramble 40K is a gravel route, and the Gramble 100K is also a gravel route.
So whatever kind of riding you’d like to do and whatever part of the state you’re going to go to, uh, I hope to see you at a few of these events.
Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Streets.MN Podcast. The show is released under a creative commons attribution, non commercial, non derivative license. So feel free to republish the episode as long as you are not altering it and you are not profiting from it. The music in this episode is by Eric Brandt and the Urban Hillbilly Quartet. Along with a guest appearance of Horizons by the Loud Mouth Brass Band.
This episode was edited by Jeremy Winter, engineered and transcribed by Stina Neel, and hosted by me, Ian R. Buck. We’re always looking to feature new voices on the Streets. mn podcast, so if you have ideas for future episodes, drop us a line at podcast@streets. mn. Streets. mn is a community blog and podcast and relies on contributions from audience members like you. If you can make a one time or recurring donation, you can find more information about doing so at streets. mn slash donate. Find other listeners and discuss this episode on your favorite social media platform using the hashtag #streetsmnpodcast.
Until next time, take care.