I’ll be out-of-town for the next three days on a work trip. Though this trip will be fairly active, I won’t be bringing my bike with me (which is very unfortunate!) On the bright side, I was able to spend part of this beautiful day exploring the city before I have to leave tomorrow. My sister, who lives in Bloomington and enjoys cycling as much as I do, was in town and wanted to take a tour of the city. This post will take you on our 20-mile loop around this cycle-friendly city using (almost) only bike paths.
The Route:
We started our ride in Broad Ripple Park. With the addition of bike lanes on 62nd/Broad Ripple Avenue late last year, riders can now safely make their way to the Central Canal Towpath (though we took a quick detour to The Bike Line to fill our tires.)
The Towpath is the perfect way to take in the natural world. Every time I ride it, I almost forget that I’m in the middle of the city. On our ride today, we saw dozens of ducklings and goslings (beware: the geese get rather annoyed if you are crossing the path while their little ones are present.) This path takes you past the Butler campus and the Indianapolis Museum of Art and meets up with the White River Path around 30th (just follow the signs.)
From the Towpath, we connected to the White River Path. This is another scenic ride with views of the White River (including the dam pictured below) which takes you right into the heart of downtown Indy near the NCAA Hall of Champions, Indiana State Museum, and Eiteljorg. We made a quick stop at the Growing Places Indy Slow Food Garden which was a definite highlight.
3. Indianapolis Cultural Trail 
To get through the city safely, we stuck to the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. If you’ve never spent time walking/running/biking/skating on the Cultural Trail, then you’re missing out. If you have the time (which we didn’t today), I would highly recommend stopping by the City Market for lunch. We headed northeast on the Cultural Trail, and eventually reached the Monon Trail (at 10th.)
4. Monon Trail
We finished our ride this morning on the Monon. This 10-mile trail goes all the way from 10th to 465 (and keeps going after that on alternate routes.) It’s paved and well-marked, making it an ideal path for commuting in Indy.
We arrived back at Broad Ripple Park about 2 hours after we started our journey feeling refreshed and a little sunburned (I guess I got a little too excited about the ride and took off without applying sunscreen…)
What’s your favorite bike path in Indy?
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