Accessible Bike Camping Trips

We aim to have our trips be low-barrier, fun, skill-building, safer spaces through:

• Sliding scale suggested camping fee of $6-30
  If you cannot afford the fee, that is okay. We still want to provide a space for you to experience bike camping in a welcoming environment! The camping fee helps cover the cost of the campsite, basics of the group’s meals, gas reimbursement for the sag wagon, firewood for the campsite.
• Dinner and breakfast
  We will provide basic building foods (e.g. rice and salad greens for dinner, granola for breakfast) and folks can bring an item to build upon the meal so we enjoy a communal potluck-style meal together. Note: this is offered only for the Sat to Sun portion of the trip.
• Gear
  We can help folks find biking and camping gear if they do not have what they need for the trip.
• Sag support
  We will have a sag wagon. A “sag wagon” is a car that can carry your more heavy equipment to the campsite and can aid if there is an issue along the biking route. Note: this is offered only for the Sat to Sun portion of the trip.
• Clear expectations and establish a safer space
  Lots of encouragement! We will establish a safer space policy up front, provide a quiet area of the camp, designate people to help de-escalate conflict, and provide name tags with pronouns.
• Biking, talking, eating, and being with each other is fun!
• Skill Sharing
  We will share skills about building fires and setting up tents. Folks are welcome to provide additional skill shares on other topics!
• The Route
  Our route is mostly flat, mostly on trails, at a casual pace (around 10mph, a slow “muppet pace” like our usual group rides) and we will have mechanical support on the ride. Come to a Grease Rag group ride to get your legs ready.

Schedule

Saturday, July 19th: Mandatory Planning Meeting

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM – Meet outside of Venture Bikes on the Midtown Greenway
Two weeks before the trip! At this meeting, we’ll do a trip overview, figure out volunteer roles, sort out any final gear shares, and answer questions. It will be a great opportunity to chat with each other before the big trip too! The Grease Rag community has a lot of communal knowledge, and we are here to ensure the trip is a success for everyone.

We will meet on the big hill that is next to Venture Bikes which is part of the 10th/11th Ave exit. If the weather is not good, we can move inside Venture Bikes.

Saturday, August 2nd: The Camping Trip

10:30 AM – Meet outside of Venture Bikes on the Midtown Greenway (same spot as the mandatory planning meeting)
We will have a few icebreakers and casual get-to-know-you activities before the ride, along with group stretching. This is when folks can put items in the sag wagon and use the bike shop for last-minute purchases. Bathrooms are located in the bike shop, and there is a cafe if folks need any food or beverages for the ride.

11:30 AM – Roll out

3:00 – 4:00 PM – Arrive at Carver Park

Sunday, August 3rd: Returning from the Camping Trip

10:00 AM – Roll out

2:00 PM – Return to Venture Bikes
The return trip will have similar stops as the departure trip, however, the Excelsior Library will be closed, so on Sun we will stop at a local coffee shop. The Hopkins Depot stop will be open. VB is closed on Sun but Midtown Global Market off of 10th Ave exit is open if you have any bathroom or food needs before going home.

Sunday, August 3rd to Monday, August 4th: Optional

Carver Park only allows people to reserve a weekend campsite if they pay for two nights when reserving between Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. Therefore, we do have the campsite available from Sunday into Monday. One of the camping organizers can stay behind for this option. However, we are unable to guarantee sag wagon support, and there will not be communal meals like on Saturday into Sunday. We can plan group meals together, but this option will be more independent overall.

This option is available for folks who would like to do two nights or folks who want to do the route themselves on Sunday and just do one night of Sunday into Monday. We can all ride together on Monday morning or folks can ride on their own time on Monday.

What You Are Responsible For

• Having a bike in decent working condition
• Getting your labeled gear to the meet-up (masking tape and a permanent marker works great)
• Adhering to our Safer Spaces policy
• Snacks, lunch (along the route to/from the campsite), and beverages/water
• Having your tent, sleeping bag, and overall sleeping arrangement worked out before the trip
• Bringing eating utensils, dishware, cups, water bottle
• Contributing to our salad bar and breakfast bar
• Yourself!

The Ride

Bookmark the Route!
The ride is 24 miles, almost all on trails with some on-road riding, and mostly flat. There will be ride leaders/marshalls, mechanical support, and up to 35 of us riding together. This will be a great experience! We will be rolling at 10-12mph, and no one will be left behind.

To get us to our campsite we will bike out on the Greenway, to the Hopkins Depot, where we will take our first break. We will continue on to the Cedar Lake Regional Trail, then follow the Lake Minnetonka Regional Trail to the Excelsior Library, for our second break stop. There is a brewery, coffee shop/bakery, and grocery store nearby. We will continue on the trail until we reach our campsite.

