Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.rajman
05-29-07, 12:31 PM
I suspect this will set off a lot of debate, but here are my experiences on my road trip so far
Vancouver: Motorists very aggressive, lots of nice bike paths (seawall, etc), a number of on street bike routes (not lanes but signed routes), lots of bike commuters (fairly suicidal). Lots of rain. My wife was hit in a roundabout within 5 min of getting on the bike (on a busy bike route too!) - she was cut off by a car that tried to go around her in the roundabout. - no injury to her or the bike - but the end of her handlebars scratched the front panel of the car (we hope!). Main streets were fairly hospitable to bikes - my favorite routes were Commercial, booting through Gastown, and along Pt. Grey to Jericho Beach. Grade B+ (we're counting the accident as an isolated event). Lots of parking. Stanley park was great!
Seattle - I did not have a bike here, but we did see a number of cyclists - looked pretty good for cycling around Pike Place Mkt - suburbs looked like a complete nightmare for bikes. No obvious bike facilities, or parking for bikes. Grade C.
Portland Or - an astounding amount of facilities, great parking, not very many cyclists though. Maybe it was a bad day - not raining though. The streets without bike lanes looked more fruitful for riding than some with. Grade A for facilities, D for lack of cyclists. (Beer gets an A for sure!)
Sonoma County - Awsesome views, country roads were great for cycling (bad for driving). Town of Sonoma looked marginal, but there were a lot of cyclists - Route 12 looked pretty bad due to narrow lanes and high traffic. Great ride up Nelligan lane, followed by upper Nelligan. Other roads looked very nice for riding. No facilities, and a few cyclists were seen in Sonoma (Town). I can't believe that there aren't more cyclists here - it's absolutely wonderful country for riding. Grade A.
San Francisco. Few facilities, nice recreational paths, the streets that we took (around Fisherman's Wharf) were nice. Talked to a cyclist, saw several (suicidal riders). It was definitely a nice place to ride - but parking was an issue. Hills are a challenge of course, I can't understand why there are so many fixies here (it seems NYC would be a better place for them!). Grade A-.
I'll update as I go along.
BTW - Cali seems like a glorious place for cycling - I'm surprised that there aren't a lot more.
Vancouver: Motorists very aggressive, lots of nice bike paths (seawall, etc), a number of on street bike routes (not lanes but signed routes), lots of bike commuters (fairly suicidal). Lots of rain. My wife was hit in a roundabout within 5 min of getting on the bike (on a busy bike route too!) - she was cut off by a car that tried to go around her in the roundabout. - no injury to her or the bike - but the end of her handlebars scratched the front panel of the car (we hope!). Main streets were fairly hospitable to bikes - my favorite routes were Commercial, booting through Gastown, and along Pt. Grey to Jericho Beach. Grade B+ (we're counting the accident as an isolated event). Lots of parking. Stanley park was great!
Seattle - I did not have a bike here, but we did see a number of cyclists - looked pretty good for cycling around Pike Place Mkt - suburbs looked like a complete nightmare for bikes. No obvious bike facilities, or parking for bikes. Grade C.
Portland Or - an astounding amount of facilities, great parking, not very many cyclists though. Maybe it was a bad day - not raining though. The streets without bike lanes looked more fruitful for riding than some with. Grade A for facilities, D for lack of cyclists. (Beer gets an A for sure!)
Sonoma County - Awsesome views, country roads were great for cycling (bad for driving). Town of Sonoma looked marginal, but there were a lot of cyclists - Route 12 looked pretty bad due to narrow lanes and high traffic. Great ride up Nelligan lane, followed by upper Nelligan. Other roads looked very nice for riding. No facilities, and a few cyclists were seen in Sonoma (Town). I can't believe that there aren't more cyclists here - it's absolutely wonderful country for riding. Grade A.
San Francisco. Few facilities, nice recreational paths, the streets that we took (around Fisherman's Wharf) were nice. Talked to a cyclist, saw several (suicidal riders). It was definitely a nice place to ride - but parking was an issue. Hills are a challenge of course, I can't understand why there are so many fixies here (it seems NYC would be a better place for them!). Grade A-.
I'll update as I go along.
BTW - Cali seems like a glorious place for cycling - I'm surprised that there aren't a lot more.