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“What a fun way to spend the early part of your 4th of July holiday, leisurely riding the parkways, scenic commuter routes and trails in and out of Minneapolis than on the Tour D Amico bike ride,” says Hiawatha Bicycling Clubs president Leon Webster. “This ride is an annual tour, not a race, perfect for the whole family with a delicious picnic lunch at the end.”
Starting and ending in Golden Valley for the 15th Annual Bike Tour of the Twin Cities on the 4th of July, the three route options are available. This year’s tour offers everyone a chance to explore some of Minneapolis’s newest bike boulevards on the 30, 45 and 62 mile scenic routes through the Twin Cities. Then at the finish, D’ Amico & Sons Restaurants hosts sinfully delicious Italian picnic, in their Golden Valley courtyard.
The tour begins at the Golden Valley Commons Shopping Center, off Highway 55 and Winetka Avenue, and all you need is a bike, helmet, and a cell phone to take pictures of yourself and your friends having fun along the way. This year they are offering a selfie contest, where two winners will be selected from the most fun and the most creative photo categories submitted. The winners selected will each receive a $50 gift certificate for D’ Amico and Son’s Restaurants and a Tour D’ Amico bike jersey. Here is your chance to ride routes through the scenic western suburbs and then in and out Minneapolis offering many picturesque backdrops for selfie photos.
Let’s see you riding the Tour D’ Amico 4th of July bike ride! For day of and pre-registration information see: www.Tourdamico.com
Run by the Hiawatha Bicycling Club, proceeds from the tour benefits bike education in Minnesota.
On June 21st, the skies were sunny and the raindrops promised to stay away for the day as the 3rd Annual Train & Trail Tour got underway.
Here riders checked in at the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota (BikeMN) table in front of the Minneapolis Parks and Rec Board headquarters, in North Minneapolis, Minn.
With Registration out of the way over 140 riders were eager to ride their bikes on the two miles stretch to the Target Field Station platform and board the Northstar Train.
With bikes and cyclist loaded the destination was Big Lake on the 45-mile train ride. Upon the trains arrival cyclists rolled their bikes off the rail cars to prepare for the 42-mile journey back to Minneapolis.
Here this group of touring multi-modal cyclists are leaving the station at Big Lake and heading toward the Mississippi River Trail (MRT) for the ride back to Minneapolis.
This photo shows several cyclists having fun driving their bikes along the MRT. This is a bicycle route that has been mapped along the river by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The full route winds roughly 620 miles down-river from its source at Itasca State Park, through the Twin Cities, to the Iowa border. Located largely on the shoulders of paved roads and on low-traffic roads, the route also includes relatively long segments of scenic state and regional trails along the way.
A happy biker wearing a Saint Paul Classic jersey enjoys his time on Train & Trail Ride, cruising along the “Great River Trail”.
Here the tour arrives in the city of Elk River, about 10-miles down-river from Big Lake.
In Downtown Elk River tour riders enjoyed a catered lunch in the town square, next to the fountain, in River’ Edge Park overlooking the confluence of the Elk and the Mississippi Rivers.
Here are some hungry riders on the tour enjoyed the picnic lunch near the river’s edge.
Coming into the town of Datyon, this rider was having a little fun in front of the camera.
Here is another group on the tour having fun and enjoying the scenery along the way. Crossing under the Highway 169 Bridge, in Champlain, cyclist discovered that this stretch of the MRT is on a trail.
A mile past the Coon Rapids Dam cyclists are now crossing over the 610 Freeway Bridge and heading south toward Minneapolis. Here the tour riders are enjoying the route as they finds the next section of MRT trail that passes under the 696 Freeway Bridge into the North Mississippi Regional Park, in North Minneapolis. Here are a couple of the Train & Trail riders leaving this beautiful urban park setting along the Mississippi River. From this point it is less than three mile to the end and time for a root beer float at the end.
About a minute after the last Train & Trail rider past by the North Mississippi Regional Park sign above, this white tailed deer appeared watching the cyclist ride off into the city.
