Bikeverywhere has just released a minor update to the Twin Cities Bike Map. Map changes reflect new research and suggestions from map users. Some changes include the addition of the Aldine St bridge in St. Paul, a trail connecting Fish Lake Park to Elm Creek Park Reserve,  a corrected alignment of the LRT trail out of Hopkins and a number of changes in the inner suburbs north of Minneapolis.

This update is part of the ongoing research that keeps Bikeverywhere maps as current as possible. The irregular pattern to the minor updates reflects the realities of publishing. When I run out of maps, I reprint and incorporate any changes since the last update.  I don’t usually make a big deal of the change. The cover and ISBN numbers are the same. The only way to tell the difference is to look at the back cover. Just above the price you will see “Rev 8.2.”  The original version doesn’t have these words.

This is the first time I’ve labeled the revision numbers, and ironically, I did it wrong.  This is the 9th edition of the map so I should have labeled it Rev 9.2.  And those of you who care about this sort of thing at all will wonder “Why 9.2 instead of 9.1?”  The answer is that I did another minor update about a year ago, but didn’t label it. Check your map. If it has a break where the I-35W bridge collapsed, it is 9.0, the major update. Rev 9.1 reconnected the bridge. It also has other small updates, but it would require some deep sleuthing to discover those changes.

A report released today by the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that bicycling tourism combined with Wisconsin’s world-class bicycle industry contributes $1.5 billion to our state’s economic every year! To put this in perspective, the report compares bicycling to deer hunting which contributes $926 million and snowmobiling which contributes $250 million.

The report also states:

• Bicycling creates 13,000 Wisconsin jobs
• Non-residents spend $535 million on bike-related events, food, and lodging
• 49% of Wisconsinites participate in recreational biking
• A 20% increase in biking could increase economic activity by $107 million and create 1500 more jobs

My adult bicycling habit began in Wisconsin 40 years ago. I started as a bicycle commuter at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and within the first year Phil VanValkenberg,  one of Wisconsin’s best known bicycle gadflies, introduced me to bicycle touring in the rolling hills of Wisconsin’s Driftless area.  That hooked me, and that part of Wisconsin is still my favorite bicycling haunt.