I’ve never really been a city guy. I have explored some amazing cities in my life. Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, to name a few. I’ve always felt that the best way to explore and learn a city is on a bicycle. The freedom and intimacy of that exploration is priceless. As I mentioned in the past, I had a chance to re-explore Minneapolis this summer. Last fall I rented an apartment in The Mill District. A block from the Mississippi River and the heart of a rebuilt era. Old grain mills and warehouses from the 1800’s have been repurposed exquisitely into apartments, museums and offices. A world class farmer’s market happens every Saturday just a block away. Trader Joe’s is right across the street.

If you believe what you read on the internet, Minnesota has 4,000 miles of paved bike paths. That’s really hard to fathom. That doesn’t include designated bike lanes, SingleTrack, or dirt paths. Epic.

I spent this summer exploring hundreds of miles of those paths right from my doorstep. In the three months I’ve been here, I’ve driven my car less than a hundred miles. Epic. The infrastructure here for the bicycle is one the rest of the world should heed.

Never have I seen a city anywhere that embraces self propelled two wheel travel like Minneapolis. Astounding is an understatement. All shapes, sizes, speeds and smiles. The weather has lot to do with it. Summer weather is perfect for the most part, then again, winter makes up for that. The history of Minnesota is primarily Scandinavian and Norwegian so natives don’t even shrug at zero degrees. Fat tires and studs cover the basics for survival on a bike. However, I am completely over that shit and head south to get dust in my toes.