Take a Bike

When it’s too far to walk but you don't feel like driving, bicycle. Or, in the case of Des Moines, B-cycle. To use this bike-sharing program, just locate one of four downtown rental stations, press a button and swipe a credit card to remove a three-speed bike from the rack. This downtown loop has you wheeling past (and stopping to experience) a bit of culture — with a break halfway to refuel, of course.

Pick up your wheels at the Brenton Skating Plaza, on the corner of Grand Avenue and Robert D. Ray Drive. Cruise north to the exotic red pagoda of the Robert D. Ray Asian Gardens and lush plantings at the Des Moines Botanical Center. Exploring done, backtrack one block to cross the Des Moines River on the bike-pedestrian Center Street Bridge, then head south.

Turn west on the one-way Grand Avenue to 13th Street to linger at the $40 million John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park. Keep an eye out for the two massive yet intricate bronze Deborah Butterfield horses.

Bookend the art-appreciation segment of your loop with sculptures by Claes Oldenburg and Cossje van Bruggen: Two and a half blocks west of the park, Plantoir, a 24-foot red trowel, will make you want to garden on a giant scale. Reverse course and bike east on one-way Locust Street to Nollen Plaza to see the airy Crusoe Umbrella.

Pedal one block south to the restaurant- and bar-filled Court Avenue District and stop for lunch at the wildly creative Fong’s Pizza, a Chinese-Italian lounge and tiki bar. Tuck into a kung pao chicken pizza, or go native with the Iowan (bacon, Canadian bacon, pork, corn and mozzarella, drizzled with barbecue sauce). On Saturday mornings from May to October, sample fresh produce and baked goods at the bountiful Downtown Farmers' Market, which offers a Bike Valet to watch your wheels.

Two blocks south of Court at Fourth Street is family fun central, home to a planetarium, IMAX theater and interactive exhibits at the Science Center of Iowa. Not ready to stop? Follow Locust Street east to tour the free State Historical Museum and the magnificent, 23-karat golden-domed Iowa State Capitol, completed in 1886.

To return the bikes, take any street north to the racks along Grand Avenue or south to Principal Park.

For more info on B-Cycle, visit desmoines.bcycle. com; note that helmets are not included.

1 Robert D. Ray Asian Gardens 700 Robert D. Ray Dr; www.cccaiowa.org
2 Des Moines Botanical Center 909 Robert D. Ray Dr; 515-323-6290; www.botanicalcenter.com
3 John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park 13th St and Grand Ave; 515-2774405; www.desmoinesartcenter.org
4 Fong’s Pizza 223 4th Street; 515-323-3333; www.fongspizza.com
5 Downtown Des Moines Farmers' Market Court Ave between First and Fifth sts; www.desmoinesfarmersmarket.com
6 Science Center of Iowa 401 W Martin Luther King Jr Pkwy; 515-274-6868; www.sciowa.org
7 State Historical Museum 600 East Locust; 515-281-5111; www.iowahistory.org
8 Iowa State Capitol E Ninth St and Grand Ave; 515-2815591; www.legis.state.ia.us/Pubinfo/Tour/