The security check took longer than boarding a bus. When I entered the fairgrounds, I jogged to the Star Tribune booth and was horrified to find myself being beaten by a bicycle. But I was happy with second place and found park-and-ride to be a more convenient way to get to the fair. — Zoe Jackson
I took my bike out for a test ride a few times. I’m a bit ambitious, so I planned a route that I wanted to optimize for maximum efficiency.
We left at 9:44 a.m. Google Maps led me northeast on 3rd Avenue S., then southeast on S. 2nd Street until I reached 13th Avenue S.
From there, all I had to do was hop on the University of Minnesota bike path on Bluff Street and wind my way through campus until I hit the university transit road. The route was straightforward: a straight line from Dinkytown to Falcon Heights with the occasional curve.
I was riding a single speed bike, and after nearly three miles, buses and maintenance vehicles roared past me. But then the Lee and Rose Warner Coliseum came into view and the smell of manure went from faint to pungent.
At this point, anything seemed possible and the ground began to drop off as I sped past the buses that passed me on the Transitway. I arrived at the Bike Barn on Como Avenue at 10:09 a.m. and reached the Strib stand nine minutes later.
