North America's Most Bike-Friendly Cities
 

Thoguht this was an interesting article/picture top 10. (front page of yahoo as of 7/13, 12 am)

here is the story:
http://www.forbestraveler.com/advent...ies-story.html

here is the top 10:
http://www.forbestraveler.com/advent...ies-slide.html

I found this pretty neat: "... Mayor Richard M. Daley has challenged Chicago to be the most bike friendly city in North America, called "Bike 2015."

number 1 should be no surprise to most, i guess

yeah, no real surprises in the list.

my personal US favorite is boulder. I loved it while I lived there. Moving from boulder to houston is quite a change.

neat-o article

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Now playing: J-Live & R.A. The Rugged Man - Give It Up

Consider a move to Indianapolis! We have ONE (1) mile of bike lane(s). One.

For the #1 city, they have the Hawthorne bridge pictured, which is pretty much the most quintessentially commuter bridge in the city with more commuters per capita living in the vicinity of the east end of the bridge and commuting to downtown every morning. It can be a little dangerous passing people though with all the bikes and peds and a short drop on to a grated car surface, and some self righteous cyclists will get very upset and post nasty messages on the BikePortland.org forum if you run the red light at the bottom.

Haha, just thought I'd share.

I've always heard Davis, CA was really great for bikes, but after living in Eugene, I'm not so sure any college town can be more than just "hype" when it comes to being a good place to be a cyclist, because more people on bikes does not inherently equal a good thing.

eugene = bomb the hills here and you're a maniac/genius (400 feet of elevation in oh, ten blocks?)

davis = what's a hill?

i don't doubt any of that list. that said i'm not surprised either, even having only been to half of them.

Boulder #2 that rules!
But the bike trail from Denver doesn't connect to Boulder just yet.
You can get there though going thru Golden.
The whole of Colorado pretty much rules.
Denver bike trails alone are amazing.

What's the problem with Eugene biking? I find my cycling to be enjoyable throughout the city.

Drivers not paying attention, college kids who have no sense of cycling etiquette, and some of the most clueless peds ever. I'd get in near collisions almost daily. This is all based on my experiences near campus of course - the bike paths aren't too bad, and the road riding out of town is good too.

Here are a couple of my favorite mishaps:
-pedestrians that cross the street in a diagonal direction with their back to traffic
-pedestrians who stand or walk in the bike lane on 13th with their back to traffic
-cyclists who can't figure out which bike lane is the right one for the direction they're going on streets like 13th where there's bike lanes both ways
-cyclists who swerve around while riding on campus during passing hours - totally a great idea when you have other cyclists and peds around you in all directions
-the fact that riding with lights at night is the exception, not the norm
-the fact that most people on bikes really don't give a **** about cycling at all and go home to their cars
-drivers with no disregard to the bike lane they're opening their door into
-drivers who don't know how to drive around cyclists, or don't look for them
-streets like W 11th and Franklin

My very favorite incident was one day when I was riding through 13th to school and a guy on a bike was going down the bike lane I was in, traveling the wrong way, riding no handed and looking down at his phone.

Oh yeah, horrible streets... damn broke ass Lane County!

-cyclists who can't figure out which bike lane is the right one for the direction they're going on streets like 13th where there's bike lanes both ways

yeah i nearly get taken out by those riders all the time. happened yesterday by g's rack and roll... but eugene's not on the list... you been to davis?

-the fact that riding with lights at night is the exception, not the norm
my knogs don't help much, but i too think people are clueless about the huge problems this creates.


-the fact that most people on bikes really don't give a **** about cycling at all and go home to their cars
i only drive when i am driving around with non-bikers. my girlfriend's really good about trying to bike but she can't hang, so we end up driving maybe 80% of the distance we go. for my solo trips, i probably go by car maybe 20% of the distance. if i move to an urban area, i hope to keep my car at home.



-drivers with no disregard to the bike lane they're opening their door into
at least there's usually less traffic so you can dodge it when you see it happen. i've never been doored, but then again i take lanes left and right and slow down even when it inconveniences me.

-drivers who don't know how to drive around cyclists, or don't look for them
it's way worse elsewhere. i can't even compare, it's so much better here than other places(mostly east coast)

-streets like W 11th and Franklin i don't go on 11th. nor 6th or 7th on the west side. there are plenty of side streets and bike lanes elsewhere. i go east on 13th and west on the river trails. i guess if i was in a hurry, i'd be more annoyed.

you're right about all of this, sure... but it's so much worse elsewhere.

now portland, that's a city i'd like to bike around in. i'm going back thursday for a visit.

SD ranks higher than SF??? :roflmao2:

Where in Toronto do you live?

I was talking about Eugene, OR haha.

i've probably been spoiled too much by the paradise that is portland, or.

what part of houston do you live in?

I would also agree with you about most of the things you said about Eugene, but I can't help to think that these same problems exist in almost any city (portland not included).

Portland has it's share of problems even if they're much different than the rest of the nations. There's still a very vehement cyclist/motorist battle vocally, even if it's much safer on the road due to attentive drivers.

I predict that with ever rising gas prices, more and more people will get on bikes here since it's already been gaining momentum for years, and those who used to be outspoken angry drivers will convert to bike commuters...

I agree, I've recently moved to Portland and commute by bicycle. For the most part people are aware and respectful of cyclists, but there are some aggressive drivers who don't want to share the road.

I have had some harassment issues. My favorite was when a guy in a huge truck paced me for almost a mile yelling in my direction, basically stating that I have no business on public roads and that I need to get my "hippy-***" bike riding ace on the sidewalk.

word, boulders #2!!! im borne and raised in fort collins, its getting better but boulder's paths are on another level!

side note, not in north america, but i just got back from amsterdam and their bike paths are intense!! first place iv ridden where cars actually respect cyclists.

It's ALWAYS the people in trucks, I swear...

haha agreed!!! i just got home five minutes ago from tearing up "old town" and there were a bunch of red necks parked drinking beers sitting in camping chairs on the side walk with all their diesel trucks parked behind them (no joke). me and my buddy slowed down as we rode by to be polite because they were all over the sidewalk and street and some dousch yelled "you **** have no business riding them things here! watch out where your ridin!" i guess bike lanes arent for bikes haha. fuggin hicks

cc700 you think you've seen eugen in it's bad cycling aspects just wait till September when 8000 18 year olds move here and add in the other 15000 students and then you'll see some outrageously stupid cycling outings!! I agree with Eugene being pretty bad at times but then again we have some of the best out of town rides ever and dre if you move away from campus your frustrations will decrease greatly. My favorite incidents are when the students with wheelie backpacks step off a curb on 13th without looking 7 feet in front of you and never have any clue they almost got steamrolled.

Houston has one of the countries best velodromes.

White panel vans. When I took my motorcycle license course 20 years ago my instructor told us to steer clear of any white panel vans or rental vans as the person driving them has no clue about their surroundings. And he was right.

They are stock trucks and no one who operates or works with these trucks cares about their condition so they don't care if it gets banged up which means they don't check blind spots and end up cutting off cyclists all the time. Also, they are vehicles that require a lot of concentration to drive but the person who is driving it is not likely to be schooled in driving such a vehicle, it is just a work vehicle to them.

Yay For Montreal At Number 4!!!