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Best Cities to Ride
Hi,
I live in NYC and am thinking of moving out of this area in the future. I am starting to look now for any city that would be bicycle friendly. I am leaning towards the Southwest of the country like NM, with its warmer climate and cheaper health insurance but I am open to any suggestions. I use my bike to, commute to work (20m RT), local shopping, long day trips and just getting around even though I have a car. I average about 5k a year. Either because I have been careful, plain lucky or a bit of both, I have never had a serious problem in my 45 years of riding in the streets competing with the cars, trucks, cabs and the dreaded pedestrians. I am mentioning this because I am not afraid of city traffic. Highway traffic is whole nother story since I want to live to ride another 45 years. Would anyone living in or knowing about bicycle friendly cities, want another cyclist sharing the roads with them. I would promise to say "Hi" as I pass you or vice versa. |
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#2
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JoeD wrote in news:lJ0Zd.2668$qf2.2314
@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net: I live in NYC and am thinking of moving out of this area in the future. I am starting to look now for any city that would be bicycle friendly. To me, "bike friendly" means you can ride every day of the year. That rules out the snow belt. Some people would also rule out the humidity belt (aka, the southeast and gulf states). The west coast has pretty good year-round weather. There are lots of college towns in California with excellent bike route systems. |
#3
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"JoeD" wrote in message ink.net... Hi, I live in NYC and am thinking of moving out of this area in the future. I am starting to look now for any city that would be bicycle friendly. I am leaning towards the Southwest of the country like NM, with its warmer climate and cheaper health insurance but I am open to any suggestions. I use my bike to, commute to work (20m RT), local shopping, long day trips and just getting around even though I have a car. I average about 5k a year. Either because I have been careful, plain lucky or a bit of both, I have never had a serious problem in my 45 years of riding in the streets competing with the cars, trucks, cabs and the dreaded pedestrians. I am mentioning this because I am not afraid of city traffic. Highway traffic is whole nother story since I want to live to ride another 45 years. Would anyone living in or knowing about bicycle friendly cities, want another cyclist sharing the roads with them. I would promise to say "Hi" as I pass you or vice versa. Interesting, I live in Florida, and was thinking about the southwest also. Somewhere in the neighborhood of AZ, NM, NV or southern CA. Ken |
#4
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When I meant bicycle friendly, that means the city government provides
bike lanes, proper signs, bridge access, law enforcement etc. and the driving public generally respects a cyclists right of way. I've already mentioned that I am leaning towards the SW because it is warm. Riding year round is nice but not a requirement. I do want dry weather at least 9 to 10 months a year. The land needs rain for things to grow so rain is ok sometimes but not all the times. Cold doesn't bother me too much. I ride to work in 25 degrees with wind chill factor of 10 to 15 so if the mornings and evenings drop to 40 or 50, that's ok, if I'm dressed for it. Love to hear from some of you with concrete city (not state) suggestions. JoeD wrote: Hi, I live in NYC and am thinking of moving out of this area in the future. I am starting to look now for any city that would be bicycle friendly. I am leaning towards the Southwest of the country like NM, with its warmer climate and cheaper health insurance but I am open to any suggestions. I use my bike to, commute to work (20m RT), local shopping, long day trips and just getting around even though I have a car. I average about 5k a year. Either because I have been careful, plain lucky or a bit of both, I have never had a serious problem in my 45 years of riding in the streets competing with the cars, trucks, cabs and the dreaded pedestrians. I am mentioning this because I am not afraid of city traffic. Highway traffic is whole nother story since I want to live to ride another 45 years. Would anyone living in or knowing about bicycle friendly cities, want another cyclist sharing the roads with them. I would promise to say "Hi" as I pass you or vice versa. |
#5