A note from David Gepner, the Train & Trail Tour director, “I would like to thank everyone who came out to ride the Train & Trail Tour with the Bike Alliance of Minnesota this year. “A special thanks to Metro Transit for accommodating all the riders and bikes of all types, shapes and sizes on the train. The Minneapolis Park Board for allowing us the use of their parking lot and making access to the Target Field Station easy for everyone to board the train. Thanks also to the Twin City Bike Club for designating the Train & Trail Tour as an official “outreach ride”, and welcome to the Hiawatha Bike Club riders”.
If you were not able to join the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota on the 2014 Train & Trail Tour adventure and would like to experience the route on your own someday, plan your own journey. First check Metro Transit’s Northstar Rail schedule and connection to get you and your bike up to Big Lake or St Cloud from the Twin Cities. Then, study MnDOT’s course map for the Mississippi River Trail routes available to ride back.
HaveFun – it’s a great experience traveling along the river on a bike.
If you have time for a multi-day ride in June, the Tour of Minnesota (formerly the Klobuchar Ride) registration is still open to the 26th of May. Reminiscent of the years the ride was run by newspaper columnist Jim Klobuchar, this year’s tour begins and ends in Jackson, a southeast Minnesota community.
photo by John Hays
Approximately 160 miles from downtown Minneapolis, the ride leaves Jackson for Worthington, where you can take in the Windsurfer National Championship. Then it’s on to Luverne for two days, where the Buffalo still roam in Blue Mound State Park. Day four enjoy the scenic route to Pipestone and see the majestic Winnewissa Falls, along the three-quarter mile trail near the Pipestone National Monument. Leaving Pipestone ride on the oldest bicycle trail in the state of Minnesota, the Casey Jones Trail, stopping in Slayton and then Windom on your way back to Jackson for a taco buffet celebration.
photo by John Hays
Long time Klobuchar Rider and now advocate for the Tour of Minnesota, Doug Wilhide says it best. “We are old now, though we pretend not to be, as we mount our bikes like youngsters – step down on the pedals banishing pains in knees and thighs with frivolity, laughter and hope.
We form in lines out in the early morning sun noting the long shadows, mists rising from fields,
red-winged blackbirds warning us away from their sovereign territories as grasses in the wind wave us along from one small town to the next.
Into the wind, into the rain, along the uneven roads, through the inconveniences, we ride like people half our age, on a lark, turning a myth of youth we almost believe, into our peculiar reality.”
“We are old, but far from finished. We will cycle miles and miles until the day ends and be tired as we step down in the evening from better bikes than we ever rode as kids, alive in our understandings of ourselves and each other.
photo by Karl Blazevic
Then we welcome life’s essentials: a cold beer, a hot shower, a good night’s sleep and another morning to ride.”
If you have heard about the fun many have had on past Klobuchar Rides and would like to explore the Southwest corner of Minnesota, there is still time to register. Fill out the ride registration form up until May 26th (Memorial Day). And if you have any further questions, send Bob Lincoln, the new tour director a quick e-mail.
Starting and ending in Golden Valley for the 15th Annual Bike Tour of the Twin Cities on the 4th of July, the three route options are available. This year’s tour offers everyone a chance to explore some of Minneapolis’s newest bike boulevards on the 30, 45 and 62 mile scenic routes through the Twin Cities. Then at the finish, D’ Amico & Sons Restaurants hosts sinfully delicious Italian picnic, in their Golden Valley courtyard.
The tour begins at the Golden Valley Commons Shopping Center, off Highway 55 and Winetka Avenue, and all you need is a bike, helmet, and a cell phone to take pictures of yourself and your friends having fun along the way. This year they are offering a selfie contest, where 
two winners will be selected from the most fun and the most creative photo categories submitted. The winners selected will each receive a $50 gift certificate for D’ Amico and Son’s Restaurants and a Tour D’ Amico bike jersey. Here is your chance to ride routes through the scenic western suburbs and then in and out Minneapolis offering many picturesque backdrops for selfie photos.
