Welcome. We're your premier source for fun places to explore by bicycle or on foot. Offering guides, maps and articles on road and trail riding for the novice to seasoned cyclist - helping you find your #NextBikeAdventure
Now that school is out everyone is heading to the Safety Safari to help keep you safe along life’s road. A great family experience at the Como Zoo, tomorrow June 13, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., in St Paul, MN.
What better way to start your Summer and #NextBikeAdventure. With warm, sunny summer weather ahead you will be glad you did.
Thanks for Viewing Another Safety Safari Bicycle 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.
Wise Bike Wednesdays has a reminder,“Before You Go,” always remember your ABC’s:
A is for Air
B is for Brakes
C is for Cranks, Chain, and Cassette
Quick = is for quick release lever – make sure it’s tight!
Check = take a quick ride to check it all before you go on your next bike adventure!
With many students heading back to school this week biking is a great way to get some exercise, be green, and avoid the traffic and congestion of a long bus ride to school.
Whether you’re a parent getting your kids on their bike to get to school or someone who will be responsible for your own bike and adventure, it’s important to remember the key safety rules for biking.
You can check these basics in the HaveFunBiking digital Minnesota Bike/Hike Guide on page 60-61. If you have our print copy, check it out on page 30.
Help with a Wise Bike Wednesdays bike rodeo training course, lead by instructors of BikeMN, so biking to school is fun.
Thanks for viewing Wise Bike Wednesdays, here at HaveFunBiking.
Now rolling into our 10th year as a bike tourism media, our goal is to continue to encourage more people to bike and have fun. While showcasing all the unforgettable places for you to ride. As we continue to showcase more place to ride to and have fun we hope the photos we shoot are worth a grin.
Learning to use hand signals at a Wise Bike Wednesdays rodeo training course, lead by instructors of BikeMN,
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 do use your photo, you will receive photo credit and acknowledgment on Facebook and Instagram.
As we continues to encourage more people to bike, please view our Destination section at HaveFunBiking.com for your next bike adventure – Also, check out the MN Bike Guide, now mobile friendly, as we enter into our 8th year of producing the guide.
So bookmark HaveFunBiking.com and find your next adventure. And don’t forget to smile, while you are riding and having fun. We may capture you in one of our next photos that we post daily.
More than a 100 people living in the Minnesota cities of Hopkins, Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, and St. Louis Park took part in a series of free “earn-a-bike” and “learn-to-ride” classes in 2015.
According to the Hennepin County “Get out – Get Active” newsletter participants in the earn-a-bike program learned: basic bike repair skills; gained exposure to bike safety; worked together as a team to repair bikes; and got a bike to keep at the end of the program. Learn-to-ride classes engaged adults who never learned to ride a bike, or who had learned but lost the basic techniques of riding a bicycle.
Earn-a-bike class in St Louis Park
The classes in the four cities were funded by Active Living Hennepin County (through the SHIP program). Directing the efforts of the program was done by the nonprofit Cycles for Change, who’s goal was to increase bike access and education in communities of color and low to moderate income communities. One exciting outcome is that earn-a-bike graduates in Hopkins have formed a bike club and have continued to ride together and to discuss important issues about biking and bike safety in their city.
Here, this young lady shows off here new bike after finishing a bike rodeo at her school in Albert Lea, MN, this last summer.
Thanks for viewing the Bike Pic of the Day here at HaveFunBiking (HFB).
Now, rolling into our 10th year as a bicycle media, our goal is to continue to encourage more people to bike, while showcasing unforgettable places to ride. As we search and present more fun photos worth a grin, scroll through the information and stories we have posted to help you find your next adventure. Then, while out there if you see us along a paved or mountain bike trail, next to the route you regularly commute on, or at an event you plan to attend with your bike, be prepared to smile. You never know where our camera’s will be and what we will post next!
