Thanks to my friend Bob, I now have a camera mount attached to my bike handlebars. I’m able to attach one of my cameras and shoot video as I ride. The two videos included in this post are a sample of a recent ride I did Sunday evening around downtown.

I started my ride from Liberty Condos and made my way  east to the Principal Riverwalk, south to Principal Park (it’s funny that it still says Sec Taylor Stadium on Google Maps, even though they changed names a few years ago), and then west to the Scott Avenue Pedestrian Bridge and then back down 2nd Avenue to Court Avenue, west to 4th and I snaked my way back to 6th and Grand.

My plans are to explore the various downtown trails this fall (weather permitting) and next spring and shoot videos from each of the trails to share. This will give everyone a great look at how wonderful our bike trail system really is. I personally think that we have some of the best bike riding trails around and am thankful that are so easily accessible for downtown dwellers.

P.S. It was pretty windy out there at times Sunday evening so you may here a lot of that during the video playback.

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The City of Des Moines and the Transportation Management Association (TMA), along with Nelson Construction offer the Liberty Bike Station to downtown Des Moines residents and works. Located within the Liberty Parking Garage at the corner of 6th Street and Grand Avenue, the Liberty Bike Station provides a safe and secure location for bicycle commuters to park their bikes for free every day of the week. Eight racks have been installed in this location on the ground level of the Liberty Parking Garage. The racks have been specifically designed to combat bicycle theft and accept both padlocks and U-locks. All bicycle enthusiasts are invited to make the most the Liberty Bike Station. For more information, please contact the TMA at (515) 286-4969.

There’s also another similar set up out the 801 Grand Parking deck as shown in the picture below.

There was a great article in Sunday’s Des Moines Register by David Elbert that talked about the redevelopment efforts that have been going on downtown. You can find the full text of the article here. The sidebar to the article had the biggest meaning to me, here’s what was included in it:

Des Moines’ downtown still faces a number of challenges, including:

COMPLETING THE RIVERFRONT: The biggest piece missing from the riverfront plan today is the World Food Prize Headquarters. City officials expect next month to turn over the keys of the former riverfront library to the World Food Prize organization, which plans to spend nearly $30 million to convert the century-old building into a headquarters that will include elaborate riverfront landscaping. The group still needs to raise about $5 million, but construction is expected to begin before year’s end.

HOUSING AND RETAIL: Retail development traditionally follows housing, so the emphasis is on housing. In 2002, a goal was set to add 6,000 downtown housing units. So far, the total is fewer than 1,500. New developments are being planned for an area south of Court Avenue called the Lower East Village and another location called Gray’s Landing between Southwest Ninth and 16th streets south of the MLK bypass. With the current economy, it could be years before either development begins.

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Sometimes I shake my head in disbelief. Des Moines puts on a face of such a progressive city with its awesome new sculpture park until you see what was selected for bike racks around the park. I invite you to play the game, of the 10 images of bike racks on the photo above, one type was selected for the Pappajohn Sculpture Park, and five other types can be found around downtown and three types are possibilities that could exist in downtown with had a few more creative minds that participated in the selection of bike racks.

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So I finally broke down this week and purchased myself a bike. I haven’t owned a bike for a few years, because when I lived in the burbs it just set in my garage and collected dust. I’ve been doing a lot of walking this summer downtown on the trails and up down the riverwalk area and to Gray’s Lake and back. I’ve seen a lot of people out on bikes and I think I was the only resident in the Liberty Building with out a bike, so with the help of my good friend and neighbor Renae, we found me the perfect bike on CraigsList.org.

I got my bike Wednesday night and took it for it’s first ride last night. I rode from the Liberty Building east on Locust, then picked up the Principal Riverwalk trails and headed south to Principal Park, then west to Gray’s Lake, circled the lake and then north to Locust Street and back east to the Liberty Building. I’m not sure of the distance (I’ve got to figure out how to use the bike computer or find an iPhone app), but the entire ride took about 45 minutes.

Being able to ride the wonderful trails we have downtown is another great asset that us downtown dwellers have. I’m not sure of other projects downtown, but at 418 Liberty Condos, we have both an indoor bike room on the 1st floor as well as a bike station in the parking garage.

Note: This post was originally published on August 22, 2008.

Brenton Skating Plaza is now offering bike rentals. Explore Des Moines’ scenic trails and experience Downtown in a whole new way! Mountain, Road, and Hybrid bikes available for rental (one hour, 1/2 day, full day, or 7 day rentals) starting as low as $12 per hour.

