Inaugural Twin Cities Bike Tour Draws Thousands

A week after the Saint Paul Classic Bike Tour made its annual circuit around Minnesota’s Capital City, the inaugural run of the Twin Cities Bike Tour (TCBT) followed suit, with an intercity sampling of rivers, lakes and streams — and highlighting the Twin Cities’ network of protected bike lanes.

A map highlighting the three routes of the Twin Cities Bike Tour.
The Bicycle Alliance’s map of the three routes used for the event.

The events offered cycling enthusiasts a double helping of the best of St. Paul, with its Grand Round prominently featured. As previously reported in Streets.mn, this new offering from the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota (more broadly known as BikeMN) was born out of necessity when the Saint Paul Classic’s owner, Richard Arey, severed ties with BikeMN earlier this year. This left the organization without a critical fundraiser for its operations, and with a scant nine months to organize a separate event.

To set the new event apart from the original, the TCBT prominently featured Minneapolis, including the Chain of Lakes, the Midtown Greenway and the Minnehaha Parkway.

Frank, Georgette and Steve prepare for the 20-mile Chain of Lakes loop.

A Who’s Who of MSP

The TCBT began and ended at Wabun Park in Minneapolis, a stone’s throw from Minnehaha Falls and the Ford Bridge. Many chose to begin their day with yoga exercises, led by certified instructor Alex Daye. Participants reflected a wide range of ages and abilities. Experienced cyclists with full cycling kits shared the trails with folks in street clothes and hybrid bikes. I noticed many seniors sporting jerseys from previous rides, such as Ragbrai. E-bikes abounded. So did participating bike clubs.

The Major Taylor Bicycle Club of Minnesota stepped up to ride marshal the event. Photo by Walter Griffin

In an interview with Streets.mn podcaster Ian Buck, BikeMN Executive Director Michael Wojcik stated he hoped that any event the group organized would reflect the community in which it took place. According to BikeMN’s Supporter Relations and Engagement Manager Ted Duepner, “we had over 20 local organizations represented who serve diverse aspects of the Twin Cities bicycling community.” Children and youth were also well represented, particularly for the family-friendly six-mile ride. All told, approximately 2,000 participants turned out for this inaugural event.

Early morning stretching session led by yoga instructor Alex Daye. Photo by Marco Mejia

Best of Both Cities

For cyclists used to traveling within their own beat, the Twin Cities Bicycle Tour offered participants a chance to feel the contrast between the wide-open spaces that characterize many of St. Paul’s trails with the kind of density found on the heavily trafficked Minneapolis thoroughfares.

On the Sam Morgan trail that runs along the river past downtown St. Paul, we found sweeping panoramic views and few other cyclists. Of course, it was also early on a Sunday morning! By lunchtime, as we arrived at the fourth of five rest stops (for the 46-mile route) at Venture Bikes, traffic along the Midtown Greenway was bustling, and most of that traffic had little to do with the TCBT. By mid-afternoon, as we reached Bde Maka Ska, the bike paths were brimming with cyclists, and people were out by the lake in the hundreds: swimming, fishing and picnicking.

Water, Water Everywhere

In keeping with the intercity theme of the event, the route highlighted miles of scenic river views, stretching from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus all the way to Mounds Park in St. Paul. Of course, the routes (both the 46-mile and the Minneapolis-centered 20-miler) highlighted two of the five bodies of water in the Chain of Lakes as well as Lake Hiawatha and Lake Nokomis. The St. Paul portion highlighted Lake Phalen, with one of its rest stops set at Phalen’s picnic pavilion.

But due to a scheduling conflict with a 5K walk, planners had to avoid Como Lake and its storied pavilion altogether — where the Saint Paul Classic had started and ended a week before. With a shorter window in which to plan the event, the City of Saint Paul had to impose limits on BikeMN, in the final weeks of the Twin Cities’ frenetic late-summer event season.

A New Annual Event

There are reasons to celebrate a new event that complements an established “classic.” For one thing, it seems natural to build an event that does not focus on one of the Twin Cities at the expense of the other. As Ted Duepner points out: “[Now was] the perfect time to introduce a ride that leveraged the wonderful bicycle networks of both Minneapolis and St. Paul.”

SAG support at five rest stops included crews from Venture Bikes, the Hub Coop, Cap D and Gateway Cycle, seen here at the Phalen Lake rest stop. Photo by Marco Mejia.

Next year’s TCBT will look somewhat different. BikeMN is responding to feedback from participants, who have asked for a “bailout point” that would allow them to shorten the ride if they chose. Como Lake will perhaps be a part of next year’s route also. The dates may be different, too. Duepner anticipates an October run of the TCBT, instead of one so close to the Saint Paul Classic, which for 30 years has been the Sunday after Labor Day. BikeMN may even launch an additional ride geared toward younger riders and families, after receiving feedback from the popular 6.6-mile “Loons Loop” between the Ford and Lake Street bridges.

But its partnerships with local eateries, brewpubs, bike shops, bike clubs and bicycle advocacy organizations are what give this event its energy and scope. If things play out as Wojcik hopes, the Twin Cities Bike Tour will be more than a fundraiser for the Bicycle Alliance. In its outreach to schools and to youth, over half of whom are people of color in Minneapolis and St. Paul, this event will “encourage people to come out for their first time and become more active in other [events] in the future.” 

Photos by Ed Steinhauer unless otherwise noted

Ed Steinhauer

About Ed Steinhauer

Ed Steinhauer is a teacher and artist living in St. Paul, Minnesota.