Friday Video(s): Two Urban Cycling Trips Worth Taking

We’re all ready for the holiday weekend, so let’s take a quick jaunt up to Minneapolis, which has arguably the best cycling network in America — and some lessons to teach other communities about how to create connections for people on two wheels.

And that’s coming from a channel called “Chicagoans Who Bike.” If these ultra-wide, curb-level, full-size-snow-plow-ready paths can overcome the Bears/Vikings rivalry, you know they’ve got to be good.

Or, if you need a longer getaway, head on over to the international terminal to tag along on Shifter’s trip to Shanghai, where the prolific YouTuber unpacks China’s surprising history with the bicycle.

A few decades ago, some of the country’s megacities logged cycling mode share as high as sixty-four percent, absolutely crushing the numbers from far more talked-about bike paradises like Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Today, though, cities like Beijing may still have some of the best bike “hardware” (read: infrastructure) around, but they don’t always have great “software” (read: culture) — though he argues that could change. Watch below to find out why.