Best Cities for Biking

[Geonz]

It all boils down to what the criteria were! There is serious contention about what defines a "bike-friendly" city. www.labreform.org has a lot of discussion about the League of American Bicyclists' program and takes issue with definitions that are based on how much money is put into basically any project in the name of cycling... which would include some of the stuff around here, say, which are so definitely designed by automobile-centered folks who want the bikers out of the way and out of sight, but not safer or any more able to get to a destination. Lots of money on bike paths in a few parts of town wouldn't make it bike *culture* friendly.

[Bikingmomof3]

Geonz,
It sounds like will live in very similar areas.

[Geonz]

I'm hoping people are educable; Urbana is affectionately called the "people's republic of urbana" because it leans to the left and tends to try to be friendly to the planet and that sort of thing. There are lots of efforts happening now to "involve the citizenry" (much hot air and not sure it's actually connected to *anything* real except a reason to pay consultants to facilitate meetings), and several of the consultants have been taken aback at the disparity between the number of cyclists, the number of people who have expressed a strong desire for at least the concept of a "bike-friendly" place (but most of them think that means bike paths, bike paths, bike paths) and the relative lack of facilities or support for cycling and pedestrian transportation; the population density and personalities would seem to support it.
But hey, let's see where we are in five years. Thursday we were talkin' about trying to be another Madison :-)

[Maureen Valley]

I have to add my 2 cents in endorsing Minneapolis as a primo biking city. The inner city lakes alone (Lakes Harriet, Lake of the Isles and Calhoun) are worth the price of admission. They're all connected. There is a rock solid biking community in Minneapolis and in the surrounding area and the outlying countryside offers some of the best rolling hills ever for the serious road biker.

The downside is the brutality of winter. But...I used to ride my mountain bike in the snow along Mississippi River Boulevard for miles and miles. The only danger was that occasional patch of ice under fresh snow and KABOOM...down I'd go.

T'isn't for the frail or the weak of heart. I'm now in sunny, but flat Florida. It's an entirely different biking world down here.

Best to all:
Maureen

[seychelle]

I know this thread is old, but had to put in my 0.02 cents about Tampa. Riding on roads sucks in Tampa (this from a runner, not a cyclist, but based on my observations), however, there are lots of bike paths with no car traffic that I hope to use once I finally buy the bike:

Suncoast Trail (41.3 mi one way) http://outdoortravels.com/biking_fl_..._suncoast.html
Pinellas Trail (34 mi one way) http://www.pinellascounty.org/trailgd/
Upper Tampa Bay Trail (8 mi one way) http://outdoortravels.com/biking_fl_...abaytrail.html

There are plans to connect all of the above trails.

There's also Wilderness Park http://outdoortravels.com/biking_fl_...rnesspark.html These trails are great for running too by the way.

There are lots of other areas within driving distance that are good for cycling.

[CyclChyk]

Eugene is utterly fantastic for both pedestrians and bikers. I lived there a year from a car and thought "This isn't the pretty city I thought I knew..." ...then sold the car. The transformation of the city as a whole was magnificent. We lived on the Millrace near Glenwood, and from there, could take a little back road to a bike trail that stretched all the way through campus to downtown, and bike trails from there completely circumvented the city to take us to Springfield (Gateway) or to the other mall (I forget the name...) but it was fantastic. Even biking in the city was nice, with all the trees downtown, etc, there were never the big, long open stretches I see here... =P

My dearest friend since I was 14 got married and moved this year to Eugene. She did not know that I had taken up cycling this summer and when I was asking her how it was in Eugene she started "fussing" about the biking life and how the city has "overly accomidated" cyclists. Needless to say I set her straight as I am now one of those cycling activists.

Ever since that conversation I have had a serious itch to go visit and check it out for myself. If it wasn't for the snow and lack of jobs I think I could be tempted to move.....