Pedaling Professor
@pedalingprof.bsky.social
St. Paul Bicycle Coalition chair and biochemistry professor. Believer in the *radical* idea that we deserve safe, clean, healthy, equitable, & financially resilient places. Bikes, walking, & transit first.
created July 24, 2023
11,205 followers 371 following 1,909 posts
view profile on Bluesky Posts
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
Potholes & poor road conditions are generally the most effective traffic calming measures we have in Saint Paul. Every time public works "improves" a road speeds go up noticeably because they don't install any real traffic calming in the process & stick with overly wide lanes (engineer brain).
Chris Murphy (@chrismurphyct.bsky.social) reposted
It’s happening. The takedown of Jimmy Kimmel is likely the start of a campaign to use the murder of Charlie Kirk as a pretext to use the power of the White House to wipe out Trump’s critics and his political opponents. But we aren’t powerless. We can mobilize and organize. Now.
Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes.bsky.social) reposted
Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.
Chris Geroux (@cgeroux.bsky.social) reposted
Gave up waiting for an affordable EV car, and instead got an affordable ecargo bike. We needed affordable EV cars 20 years ago, we can't wait longer for the people in power to get their shit straight. Good affordable ecargo bikes are here now, and are actually better for urban transport anyway!
George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) reposted
Education is the enemy of fascism.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
My kingdom for some signal priority.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
I think largely because a bunch of people in power have chosen that as a wedge issue and hammered on the point to the degree that a bunch of other people have bought into the issue as some huge problem, when it isn't/shouldn't be at all. Just let people live their lives, it's really pretty simple!
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Come for the pizza, stay for the sidewalk parking and complete lack of bike racks!
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
I've been wanting a good one for awhile, the best were pretty expensive and the rest seemed pretty iffy. I hope we do get more options!
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
Narrator: both of them continued to be the absolute most pathetic "leaders" possible and did nothing at all.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
If you have to ask, I bet you already know the answer 😜
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
I'll bet you can fill in the blanks on this one.
Bill Kristol (@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social) reposted
It should be needless to say, but it is perhaps at this moment worth saying, that transgender individuals have the same right as anyone else to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
I didn't look at them all, but some from Anoka County as well at least.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Yep! A whole host of different jurisdictions had plows parked there.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
What a fun time today at the @bikemn.bsky.social Twin Cities Bike Tour! So many fun people & rode some new-to-me trails. Between the 41 miles of the ride + the trip there and home, I was going to be about 10 miles short of a metric century, so I tacked some extra on at the end to hit that mark 😜
Alex (@mplsalex.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Honestly the main bike thoroughfare in Minneapolis not having lights for years at night should probably be a much bigger scandal than it seems to be.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Absolutely.
Andrea Junker (@strandjunker.com) reposted
The fact that Matthew Dowd lost his job for pointing out Charlie Kirk’s hate speech, while Brian Kilmeade openly suggests we should euthanize the homeless and there is zero outrage, shows exactly what is terribly wrong with today’s political mainstream media.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
That's the more dramatic, going from 11 to 8 ft. But the whole segment is proposed to go from 11 to 10.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
The section of Pelham between Wabash and Myrtle.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Could be they have more preferred options available, I have a ton of hyssop and the bumbles are all over that.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
St Paul PW proposing to make a part of their Grand Round bikeway narrower as part of an upcoming reconstruction. True leadership.
Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) reposted
Brian Kilmeade endorses euthanizing homeless people: "Involuntary lethal injection, or something. Just kill them."
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Do those susans attract pollinators? I feel like I never see them on the BES I have.
Gillian Branstetter (@gbbranstetter.bsky.social) reposted
I am having a hard time reconciling "Charlie Kirk was a fierce advocate of open dialogue and free expression" with "we must identify and persecute everyone who is insufficiently mournful"
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
To his credit, ponzi scream is pretty damn clever. And the gist of what he's getting at is a good point, but misses a lot about why folks left xitter and that it's way more of a xithole over there in "free speech" land. But very true that more than keyboard activism is required.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
They won't, unfortunately, I would guess. This is next to a larger apartment complex but in general across the city people regularly leave their bins in bike lanes. It would take the hauling companies not picking them up and leaving a flyer or something, but I don't think they'd ever do that.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
In this case, they were moved out of the travel lane, since they were previously blocking part of the bike lane, and are now in the buffer space where theoretically no one should be driving. But your question is a good one, though I'm guessing there are a number of competing answers.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
When life gives you lemons.... Make a pop-up separated bike lane!
American Fietser (@americanfietser.bsky.social) reposted
I didn't re-home my entire platform to Bluesky because of politics. I walked away from Twitter because I think Elon Musk is a horrible human being and I didn't want to contribute anything to something he owns. It's that simple.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Like these...
