30 Days of Biking - More metal shoes

I mentioned the other day how much I love these sculptures of shoes on the Midtown Greenway. I still don't know who created these but I love the concept. When you cruise by on the trail unless you look closely you might think someone has just abandoned a pair of shoes.

I stopped today to look more closely at these since they also look like a pair of beat up hikers I own. 

The detail is great and adds to the realism. I am the kind of person who likes to see how things are made and, yes, there are little drain holes in the soles to let rainwater out!

30 Days of Biking - Look for the shoes!

There is a fun series of sculptures on the Midtown Greenway along my route. It consists of different pairs of shoes, cast in bronze, set on benches as if they were just left by their owners. Each pair is a different style, some are meant to look quite worn, others like they will be picked up shortly and used again. Sometimes they look quite real, adding to the sense the owners might return in a minute.

The pair in this picture looks kind of like my beat up hikers I wear in the winter. The phrase 'walk a mile' really applies in this thought provoking art piece.

30 Days of Biking - Bridge out

We have a fairly prominent cycling landmark in the Twin Cities known as the Sabo bridge. The structure swings out dramatically over highway 55 as it enters downtown Minneapolis. The bridge's designers used a cable suspension design that was much more visually imposing than your typical pedestrian bridge. Unfortunately, just a few years after its opening, metal plates that help anchor the cables to the structure began to fail. When bridges begin to fail...we close them. Bummer.

The bridge is...er...closed.

Even the temporary scaffolding bracing the deck makes for an interesting picture. 

Fortunately, no one was hurt when the cable plates failed. Also, there is an alternative route which involves crossing the rather treacherous Highway 55 at road level. Once this bridge is opened back up to bikes, I'm sure we will all appreciate the sense of safety it gives. At least from traffic.

You can see the weirdest things

One of the things I love about biking is how in touch with your surroundings you can be. If I drove to work, I would be in touch with: a) the interior of my car, b) anger management techniques. Note I am not anti-car, but anti-car-commute having had 40+ mile commutes in the past.

I was a bit surprised riding on the Midtown Greenway several days ago to see a curious, humanoid towering over a dumpster. See him? He seems like a he for some reason.

This building is used by a local theater group Bedlam. I haven't been to one of their productions but from the looks of it, you might be in for something fun and certainly non-traditional.

Why does this seem like something that would've been 'relocated' back in the college days?