baj32161

Well I think, once you mention weather, that much of the Northeast is excluded. I grew up in the NYC area and when I left there in 1980 it wasn't exactly the cycling friendly city that I see it as being today. I now live in South Jersey (Burlington) and have grown rather fond of riding in Philadelpha. I have noticed that most of the drivers are very courteous to cyclists and there is a great trail that goes out from Center City out to Valley Forge and beyond (The Schuylkill River Trail)...not to mention that Philly holds what used to be the US Pro Championships every June (now the Pennsylvania Triple Crown). The best part is that I don't even need to drive into the city to ride there since I can just hop on the local light rail train, with my bike, to get there.

Cheers,

Brian

badkarma

I know the feeling. I just moved to NoVa a few months ago and I hate it.

Kenal0

November/December to March/April- spin class and trainer in basement!
But man it is nice now! I ride down to the Lakefront path a few times a week and the scenery is great!

Kenal0

Ryleeryno

Acushnet, Mass is bad. Someone threw pennies at me yesterday and the roads suck too.

dmotoguy

boise idaho is really great... there are tons of flats, rolling hills, and right at the edge of town on one side there are endless mountains. there are a lot of good mountain bike trails and money is being raised for a velodrome. There isnt a lot of traffic really anywhere you go to ride, and on the main bicycle routes there are very nice bike lanes. plus the weather is awesome and its a great city to live in.

H1449-6

I'm in Chicago for the week (no bike) and the honeys are out in force.

xSandmaNx

Yeah Ft. COllins over Boulder... But what happened to all the other Colorado cities? Vail, Aspen, or if you're not into hills, Colorado Springs... I think anywhere in CO is beautiful to bike. I would know, I lived there for 9 years

O-Town

Hmmm...

I may have missed a something here but no one has mentioned the Bay Area yet? The Tour of California didn't have FOUR stages of the eight between Marin and San Jose for no reason. So pick a city between Marin and San Jose as a great place to ride.

Well I guess there is the small problem of not being able to afford to live there but hey some people in this world are rich.

squeakywheel

I can't see how any midwest city would be the best road bike city. We don't have any mountains near by. Low climbing gears, need for a triple chainring, king of the mountains...Its all fabled cycling lore to me. Half my bikes are single speeds. I'd love to try my stuff on a steep grade with thin high altitude air. Its all fantasy when the mountains are 1000 miles away.

bigbossman 

Please refer to post #17.

StalkerZERO

Are you sure? Wasn't chicago rated one of the WORST cycling cities by one of those bike mags?

blue_nose

+ 1 for San Diego. We average about 10-12 days of rain per year. Never too hot or too cold and you really can cycle all year round. Plenty of hills nearby and most routes have dedicated bike lanes.

Here is a pic along my route home:

https://www.westcoastroads.com/califo...reserve_09.jpg

Makes riding a bike to and from work each day real easy. If there is a better large city in the US for cycling, I would love to visit.

baiskeli

I live in Somerville, right next to Cambridge. Cambridge actually isn't bad (and neither is Somerville), but since they are urban areas, not really nice for road riding. You have to go outside the immediate Boston area for that (i.e Arlington, Concord, Belmont, Bedford, Harvard). Downtown Boston is not the best (though it is doable and I used to ride to work there everyday)

The thing about Boston is that a lot of areas make up 'Boston'. The central/financial district sucks but some of the outskirts rate from good to take your life in your hands.

I actually think that the fact that the Boston area is so old is a good thing for cycling/walking (more side-streets and less multi-lane high speed arteries). This also holds for some of the outlying areas.

I rode through Harvard Massachusetts and apart from the nasty little hills put there by the devil himself it was heaven. Drivers gave me lots of rooms, quite a few of them gave me friendly waves etc

badhat

wha....?

nah chicago is routinely one of the top large cities for bikes, and the Chicagoland Bike Federation is a freakin juggernaut. Maor daley is a cyclist and the city throws a ton of money at infrastructure.

the only negatives i can think of about cycling in chicago are the lack of good climbing and the winter, but its really a great place to live car free. and the lake shore path is one of the nicest rides int he world.... theres something almost spiritual about riding from the southside (promentary point) up past down town to the north side late on a summer night when you have the path to yourself.

signal11

Having spent the last week road-biking down here in Austin, I already can't wait to get back to Chicago. Maybe the idea of sharing a debris-filled shoulder (if there is one) with all manner of trucks and cars whizzing by at 75mph appeals to a bunch of insane Texans, but I'm looking forward to getting back to the lakefront where I can routinely do 30-60 mile rides without being in constant fear of my life. Maybe some well-informed Austinite can clue me in on routes, but as far as I can tell, the bikers around here would probably consider the Dan Ryan to be a perfectly reasonable bike path (especially given all the nutjobs who've been telling me to go ride on 360, 290, TX71, the Mo-Pac and so forth).

AlanS

I have to agree with this post. I enjoyed 360 on my last trip to Austin -- but just didn't feel safe with the high-speed traffic. Best part of biking in Austin: stopping at Rudy's for the moist brisket sandwich.

Granny

Beautiful coast there Shifty.

What's it like out there during the winter months?

signal11

Oh man, don't get me started about Rudy's----that is DEFINITELY worth a trip over to 360. Just not sure I'd be able to make it back home if I made the trip on my bike though :-).

Everman

I'd have to say San Diego due to the awesome year-round weather, and hot chicks.

caloso

I was just in Chicagoland (Winnetka/Northbrook) for a family wedding. I didn't bring my bike but it looked like a fairly bike friendly area and I saw lots of riders. I was surprised.

As for me and Mrs. Caloso, we're state gov't wonks so telecommuting wouldn't work for us. However, it seems to me that quite a few of our state capitals are pretty friendly to cyclists: Madison, Austin, Salem, Olympia, to name a few. How about SLC or Denver?

Hambone

I was just in upstate New York. Near lage George which is just above Albany. You could put togetehr some awesome rides up there. Route 9 along the Hudson would be a great trip....

mcoine

Its definately not western oregon.. ashland, eugene, portland, the coast. Please don't come here.

ravenmore

Well, if you'd been further north I could've shown you plenty of routes that are better. One route I do through the middle of town is really nice and pretty scenic and uses mainly neighborhood roads. It also ends up at the Hula Hut and Mozarts on Lake Austin. Nice place to stop and check out the scenery. I have no ideas of any good routes as far south as you were though. I do ride 360 a lot -its kind of the center of a lot of routes/loops around town. Traffic has gotten much worse on it in recent years.

ollo_ollo

I agree on the "state capitals" for bike friendly areas, haven't seen one that failed to measure up. If you are willing to be a government worker or part of the service infrastructure, there are always jobs available and in Olympia our "rush hour" lasts about 15 minutes. Typically short commute times and lack of vehicle traffic throughout the day leaves you with more time to pursue cycling. The lack of traffic & usually lower housing costs compared to larger cities are big factors. If I had to relocate to another state, the first place I would checkout would be in & around the state capital. Actually, we purchased land near Salem, Oregon & will be relocating soon to be near our grandkids. Don

baj32161

Oh no? Come to Trenton NJ. It is the most embarrassing state capital in the country...everything sucks except for our hockey and baseball teams and the stadium/arena in which they play.

Cheers,

Brian