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Thought exactly that riding it last weekend for the first time. Should aim to upgrade 30 miles of track per year, to a quality that enables 100+ mph speeds. Would make it even more attractive than it is now.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
💯💯💯
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Danish, but yes, super frustrating.
onion person (@junlper.beer) reposted
it really is astonishing how quickly it goes from “civil war” and “blood in the streets” to “wow guys it’s just a sad tragedy” when it becomes inconvenient
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
Sometimes when I end up interacting with some of the old school "bike advocates", I'm in no way surprised that cycling in the US is in the state it is. Stereotypes are often based on some level of truth, and the arrogance and gatekeeping of some of these guys sure is something to behold.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
😂😂
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
That would be zero. I think they once said it costs them $100 to install one somehow.
Will Jones (@willpjones.bsky.social) reposted
“Yingling Fan, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, said Midway’s orientation around cars, despite good transit connections, is holding it back.”
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
It was a ton of fun, superb community bonding event.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
The little California city I lived in does this on a yearly (I think) basis. Repurposes the equivalent of Grand for the event. patch.com/california/a...
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
And motion sensing!
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
I don't think our PW dept views it seriously enough as a safety issue. This is despite a person walking getting killed by a driver where lights weren't working.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
They do try to fix them at times, but then keep trying ways to secure them that are also easy to break into.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
I've been rewatching season 2 and 3 over the past week. Such a phenomenal show.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
Stopped to admire the @mplsalex.bsky.social hero light along the Midtown Greenway tonight. Only functional light for most/maybe all of this stretch. Pretty impressive how one man with a $25 light has so far bested the entirety of Mpls and StP's city staff. Please take note @seankershaw.bsky.social
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
I feel like they should do a GoFundMe or one of those. Give five bucks, get a donut. Helps pay the fine and build customer base.
NY Times Pitchbot (@nytpitchbot.bsky.social) reposted
Charlie Kirk was a 2020 election denier and conspiracy spreader. But he was a 2020 election denier and conspiracy spreader in the right way. by Ezra Klein
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Oh damn, those look tasty.
Michael Hobbes (@michaelhobbes.bsky.social) reposted
Bill Corbett (@billcorbett.bsky.social) reposted
Remembering MN house speaker Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark and their beloved dog Gilbert. Murdered in June at their home by a rightwing Trump-voting evangelist, who also shot another MN lawmaker and his wife at THEIR home, 9 and 8 times, respectively (miraculously, they survived).
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
Some @thewaroncars.bsky.social sticker spotting last weekend in Evanston!
Dave Zirin (@edgeofsports.bsky.social) reposted
If liberals like Ezra are saying that someone who called for Gay people to be stoned, trans people to be lynched, Black people to accept police violence and women to obey did politics "the right way", that is in some respects more alarming that the bloviation of the far right. Bend that knee, Ezra.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
💯💯
andy™ (@andylevy.net) reposted
the people who mocked and made up shit about the attack on paul pelosi have thoughts about decorum and we should definitely take them very very seriously
Wajahat Ali (@wajali.bsky.social) reposted
Democrats consistently condemn political violence. Republicans do not. It's completely lopsided not both sided
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
More of these folks need to check out the awesome new @metrotransitmn.bsky.social Gold Line!
Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox.bsky.social) reposted
No elected official Democratic party will be as cruel about Kirk's death as Mike Lee was about the death of Melissa Hortman. wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/06/17/s...
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Always. But I'm soaking up the best weather now while it's here.
Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) reposted
My feed is almost entirely people condemning violence and telling others not to celebrate this.
Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) reposted
When a right-wing man murdered Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, progressives asked MAGA to tone down the rhetoric to prevent more violence. Within hours of Kirk’s murder, motive still unknown, the right is demanding that the government wage a campaign of violence against their enemies.
Justin Zimmerman (@jztidecat.bsky.social) reposted
Y'all the political violence we are seeing isn't on some random posters. It's on the president. It's on his administration. Why do we have higher standards for random people online than we do the political elite?
Daniel Suitor (@dansuitor.bsky.social) reposted
DFL Vehicular Manslaughter Caucus
Briana Rose Lee (@brianaroselee.swifties.social) reposted reply parent
This is not going to make me stop. Cyndy Martin killed a teenager in a hit and run last summer and didn’t have the human decency or good judgment to call an ambulance or attempt to help. She left him for dead. She shouldn’t be in any leadership position in the party. This is insane.
American Fietser (@americanfietser.bsky.social) reposted
I accidentally got caught up in the school/work rush hour traffic this morning by car due to an errand that needed to be done. Holy shit that's soul crushing to be stuck in. The geometric inefficiency of cars is insane.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
Literally everyone from Minnesota Bluesky reading this and saying, "um, obviously".
