Biking in Indianapolis: Downtown to Broad Ripple
With the first real weekend of Spring arriving and us in a desperate race to get swimsuit ready before Mexico, we made the brilliant (and by brilliant, we mean stupid) decision to bike 20+ miles. Here’s our guide to biking in Indianapolis from Downtown to Broad Ripple.
Starting Point & Trails:
Biking may not come to mind when you think of Indy, but the city is one of the most underrated bike cities in the U.S. Indy is earning quite the reputation as a top biking city with over 10,000 visitors checking the city out by bike. It’s obvious as your ride along the trails that the city has put quite a lot of money into building up biking infrastructure. They’ve added bike lanes and built overpasses that mean you no longer have to cross busy streets. Find more info on Indy’s best bike paths. Indy has the cultural trail, which is a path that cuts through six districts throughout the city. We caught it right by the Indianapolis Public Library, and it connects to the Monon just past Mass Ave. See the red circle to the right for the connection point.
The Monon goes all the way up to Carmel, but we ended our ride in Broad Ripple. The trail is great because you don’t have to worry about cars or road riding once you’re on it. It takes you through some really interesting parts of the city that you may never see otherwise. Plus, neighborhoods along the way have commissioned art displays along the path, so it gives off a really cool vibe.
Pitstops:
About halfway up to Broad Ripple is a great beer/lunch spot called HalfLiter. They have a beautiful outdoor seating area where you can soak up some sun with a beer in hand. The patio had definite Nashville vibes with cool art, music playing and some of the best down home cooking/BBQ we’d had in a while. The three of us decided to split about 4 sides, and it was plenty of food. We also highly recommend their frozen alcoholic drinks – try the the Irish Coffee, Dreamscicle or Peanut Butter White Russian!
We rode the next 5ish miles into Broad Ripple, our old college stomping grounds. After stuffing ourselves full of mac n’ cheese and corn bread, we couldn’t even consider eating anything else. If BBQ isn’t your thing though or you’re interested in just grabbing a drink, Broad Ripple has no shortage of places to choose from. They’ve got everything from college bars to upscale Mexican to Mediterranean (and more).
Biking just past Broad Ripple, the river offers a great spot to snap a few pictures. Take some photos and a breather before turning around.
On our way back, we stopped for a snack at Wyliepalooza – a tiny ice cream shop along the Monon. It was a nice surprise along the path and wasn’t overly crowded, which we appreciated. It was a cute little shack with tons of fun flavors and reminded us of your classic childhood ice cream shop. It’s outdoors only, so grab a seat or figure out how to ride while you’re drinking your shake.
Packing Tips:
- Know what’s worse than riding 20 miles? Riding 20 miles with a flat tire. After not breaking out the bike for the last 6 months, we figured the low tires were just from lack of use. Turns out, it can also signal that you have a hole in your tire. Make sure to pack a portable bike pump because you will want to die if you get…let’s say 5 miles from home and realize that your back tire is literally on the ground. Don’t count on those good Samaritans riding by to help (Thank you kind strangers!)
- Do we know how to fix a chain if something goes wrong? No, but we did learn you should bring gloves for it.
- Definitely bring sunscreen! We lathered up before heading out for the day and managed to all come back with some nice sun burns. Hello Spring!
- The long ride and exercise will sneak up on you, and you’ll definitely want some water, gatorade, etc. By the end, we were panting a bit and soooo glad we brought some drinks along.
- If you’re planning to make this a “bikes and booze” kind of trip, make sure to bring your credit card and ID so you can drink your beers.
- The one thing we didn’t bring but wished we would have was a portable speaker. It would have definitely been nice to have some pump up music, especially as we crushed the last few miles.
- Pro Tip: Invest in a gel pad…your butt will thank you.
Although we’re not yet avid bikers, it was a great way to spend the day outside and enjoy the beautiful weather and good company. It may take a few weeks for our legs to recover, but we’ll definitely be exploring more bike trails around Indy in the near future. Find more of our favorite Indy go-to’s here.
