old's'cool

I'm reading with interest the reports from Michigan members since I'm in the process of moving there. My commute will likely be in the area between Romeo and Sterling Heights, so I'm looking forward to any reports from that area.

I have a year plus of commuting under my belt between central Fort Collins and north-west Loveland. I have to say overall the infrastructure and culture is not bad; in Fort Collins there are lots of MUPs as well as low-traffic streets that allow choosing a route that is relatively free of motor vehicles. There are also good inter-urban roads between Fort Collins and Loveland with decent bike paths. I've had very few encounters with motor vehicles, there's the odd knuckle-head that doesn't see you, other than that a few pranksters that honk or yell, but no deliberately threatening behaviour that I've noticed.
There's a few minor annoyances on the MUPs, such as rough areas and sharp bumps that stand out in contrast to an otherwise nicely constructed path. And some wooden surfaced-bridges that can be very treacherous when there is dew or frost, which is not always visible.

brumskee

The Rochester hills area near by has a pretty good cycling presence. Lots of mups paralelling the very busy roads. Good sat & sun morning roady rides. I think there is a velodrome in the area too??? Glad to hear somebody is actually moving into Mi.

Jim from Boston

Thanks for your reply. I guess it might be a cyclists version of the Golden Rule, "Do unto pedestrians as you would have the cagers do unto you."

Jim from Boston

Though I currently live in Boston, I am a Michigan native and frequently visit the Northeast suburbs, specifically Fraser, MI and environs. I always try to fit in some cycling. In a preceding post on this thread, I made some incidental comments about riding in that area.

Now that does sound like a negative assessment I admit, but was written in comparison with commuting in Boston. The situation in those suburbs is probably not dissimilar to other sprawling cities. Early AM riding to avoid the traffic is fine though. Likely too, with a good map you may be able to find alternative routes through residential areas , and I suspect the situation may be better farther north in the region you describe, than from where I ride.

I have also written favorably about cycling around Detroit:
I agree with the above comments; my sister lives there and a favorite ride is from Fraser to RH via Auburn Rd, though that town is removed from routes to Sterling Heights to Romeo.

dwilbur3

Sacramento is pretty good. It has some awesome bike trails and drivers are fairly used to cyclists. There are some problems: north-south travel is difficult (not surprising since north-south travel is difficult by car as well), connections between trails are often poor or non-existent, there are times during the year that Discovery Park is flooded, etc. But they keep working on it (painfully slowly in some cases).

Having lived on the Kansas side of Kansas City, I'd have to say Sacramento is a riders paradise in comparison.

wilber.71

I don't know if this will help out, but here's a link to Michigan paths and trails. https://www.michigantrails.org/map/ Zoom in on the Detroit area. I live up in the Mid-Michigan area and find it to be very bike friendly. There is a lot of movement on developing rail-trail systems in many places. One, from Ionia to Owosso will link up to an existing trail and become a 125 mile network. Don't know anything about the Detroit area because I haven't been down there in years. As far as up here, riding is becoming slightly more common. I know of seven people who commute at least on some days by bike.

Walt

old's'cool

Michigan guys, thanks for the info!
We'll see how commuting works out once I choose my new domicile.

FunkyStickman

I decided to go to the grand re-opening of our local branch public library this past week, and man, I was sorely reminded at southern Louisiana's cycling shortcomings...

To sum it up, we have a 10-mile stretch of road that goes nowhere, that's filled with "share the road" signs. No shoulders. Just a lot of weekend cyclists ride there.

Meanwhile, I decided to ride only 6 miles to the library, and was utterly disgusted. Though the road there mostly has a shoulder, it's full of gravel. On the way back, there's a 2+ mile stretch of the same highway (the two directions are separated by a canal) that they made with no shoulder at all, just a haphazard sidewalk that has massive curb dropoffs, and everybody uses as a place to put out their trash... I nearly bit it several times just trying to get home. It was either stop and walk around the cans, or try to ride through the massive garbage truck ruts on either side of the sidewalk. I was horrified.

I would rather ride 15 miles to the main library branch than have to do that 6 mile ride again. Simply amazing that anybody signed off on that piece of crap.