BikeMN (@bikemn.bsky.social) reposted
The weather on Sunday looks AMAZING. If you've been waiting to register, STOP WAITING TO REGISTER. We'll be closing online registration Thursday at 11:59pm. After that you'll have to do it in person day of and it'll be a lil more expensive. Register @ bikemn.org/tcbt
LauraGMitchell (@lauragmitchell.com) reposted
When I see restaurant owners complaining publicly (online) about a lack of car parking in the area they decided to set their business up in (dense, walkable, bikeable and transit accessible)... I don't want to give them any of my money.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
Unfortunately, what they did instead was the opposite, eliminating the existing buffer to make sure the car lanes stayed wide. Someone (😜) moved construction posts back in their place to try and slow speeding drivers.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
As others pointed out, additional hardening, plus I would have argued for right-in, right-out only with no left turns allowed here.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
There's an intersection to the side there (a T that goes just to the school) which they were likely turning left out of, in order to hit the curb like this.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
That's funny, I just saw a ton of those knocked over along Western this weekend visiting Chicago and thought the same thing!
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
😂😂
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Exactly! This design is far too forgiving for the driver still, which doesn't do enough to discourage dangerous behavior.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
A new median was installed to help make a safer crossing for students walking or biking to a nearby high school. This morning, I noticed some of the signage had already been destroyed by a reckless driver, after only about a week of being installed. Insufficient design is also to blame here, though.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Haha, sorry! My own bubble was burst most meaningfully through reading Chuck Marohn's excellent Confessions of a Recovering Engineer and the incredible Killed by a Traffic Engineer by @wesmars.bsky.social
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Though unfortunately, too much of the entire traffic engineering field and the work they do is just based on nonsense data in the first place. So what they're "hearing" could realistically be just as good as what their engineers would suggest.
Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) reposted
The president of the United States just declared war, actual military war, not a metaphorical one, on a major American city, and one governed by his political opponents. In any other period, this would be impeachment-worthy.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
I haven't heard anything about St Paul working on this too, have you heard anything?
Peter Gleick (@petergleick.bsky.social) reposted
Department of War? Let's do them all. Dept of Agribusiness Dept of Ignorance Dept of Industry Dept of Fossil Fuels Dept of Human Disease Homeland Gestapo Dept of Private Parks Dept of Unpaid Labor Dept of State Control Dept of SUVs & Trucks Dept of Bankrupt Treasury Dept of Veterans Abuse
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
The Chroma Zone is amazing and there's an opportunity coming up to explore it by bike. Join Move MN for this event!
David Zipper (@davidzipper.bsky.social) reposted
Personally, I hope the absence of quality transit, fast trains, and safe bike lanes makes Americans notice how far their country has fallen behind.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Sadly, out again on Wheelock Parkway.... 😭
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Just blatant crimes against humanity that should be prosecuted in the Hague and people just shrug. Absolutely wild times we're living in.
Karla Hovde (@karlahovde.bsky.social) reposted
Minneapolis sunset light really put on a show this evening!
Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD (@elizabethjacobs.bsky.social) reposted
It doesn’t matter if you feed your kids organic foods, MAHA moms. It doesn’t matter if you lift every day, bro. It doesn’t matter how many supplements you consume. When polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps, and whooping cough come a calling, all that matters is if you are vaccinated or not.
Kai Ryssdal (@kairyssdal.bsky.social) reposted
About this Florida vaccine story: When they were little - 1 yr and 3 1/2 - my two older boys, who’d had all their shots, got whooping cough. We asked their pediatrician what would’ve happened if they hadn’t been vaccinated. “Oh, they’d have died.”
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
I lived in a small college town & it was the easiest place to bike ever. Almost nothing was more than 2 miles away & most things way closer. Streets were basically empty of cars. Sadly, the town & college did next to nothing to promote cycling. Sustainability director drove to work most days. 🤷
Dakota (@dakota.bsky.social) reposted
I would be too embarrased to admit this is how I felt
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Perfection.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social)
Standing in the dark of my back yard in oppressively comfortable temps, listening to crickets, cicadas, & a soft breeze in the treetops while a fellow cyclist silently rolls by on the neighboring street. Bumblebees asleep on the perennials in my garden planted for them. This is absolutely heavenly.
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Before the line opened, some folks, definitely not me, used the bus way as a connection west of Sun Ray 😉
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Kind of flew under the radar a bit, but it's there. Sun Ray to the end. There was a little gap near the Harley dealer, haven't been out to see if that's filled yet. Another nice one added was a connection from Johnson Parkway to the Etna stop that continues down into the 61-94 mess.
Season enthusiast (@premiumfrye.bsky.social) reposted
All I want is to count the monarchs on the liatris
Pedaling Professor (@pedalingprof.bsky.social) reply parent
Mickeys down on W 7th?