Sunday, June 22, 2008

Minneapolis is 9th on the top 10 bike city list. St Paul is ?

I'm surprised Minneapolis is only #9. I think they missed a heck of a lot of trails. Two or three of the other "cities" are barely towns, and Boulder is a college town for Pete's sake.

Montreal is a great town, but there's no chance it's a better biking place than Minneapolis.

Of course St Paul, the other half of the Twin Cities, is probably #20. Shame on my city! We need to put together a St. Paul pressure group and start making some progress.

Bottom line, adjusting the list for reality and eliminating towns, Minneapolis is genuinely the 3rd or 4th best biking city in America*. The real rivals (winter-free Portland has it easy) are far more expensive places to live, and Montreal* requires a change in citizenship.

Going by Gordon's Law (ye may know a city by its bike trails) Minneapolis is absolutely a great place to live, and Saint Paul, after all, is only a ten minute bike ride away.

* In the original version of this post I unfairly disparaged Montreal's bike network based on old data. Yesterday we completed a road survey (kids on strike) of part of the network, and Kateva and I sampled a stretch. It's a good bit more extensive than when I last checked, and it's tough to compete with Montreal's attractions. So, I admit, Montreal moves ahead of Minneapolis.

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