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"Ken Marcet" wrote in message ... "JoeD" wrote in message ink.net... Hi, I live in NYC and am thinking of moving out of this area in the future. I am starting to look now for any city that would be bicycle friendly. I am leaning towards the Southwest of the country like NM, with its warmer climate and cheaper health insurance but I am open to any suggestions. I use my bike to, commute to work (20m RT), local shopping, long day trips and just getting around even though I have a car. I average about 5k a year. Either because I have been careful, plain lucky or a bit of both, I have never had a serious problem in my 45 years of riding in the streets competing with the cars, trucks, cabs and the dreaded pedestrians. I am mentioning this because I am not afraid of city traffic. Highway traffic is whole nother story since I want to live to ride another 45 years. Would anyone living in or knowing about bicycle friendly cities, want another cyclist sharing the roads with them. I would promise to say "Hi" as I pass you or vice versa. Interesting, I live in Florida, and was thinking about the southwest also. Somewhere in the neighborhood of AZ, NM, NV or southern CA. Ken RANT WARNING! i am a native arizonan now living in seattle. trying to ride a bicycle there was difficult at best. the streets are very wide but the average speed on surface roads might be over 50 mph, and everything is very spread out. summers are difficult because it's dangerous to go on a long ride in the dry heat. the southwestern cities from phoenix to texas are a cultural wasteland and are now full of giant vehicles and an arrogant, aggressive culture. the dominant mode down there is a big texas-style '**** you i will do anything i want-even if it means running you over with my mega truck/compensator'. posers with cowboy hats and boots that never saw a ranch or roped a calf, and a big new truck that never hauled anything dirtier than their own thoughts of racial, cultural and national superiority. i still get down to phoenix area at least once a year to see my family. it pains me to go down there because it's getting worse. when i was a kid that city had about 500,000 inhabitants (1970's). now there are 3.5 million. and tucson is also growing wildly. boxes and strip malls as far as the eye can see. LA isnt much better for bikes, but at least it's more interesting. up the coast from there is much more bike friendly all the way to vancouver canada...but even in seattle i have problems with arrogant drivers who dont know the rules of the road and just random yahoos. (i think it's a national epidemic) HTH -alan |
#6
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"greggery peccary" .@. wrote in message
... RANT WARNING! i am a native arizonan now living in seattle. trying to ride a bicycle there was difficult at best. the streets are very wide but the average speed on surface roads might be over 50 mph, and everything is very spread out. summers are difficult because it's dangerous to go on a long ride in the dry heat. the southwestern cities from phoenix to texas are a cultural wasteland and are now full of giant vehicles and an arrogant, aggressive culture. the dominant mode down there is a big texas-style '**** you i will do anything i want-even if it means running you over with my mega truck/compensator'. posers with cowboy hats and boots that never saw a ranch or roped a calf, and a big new truck that never hauled anything dirtier than their own thoughts of racial, cultural and national superiority. i still get down to phoenix area at least once a year to see my family. it pains me to go down there because it's getting worse. when i was a kid that city had about 500,000 inhabitants (1970's). now there are 3.5 million. and tucson is also growing wildly. boxes and strip malls as far as the eye can see. LA isnt much better for bikes, but at least it's more interesting. up the coast from there is much more bike friendly all the way to vancouver canada...but even in seattle i have problems with arrogant drivers who dont know the rules of the road and just random yahoos. (i think it's a national epidemic) HTH -alan I'm from Texas and I have to agree. I love the weather down here, but I hate the attitudes. The attitude of the average driver sucks. Most can't drive their thumb up their...well, you get the idea...but still they want to drive way faster than the posted speed limit and zip in between traffic like they're really going somewhere faster than everyone else. The heat is not really a problem once you get used to it. You just have to adequately hydrate yourself and travel earlier or later in the day. The worst of it only lasts a couple of months and you have the rest of the year which is very mild. There are some suburban roads that have wide shoulders and the pace of building new bike trails has really picked up. |
#7
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Ken Marcet wrote:
