I've heard Denver's good. We have friends who live in Northglen.

I'm also an owner of a Jeep Grand Cherokee (ZJ to be exact). I think that people need to substitute "big vehicle driven by incompetent driver" for their use of the term "SUV". I have seen the extreme example of this when I lived in Grand Forks, ND. During the beat-harvest season, many of the companies would hire underaged drivers to drive huge beat trucks. These kids would go from one harvest to another, oftentimes going days without sleep. I was run off the road several times when I lived there. Regardless, bad driving by anyone in any vehicle (even a bike) can kill you. I think people are just too enamoured with the sport of picking on the vehicle du jour.

Syracuse, NY is great. No bike lanes or development. Everyone drives on the superhighways they constructed on top of the city, so I have the secondaries pretty much to myself.

The streets here in Fort Wayne are far narrower then they were back in Bakersfield. So riding on the streets here is quite a challenge. Not only are they narrow but most city streets have no shoulder or bike lane to ride in; so your right there in the traffic. So in order to remain safe while riding on busy streets I have to keep my speed the same as the cars and sometimes that means I'm drafting in order to go fast enough. But as soon as side street comes up, I get off!! The country roads though are very good with wide shoulders on most.

Let's see, the worst drivers in the country, a disgustingly hot climate (31 degrees C today, in what's "officially" still winter), and it's flat. Score none out of three. I didn't bother mentioning bikelanes and such because with drivers like we have they can't be relied upon anyway. If it wasn't for the quality of rides in the Hinterland each weekend, I wouldn't live here.

I forgot to add one good point about Atlanta. Public transportation here is very accommodating of bikes.

I used to think Helsinki is not such a great place to commute by bike, but this thread alone proves me wrong. I still have not sorted out all problems associated with winter commutes, but besides that I'm fairly happy. One thing that could be improved is signposting - it can sometimes be difficult to find your way in the extensive network of paths.

--J

Do you ride in from Chittenango? I used to bike commute quite frequently in Syracuse when I lived there - I lived in Westvale (west of Tipp Hill) and I lived in downtown. In most of the city, it's great - especially downtown. Flat, lots of room, plenty of places to lock up, almost no crime. getting outside of downtown, particularly to the west or east, you run into some pretty decent hills. The winter is also a pain there for biking. I used to go as long as about Thanksgiving and then start back up again in April (if it wasn't snowing). With that said, there are almost no bike accommodations for bikes on the whole for the area. The only bike lanes I ever saw were up near SU on Comstock, and there was a Erie Canal trail in Dewitt and Camillus.

What I loved most about bike commuting there was riding the supposed 'hood' and people were nothing but friendly and would wave all the time. Go to the burbs on a bike and they were gunning for ya!

Yes, it is 15 miles from Chittenango to Downtown, takes me about an hour. I ride by Green Lakes state park on the way in.
I love snow and try to ski, telemark and nordic, about 5 times a week. I keep the same seasonal schedule you have. The city is starting to 'come back' in fits and starts. As far as crime goes, there have been a lot of shootings, drive-by's, and other attacks this year. But things are quiet on my route.
You are right about the 'burbies, the worst is Fayetteville to the east.