Question for you urban area roadies

[tulip]

One of the main reasons I bought my house was it's proximity to great riding roads. Something to consider for your next move, perhaps. I'm in the city limits because I hate suburbs, but just a few miles from country roads. And a few miles from downtown, too. Best of both worlds.

[malkin]

Head out of town. There are country-ish roads and on Sundays the industrial roads are good too. During the week they're loaded with big big trucks.

[Owlie]

Well, I got a TON of emails from my uni's club. They've been trying to get a collection of routes for some time, and next year's president (who lives in my building) has been putting together a booklet thing for new members of routes of 25-75 miles.

I'm actually in Cleveland, so I have to go pretty far out to find roads. I did in fact play with Google, which is how I found the bike trails. One of the local clubs also has maps online, with varying degrees of legibility. They're just not routes I'm comfortable with at my current skill level.

[tulip]

Just a thought--when I lived in DC, most of my riding was urban. I certainly count those miles. Miles is miles is miles, and time in the saddle is time in the saddle. You might not get your heart rate up for a consistently long time, but they are still miles. I don't consider my urban rides junk miles, just different miles. I can add some sprints and work on my bike handling.

[shootingstar]

Just a thought--when I lived in DC, most of my riding was urban. I certainly count those miles. Miles is miles is miles, and time in the saddle is time in the saddle. You might not get your heart rate up for a consistently long time, but they are still miles. I don't consider my urban rides junk miles, just different miles. I can add some sprints and work on my bike handling.

I agree with tulip. I guess I'm abit lost in all this: there are easily hills to build into a person's ride right in our city and one is not surrounded by much car traffic. Of course, to get to these neighbourhoods means going through busy intersections. Shrug.

In Toronto, it took one over 1 hr. to cycle from the mid-part of city to get into the "country"/rural area. I only went cycling out in the "country" when it was a planned "trip" with someone else or group. That amounted to several times per year. Otherwise it was just easier for me to invent a 100 kms. within the city for solo riding which I did ..

Toronto gets 1 million people pouring into the downtown core every business day. I was entering and exiting out of this for about 20 min. before I cycled into less congested, but still some traffic before finally into a greenway area then out into the suburbs where I used to live.

Also if one is a car driver...is not to think like a car driver and typical car driving routes, but think more like a cyclist where a bike can pass through areas for a few minutes, but it would be illegal for a car.

It would be worthwhile to look at some of those difficult-to-read bike routes and see if you can borrow parts and cobble something together.

But then, I don't know where you live Owlie. Both Vancouver and Toronto have natural greenways, some of which have been deliberately reconfigured for cycling. Took years to join up certain routes. Years.

[PamNY]

I can add some sprints and work on my bike handling.

Just be careful about the sprints (this is a general comment, not directed at you, Tulip). My birdwatching area is on the greenway route out-of-town so there is a high percentage of aggressive, too-fast cyclists who can't wait to escape the crowds.

I understand how they feel -- when I'm not stopping I feel the same way. But areas with strollers, wheelchairs, etc. require caution.

[tulip]

Just be careful about the sprints (this is a general comment, not directed at you, Tulip). My birdwatching area is on the greenway route out-of-town so there is a high percentage of aggressive, too-fast cyclists who can't wait to escape the crowds.

I understand how they feel -- when I'm not stopping I feel the same way. But areas with strollers, wheelchairs, etc. require caution.

I was thinking more along the lines of one red light to the next. They are always red, aren't they!? Owlie, if you have a greenway heading out of town, you could use that, but I gather from your description that you don't have one that leads anywhere. MUPs aren't great for getting your heart rate up because of the Multi-Users, like PamNY describes. You have to be very careful about dogs on leashes and babies in strollers and the like. That's one of my main problems with MUPs for cycling--they just aren't good for cycling (except when they are empty). Bicycles are vehicles. Pedestrians are not. They don't mix well.

[PamNY]

I was thinking more along the lines of one red light to the next. They are always red, aren't they!? Owlie, if you have a greenway heading out of town, you could use that, but I gather from your description that you don't have one that leads anywhere. MUPs aren't great for getting your heart rate up because of the Multi-Users, like PamNY describes. You have to be very careful about dogs on leashes and babies in strollers and the like. That's one of my main problems with MUPs for cycling--they just aren't good for cycling (except when they are empty). Bicycles are vehicles. Pedestrians are not. They don't mix well.

Yes, going to red lights should work if there's not too much traffic or too many jaywalkers.

Regarding MUPS, I think they are fine if cyclists can accept going slowly on the crowded part. It probably is good for bike-handling skills and it can be fun to interact with people. But that wasn't the original question.

[marni]

Just a thought--when I lived in DC, most of my riding was urban. I certainly count those miles. Miles is miles is miles, and time in the saddle is time in the saddle. You might not get your heart rate up for a consistently long time, but they are still miles. I don't consider my urban rides junk miles, just different miles. I can add somn bikinge sprints and work on my bike handling.

I was careless in my " don't count the urban miles" comment. They certainly do add distance to the ride, but since the only access out I have has a stop sign every block for the first 4 miles (lots of opportunities to unclip) and several stop lights in the next three miles, I use those portions of the ride as a separate laps and consider it a warm up and cool down. Its the long stretches once I get out that I count as speed or cadence miles and use it in logging my personal aatats and goals.

Urban riding is a whole different animal than out in the country fields and texas prairie riding.