The Elkridgean Cyclist: Keep Calm and Bike On

(1) Box Turtles! If you've read my posts before you might know that I'm an avid fan of box turtles. While cycling this spring and summer, I have been able to move 3 live box turtles out of the road. However, I've seen at least 3 box turtles, and some other turtle species, who didn't make it across. Please be considerate. It isn't always safe to stop and move a box turtle, but they don't move very fast! They are easy to avoid. When you think you see a leaf or rock in the road, keep in mind it might be a box turtle. I don't want to believe that people are squishing them on purpose. That would be too awful to fathom, and accidents do happen. Stay alert. Save a life. Every box turtle we lose is devastating to the local turtle population as they reproduce so slowly. And if it sounds a little preachy, remember that I make mistakes too. I backed over a turtle on our driveway a few years back, and I'm still sad about it.

(2) Trash! Oh so much trash. And broken glass. Whatever happened to the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign? And the "Don't be a litterbug" slogans? I know we have a huge volume of people in this area, and sometimes a piece of trash might blow out of an open car window. Also, wild animals can get into a family's trash bin and make a mess. But my oh my! The things I see, even on areas bordering park land such as Furnace Avenue, Hanover Road and Ridge Road. The soda and liquor bottles, the fast food garbage, the broken glass (which is extra annoying to cyclists)... do people think it is funny to just toss junk out their windows? One of our Elkridge Heritage Society members suggested that we "adopt a road" and another person said it's all well and good until you have to get people out there to do the clean-up work. No one wants to clean it up. How about we just don't throw it out in the first place?

Enough preaching.

Now what I want to talk about is Minnesota. Perhaps you've heard about "Minnesota Nice" which may be stereotypical, but it certainly rings true for my recent vacation to Minneapolis-St. Paul. We went there because it is an easy flight and has one of the most impressive bike trail systems in the country. If you look at my posted images from Google Maps (in bicycle mode), they are approximately to the same scale but you can see how our area seriously falls short in bicycle/pedestrian amenities. I know it was summer, and we were there on a holiday week, so certainly traffic was lighter than usual, but I have to wonder if the number of cycling commuters didn't have a lot to do with that. The culture was such that I didn't stand out riding around in my dress and sandals! Out here I'm sure I look like a crazy lady, but out there it's not just the MAMILs (Middle-Aged Men in Lycra) who ride, but everyone. Not everyone clips into their pedals, not everyone wears "bike clothes," but most people do wear helmets. The drivers were courteous when we came to cross streets or had to leave the bike lane to make a turn. The roads and trails were clean. It is just the "Minnesota Nice" effect? Or can we have that here too some day?

I encourage anyone who is interested in advocating for more bike/pedestrian amenities to either go to, or research the Twin City area. Even with all their winter cold and snow, I was told that they often get the trails plowed before they get to the roads and that people keep on biking. They want to be outside as much as they can. The only semi-complaint I have is that some of the trails may have started out as concrete slabs, and then covered over with asphalt, because there were regular seams which got bumpy. But it's not a real complaint because, you know what? They have trails! Many of them are 3 separate trails: one for each direction on the bike, and one for pedestrians. Fabulous!

The bike share program "Nice Ride Minnesota" (seriously!) was "nice" - oh so nice! I read that they take up the bikes for the winter months, but otherwise it's very similar to New York's "Citi-Bike" and other programs I've seen in DC, Paris, Valencia, etc. We got a 30-day membership which came with little "keys" that we could use to get any available bike. It cost $15 for the month. You can take a bike out for one hour (different cities have different prices and time limits). In Minnesota, if you go over the hour, it's $3 for the first 30 minutes, but then it goes up exponentially, so we planned our outings in short 20-45 minute bursts from bike station to bike station so that we could "cash in" as we kept calling it. We would plug our bikes back in and reset the timer so that we could go on. We only went over the time limit twice. So for a combined $42 we rode about 160 miles in 7 days. The bikes were heavy but easy to ride. They have 3 gears and there were only a few hills near the river that were a tough go on these tanks. One hill in St. Paul broke my spirit and we walked, but when we got to the top (Summit Avenue) our spirits were completely restored because it is a beautiful (and flat!) street with stunning Victorian house after house. I had a silly grin on my face for several miles. The summer weather was about 10 degrees cooler than what Elkridge was experiencing that week (nanny nanny boo boo!) and we didn't want to leave. It can get hot and humid there in the summer, and we had one "Baltimore-esque" day while we were there. We enjoyed the views of the Mississippi River and its bridges, and the "Chain of Lakes," as well as the mix of old and new architecture in Minneapolis, the Capitol in St. Paul, the cathedrals, the house made famous by the Mary Tyler Moore Show (as they like to say, their most famous citizen never even lived there!), and of course Summit Avenue. We really love seeing cities by bike.

Enough for now. Keep Calm and Bike On!