Albany-12303

Over the past 2 years, I just got to know the best roads/hills to ride on around Albany NY.

I just found out that my company wants to relocate me to Durham NC (about 20 miles or so north west of Raleigh). I guess the riding season would be longer there - with less salt on the roads.

Does anyone know this area? Are there any good hills around there? Do good ol boys in pickup trucks throw empy beer cans at lycra-clad cyclists?

Thanks

Guest

Rev.Chuck lives there. Drop him a PM (one of the moderators).


Koffee

'nother

I have a brother who lives in Raleigh and have spent considerable time there. It's a great area for riding, weather-wise at least -- should be rideable nearly year-round. There are some clubs in the area who can probably point out the better hilly routes . . . though Raleigh-Durham is not nearly as hilly/mountainous as the western part of the state (but, you can get over to that side with just a few hours of driving if you wanted to take a day trip or something).

Rev.Chuck who hangs out in the Bike Mechanics area of BikeForums lives and works in a bike shop there, and may be able to shed more light on the Good Ol' Boys and their pickup trucks and other issues. I think you're more likely to get hit with an empty barbecue container than a beer can though.

Phatman

dude! I love riding in raleigh, I go to school there at NC state. theres a big cycling community in raleigh. check out https://www.ncbikeclub.org/ you can ride year round pretty much (its gonna be 54 today), and there is not as much crap on the roads to flat your tires. one of my personal favorite rides takes me into the falls lake area...good scenery there. If anyone knows six forks/new light road, they know what I speak.

I've found that "good ol' boys" generally arent that bad, the raleigh durham area isn't as redneck as you might think.

as for the hills, there are plently. most of them are around a half mile long, not many longer than that, but theres enough that you can get a good workout. theres also flat areas you can ride that you can use to recover.

patentcad

That's GOOD news for a cyclist. Albany vs. NC? I live in NY State and I'd be doing back flips of joy. Don't worry.

It's WARMER there : ).

lotek 

and you're not far from the Classic Vintage center of the world
Cycles D'Oro in Greensboro !

Albany-12303

I work near the top end of the Catskill mountains (Greene County) and I enjoy the mountains around here. I just checked a contour map and the land around Durham/Raleigh is quite flat.

I tend to cross-country ski as much as I can from Jan to march - the Albany pine-bush, a preservation area with lots of nice trails, is only a five min drive away from where I live. I will miss the winter, but I guess that I will be able to put many more miles on my bicycles (and I can buy some upgrades for my bikes with the proceeds from selling my snow-blower)

It seems like every 5-10 years I end up moving further and further south.

-phaedrus-

https://www.nicomachus.net/maps/

enjoy

Albany-12303

What a great Site!! Thanks!!

vaccineman

We relocated here from the hills of Georgia to do a post-doc at duke, and like said by a previous poster, it's pretty flat here. I later took a R&D job at a start-up in research triangle park (RTP) as a molecular biologist, got bored after 5 years, and now I'm a veterinary student at NC State.

I commute to school about 13 miles each way, and for over a year now, I've only had two negative interactions with my fellow car commuters. It could be argued that I was responsible for both. One was a pick-up truck pulling a trailer, where the driver, stuck in traffic, pulled over to the extreme right so I couldn't pass and continue on. The other was a honk for riding on the right of the white line (the 12-18 inches of asphalt I claim as a bike lane) past a line of cars stuck in traffic.

We didn't enjoy living in Durham- high crime stats in general and we were not immune while there. Traffic volume is high in the triangle, and mass transit is not embraced by the public at large (lots of driver-only cars).

Welcome to the area!

TallRider

It's actually quite hilly in this area, but none of the hills are very long. But there's precious little extended flat. Good riding area. One of my reasons for moving here is that I can bike year-round, so I can commute and not have a car. Feel free to email or pm me, also. Chapel Hill is 8 miles from Durham. You might want to decide where to live based in part on ease of getting to country roads for riding.

-=(8)=-

I think the traffic will be hard to get used to coming from the
Catskills.

