Best place for cycling in the USA?
 

What place do you think is the best for cycling in US?

In the big picture, considering:

Thriving bike culture

• Enthusiasts
• Shops
• Mechanics
• Builders
• Painters
• (Manufacturing)

Riding

• Clubs
• Beautiful scenery / country roads for longer rides.
• Good conditions for commuting by bike.

Events

• Competitions
• Exhibitions
• Shows and swap meets

I probably forgot many more aspects. Fill in with what you think is important.

You can most likely not fit them all in one place, so some places will be better just because they are the center spot of all the others and have easy access to everything, but will have trade offs in other aspects.

Or you can take it like this; where would you recommend a foreign bike enthusiast to settle in the USA?

Portland, Oregon!

Minneapolis/St. Paul and the surrounding suburban area.

Heck, I would include greater Minnesota as well.

I've lived in 5 places across the U.S., and so far my favorite is the San Francisco Bay area.

Somewhere along the front range of Colorado (Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs, or near one of these) would be a good bet I think: cycling for recreation is very popular, the climate is dry and mild most of the year, the terrain (mountains to the west, plains to the east) is fantastic for both road and mountain biking, there are velodromes in Colorado Springs and Boulder if you want to ride track, lots of clubs exists, and there are many bike shops and related businesses. Commuting by bike isn't widely popular outside of Boulder, but it's fairly easy get around by bike in the other cities. The biggest disadvantage is that the elevation can pose a problem for people with existing respiratory conditions (the populated areas lie 5000-7000 feet above sea level).

I don't care about anything but terrain and scenery, so I would say Vermont, by a wide margin.
Edit: And I say that in all objectivity.

How do you deal with the climate there?

To me, the west coast seems idyllic. I hope the contention I see in the threads on bikeforums doesn't represent the bike culture there.

Wisconsin. Tremendous cycling culture, especially in Madison. Baraboo and Waterford are both iconic names in cycling history. Excellent bike network throughout the state. Only thing not going for Wisconsin is the weather, cold through the winter months, and sometimes well into the spring.

Weather would have to be a serious consideration. Chicago's pretty decent for cycling (and the best city in the country!), but the weather sucks for half the year....

Jersey is kinda cool, lots of roads, and small enough you can ride the mountians, city and sea all in one day. My favorite is to noodle through the neighborhoods of the filthy rich.

I was really impressed with Fort Collins when I visited for a couple days. Lots of people riding their bikes to that Old Town area. Denver is easily the cleanest big city I've ever been to, too.

At this point, I've lived in every part of the US. There is good riding (and a good culture for riding in a lot of areas). OK, I have mixed feelings about most of Louisiana which is where I grew up and I've ridden throughout the state. My absolute favorite is the Hudson river valley north of NYC.

I'm biased, but it's hard to beat the Thousand Oaks area where I grew up. It is about an hour north of L.A. at the southern end of Ventura County, and just over the mountains from Malibu, etc. Lots of coastal mountain roads, as well as wide open roads with generous bike paths. Being in SoCal, you can ride basically year-round. In recent years, it's become a cycling destination, with week-long training camps, and several pro teams have chosen the area as an off-season base. There's lots of cycling enthusiasts, shops, active club/race scene, and even a Velodrone not too far away in Encino. Oh, and mountain bike trails galore. Although it is close to the L.A. suburbs, you only have to go a few miles into Hidden Valley (shown below) before you feel like you are in the country.

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/a...3/IMG_6119.jpg

How about a different twist, I can tell you one of the worst places to ride, Fort Wayne Indiana.

Thriving bike culture

• Enthusiasts- very few
• Shops - none (we do have shops but none are any good)
• Mechanics - myself
• Builders - none
• Painters - none
• (Manufacturing) - none

Riding

• Clubs - one, a club for the few cycling snobs in the town.
• Beautiful scenery / country roads for longer rides. - YES! Great rides abound but no major hills which I miss coming from California.
• Good conditions for commuting by bike. - 6 months out the year weather is pretty good, but downtown bike route is poor at best. However the city did recently pass a new 3 foot law between passing motorists and cyclists, but so far no enforcement and no education to the masses that the law is in effect.

Events

• Competitions - one road event a year and one cross event a year.
• Exhibitions - who can be the drunkest person to ride a bike and stay upright.
• Shows and swap meets - none

That looks pretty spectacular....

Amen brother.
2 miles from the trail head and out the door for all the hills you care to climb.
Many excellent shops, including a couple CV friendly ones, numerous frame builders close by. Mikkelsen, Steelman, Hale Kai just to name a few.
Bike party. It's all here.

As far as day to day riding (during the season), +1 for the Greater Chicago area. Trails connecting almost all the suburbs (one advantage of the death of the rust belt, lots of rails to trails). Great tow path trail takes you from Joliet to Moline (across the state East to West) with a small break around LaSalle-Peru.

Oh yeah, and the midwest in general has the BEST garage sales.

Now the scenery sucks pretty much, ditto the weather.

Austin Tx would have to rank up there!
Maybe not as nice as Denver and the front range, but weather much nicer.
Atl. Ga or between Atl and Chattanooga Tn.

All you guys saying Mn and Wis, or Vermont. The riding is very good there, 6 months out of the year.
If you don't ski, you must enjoy the trainer. I would rather ride 12 months with a bit lesser, but all year.

Come to think on it San Diego doesn't sound to bad.

All of the above sound like they'd be almost as good as Tucson.

If you have to bike in a big city, you can't beat Mpls/St. Paul.

My favorite countryside to ride in is the UP of Michigan and SE Iowa. Little traffic. Courteous drivers.

My favorite rails to trails are Minnesota and Florida.

My least favorite drivers are in Florida and Texas.

Apart from the knickers and long sleeves.

PHX is pretty darn nice. I just ride early when it's hot.

I've lived in a few places in the NW, a few places on the east coast, and spent considerable time in a few places in the midwest. Of everywhere I've been, there is no better bike city than Eugene, OR. You can literally get from any part of town to any other part of town by bike path, there is a thriving cycling community, tons of shops and co-ops, and beautiful summers, mild springs and falls, and winters that are wet not not so bitterly cold that cycling is impossible. The only downfall is that there is a high rate of bike theft, so bring your U-lock.

I live in Tucson, and as good as the riding is, a lot of drivers here have a big hard on for cyclists (in some cases well deserved too). So, based on that, I prefer Seattle where I moved from.

The naked bicycle movement has gained a mass following in Tucson?

RVa, baby. We've got a growing network of sharrows, a competent bike co-ordinator, an active community. Used to be craptacular, but has improved every year in the last ten (I've been here 30 years, riding all of them). And we've got cycing's world championships in 2015, which none of the other half-arsed cities mentioned have. Eat our dust, Portland. Plus, we've got the James.