Do you have a fun photo of yourself or someone you know that you would like to see us publish? If so, please send it our way and we may use it. Send your picture(s) to [email protected] with a brief caption (of each), including who is in the photo (if you know?) and where it was taken. Photo(s) should be at least 620 pixels wide for us to use them. If we use your photo, you will receive photo credit and an acknowledgment on Facebook and Instagram.
As HaveFunBiking continues to encourage more people to ride, please reference our blog and the annual print and quarterly digital Bike/Hike Guide to find your next adventure. We are proud of the updated – At-a-Glance information and maps we are known for in the HFB Destination section on our website and in the guide. Now, as the Bike/Hike Guide goes into its seventh year of production, we are adding a whole new dimension of bicycle tourism information available for mobile devices where you may see some additional bike pics – maybe of yourself so.
Bookmark HaveFunBiking.com and find your next adventure – we may capture you in one of the next photos we post.
Here Arlen Hall, from Adventure Cycling Association, poses for the HaveFunBiking camera after making a complete stop with a city bike at an intersection while on a ride in Downtown Denver, CO., after a Bicycle Tourism Network Conference.
Thanks for viewing the Bike Pic of the Day here at HaveFunBiking (HFB).
Now, rolling into our 10th year as a bicycle media, our goal is to continue to encourage more people to bike, while showcasing unforgettable places to ride. As we search and present more fun photos worth a grin, scroll through the information and stories we have posted to help you find your next adventure. Then, while out there if you see us along a paved or mountain bike trail, next to the route you regularly commute on, or at an event you plan to attend with your bike, be prepared to smile. You never know where our camera’s will be and what we will post next!
Do you have a fun photo of yourself or someone you know that you would like to see us publish? If so, please send it our way and we may use it. Send your picture(s) to [email protected] with a brief caption (of each), including who is in the photo (if you know?) and where it was taken. Photo(s) should be at least 620 pixels wide for us to use them. If we use your photo, you will receive photo credit and an acknowledgment on Facebook and Instagram.
As HaveFunBiking continues to encourage more people to ride, please reference our blog and the annual print and quarterly digital Bike/Hike Guide to find your next adventure. We are proud of the updated – At-a-Glance information and maps we are known for in the HFB Destination section on our website and in the guide. Now, as the Bike/Hike Guide goes into its seventh year of production, we are adding a whole new dimension of bicycle tourism information available for mobile devices where you may see some additional bike pics – maybe of yourself so.
Bookmark HaveFunBiking.com and find your next adventure – we may capture you in one of the next photos we post.
To the left, CJ Lindor, Education Specialist for BikeMN (Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota) working with volunteers to share safe tips and procedures in their booth and on the obstacle course, at the Minneapolis Open Streets on Franklin Ave. last weekend.
Thanks for viewing the Bike Pic of the Day at HaveFunBiking, hope you enjoy the photo!
Now, rolling into our 10th year as a bicycle media, our goal is to continue to encourage more people to bike, while showcasing unforgettable places to ride. As we search and post more fun photos worth a grin, scroll through the information and stories we have posted to help you find your next adventure. Then, if you see us along a paved or mountain bike trail, next to the route you regularly commute, or at an event you plan to attend with your bike, be prepared to smile. You never know where camera will be and what we will posted next!
Do you have a fun photo of yourself or someone you know that you would like to see us publish? If so, please send it our way and we may use it. Send your picture(s) to [email protected] with a brief caption (of each), including who is in the photo (if you know) and where it was taken. Photo(s) should be at least 620 pixels wide for us to post. If we use your photo, you will receive photo credit and an acknowledgment on Facebook and Instagram.
As HaveFunBiking continues to encourage more people to ride, please reference our blog and the annual bike guide to find your next adventure. We are proud of the updated, at-a-glance information, and maps we are known for in the Destination section of our website. Now, as the Bike/Hike Guide goes into its seventh year of production, we are adding a whole new dimension of bicycle tourism information available for mobile device. Plus, beginning September 2015, this year’s e-version of the Guide will move to quarterly editions where you may see some additional bike pics posted.
