Best Cities to Ride

"Matt O'Toole" wrote:

Pat wrote:

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.

Well, then, you had better rule out the Midwest and Texas--and maybe
Arizona, too, because we get this god-awful wind that will blow you
over if it catches you broadside....

Flagstaff may be more temperate but most of AZ is too hot to ride half the year,
unless you like to ride at 5AM.

Naaah. "Ride COMFORTABLY"... yeah!

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame

(Tom Keats) wrote in
:

In article ,
"Ken Marcet" writes:

"rcoder" wrote in message
oups.com...
Well, I'm not sure how much the climate would be to your liking,
but Portland, Oregon is almost rediculously bike-friendly. There
are bike lanes/trails throughout the metro area, bike racks on
the buses and commuter trains, non-profit repair and resale
collectives, (as well as dozens of excellent "regular" shops)
and an extremely active bike culture.

Also, you're within a day-ride of the coast, Mt. Hood, the
central Willamette Valley wine country, etc., etc. The only real
downside is that we get rain for at least half the year. Win
some, lose some, I guess.

I have heard all of those things about Portland, and it has the
mountains as a nice backdrop.
slightly on the damp side with above average rainfall, or so I
have read.

I find rain a heck of a lot easier to deal with than
snow & ice. And in the warmer months, it can be
downright refreshing. Rain by itself is certainly
no obstacle.

Yeah when we get it. I haven't worn my rain gear since early Jan and
thats commuting every day.

In article ,
Mike Latondresse writes:

I find rain a heck of a lot easier to deal with than
snow & ice. And in the warmer months, it can be
downright refreshing. Rain by itself is certainly
no obstacle.

Yeah when we get it. I haven't worn my rain gear since early Jan and
thats commuting every day.

I finally took the rain cover off my helmet a couple of days
ago. But I still keep it at-hand along with the rain cape
on my rides. I've learnt not to trust the weather.

On the TV news last night they were talking about
impending drought. Maybe we're now /really/ in
the throes of climate change? All this dry weather
is definitely freakie.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

"rcoder" wrote in message
oups.com...
The only real downside is
that we get rain for at least half the year.

not this year!

14 Mar 2005 11:32:20 -0800,
. com, speaking of
Minneapolis/St. Paul, "bryanska" concluded:

This city is so beautiful for outdoors
activities. It's the cold that keeps the assholes out.

For livable cities, Vancouver, BC is the top ranked city on this
continent... period. Third in the world, yet again.

It's not as cold as Minneapolis/St. Paul so let it be known that it
rains _all_ the time in Vancouver. All the time. (shhhhh!)

I love it. Rain keeps the air washed so you can breathe. It cuts down
on dust and makes things grow. Bikes are meant to have fenders. Most
riders I know carry or wear rain gear. Rain keeps the candy asses and
their spun-sugar bikes at home watching videos. They aren't missed.

Bicycles comprise ~2% of vehicular traffic entering the downtown core
and ~8-10% entering the UBC campus.
--
zk

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 10:52:57 -0700, "Matthew"
wrote:


JoeD wrote in message
link.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.

With this additional info you can add Taos, New Mexico to my list. There are
more "bike lanes" and signage in this area but still you would need to get
over the highway fear thing. Try a vacation out this way and see what you
think.

Other than a bit of snow it is great. You can ride north to light,
turn left on Hwy 64 and make your way to the bridge over the Rio
Grande. Stop, sit a minute, and picture the 'wedding' of Mickey and
Mallory as the veil blows off her head and drops into the gorge you
are standing over ;-) Head further west and ponder if you will run
into Jim Chee or the Legendary Joe Leaphorn. If you head south from
the gorge you might picture a calla lily or a cow skull floating in
the sky over the red rock near Abiquiu. Or maybe go down past
Chimayo and think of the Milagro Bean Fields :-) The area is full of
imagery.

- rick

"JoeD" wrote in message
ink.net...
snipped...


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.


Got to thinking what place I'd move to if it was purely based on best place
to cycle. I have to say the country I've most enjoyed cycling in is France.
I fell in love with France & the French whilst cycling in Paris. It was a
joy. Cycling in the Bordeaux region was also wonderful. A close second is
Germany.

Cheers, helen s

JoeD wrote:

I am from NYC and I do ride year round except when there is ice and
snow on the road although I don't have the clothing for temps below 25
degrees. I just want a warmer climate.

You might find southern Appalachia very suitable then.

Matt O.

Zoot Katz wrote:

14 Mar 2005 11:32:20 -0800,

. com, speaking of
Minneapolis/St. Paul, "bryanska" concluded:

This city is so beautiful for outdoors
activities. It's the cold that keeps the assholes out.

For livable cities, Vancouver, BC is the top ranked city on this
continent... period. Third in the world, yet again.

I spend a lot of time there every summer and I concur. If I could find a way to
make a good living there, I'd move there full time in a minute. I'm practically
in tears when I come home.

Geez, if I could just scrape three hundred thousand bucks together, the
Canadians would let me stay! I guess I could work under the table as a
dishwasher, like millions of other immigrants...

It's not as cold as Minneapolis/St. Paul so let it be known that it
rains _all_ the time in Vancouver. All the time. (shhhhh!)

I love it. Rain keeps the air washed so you can breathe. It cuts down
on dust and makes things grow. Bikes are meant to have fenders. Most
riders I know carry or wear rain gear. Rain keeps the candy asses and
their spun-sugar bikes at home watching videos. They aren't missed.

Bicycles comprise ~2% of vehicular traffic entering the downtown core
and ~8-10% entering the UBC campus.

The place where I really see bikes is Victoria. I've heard bike traffic is
around 10-12%, the highest of any city in North America.

I'm dying to do some riding on the island. Last year I saw dozens of riders on
the Galloping Goose Trail in Sooke, as well as the adjacent highway. Also on
the climb to Mt. Washington, which looked spectacular. The main roads on the
island seem narrow and busy, but I'm sure there are many that aren't.

Matt O.

Gnarlito wrote:
Back in the days, Brigham Young decreed that all the original roads in
SLC had to be "wide enough for a team of four oxen and a covered wagon
to turn around." That's 132 feet wide. The problem is that all 132
feet of most of the primary roads are allocated to traffic lanes or
parking. Instead of two wide lanes in each direction, you get two
normal lanes and in-street parking or three tight lanes and cars
zooming by in the curb lane. There are exceptions, such as up in the
Avenues and thereabouts, where wide streets, a residential
neighborhood, and relatively low traffic flow yield just what you think
it should: a pleasant cycling experience, but this small quadrant of
the city is not representative. In most cases here, wide doesn't imply
safe. Safe cycling routes are just not a priority in this city.

And yet I log up to 1000 miles a year here without injury (so far) or
significant mishap.

But I would hesitate to call the SLC area "bike friendly." While there
are many serious cyclists on the roads, there are too many stupid
drivers. I typically encounter imminent danger at the hands of a dumbass
cager about once a month. And the governments tend not to care about
bikes, except for SLC itself which is pretty progressive.

--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall
"We should not march into Baghdad. ... Assigning young soldiers to
a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning
them to fight in what would be an unwinnable urban guerilla war, it
could only plunge that part of the world into ever greater
instability." George Bush Sr. in his 1998 book "A World Transformed"