Other Twin Cities media personalities lead tours to places like Europe, Africa and the Galapagos Islands.
Join MPR radio host Cathy Wurzer and the Pedaling Pastor on a bike ride to the State Fair
August 23, 2023 at 6:05PM
Cathy Wurzer is leading a bike ride to the Minnesota State Fair.
On Monday, the MPR News host of the "Morning Edition" and "Minnesota Now" shows will be taking an e-bike from the MPR studios in downtown St. Paul to the State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights where she's scheduled to do a State Fair Weather Quiz Show with Dr. Mark Seeley at 2 p.m.
And you're invited along for the ride.
"Funny isn't it? A brigade of bikes to escort me to the State Fair!" Wurzer wrote in an email.
The idea for getting the radio newswoman to the fair on two wheels started a year ago when Wurzer had to drive to the fairgrounds to host a live broadcast of the TPT "Almanac" show from the MPR booth. She got stuck in traffic and barely made it to the show on time.
When she tweeted about that close call, Travis Norvell responded by suggesting that she could beat the traffic by biking to the fair.
Norvell, pastor of the Judson Memorial Baptist Church in Minneapolis and a bike transportation advocate, tweets as @pedalingpastor. He successfully lobbied Wurzer to include bike commuting conditions along with car traffic reports on Morning Edition.
Norvell is organizing Wurzer ride, along with Luke Breen, owner of the Perennial Cycle bike shop in Minneapolis. Breen will be providing the Gazelle brand e-bike Wurzer will be on.
Wurzer said she hasn't ridden a bike in years.
"I don't know the first thing about e-bikes. I'm hoping it will be easy to learn how to ride one. I hope I don't break it," she wrote.
The 5-mile ride will go from downtown St. Paul, to the State Capitol and along Como Avenue, traveling on a combination of streets, bike lanes and separated bike lanes. It will end at one of the Fair's free bike corrals.
"It's such a great way to get to the fair, which can be such a zoo for a car," Breen said.
Ride organizers are planning on a leisurely ride — 45-minute to an hour — with stops for Wurzer to give live on-air updates of the journey.
If you'd like to join the ride, meet at 11:45 a.m., Monday, at the MPR parking lot at 52 E. 9th St., St. Paul.
Norvell said he's uncertain how many pedal pushers will be coming along for the ride.
"This could be like Woodstock," he said. "Only 100 people will go, but 10,00 will swear they were there."
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