{"id":8244,"date":"2021-04-28T15:01:38","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T19:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acsmsoftware.com\/afitesttest\/?p=8244"},"modified":"2021-06-25T15:31:34","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T19:31:34","slug":"bike-score-barriers-bikeable-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acsmsoftware.com\/afitesttest\/bike-score-barriers-bikeable-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"How High Is Your Bike Score? Barriers to Bikeable Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moving to a new city in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic could have made for a difficult transition. Without the typical options of going out to restaurants, concerts or sporting events, getting to know our new home presented with some challenges. When my husband and I moved to Minneapolis in June of 2020, we were both sidelined from running by injuries. Fortunately, the vastly connected bike trails in the city gave us an excellent way to explore our new city and stay safely distanced. We quickly found ourselves riding our bikes for longer than we ever had before, and one of the key reasons we continued to cycle was that it was \u201ceasy.\u201d We weren\u2019t fighting car traffic in the bike-only lanes. We never ran into areas where the bike lanes abruptly ended, so thankfully, we never had to merge with vehicular traffic. I do not enjoy cycling while cars speed past with little concern for others on the road, but Twin Cities bike trails were relatively protected from this. My biggest complaint was that at times there were too many cyclists<\/em> (how could I say such a thing)!<\/p>\n

During medical school, I would cycle commute to class, but I only had to travel a mile on streets that were not busy (though there were no bike lanes). I\u2019ve considered cycling to work at times since, but several barriers existed, including community factors such as lack of infrastructure connectivity (bike lanes that connect to one another and do not require you to abruptly merge with vehicular traffic), lack of protected bike lanes and sidewalks and poor lighting, as well as personal factors such as not having access to a shower when I get to work. In Minneapolis, so many residents cycle commute or just ride for exercise, and now I understand why: the city infrastructure makes it easy and enjoyable. This made me think more about what needs to be done for those in other cities to have the opportunity to reap the benefits of cycling carefree in their communities.<\/p>\n

Cycling to work or school has many benefits, including:<\/h3>\n