Bookmark HaveFunBiking.com and find your next adventure – we may capture you in a pic to post!
This morning thousands of bicyclists were on the roads for RAGBRAI, and if you watched the riders roll through Sioux City, IA, you notice most of the people were wearing bike helmets. “It’s the safest way to ride whether you’re on a trip across the state or a trip across town,” according to Dr. Michael Nguyen who bikes into work anytime he can. It’s only a two miles trip for him to CNOS Health, but he always makes sure it’s a ride he does with his helmet on.
Riders make their way along the RAGBRAI route with helmets on.
Dr. Nguyen says, “It reduces your risk of severe head injury and/or face injury by 85%.” The benefits of biking with a helmet are obvious. Experts say most bicycling accidents result in a face or head injury. A helmet protects what’s most important. See CNOS Video.
Dr. Nguyen says, “What the helmet does is very similar to a vehicle. It has a ‘crumple zone’-type technology, so any sort of strong hit might be deflected, [or it] might also damage the foam itself, but that’s what absorbs the energy of the kinetic trauma.”
What’s concerning to Dr. Nguyen, who often treats people with concussions and other injuries, is that many kids aren’t wearing helmets. He says close to half of all adolescents don’t make it a habit, which is why seeing adults on RAGBRAI doing it right sets a good example.
Dr. Nguyen says, “It’s important for us to be that role model and say, ‘hey, wearing a helmet, it’s not geeky, it’s not something you can just put off, it’s something that can definitely protect you.”
It’s a lesson RAGBRAI riders already know and one you can put into practice however long or short your trip.
Dr. Nguyen says it’s important that your helmet fits right so it will protect you. It should sit covering your forehead and not be able to move around too much. And you should always wear a chin strap that should fit snugly.
Click here for more information from RAGBRAI about safe cycling.
I ride with a helmet, lights, reflectors and a mirror; but the more I think about it, confidence is a safety tool, many forget, that really keeps me safe.
Confidence allows a rider to safely use roadways to connect to trail systems running through parks.
For years, I accepted the conventional wisdom that riding a bike was inherently dangerous. I figured that sitting on my ever growing backside on a bus was probably worse than the considerable risk of getting run over and chalked up my continued safety to a run of good luck.
After tens of thousands of miles without even having a close call with a motor vehicle, I’m no longer buying the assumption that getting hit by a car is an eventual certainty. There are many tools in my safety tool kit and today I’ll write about the single most important one: confidence.
Confidence means having “faith in one’s power powers without any suggestion of conceit of arrogance” (Merriam Webster). It is a simple assurance that you can perform and this assurance can go along way toward securing respect and deference from other users of the road. In my experience, bicycling confidence comes from four sources:
Confidence comes from good technique
If you know that you can deal with road hazards, if you have got down cold the ability to look over your shoulder for a lane change and still go travel in a straight line, if you know how to merge with traffic, and if you know how fast you can stop and start, you will tackle the challenges of even busy streets with confidence.
Confidence and a good paved shoulder makes it easy to ride in traffic.
Perhaps the most important technique for having and demonstrating confidence is knowing how to clearly communicate with other road users. This means being predictable and clearly communicating your intentions by signaling turns; using your voice, bell, or horn to let others know you are there; and making eye contact. Uncertainty is dangerous and if you make others guess what you are planning to do, they will sometimes guess wrong. You have the responsibility to make your intentions clear.
Confidence comes from good equipment
Confidence is saying to yourself, “I wonder how well I can stop” and if in question get it fixed!
