acidfast7

when I come over this bridge in the morning and head into the city...

Timothy

That would be scary! Riding head on into 2 lanes of traffic

acidfast7

Those are dedicated bike lanes of both sides if the street, silly.

pallen

Best and worst part of my commute - little hill coming into downtown Ft Worth from the Trinity Trails.

Steely Dan

the best part of my commute: riding home in the afternoon, along the lakefront path, down around oak street beach with the ominous grandeur of "Big John" dead ahead.

acidfast7

i'm sad to admit this, but Chicago is one of the cities I haven't been to in the US, Portland (OR) and Seattle being the two others

looks very nice, to say the least ... could be cold in the winter though

alan s 

Mount Vernon Trail running along the Potomac River.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=dc&hl=...46.41,,0,15.26

EDIT: That's the worst view, BTW.

Steely Dan

wait, you've traveled to every single US city except for chicago, seattle, and portland? that's ridiculously impressive. i find it even more interesting that, as a foreigner, you've been to cleveland, columbus, cincinnati, detroit, indianapolis, st. louis, milwaukee, minneapolis, and kansas city, but not chicago. that's odd considering that chicago is far and away the largest city in the midwest.




chicago can get hot in the summer and cold in the winter. it's a textbook humid continental climate, just like any other city in the midwest.

acidfast7

I was born and raised in Maine and did my doctorate in Texas.

I tend to travel a lot (whenever possible to most sizable cities), which is why I moved over here (ran out of places over there ... not exactly, but close).

I should say that I also have missed Hawaii (but not Alaska). There's a lot of landscape gems in the US.

I am ashamed actually to have missed Portland/Seattle as I don't have a reason to travel there currently and while the 6 hour difference between CET/MEZ and EST is relatively easy to handle, the extra three hours to the west coast (time difference and flying time each way) is really a killer, so I don't know when I'll make it

I was only in STL once actually, for the Game 4 of the 2004 WS. Nice place.

cooker

You can see the CN tower, and the tops of 3 downtown bank towers, over some other buildings, and across a park called Christie Pits. Google obtained this during our garbage strike, so what I haven't shown you, is an outdoor hockey rink used as a temporary garbage dump, immediately to the right of the street. It must have been awful to be there that day.

caloso

It's a toddlin' town.

I love Chicago. I was born there but only lived there a few months. The winter of 66-67 was one blizzard after another and when spring finally arrived in June my mom said to my dad "I'm taking the baby and going back to California. You can come too if you want."

secndshft

I will say that this is both good and bad. It just depends on how I'm feeling. Yesterday morning, with cool crisp air, it was fun to ride down this grade. Yesterday afternoon, after an ill advised lunch, a fat beagle that almost ran me off the road (he was moving!) and a dropped water bottle that I ran over (didn't fall amazingly), the hill was a little rough. That being said, it was my first commute home and I tackled the beast and I feel good today, so tomorrow it should be a welcome sight.

spivonious

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Hunsec...id=po-44948188

Covered bridges are pretty, but oh so bumpy.


That Chicago shot is amazing. It's such a beautiful city. For those visiting, I highly recommend the river tour done by the Architecture Foundation.

And I looked up the Google images of that trash rink in Toronto. Yuck!

acidfast7

jealous

groovestew

https://maps.google.ca/?ll=53.536562...62.99,,0,10.77

My city isn't terribly impressive architecture-wise, but we have a beautiful and expansive river valley with lots of natural and developed parkland. I can't show any street view images from the trails, but the link above shows a point where I cross the river, and if you rotate the view, you can get a tiny glimpse of the surrounding parkland.

https://maps.google.ca/?ll=53.533139...3,,0,4.31&z=19

The provincial grounds that I ride through are also very pretty in the summer, but unfortunately, it looks like Google drove through in early spring before the trees starting budding.

cooker

He does look kind of buff with his shirt off, but from that distance and direction, I'm not sure I can tell if he lives up to the nickname "Big John".

Steely Dan

^ LOL! nice one.

but for those who don't know, "Big John" is the nickname for the John Hancock Center, the large domineering black skyscraper in the center of the pic i posted, and easily one of the best skyscrapers in chicago (even if it's not the tallest anymore, it's been bumped down to #4).

no motor?

For me the best part of my commute is when I arrive back at home, and there isn't a street view of that.

This view of the lakefront path would look different when it's crowded with people or covered in snow - it doesn't take Chicago long to go from one extreme to another.

locolobo13 

The bicycle lane dissappears just before the intersection, no left turn lane, then the double lanes merge just across the intersection before the bicycle lane starts again.

MNBikeguy

In a sick sort of way I'm actually looking forward to winter....

JPinWI

Hey There I am....

No, not really.

This is what most of the 17 mile route I ride looks like.

Kojak

One of the best:

https://goo.gl/maps/jD7jB

Kojak

The other best:

https://goo.gl/maps/RpIqT

Kojak

The worst:

https://goo.gl/maps/sn49g

On the other side of those hedges is where they hitch up the horses to the carriages. The odor of horse puckey is thick nearly all the time. The folks who live on the other side of the street are constantly barraged with the combination bus fumes, horse manure, and ship smoke. Generally they're not too happy about it.

caloso

Sometimes I like to cut through Capitol Park.

https://goo.gl/maps/FPqDp