Greg Anderson wants Plymouth residents to think outside the box—mainly that steel box with a combustion engine, cushioned seats, four wheels and a muffler.
The 54-year-old avid cyclist commenced the Plymouth to Midtown Bike Ride two years ago to show there’s an alternative route to city streets and freeways in the connection between our suburb and Minneapolis. The 12-mile route starts and finishes on the east side of Medicine Lake, riding past the Golden Valley Country Club, turning south at Theodore Wirth Park, zooming over Interstate 394, hugging the west side of Cedar Lake before heading due east on the Midtown Greenway bike path. About 20 riders got outside their comfort zones in 2009, and another dozen followed suit last year.
“I wanted to get people into the thought process that they have freedom to explore beyond Plymouth,” Anderson says of the ever-growing trail system from the city and the Three Rivers Park District.
The Plymouth to Midtown Bike Ride began as a celebration of newly completed bike paths and has become an awareness campaign to bring their existence to the attention of more residents. Anderson has no aspirations of expanding the number of people in the ride, but wants to have new people partake each June.
“I’m looking for people to have new experiences,” he says. “You do it once and then you know.”
Consider Beth Dikeman and Bob Sipkins in-the-know; both are Plymouth residents, and each has peddled their two-wheeled machines in one of the rides. “It’s a great introductory ride for someone not familiar with the interconnectedness of the area,” Sipkins says of participating in 2009.
Sipkins and Dikeman agree that the 24-mile ride might seem daunting to beginners, but in reality it’s very manageable. Anderson calls it a “slow, calm, relaxed ride.”
"You chat with people to pass the time and take it bit by bit,” Dikeman says, recalling the ride in 2010. “On paper it’s 12 to 13 miles [one way], but in reality it zipped right by.”
Riders peddle straight through to the midway point of the Midtown Global Market on Lake Avenue (midtownglobalmarket.org), where riders can stop to take in the wide variety of ethnic food and live music. Other riders have the option to continue on for a bit to get a bite at the Birchwood Café near the Mississippi River (birchwoodcafe.com). Anderson is considering adding a loop this year for those not interested in going immediately into Minneapolis, or straight back to Plymouth on the way home. One option is to try out the new path that rides right next to Target Field. “We’ll see what happens,” he says. “It’s a little bit of an experiment.”
With any experiment, there are things that don’t go exactly according to plan. And that’s OK, say Dikeman and Anderson. The night before last year’s ride, a strong windstorm blew some trees onto the path, which impeded bikes from getting through.
“We had to hand our bikes across the trunk and keep on going,” Anderson says. “It was kind of a cool thing.”
Dikeman stresses that this ride isn’t stressful. “It’s not a race to get your heart rate up,” she says. “It’s a chance to go around and explore the city. It has broad appeal.”
&
Want to Know More?
It’s not too late to coast the Plymouth to Midtown Bike Ride. Registration is accepted through June 24, a day before the 9:30 a.m. ride on June 25. The ride will leave Medicine Lake and will stop for shopping at Midtown Global Market and for an optional lunch at the Birchwood Café before returning to Plymouth. Giveaways will be given to riders. 763.509.5200