MTN2SEA

********** enlighten us....

bandregg

I live in Durham and work at Duke. The area around here can be flat, but you can also find a lot of short steep hills, a surprising amount in fact. It's more hilly in the North/West of Durham than the South/East. I can't say that I've never had problems with rednecks in their pickup trucks, but I can say that I've had less problems than in tender Midwestern suburbia. The cycling season here is all year, though winter can get into the 20's or lower (F) and summer definitely get's over 100'F, even more so on the pavement. In addition to the road, there is a good selection of mountain biking, and Durham has it's own Fixed-Gear community as well.
I live in the center of the city, basically downtown, and I can reach good, sparsely populated roads in less than 5 miles both North and South. We have a regular bikers breakfast for commuters and you'll see a surprising number of people getting around by bike in their daily lives, at least for a North Carolinan city. The local shop has weekly rides and there are a few good cycling clubs to join. The Duke cycling club encourages non-Dukies to join us for rides and fun events like our own Fake Cyclocross Nationals with mandatory beer and donut laps.
Mountiain spots are further away, but not far; and just like mountains for road riding the Western part of the state is close and Tsali and Psigah are joys to behold.
Drop me a PM if you have any questions about where to live, work, eat (especially eat), and what to expect. I'm not a native Southerner but I really like Durham.

roadracer13

The entire state of North Carolina offers so much for the cyclist... flat roads on the coast, crazy climbs in the west mountains... and all kinds of stuff in between.

Here is a really good site for you to check out NC DOT Cycling Info

We just hit 300 people who want the "SHARE THE ROAD" licence plates for their autos... I am one of them. So don't fret... North Carolina's taxes are WAY higher than New York, but this is a fun state to ride around.

Oh yeah... today it is going to be 62 and sunny where I am (about 80 miles west of Durham). Gotta go ride! L8R

TallRider

True that! At least they're relatively courteous toward bikes (in my experience, compared to some other places), but there's a lot of traffic. Horrible regional planning around here.

Albany-12303

I live in Albany-Schenectady but work in the northern tip of the catskills.

However, I lived for 11 years in Toronto, where the traffic is hell!

roadracer13

Cycles D'Oro

The owner of the shop has a cool collection of old bikes in his shop. Cycles D'Oro is one of the only shops in NC that carries a TON of inventory and is open 7 days a week. You can always find something there on a Sunday... the only issue... they actual charge a few pennies over retail, sometimes more! But that is the cost of business with a massive selection of parts, clothes, bikes and more. If you are ever in the area... just go and look around.

roadracer13

He/She could move to Bahama or Roxboro and get out of the traffic. Still easy to get to Durham from those roads.

Albany-12303

So all the winter cycling clothing that I bought over the past few years wont be totally wasted!

merlinextraligh

Heading west, you've got the blue ridge parkwy, Mt Mitchell, and some great rides around Asheville N.C. Close enough for a weekend getaway.

roadracer13

No waste at all... you can use it all here. If you have to ride in the AM or PM it gets pretty cold. Snow is RARE in the Durham area, but it does happen.

* jack *

In general, NC is an excellent place for cyclists of all persuasions.
Durham is centrally located and a convenient home base for cycling trips all over the state.
Also, don't let stereotypes of Durham's crime rate dissuade you. The small percentage of bad neighborhoods unfairly taint the reputation of what I consider a very nice place to live. Click the first icon in my sig for some snapshots and web links.

This part of the state is not very hilly, granted... but isn't exactly flat either.
Here are some elevations of two of my favorite local rides as an example:

Albany-12303

Thanks for all the links!

I roughly estimated from your profile that you had about 500' of climbing. Looks like there are lots of rolling hills.

lotek 

Well Roadracer13 already mentioned Cycles D'Oro
Dale (owner) is a wealth of information about all things classic
bike.
He is also listmeister for the Classic Rendezvous List
and runs Classic Rendezvous .
every spring (june this year) he sponsors Cirque du Cyclism which showcases some
of the best classic bikes in America (on the east coast at least) and premiere
framebuilders (Brian Baylis, Sacha White, Richard Sachs, Ed Litton to name a few).

marty