"JoeD" wrote in message ink.net... Would anyone living in or knowing about bicycle friendly cities, want another cyclist sharing the roads with them. I would promise to say "Hi" as I pass you or vice versa. Interesting, I live in Florida, and was thinking about the southwest also. Somewhere in the neighborhood of AZ, NM, NV or southern CA. As a lifetime resident until recently, I can say southern CA has pretty good biking if you already live there, but I wouldn't move there for it. Roads are generally wide and there's a good network of bike paths, but to me it's unaesthetic and boring from a road rider's perspective. I enjoyed the mountain biking a lot more, but again, I wouldn't move there for it. That said, San Diego has arguably the best climate in the world, and probably the best biking in southern CA. Triathletes, etc., flock to San Diego so they can train all year. Almost anywhere you'd want to live in CA is expensive and crowded. I can't say enough about the biking where I live now, in southwest VA. Although we have winter, there are just a few days a year where it's below freezing during the day. It's rare the weather and roads are bad for cycling for more than three days in a row. There are times where it's cold and snowy for a week or so, but it's just one or two episodes a year. This winter we've been spared completely. So while fewer people ride all year, there's no reason not to. I've lived in Blacksburg for a couple of years now with no car. My bike is my primary transportation. Except for (or because of) the hills, the town is perfectly stuited for it. Blacksburg has been featured many times in "best places to live" articles. For anyone who wants to sample the biking in Southwest VA, the perfect opportunity is our club's Mountains of Misery and Wilderness Road Ride doubleheader: http://www.mountainsofmisery.com/ The MoM ride in particular follows some of the most beautiful roads in the area, through Giles and Craig counties. Coincidentally I asked a couple of riders today how the Mt. Mitchell ride compares to the MoM. They all agreed the MoM double metric is probably harder, but more interesting. But there's also a regular century, with two big climbs instead of four, over mostly the same roads. The WRR has something for everyone, from an easy spin around Radford to a pretty demanding 70 miler. Another good one, especially for a flatlander, is the Burke's Garden century in August. It's the same beautiful Appalachian landscape, but the route follows a valley most of the way. It does climb a couple thousand feet but it's steady over the whole route, with the return trip being downhill. Many people do this ride with over a 20 MPH average, but of course you can take all day if you want to. We're also just a half hour's drive from the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of the best cycling roads in the country. Also nearby is the New River Trail, a 57 mile rail trail following the New River. There's plenty of mountain biking around too, within easy riding distance. So, come do one of our rides! If you want to come ride another time, our club has several rides going on every week, and plenty of friendly people to show you around: www.nrvbike.com Feel free to email for more info. Matt O. |
#8
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"Rangersfan" wrote in message
... "greggery peccary" .@. wrote in message ... RANT WARNING! i am a native arizonan now living in seattle. trying to ride a bicycle there was difficult at best. the streets are very wide but the average speed on surface roads might be over 50 mph, and everything is very spread out. summers are difficult because it's dangerous to go on a long ride in the dry heat. the southwestern cities from phoenix to texas are a cultural wasteland and are now full of giant vehicles and an arrogant, aggressive culture. the dominant mode down there is a big texas-style '**** you i will do anything i want-even if it means running you over with my mega truck/compensator'. posers with cowboy hats and boots that never saw a ranch or roped a calf, and a big new truck that never hauled anything dirtier than their own thoughts of racial, cultural and national superiority. i still get down to phoenix area at least once a year to see my family. it pains me to go down there because it's getting worse. when i was a kid that city had about 500,000 inhabitants (1970's). now there are 3.5 million. and tucson is also growing wildly. boxes and strip malls as far as the eye can see. LA isnt much better for bikes, but at least it's more interesting. up the coast from there is much more bike friendly all the way to vancouver canada...but even in seattle i have problems with arrogant drivers who dont know the rules of the road and just random yahoos. (i think it's a national epidemic) HTH -alan I'm from Texas and I have to agree. I love the weather down here, but I hate the attitudes. The attitude of the average driver sucks. Most can't drive their thumb up their...well, you get the idea...but still they want to drive way faster than the posted speed limit and zip in between