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Bicycle freindly Cities

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Bicycle freindly Cities

Old 09-21-08, 11:19 PM
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The parts of Wales I've visited would be nice. Hay-on-wye https://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/ seemed like the perfect little town to me ... I'd have loved to spend some more time there.
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Old 09-21-08, 11:21 PM
  #52  
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You must travel for real cycling utopia euro cities such as :
Munich
Paris
Berlin
seem to have it figured out

Copenhagen did look great but I didn't have my bike with me.
Amsterdam is supposed to be good. It is a smallish city though.

Most US cities, are horrible alas.
I also thought Boston felt safer than NYC. NYC is not the worst actually...
Seoul, Korea is also very bad for "commuting" it is really towards the bottom of the list , unless you only ride the river path.

Last edited by kraftwerk; 09-21-08 at 11:30 PM.
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Old 09-21-08, 11:31 PM
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I want to move to Santa Barbara, gorgeous community. Lots of climbing + the gorgeous ocean scenery. I'm going cycling up there next weekend when I visit my sister at the UCSB dorms. Can't wait!
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Old 09-22-08, 12:10 AM
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Colorado Springs,CO has been nice for me
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Old 09-22-08, 02:49 AM
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Yeah, I don't get the recommendation for Chicago either. The winters are ridiculous (I know, I know, HTFU), no one respects the few bike lanes that exist, there are no hills ... The only positive I can think of is that we don't have many rattlesnakes.

Chicago fans: how about giving a reason why you think Chicago is a great bicycling city.
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Old 09-22-08, 02:58 AM
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san fran is the place to be...great riding, many great lbs, great places to ride...3 mountains to climb, lots of great food and other things to do.
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Old 09-22-08, 04:17 AM
  #57  
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Originally Posted by kraftwerk
You must travel for real cycling utopia euro cities such as :
Munich
Paris
Berlin
seem to have it figured out

Copenhagen did look great but I didn't have my bike with me.
Amsterdam is supposed to be good. It is a smallish city though.

Most US cities, are horrible alas.
I also thought Boston felt safer than NYC. NYC is not the worst actually...
Seoul, Korea is also very bad for "commuting" it is really towards the bottom of the list , unless you only ride the river path.
Paris? Vraiment?
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Old 09-22-08, 08:27 AM
  #58  
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That one looks nice too, but I don't think it is 12 miles from downtown Denver
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Old 09-22-08, 09:31 AM
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Originally Posted by ir0nfist
the bay area has seasons. It's hot in the summer and freezng in the winter. So that pretty much ruins every city except San Diego. San Diego FTW
My 100 mile summer loop is quite cool throughout the day. Early winter can get wet (45 isn't cold), but that's what fenders are for.
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Old 09-22-08, 11:00 AM
  #60  
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Chico, California - the town bike-friendly. The terrain in town and to the north, south and west is flat - lots of beautiful farm country beyond the city limits. East of town, the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains serve as giant bike magnets.
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Old 09-22-08, 12:11 PM
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Minneapolis/St. Paul

Can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a "bike" path. Minneapolis' downtown is criss-crossed with dedicated bike lanes. Most comes form the presence of the U of M so close to the downtown area. In the suburbs too (I like in Woodbury on the east side) there are LOTS of "bike" trails. I don't ride them because I don't like fighting the kids/pets/leashes/sixteen-abreast-walkers. Our city of 58,000 folks has over 100 miles of paved trails.

https://www.bikeleague.org/media/press/
https://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicycles/
https://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicy...Bicyclists.asp
https://www.stpaul.gov/index.asp?NID=460
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Old 09-22-08, 12:29 PM
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Originally Posted by khatfull
Minneapolis/St. Paul
How is the cycling during the winter? And how long is the winter? Are the bike paths plowed?
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Old 09-22-08, 02:22 PM
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Originally Posted by sisyphus321
Yeah, I don't get the recommendation for Chicago either. The winters are ridiculous (I know, I know, HTFU), no one respects the few bike lanes that exist, there are no hills ... The only positive I can think of is that we don't have many rattlesnakes.

Chicago fans: how about giving a reason why you think Chicago is a great bicycling city.
Yeah, winters are "sub-optimal". But we don't get too much snow. And there's pretty good coverage of bike lanes, and I think people respect them pretty well. Also it is really frickin flat (you see this as a disadvantage?) Which means that if you are in OK shape, you can ride a single speed or cruiser bike all over the city. <bikerulenazi=on> There are a few things that bikers *should* do in any city but rarely do: 1) wear something bright. 2) use lights at night 3) signal for turns 4) don't block a lane unless there's not enough room for a car to pass you safely. <bikerulenazi=off>

Oh, if I can give a "worst" where I've lived, Id say Ft. Lauderdale.
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Old 09-22-08, 02:36 PM
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Silicon Valley and whole of SF Bay Area is very friendly to bikers, IMO. Bike lanes everywhere and easy access to some of the best mountain roads for weekend/early morning enjoyment.
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Old 09-22-08, 03:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Nashville Man
NOT Houston




+1

I just finished a 22 miler in the city and it was less like a ride and more like an epic battle against smog breathing monsters...not that my car is much better than the other things people choose to drive here. I sa w a guy driving a hummer....he lives next to me. He works 3 miles away. Seriously...why? More power to him if he likes to spend his money that way.
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Old 09-22-08, 04:04 PM
  #66  
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What do you want out of this city that is bike related?

