thbirks

I've heard alot about Eugene being a bike-friendly place. I've also heard that it has a hippyish atmosphere. It sounds like a place that I must see. I don't think that I'll get there soon, as I don't like to fly, so if anybody can give the lowdown on Eugene let's hear it.

If you don't know about Eugene, tell us about some other bike-friendly places.

a2psyklnut

A couple of issues ago in Outside magazine, they did a report on "The Ten Best Places to Live" for outdoor activities. I seem to remember either Eugene or Bend being near the top of the list! I'd love to spend some time in Hood River since I'm also a windsurfer!

Asheville, NC got some good marks as well. If and when I move, that's my first or second choice of locations.

There were some other surprises in the list, but it considered ALL outdoor activities including hiking and fishing!

BTW, I'm really enjoying the Dirt Rag Mags! Thanks Again!

thbirks

Yeah, I think that was Bend. Bend sounds really cool, alot of racers live there. Great biking and skiing in the winter. I'd like to try windsurfing or maybe whitewater kayaking.

I'm glad you're enjoying the Dirtrags.

The Rob

Bend, Oregon is a beautiful place! Of course all of Oregon is beautiful in my opinion, but I've always loved desert environs and so we vacation in the eastern portion of the state when we can. By the way, Sun River is near Bend and has a terrific observatory!

My wife and I moved to Portland from the Dallas (Texas) area ten years ago and we still have to pause to pinch ourselves at times. Portland is reputed to be one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the U.S., and though we're very new to cycling we feel fortunate that we live in a city that's as accessible to cyclists as Portland appears to be.

-Rob

thbirks

Thanks for the responses. I just got my issue of Bike magazine and they have a Best Mountain biking towns article. They mention Eugene as a great place and then say that there's actually very little trail riding available in town. There's plenty of riding just an hour or so away, so they say.

They also mention Ithaca, New York as a cool Mountian biking locale. Anyway, I'm stuck in NJ for awhile, but I think i'll visit Ithaca,NY and Jim Thorpe, PA this summer.

thbirks

Just thought I'd post the five best MTBing towns according to BIKE magazine.

Eugene, Oregon
Asheville, North Carolina
Austin, Texas
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Ithaca, New York

I guess their only looking at the U.S.. Any comments?

dirtsqueezer

Eugene is a very cool bike friendly place. Outstanding riding available in Oakridge just a short jaunt away. Housing prices are high, but it is a fun city. Lot's of trustafarian college kids fwiw.

mtbikechick

DUDES! You MUST try Potapsco state park in Maryland. There are about 6 triails for all levels of riding. The toughest is the Avalon trail. That's where i had my infamous wreck! Made a real mt. biker out of me! lol. Anyway, come to my happy state, I'll show you some awesome trails! PS. planning to move to Eugene once I finish my masters! Oh-yeah! Burlington, Vt is VERY bike friendly too!

nathank

well, 'the best' place thing is always difficult because it means different things to different people...

guessing from their list, the probably had a minimum size of 300,000 or so... so Bend and definitely Hood River are too small...

for MTB trails or skiing/snowboarding, Bend or Hood River beats Eugene any day... plus both Bend and HoodRiver have sunnier dryer weather than Portland or Eugene... but in Bend it's hard to ride in the winter and most trails are snowed-under until mid spring (we had major snow-carry sections in a MTB race in June near Bend without climbing any peaks) of course the winter sports kick @ss!

but Eugene has a very cycle-friendly environment (similar to Portland but even more and smaller distances and less traffic) where every road or intersection or parking lot or whatever is built for both bikes and cars... and there are good, safe, well-made bike lanes, plus bike paths along the river or through other sections... and bike racks are everywhere... you see cyclists everywhere and parents with kids in bike trailers all the time - it is just a safe and pleasant place for cyclists! it's almost like cyclists are more common than non-cyclists which is a complete switch from the US norm! if it were 'cycle-friendly' town, Eugene is definitely higher than Bend and equal to Hood River.