traffic like they're really going somewhere faster than everyone else. The heat is not really a problem once you get used to it. You just have to adequately hydrate yourself and travel earlier or later in the day. The worst of it only lasts a couple of months and you have the rest of the year which is very mild. There are some suburban roads that have wide shoulders and the pace of building new bike trails has really picked up. i should add also that once outside of the cities, the sw can be a great place for biking. i often visit prescott and spent years in flagstaff where the biking can be great (had some great trips up around sunset crater and out near seligman on old 66!). i dont want to dis the whole area, just those suburban cancers they call cities...but you didnt hear that from me |
#9
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"JoeD" wrote in message
ink.net... When I meant bicycle friendly, that means the city government provides bike lanes, proper signs, bridge access, law enforcement etc. and the driving public generally respects a cyclists right of way. I've already mentioned that I am leaning towards the SW because it is warm. Riding year round is nice but not a requirement. I do want dry weather at least 9 to 10 months a year. The land needs rain for things to grow so rain is ok sometimes but not all the times. Cold doesn't bother me too much. I ride to work in 25 degrees with wind chill factor of 10 to 15 so if the mornings and evenings drop to 40 or 50, that's ok, if I'm dressed for it. Love to hear from some of you with concrete city (not state) suggestions. JoeD wrote: Hi, I live in NYC and am thinking of moving out of this area in the future. I am starting to look now for any city that would be bicycle friendly. I am leaning towards the Southwest of the country like NM, with its warmer climate and cheaper health insurance but I am open to any suggestions. I use my bike to, commute to work (20m RT), local shopping, long day trips and just getting around even though I have a car. I average about 5k a year. Either because I have been careful, plain lucky or a bit of both, I have never had a serious problem in my 45 years of riding in the streets competing with the cars, trucks, cabs and the dreaded pedestrians. I am mentioning this because I am not afraid of city traffic. Highway traffic is whole nother story since I want to live to ride another 45 years. Would anyone living in or knowing about bicycle friendly cities, want another cyclist sharing the roads with them. I would promise to say "Hi" as I pass you or vice versa. Well, I have started to get used to the cycling around the Dallas Forth Worth area in Texas. The winters are mild, but the summers can get hot and humid, hydrate youself a lot. And although it has it's problems, good days and bad days, the riding is actually pretty good. A number of cities in the metroplex have posted bike routes on the regular roads and they have still built pretty good bike paths too. The bike paths they build are not the "lame crappy painted on the side of the road" bike paths you see in California either, they actually go to the trouble to pour reinforced steel concrete paths. So you can have the choice of braving the roads and traffic or taking a path without a lot of traffic. But I wish the cities could get together and have more interconnected bike paths though. Also a big plus the police generally cut you a lot of slack if you run a stop sign too, unless you hit something like a car. But be safe doing it as they could give you a ticket if they want to. You still have to obey the traffic laws like a car. Last Saturday, I went on a MS150 training ride in Cedar Hill Texas, where we rode down and around Joe Pool Lake, and there were many many cyclists out riding all over too, not just on the training ride. It was a good killer road ride, something like 8 miles of going uphill on the way back. Basically south of Dallas it gets hilly and North of Dallas it is more flat. I haven't tried it yet, but they also say the bike riding down in Austin Texas is pretty good too. You still encounter the idiot or moron car driver, but for the most part all the car drivers are pretty nice, and many will slow down or yeild the right of way to you. Your welcome to the area, I'll say hi if I see you around and about. |
#10
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Ken wrote: JoeD wrote in news:lJ0Zd.2668$qf2.2314 @newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net: I live in NYC and am thinking of moving out of this area in the future. I am starting to look now for any city that would be bicycle friendly. To me, "bike friendly" means you can ride every day of the year. That rules out the snow belt. Not really, lot's of people ride year 'round in nothern climates. It's just a matter of having the right clothes and equipment. |
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