A wide selection and/or variety of road rides? Solo or group?
A community that you can cycle around for your day to day activities?
A community that shares your (non-cycling) interests and has hard connections to support them?

My general observations are that you can find a bike friendly community/location within so called bike unfriendly cities and find bike unfriendly community/locations within so labeled bike friendly cities.

Al
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Old 09-22-08, 04:17 PM
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Originally Posted by bigredgrad01
Silicon Valley and whole of SF Bay Area is very friendly to bikers, IMO. Bike lanes everywhere and easy access to some of the best mountain roads for weekend/early morning enjoyment.
Plus no snow in the populated areas. That is very important for commuters.
Very little rain, too. I think the last time it rained in San Francisco was last March.
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Old 09-22-08, 08:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Pedaleur
Paris? Vraiment?
Personally, I like Paris ... I've visited it twice and enjoyed both visits very much ... but I think it would start to feel a bit crowded for me. I would prefer a smaller town outside of Paris.
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Old 09-22-08, 10:26 PM
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Paris didn't seem very bike friendly to me last time I was there, but I was only in central, touristy, Paris. There were a lot of bikes in central London, probably due to the congestion pricing, and in Hyde Park.

Copenhagen was far away the best place to ride. Bike lanes on every road that were usually more crowded with bike traffic than car traffic. I guess winter can be rough, but I was there in June.
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Old 09-22-08, 10:38 PM
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Another place I enjoyed and felt very comfortable was Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. I loved the location ... ocean and mountains ... and Hobart's size wasn't overwhelming.
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Old 09-22-08, 10:49 PM
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Originally Posted by wcoastbikr
I want to move to Santa Barbara, gorgeous community. Lots of climbing + the gorgeous ocean scenery. I'm going cycling up there next weekend when I visit my sister at the UCSB dorms. Can't wait!
+1,000 but then I'm biased

You can be car-free in this town, easily, if you want to. If you live in/around downtown Santa Barbara, everything from Carpinteria to Goleta is within an easy, rolling 15 miles in either direction. It's often faster to get places by bike than by car, and the ample bike parking provided means it's truly "door to door" almost anywhere you go downtown.

In terms of civic amenities, we may not have "the best" of any one thing, but we've got everything... zoo, museums, theater, abundant public parks & gardens, harbor & waterfront, historic downtown, lots of beaches, mountain wilderness, and all of it is within an easy 10-30 minute bike ride from town. Unlike other SoCal areas, where everything is at least an hour by car from everything else, usually through rush hour traffic.

Oh, and the weather is awesome, too. You can easily commute year round, and only have to deal with occasional rain a few times a year. There is tons of great riding between Santa Barbara and Carpinteria, or you can charge up the mountains if you like. Cycling is very popular here, everything from college kids, to urban hipsters, to commuters, to racers, to tourists cruising in surreys and pedicabs. Very active local bike advocacy community, too.

If this isn't a bicycle paradise, I don't know what is! The only problem is that it's expensive, but like most expensive places, it's with good reason

Last edited by surfimp; 09-22-08 at 10:53 PM.
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Old 09-23-08, 12:06 AM
  #72  
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Originally Posted by Machka
Personally, I like Paris ... I've visited it twice and enjoyed both visits very much ... but I think it would start to feel a bit crowded for me. I would prefer a smaller town outside of Paris.
But to cycle in?

I'm with zacster on this one. It's not so bike friendly.
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Old 09-23-08, 02:54 AM
  #73  
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Originally Posted by MrCrassic
New York City.








...just kidding. Cycling around here is the WORST.
Incorrect. If you want to race there's a race in Central or Prospect every weekend (30 open races, plus all the Saturday CRCA club races). Plus there's another race within an hour every weekend. Kissena on Wednesday nights, and Floyd on Tuesday. If you're adventurous you can ride to Rockleigh NJ on Thursday nights do the race there and ride back for something in the 75-100 mile range.
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Old 09-23-08, 02:57 AM
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Originally Posted by gsteinb
Incorrect. If you want to race there's a race in Central or Prospect every weekend (30 open races, plus all the Saturday CRCA club races). Plus there's another race within an hour every weekend. Kissena on Wednesday nights, and Floyd on Tuesday. If you're adventurous you can ride to Rockleigh NJ on Thursday nights do the race there and ride back for something in the 75-100 mile range.
NYC is a mixed bag. Simultaneously the most and least bicycle friendly city in America. Piermont, NY might get a vote for being bicycle friendly if the local police weren't out to ARREST you for riding two abreast on the main drag.
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Old 09-23-08, 09:43 AM
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Lots of little cities and bigger towns surrounding Boulder and Denver are great. Boulder and Denver have lots of bike lanes, an established bike community too, but the automobile traffic is a bit too much for me to ride in every day. Some other people mentioned Golden and Colorado Springs. Those towns are great for bikes. Lots of pro and Olympic type training programs are based in Colorado Springs.

My favorite biking area area in Colorado is Fort Collins and Loveland, and the little towns that have become suburbs around them. It is a lot like Boulder as far as having a large biking community, lots of bike lanes, and lots of great prairie and foothill/mountain routes from your driveway; but with a lot less traffic, and the automobile drivers are much less aggressive in general.

There are definitely better places to visit and bicycle on vacation (parts of France, Italy, Spain, California, etc.), but this area is also relatively affordable to live in.
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