Spring Bike Commuting

I've become a fair-weather bike commuter.

I love riding - despite not having the time to commit to it in earnest (plus, I have a rather expensive purchase to amortize). So the past couple of years I've chosen to use my Spring-to-Fall commutes as a chance to ride. Kill two birds with one stone, to coin a phrase. I'm also a consultant by trade, and frequently find myself at new client sites all over the metro. Consequently, I have developed a somewhat adventurous reputation for bike commuting no matter where I'm located.

With the focus on Bike Commuting lately, as Nate mentions, I've taken on the challenge of finding the best route out to a new client site in Plymouth these last couple of weeks.

This has been by far the most challenging. It's not that there aren't trails, or commute-friendly side roads out in industrial Plymouth, but they are disjointed and it's difficult to string together a flowing route from South Minneapolis. The commuter trails that do exist are in fine shape, but are disappointingly incongruous. The Luce line trail, for example, runs directly by my client's site and back toward downtown via the gorgeous locale of south Medicine Lake. Luce line abruptly ends, though, in the middle of Golden Valley (right by a major avenue, no less). Side streets are fine until you realize that what was lightly trafficked in the morning is bumper-to-bumper cars with narrow shoulders in the evening. In short, it's frustratingly inadequate - but just barely! You can easily get 95% there with no trouble at all.