There is no where to ride without driving to get there. What do I do?

[Kathi]

Seriously though, I totally understand because I lived in Cincinnati all my life until I moved to the Denver area 6 years ago. Here we ride out of our garage and only transport bikes if we're riding in the mtns. We have 700 miles of bike trails and bike lanes. Tonight we are riding to a free neighborhood concert, 5 miles away and all bike lane and bike path.

When I tried to ride in my little community near Cinti I would get yelled at by motorists to get off the street, it was too dangerous. This was a small community with little traffic. It was 1 mile by 1 mile so riding around the neighborhood got boring. However, it was very good for hill repeats as I lived on the side of a rather steep hill.

I often rode by myself so I put my bike in my car and went to the Loveland "Little Miami" bike trail. If it was a workday I took my bike with me, changed at work and drove to the bike trail. At one time I worked on the west side of town so I drove to the bike trail at Miami Whitewater forest. I also roller bladed these trails. The frustrating thing about the drive was I-71, it was always backed up in the evenings and there was no good alternate route.

The Cincinnati Cycle Club has some very good rides, west and east of town. Most rides are in the evenings at 6pm with beginner groups. I rode with them for several years and I had some riding partners and learned some really good routes.

I honestly can't think of any place where you can live and ride out your door unless you are on the fringes of the east or west side. I agree most communities I wouldn't ride by myself even if they had a bike lane.

Thanks for making me glad I moved to Denver!