Tag Archives: Cycle track

And the are off! With a track racing event to night, at the National Sports Center Velodrome, in Blaine, MN you will want to come out before the last race September 14th.

Bike Pic Aug 31, and they are off for a couple more track racing events

With a track racing event tonight, at the National Sports Center Velodrome, in Blaine, MN, you will want to come out before the last race on the schedule, September 14th. Blaine is a Twin Cities Gateway community, in the north suburbs of the Twin Cities.

Get into the zone and plan your next bike outing with family and friends at one of the many HaveFunBiking Destinations. View all the fun ideas and bike destinations in the latest Minnesota Bike/Hike Guide.

Thanks for Viewing Our ‘Track Racing’ Pic of the Day!  

We are now rolling into our 10th year as a bike tourism media. As we pedal forward our goal is to continue to encourage more people to bike and have fun while we highlight all the unforgettable places for you to ride. As we continue to showcase more places to have fun, we hope the photos we shoot are worth a grin. Enjoy the information and stories we have posted as you scroll through.

Do you have a fun bicycle related photo of yourself or someone you may know that we should post? If so, please send your picture(s) to: [email protected]. Include a brief caption (for each) of who is in the photo (if you know) and where the picture was taken. Photo(s) should be a minimum of 1,000 pixels wide or larger to be considered. If we use your photo, you will receive photo credit and acknowledgment on Facebook and Instagram.

As we continue to encourage more people to bike, please view our Destination section at HaveFunBiking.com for your #NextBikeAdventure – Also, check out the MN Bike Guide, now mobile friendly, as we enter into our 8th year of producing this hand information booklet full of maps.

Remember, bookmark HaveFunBiking.com on your cell phone and find your next adventure at your fingertips! Please share our pics with your friends and don’t forget to smile. We may be around the corner with one of our cameras ready to document your next cameo apperance while you are riding and having fun. You could be in one of our next Pic’s of the Day.

Have a great day!

Cycle Track Approved in Bike Friendly Richfield

Russ Lowthian

With widespread community pride in being a bike-friendly city, the Richfield, Minnesota Transportation Commission approved Concept 4B, including a Cycle Track (protected bike lanes) for the 66th Street project between 35W and Cedar Avenue, last night.

CycleTrack_vs_Lane-9
All ages and levels of bikers can find comfort riding on a cycle track. Photo from downtownseattle.com

 

With much debate amongst the forward thinking Richfield commissioners, many open house events and surveys were conducted to help them come to a unanimous vote to approve Concept 4B. Now with the roadway design defined, engineers from both the city of Richfield and Hennepin County will look at the best use styles for intersections running along the 66th Street corridor. Then it is on to the city council for final approval.

CycleTrack_vs_Lane-5“This is a huge step forward as we nail down the future for 66th Street,” stated Sean Hayford Oleary, Richfield’s bike advocacy chair.

What is a cycle track or protected bike lane you ask?

It is a lane(s) for bicycles that is a part of the roadway and separated from motorists by painted boarders with plastic or metal poles and sometimes by a row of parked cars as the barricade. That puts the cyclists between parked cars and the sidewalk. The protected lanes can also be a raised bed (Cycle track) next to the street, as proposed in Richfield and planned for a short segment of Washington Avenue, in Minneapolis, next year. According to many experts throughout the U.S and Europe, the protected bike lane adds a level of comfort while bicyclists gain confidence to riding on streets. See the two styles provided by the Richfield Bike Advocates below:

Option 4B

CycleTrack_vs_Lane-6
This option is a one-way protected cycle track lane on both sides of the roadway, separated from the roadway by the grassy boulevard. There would be no bike lanes in the 66th Street roadway itself. It would look something like this, although the roadway itself would be wider

  Option 2

CycleTrack_vs_Lane-7
This is a traditional bike lanes in the gutter pan on both sides of the roadway, plus a wider shared-use path on one side. It would look much like 76th Street bike corridor in Richfield today, although all sections would be wider and have a higher speed limit.

According to national supporters like the People for Bikes, Green Lane Project, which has supplied technical help to a dozen cities nationally including Minneapolis, the number of protected lanes has quadrupled nationally since 2010. In those cities where designated cycle track lanes have been established more and more people are riding their bikes to local schools, patronizing more neighboring businesses, etc. with confidence.

Richfield is located on the south side of Minneapolis, near the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and the Mall of America. On October 15, 2013, the city of Richfield was honored by the League of American Bicyclists for its commitment to improving bicycling, by naming it a Bicycle Friendly Community. The designation means Richfield improved conditions for bicycling through investment in bicycling promotion, education programs, infrastructure and pro-bicycling policies.