Riding distances

[pooks]

Thanks, Darcy. I can definitely ride routes in my community. Getting out of the area is dicier, with busy streets and all. That's when I'll have to start driving to other areas.

You rode across the Golden Gate Bridge? Even thinking about that scares me!

[Starfish]

Pooks, when I lived in Seattle and was just starting out, I used the paved bike path for a LONG time. Then, with my then-husband's help (he was more experienced), I started venturing out into urban traffic behind him. Later, I found I could go to it alone, and I got used to truly urban riding. I don't love that, though.

Now I live in a more small town area, but the traffic is on the rise. It is a rather interesting thing because we literally only have one highway into town and one highway out of town. We are squished between mountains and salt water, on a peninsula. So, for long routes, it is either all the main highway, or climbing the foothills.

Mostly my challenge is finding a route with only as many hills as I want that day. So, some days I drive my bike out to a flatter area about 30 minutes away, and I ride in the country, although still a lot of traffic.

Other days I ride out my back door and in 5 minutes I am heading up into the national park climbing up the local mountain. That is a serious climbing day. the first 6 miles take me up 1600 feet of climbing, and it only climbs up from there.

Other days to do the longer loops there is no avoiding the 2-lane highways, complete with RVs and loaded logging trucks. I just wear my ID, use my helmet mirror, and wear bright yellow.

[Kano]

Sometimes we load 'em up and drive to somewhere we can ride, and that's fun -- we go to the "greenbelt" down by the river, and even though sometimes there's lots of foot and bike traffic, but sometimes it's just plain delightfully quiet. "out and back" on the greenbelt is a surprisingly easy 35 - 40 miles, depending on where we start. We've ridden with a group, and they usually start us out near the edge of town, and take us off into "the toolies" where we can cruise along without traffic. Varying distances, longer and longer through the summer.

Other times, we just head out from the driveway. There are lots of subdivisions around us, and we can wander through those, usually not too fast, since there are lots and lots of intersections, not much traffic, but you gotta check! It's surprising how many miles we can go wandering "the neighborhood" on the way to the grocery store that's only about 7 miles round trip by car! We're also "on the edge" of a desert and we don't have to go very far to get to mostly deserted roads -- long, low-traffic, straight roads, some hills, where we can ride like the wind! Again, it's remarkably easy to do upwards of 20 miles if we're in the mood!

Karen in Boise

[DarcyInOregon]

You rode across the Golden Gate Bridge? Even thinking about that scares me!

Pooks, there is a sidewalk and the cyclists have to walk their bikes across the long bridge on the sidewalk. At least that is how it was when I did it, back in the mid-1970s. There was a turnstile that one was supposed to insert a dime into to gain entry to the sidewalk, but I was young and never had a dime on me so I just lifted my bike over and squeezed through the turnstile without inserting a dime. It is really awesome on that bridge, even during heavy fog.

I prefer Oregon though. I haven't been back to California since the 1980s. The state is too populated today, and since I grew up there and remember California during less-congested times, when I travel, I go elsewhere.

Darcy