Let’s get outside, exercise, explore and socialize this summer with We Bike Rochester, a chapter of the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota BikeMN. They “empower our community to include safe cycling in their lifestyle through advocacy, education and ridership.”
Children, singles, couples, families and retirees all roll together on their bicycles enjoying picturesque Rochester parks and neighborhoods. Clean-up your frame, grease your chain and pedal on down to meet the We Bike Rochester gang.
We Bike Rochester board member Nick Miller comments, “For me and my family, we love We Bike Rochester because it has been welcoming to us as new residents of Rochester and offered us a chance to make friends while exploring our new home by bike.” His wife, Brittni, commutes to work on her bike daily. Their daughter, Lucia (7), is learning to ride. “No one makes us feel like we were going too slowly to participate, which she loves,” shares Miller.
Rides and routes
We Bike Rochester hosts group rides at various times to meet the needs of the diverse community of riders. Group rides include the popular summer Tuesday evenings, Farmers Market rides, Art4Trails rides, full moon rides and a bike summit. When you subscribe to the We Bike Rochester e-newsletter, you are notified with the location and route for the weekly rides.
Inspiring bike route maps titled Morning Coffee, Evening Brew, Farmers Market and longer routes are available on webikerochester.com. Funded by a Rochester Downtown Alliance grant, We Bike Rochester will also be hosting a Kidical mass bike riding event in downtown Rochester on either Saturday July 23 or 30, 2022.
In addition to the planned group rides, We Bike Rochester hosts public and private educational events for bicyclists. If you know of a group that would like more information about biking, go to webikerochester.com to schedule a group training session.
All that and more
What appears as a social group, We Bike Rochester also advocates for safe biking in Rochester. The organization encourages members to connect with the community and leadership to make Rochester biking safe for all. Brittni Miller connects with other Mayo Clinic employees who bike to advocate for better bike parking facilities on campus and improving bike commuting resources offered to new employees and students during orientation.
Webikerochester.com provides contact information to report dangerous biking infrastructure, such as stop sign or yield sign down, traffic signal outage/failure. OurStreets, a smartphone app that helps make Rochester a safer city for all to navigate, is available through We Bike Rochester.
The website also provides a ton of great resources to make biking more enjoyable. There are local bike trail maps, links to YouTube for bicycle safety and repair videos, and a video provided by Rochester Public Transit (RPT) on how to use the bike racks on buses.
No excuses, come ride
Biking is great cardiovascular exercise, reducing stress and the risk for heart disease. This low impact activity works glutes, quads, hamstrings and calves. A person weighing 150 pounds will burn approximately 400-600 calories an hour at a leisurely speed of 11 miles per hour.
We Bike Rochester welcomes all community members to explore Rochester’s 85-plus miles of bituminous and concrete surfaced trails, bike lanes and newly constructed bike trails. While talking to new friends or listening to the birds chirping, keep your eyes on the trail when maneuvering around curves, pedestrians and darting geese crossing trails. Enjoy a cold beverage or treats from a local establishment after the ride with other We Bike Rochester group riders.