Campsite

The campsite is the Zumbra 2 group site at Three Rivers Park District Carver Park. It can accommodate 35 people and 5 vehicles. The site has a large stone shelter (back up for rainy weather and can be used for bike storage), a fire ring, a water pump, and picnic tables.

The bathroom has a porta-potty style toilet and has room if you want to use the bathroom to change clothes. There are no showers at the site.

More information about the campsite:

• Three Rivers Park general rules and public safety
• Lake Auburn campground policy
• Group campsite guidelines (PDF) – Our site is at Lake Zumbra 2

What to Pack

In addition to what is listed above under “What You Are Responsible For,” you may also refer to these packing lists:

GR Bicycle Camping Packing List – a handy spreadsheet

Bike Camping Packing Pack List – a big list with tips and recipes!

Inspiration

Don’t let the whiteness and the cis-maleness of the outdoor industry deter you from enjoying the outdoors with us. For inspiration, follow these Instagram accounts dedicated to us outside:

@IndigenousWomenHike on Instagram

@TheBlackOutdoors on Instagram

@BrownFolksFishing on Instagram

@GreaseRagBikes on Instagram (That’s us!)

Read more about FTW bike camping and touring from Grease Rag.

Howdy neighbors! My name is Sol and I’m from Shreveport Louisiana! I’ve been in Minneapolis Minnesota for about five years, and I took the long way to get here! I didn’t know how to ride a bike until I was in my early twenties in Colorado Springs Colorado, and I didn’t get into it as a lifestyle in a culture until I moved to Minneapolis Minnesota.

I’m considered very low level in everything concerning bikes, so I’m very happy to be in Minneapolis Minnesota with such a large welcoming cyclist! I’m also very grateful that the community here is so large that they are people who can identify problematic behavior, and don’t have any worries about breaking off into their own groups to be around the people that are better for them. Minneapolis is one of the few places that I’ve been to that is very in touch with mental and emotional health care, and it shows! There’s some people that will never get it, because they refuse to, but that is not the mainstream functioning ideology here.

Above is a picture of my lovely Constance! I learned a lot of what I know with my previous bike, which went unnamed. Unfortunately, that bike was stolen shortly after I moved to the house that I currently live in now. I doubt Constance will be my last bike, but I hope that many adventures are ahead of us!

From Recovery Bike Shop’s Bike Law Workshop on 2/3/2020

Seriously. I’ve spent so much time researching this, and still I come back to issues on interpretation. When lawmakers start throwing around phrases like “reasonable amount of time” and “as close as practicable”, it makes it difficult for anyone who doesn’t regularly practice law to know what it really means, or what is defendable. I am personally of the opinion that I will do what is safest and best for me that I can put logic behind, and most of that falls into what I interpret as legal. That being said, I acknowledge my privilege as a white person, and that makes things like interacting with people in cars and cops easier, if it comes to that. Make the law work for you, and at least for me, knowing what’s written in the law books helps me to navigate how I choose to bike in the real world. 

Bikes are Vehicles 

In Minnesota, bikes are considered vehicles. That means that “bicyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as operators of any other vehicle on the road with certain exceptions” (City of Minneapolis Bicycle Laws and Ordinances). The big thing about this for me is to remember that you have the same rights as a car. You own the road as much as a driver, and riding like you do makes you safer and more visible. 

There are a few exceptions that makes bikes different: 

You have to travel “as close as practicable”– NOT as close as possible– to the right side of the road. This is already one of those weird interpretive ones, but I take this very liberally. I do not think it is practicable, for example, to ride where a parked car could open its door into me. That just isn’t safe, and unfortunately that’s where a lot of bike lanes are placed. You can always take the lane, even if there’s a bike lane– you are never required to use a bike lane. When you are riding in a traffic lane, it’s recommended to ride where the line of a car’s right tires would be. If you feel like people are passing you too close though, It makes more sense to get farther out into the lane, so that you are more easily seen, and so cars understand that they have to merge all the way into the next left lane instead of trying to squeeze past you. 

• If you are preparing to turn left, then you should not be to the far right lane. You have to yield to cars and signal as you merge, but there’s nothing written in the law about when you should start merging. Do what feels comfortable and safe for you, and give yourself lots of time and space. 
• You can merge over to pass slower traffic. Usually it’s another bike, but hey, if you’re haulin’ it past cars, good on you. 
• You can merge as necessary to avoid hazards. Ice, water, potholes, trash, opening car door, whatever you consider a hazard, it’s much better to move far away from it and get into the next lane over than squeeze yourself between it and a passing car. 
• If a bike lane isn’t on the far right, you don’t have to be on the far right. You are allowed to still be on the far right though regardless of where the bike lane is. 

