How's the Riding in Tuscaloosa?

[paralegal1973]

Hello,
I am considering graduate school at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Is Tuscaloosa tolerant of bicycle commuters? Is it easy to navigate the city by bicycle? How is the riding in the summer? (I come from the southwestern US where the humidity is not very high in the summer). How do you deal with the HIGH humidity? (Lots of Gold Bond powder? Hee Hee) Are there a lot of riders around the University area/neighborhoods?

Thank You!

[Tmax1]

Hello,
I am considering graduate school at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Is Tuscaloosa tolerant of bicycle commuters? Is it easy to navigate the city by bicycle? How is the riding in the summer? (I come from the southwestern US where the humidity is not very high in the summer). How do you deal with the HIGH humidity? (Lots of Gold Bond powder? Hee Hee) Are there a lot of riders around the University area/neighborhoods?

Thank You!

Welcome and do come to UA. While I am not there, I'm in Birmingham, I believe T-town to be bike friendly. There is a very active local club, Druid City Bike Club (http://www.druidcity.org), with many rides throughout the week.

Navigation depends on where you live but the city itself is fairly compact. It's a "small" college town so there are many bikes albeit some rusted to bike racks.

Be ready for mostly high humidity and bring the Gold Bond. We here in the south deal with by riding through it.

[sch]

www.druidcity.org is their website. Tuscaloosa is in a fairly rural area
so it is easy to get out of town into low traffic areas. The DCBC has
for the past 5-6yrs organized a 'century a month' series that pretty
well runs year around. They call it the Scorpion series. Their 3d or is
it 4th annual general invite fee charged organized century is in August
each yr. Riding in the summer in AL is not too bad if you are not a
mad dog or Englishman and avoid the 11a to 5p time frame. After 5p
it cools rapidly. Humidity will be a bear til you adjust. Druid City is a
small but active club. Commuting should be straight forward in Tuscaloosa
and, except for football weekends not a problem.

[paralegal1973]

Thanks "Tmax1" and "sch" for the great information. It's nice to know that there are certain times of the day that one can ride fairly comfortably. I had always heard that about the south: people venture out in the evening. Anyway, I think that going to UA and living in Alabama will be a great cultural experience as well.

[Tmax1]

A "rich" cultural experience indeed!