After brutal dew points and big thunder storm last night, dawn broke to a beautiful day... cool, sunny and breezy.I met up with the crew for the Saturday morning group ride at Hiawatha Cycles. Today's destination was the St. Paul farmer's market. We took the Great River Trail in to St. Paul and then picked up a nice sneaky side-street way back to MPLS after some produce shopping.
The Lifetime Fitness triathlon has South Minneapolis tied up in knots this morning - the Parkway is closed to traffic and you can only cross it a few locations, and there are all sorts of people jogging, riding there bikes or just milling about around Lake Nokomis. It's over now, but traffic is still a mess and will be for a another hour or so until these people get out of here. I am always amazed at how many people complete in this event. I watched the bike leg of the race on Minnehaha Parkway last summer and hundreds and hundreds of bikes rolled by. A lot surprisingly nice bikes, too; Cervelos, Quintana Roos, etc. all tricked out with aero bars and HED discs.
On a cheery note, ridership is up! I am noticing more people on bikes, both commuting and running errands. I am truly optimistic that high gasoline prices are moving us slowly but surely to a more reasonable development and transportation model. I envision:
- Convenience stores and restaurants coming to the suburbs (don't worry suburbanites - zoning will protect you; they will be nice, have understated signs and stock the things you need so you don't have to get in your car and go to the grocery store.
- More bike parking at stores and restaurants.
- More designated bike lanes.
- Better mass-transit.
- HOPEFULLY, delivery on the promise of teleconferencing so we don't have to travel by jet for business meetings quite so much.
- An influx of people returning to the city to be closer to jobs and entertainment.
- A drought and pestilence in the suburbs that cannot adapt to this change.
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