You have to signal with your arms the direction you’re turning unless you need both arms to control the bike. Know yourself, know your bike, and though signaling is helpful to drivers, it’s going to be way more dangerous if you slide out in front of a car. 

You are allowed to ride two bikes side-by-side as long as it doesn’t “impede normal traffic”. My interpretation of this is that you’re definitely in the clear if there is more than one traffic lane and cars can merge around you, and if there’s only a single travel lane in your direction, just make sure to fall in line if a car can’t easily get around you. 

Riding on the sidewalk is super dangerous, even if you’re being careful, and there are a lot of places in Minneapolis where it’s illegal to bike on the sidewalk (areas of uptown, downtown, and on the U of M campus). Avoid it as much as you possibly can. If you are on the sidewalk, you have to yield to pedestrians, give an audible signal when passing, and go really slow through intersections. 

For lights that only change with the presence of a car (there are lots of them now), you can legally run the light if: 

• You come to a complete stop. 
• The signal stays red for an “unreasonable amount of time”. What does that mean? Who knows. I just go when I know the light isn’t going to change for me. 
• You believe the signal is triggered by cars. 
• There is no cross traffic. All of these have to happen before you run the light. How you interpret it is really up to you, but if you get stopped for running a red light, it’s good to know that it might have still been legal.

The Goods 

A front light and a rear light (or reflector) are required at night. It’s a pretty good idea, the brighter the better. You can’t have multiple people on a bike made with one person– no riding on bars or pegs. You need at least a rear brake on your bike, unless you can skid on your brakeless fixie, then that actually counts as a rear brake. It is totally legal to ride in Minneapolis without a helmet. 

Parking 

You are allowed to lock you bike to: 

• Bike racks 
• Signposts 
• Parking meter racks 

And not allowed to lock to: 

• Handrails 
• Trees 
• Streetlight poles 
• Traffic light poles 

If somewhere you go doesn’t have a bike rack, tell them to get one! 

What Cars are Supposed to be Doing 

It’s good to know what responsibilities are on the side of the motor vehicle drivers, even if they don’t do it that often. If a car does something illegal, it’s up to you whether filing a police report is worth it or not, because often nothing comes of it. Remember to try to get a license number, color and type of car, and a picture if you can.

• Cars have to give you at least 3 feet. I wish it was more, even though most drivers don’t even manage that. Be careful riding in the bike lane, because I think that’s actually when cars get the closest to me– the logic must be that I’m in a separate lane, so they can get as close as they want. It’s always safer to force cars to give you that room, so if I’m having issues with that, I always take up space in a large part of the lane so cars have to merge over to the other lane to get around me.
• Cars aren’t allowed to interrupt traffic flow with their open doors, and that includes bike lanes/ bike traffic. Make sure to be really aware of parked cars, and always give yourself enough space that when a door swings out quickly, it won’t be in your way– for me, this often means taking the lane instead of riding in the bike lane.
• Cars cannot go into/cross bike lanes unless they’re doing it to turn or park. Any car blocking the bike lane is doing so illegally, unless they have an obstruction permit (usually just city vehicles).
• Cars have to yield to cyclists and merge into the bike lane before turning, that way they have to (theoretically) pay attention to what’s happening with cyclists before merging/ turning into them.
• Cars are not allowed to go into a bike lane to pass a vehicle from the right side. I see this a lot on two-way streets when a car is taking an unprotected left turn.

If you are pulled over on your bike 

I am not an expert on this at all (I’m not an expert on any of this, but this part makes me especially anxious). Here are some guidelines that you can use in whatever way feels comfortable for you, and I hope this is something you never have to deal with. 

• Things you do or say can be used against you. 
• Police cannot arrest you for not answering questions, such as “Do you know why I stopped you?” or “Where are you heading tonight?” In Minnesota, however, you can be arrested for refusing to identify yourself if the police “reasonably suspect” you were involved with a crime. You do not need a license to ride a bike, so you do not need to carry or present an ID. 
• Police are allowed to do a pat-down over your clothes, in order to check for weapons “for their own safety”. You don’t have to consent to any further searches of your things or your bike. 

That’s pretty much what I’ve got! If you have any other questions or things to change/ add, please contact me. 

Alyssa Proudfoot
Community Outreach Coordinator
Recovery Bike Shop
(925) 784-5479
alyssaafoot@gmail.com

By Alyssa Proudfoot (she/her, they/them)

Alyssa is a pissed off bike mechanic killjoy, but in a cute way.

QUIET NIGHT

I love the sudden quiet of winter in the city– it’ll be a weeknight at nine, the snow will be falling, I’ll turn down a street, and then it’s just me and my bike and the sound of my breath– where I’m so present.