I’m very excited to see that we can now rent bikes downtown for two reasons:

1. I don’t own a bike, but sometimes get the inkling to want to go for a bike ride.
2. I just got back from Provincetown last Saturday and had rented a bike there for the week and had a great time riding it and exploring the Cape.

According to local news reports Des Moines’ first bicycle rental facility opened this week at Brenton Skate Plaza. Brenton has teamed up with Bike World to rent out bikes during the ice skating rink’s off season and in an effort to draw more people downtown, specifically to the downtown trails and views along the Principal Riverwalk.

Rentals are available seven days a week, weather permitting, until the ice skating rink opens back up in November. They are hoping the bike rental season to run annually from April to November.

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Registration is under way for the 2009 Mayor’s Annual Ride for Trails, this annual event that raises money to support the Des Moines Recreational Trails. Downtown benefits with having money to complete the following downtown area trails:

• The connection from Gray’s Lake and the Meredith Trail under Fleur Drive to the Bill Riley Trail
• The Walnut Creek Trail connecting Clive to Water Works Park and Gray’s Lake
• The widening of the Bill Riley Trail
• Conversion of the Southwest First Street bridge to a pedestrian- and bicycle-only bridge

The ride starts at 10 a.m. April 18 at City Hall, 400 Robert D. Ray Drive. The 30-mile route will travel through many area neighborhoods,  but for those needing a shorter route, there is a 20-mile route also available.

Participants can sign up online at www.dmparks.org, or at the City Hall Information Center. Registration will also be available from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m. on ride day at City Hall. Each rider must complete an entry form.

The registration fee is $25 and includes a short-sleeved cotton T-shirt, refreshments at the rest stop and post-ride festivities at the Simon Estes Riverfront Amphitheater. There will be sag support and a repair van. A map of the 2009 route will be included in ride packets.

For more information, call Robin Leaper in the Parks and Recreation department at 237-1404.

Staying fit downtown has to be one of the best advantages to living downtown because it’s so easy. For one thing you can walk most everywhere you need, either outside or through the skywalk and if you prefer to bike, we now even have bike rentals downtown. With the Principal Riverwalk coming, walking or biking downtown will be even better.

For downtown gyms we have basically two places, the Downtown YMCA and Gym F/X Fitness & Tanning. I belong to Gym F/X, it’s on the first and second floor of my building, the Liberty Building. I’m happy to say that since joining the gym and moving downtown where I’m way more active, I’ve lost 10 pounds and 8 percent body fat in the last six months.

When joining the gym, I signed up for their LivFit 10 Week Training Program. It’s basically a 5 component system that covers: food intake, cardiovascular training, taking supplements to eliminate nutritional deficiencies, resistance training and application of programming. With this program I was signed up for the BodyBugg and had a personal trainer, Jeff Zelenovich, to assist me through the program. I had done so well on the 10 week program, I’ve continued on using BodyBugg program for another year.

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Brenton Skating Plaza is now offering bike rentals. Explore Des Moines’ scenic trails and experience Downtown in a whole new way! Mountain, Road, and Hybrid bikes available for rental (one hour, 1/2 day, full day, or 7 day rentals) starting as low as $12 per hour.

I’m very excited to see that we can now rent bikes downtown for two reasons:

1. I don’t own a bike, but sometimes get the inkling to want to go for a bike ride.
2. I just got back from Provincetown last Saturday and had rented a bike there for the week and had a great time riding it and exploring the Cape.

According to local news reports Des Moines’ first bicycle rental facility opened this week at Brenton Skate Plaza. Brenton has teamed up with Bike World to rent out bikes during the ice skating rink’s off season and in an effort to draw more people downtown, specifically to the downtown trails and views along the Principal Riverwalk.

Rentals are available seven days a week, weather permitting, until the ice skating rink opens back up in November. They are hoping the bike rental season to run annually from April to November.

Now that you’ve got your bike, there are some great bike mapping trails from BikeIowa. Just click on the this image for a printable PDF from BikeIowa’s website.

You can find more biking and walking trail maps on our Downtown Maps page.

Also have you heard about the Des Moines Bike Collective?
The Collective is part bike library, part bike co-op, and part bike school.

Here’s some details about the Des Moines Bike Collective from the BikeIowa website:

Bike Collective’s Purpose: To put more bikes under more people.

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