When your brakes are no longer up to snuff or your chain is stretched out and falls off at random moments, you will not have the confidence to ride in traffic or take your turn at a four way stop. Don’t ride with lights that have half dead batteries or with out reflectors (you need to know you can be seen). Don’t ride with gear shifters that are out of tune (you don’t want gears to shift by themselves when you need power). Don’t ride with brake pads so worn that you can pull the lever all the way to your handlebars (you want to be able to stop). If any piece of equipment makes you say to yourself, “I wonder how well I can (fill in the blank)” stop. Get it fixed!
Confidence comes from knowing the rules
Confidence is knowing the rules and making your intentions known to cyclists, motor vehicles or pedestrians around you.
You may be reluctant to take the lane to avoid parked cars, debris, or ice on the shoulder if you don’t know that you have a right to ride in traffic. “Do I have to stop for a school bus?” and “who has the right of way at this intersection?” are great questions, but the time to think about them is not when the school bus stops in front of you. Check out the League of American Bicyclists for information on riding right.
Confidence comes from having the right attitude
Bicyclists are not second class citizens and the bicycles they ride are not “alternative” transportation. As a bicycle rider, you have both a legal and moral right to use the road. (Don’t you believe it when people say roads are paid for by gas taxes, most road construction and maintenance is paid for by general funds.) Don’t be conceited or arrogant, but define and claim your space, whether it is in a lane of traffic or on the shoulder.
Confidence is passing by the bus and preventing an ever growing backside.
Being timid doesn’t serve anyone–it will just slow us all down and spread frustration and ill-will. Have respect and accept respect. You are an intentional commuter; you have taken control of your daily commute, now take control of your spot on the road.
It’s Official: Safe Routes to School is Proven to Work.
Just in time for International Walk to School Day, a new study has been published in the Journal of the American Planning Association that confirms what those of us in the field have long known: Safe Routes to School programs are effective at increasing rates of walking and bicycling to and from school.
The new study is the most comprehensive Safe Routes to School evaluation to date – it looked at school travel data from 801 schools in DC, Florida, Oregon and Texas collected between 2007 and 2012. A total of 378 schools implemented Safe Routes to School programs of some kind during the study period—meaning that the researchers could look at before and after data—and 423 schools did not implement a Safe Routes to School program and could thus serve as control schools to compare against.
The findings are quite impressive:
* After an engineering improvement was completed, schools saw an 18 percent increase in walking and bicycling rates.
* Each year of Safe Routes to School education and encouragement programming resulted in a five percent increase in walking and bicycling rates—adding up to 25 percent after five years.
* These results could be cumulative – so a school that implements a comprehensive Safe Routes to School initiative with engineering improvements plus five years of education and encouragement would result in a 43 percent increase in walking and bicycling rates.
This study builds on the work of many other researchers who have looked at individual models or results on a smaller group of studies, and it really is the missing link in clearly demonstrating the effectiveness of Safe Routes to School. There are a number of ways in which this study provides definitive findings that are helpful to practitioners:
* Because it covers such a large number of schools in multiple states, it shows that Safe Routes to School programs generally are effective, regardless of specific variations in how the programs are set up.
* It includes control schools—allowing the researchers to show that the increases in walking and bicycling were a result of the Safe Routes to School initiatives, regardless of environmental or demographic differences among schools.
* Because the researchers looked at both engineering improvements and programming over time, they were able to show that comprehensive Safe Routes to School programs that are sustained over time have an ever-increasing impact on rates of walking and bicycling to and from school.
* Due to the number of schools, the researchers were able to examine variables such as the income level and ethnic or racial makeup of participating schools, and found no difference in the results – showing that Safe Routes to School can be equally effective for a wide variety of schools and families.
When combined with a study from last year showing that Safe Routes to School initiatives reduced pedestrian injury by 44 percent, we can now definitely say that Safe Routes to School is improving safety for children, and getting more children walking and bicycling to and from school.
And, that is great news to cap off another successful Walk to School month! Please also join me in giving a big thank you to the researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Florida, Texas A&M, Howard University and University of Oregon that collaborated together to complete this impressive study.