Eugene is at heart a college town so it is very liberal and outdoorsy and granola (like Boulder CO but less 95% white rich boy turned hippie protester -- i love Boulder too, that's not really a slant)

and for the weekend or whatever, mountains for skiing, mountain biking, kayaking, hiking, climbing, etc. are pretty close (about the same as Portland, but a little closer) in 15 minutes to 2 hours drive -- plus the coast about 1 1/2 to 2 hours...

Hood River and Eugene are great for outdoors and better than Portland, Eugene and Corvalis for sports and mountain ACCESS, but the ATTITUDE is less for bike commuting and bike-friendly...

both Bend and Hood River are towns with not much work and lots of tourists and it's mostly out-of-towners with SUVs with bike and ski racks...

i'd love to live in Hood River or Bend, but there's almost no 'regular' work... i'm a software developer --- it's probably too small to be really considered on any of the 'best places' lists

and Bend has had a ton of ugly suburban sprawl the last 10 years that have screwed it up in my opinion - there's even a new 'on the Golf Course' community outside of town on the main road to Mt Bachelor - ugly! and what a land-waste and bike-commuting unfriendly place it is becoming!! and not sure what's going to happen but Smith Rock park which is just outside of Bend and is one of the coolest climbing sports in the world is now threatened b/c they want to buy a huge power plant directly next to it... i still love Bend, but like Austin TX i cringe when i see how it's being screwed up my massive uncontrolled growth taking over the whole landscape!

Hood River is awesome! but it's pretty much just a tourism town with not much else for employment (maybe working at the brewery would be cool) - but yeah, you have MTB trails a few hundred meters from town, the Columbia for windsurfing, quite a few rivers for kayaking, Mt hood right there for skiing, snowboarding and climbing... the main strip has hotels, restaurants, MTB shops, ski shops, hiking and climbing shops, uh... a brewery/pub... and not much else - i.e. tourism!

Portland is pretty darn good too...

i would be happy to live in any of the 4 (my list of US cities i can say that about is very short)

Austin TX:: well, compared to anything within about 1000 miles it's pretty good, but... it just can't be compared with Oregon or Colorado or Idaho or Wyoming or British Columbia... there are good trails in Austin and the 'rolling hills' are better than most of flat Texas and the attitude toward recreational cycling is good, but the sprawl has made bike commuting a major challange and there just isn't enough vertical for me (i like a minimum of 1000' climbing on a good mountain bike ride)

Colorado Springs - only been there a few times and i've never ridden MTB trails there so i can't say much, but i find it hard to believe that has better MTB trails than Boulder... plus, it's ultra-conservative with all the retired military personnel there(no offense to anyone, i'm not of the conservative sort despite growing up in ultra-republican Texas and having lived down the street from George W about 15 years ago)... just a personal for me - i almost moved there 6 years ago but chose Portland OR instead

an good argument could be made for almost any of the towns in eastern Washington, central Oregon, Idaho, western Wyoming, western Montana, northern Utah, New Mexico and Colorado, but many are really small (Moab is definitely a great MTB town!) -- and western Canada (Whistler, Squamish, etc), plus maybe a few tourist places in Vermont or North Conway New Hampshire...

for larger places, Vancouver BC is definitely missing from the list!

lotek 

Nathank,

Agree totally about Austin, I mean hey, if Lance can ride
there, why can't I?
seriously tho, after riding in Dallas, Austin is like paradise.
I particularly liked Norther Virginia, lots of good trails
due to their rails to trails program which converts old train
tracks to bikeways. This makes commuting very easy when you
have dedicated paths with no traffic. No. Va also has good
terrain, lots of hills if you want em (sometime even if you don't)
and is close to some great rides in either D.C. (rock creek park)
or Maryland, or some of the roadways in Va outside of the DC area.
I won't even go into the mountain bike areas, there are tons of them up there.
Marty