Progressively soggier skies didn’t stop Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges from taking part in the city’s Bike to Work Day. Hodges, astride a bright green Nice Ride bike, met up with Ward 10 Council Member Lisa Bender and a group of rain-hardy cyclists to make the ride from Uptown Minneapolis to the City Hall’s Bike to Work Day celebration.
Riders pedaled over a variety of Minneapolis’ bike infrastructure — from the Bryant Ave. ‘bike boulevard’ to the Lyndale-Hennepin separated path through Loring Park, on bike-bus-and-taxi-only Nicollet Mall and over on-street bike lanes like the one on 4th street, sandwiched between 3 lanes of car traffic and a bus lane running the opposite direction.
Still, on the few occasions riders needed to “take the lane,” car drivers were courteous — it was not clear whether they recognized the mayor among the riders they were yielding to or not.
Other rides scheduled for this morning included a North Side ride with Council Member Blong Yang and Hennepin County Commissioner Linda Higgins; a Northeast ride with Council Members Kevin Reich and Jacob Frey; and a South ride with Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, Council Members Andrew Johnson, Abdi Warsame, and Alondra Cano.
