Living Car Free - Car free in Silicone Valley / Mountain Valley, CA

I'm thinking about moving out to Silicone Valley in July and wanted to know how the city holds up to a bike-only commuter? I'd take the train/bus when needed, but after crunching some numbers, I'd be looking at about $360/month for gas/oil+tires+care/insurance/parking. Ouch.


Any insight on the city's bike lanes would be much appreciated.


--Casey

I'm thinking about moving out to Silicone Valley in July and wanted to know how the city holds up to a bike-only commuter? I'd take the train/bus when needed, but after crunching some numbers, I'd be looking at about $360/month for gas/oil+tires+care/insurance/parking. Ouch.


Any insight on the city's bike lanes would be much appreciated.


--CaseySilicone Valley? Is that in Los Angeles?

;)

Anyway, I used to live Silicon Valley, no "e" at the end of Silicon, in Northern California.

I can't tell you about Mountain View, but I did commute for years in San Jose. Just lonely old me on the bikepath, whizzing by all the cars stuck in highway gridlock. :D

Here's a link to the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (http://svbcbikes.org/).

thanks for all the help!

I'm in the midwest, but I've lived in Santa Clara for the last two summers, and I'm moving out there in June. Drivers there are pretty good at respecting bikes compared to here. You still need to know how to ride assertively though. Weather is gorgeous all summer and apparently rainy most of the winter. You'll learn how to climb on the weekends because you'll be sick of traffic lights during the week.

I don't want to be "that ahole", but it's Silicon Valley, and Mountain view.
Anyway your question is kind of too generic. For the most part riding is pretty good. If you need more specific information it would help if you post where you are planning on living/working. Also you might want to cross post in NorCal subforum. A lot regular posters there live in Bay Area.

car lite in san jose for 5 yrs. Wife and I have 1 car. I bike or light rail to work. I'd guess that car free is do-able, but it doesn't seem very common around here.

drivers seem to be respectful, there are lots of good routes, and everything is pretty close. I think you could do it, but choose your residence wisely. Same rules apply as anywhere else. Make sure it's close to groceries, work and play.