best cycling city in the USA

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I plan to do a postdoc in America and being an avis cyclist I'd like to know which are the best cycling cities in the USA amonh medium to large university towns. (all aspects of cycling but mainly commuting and road riding).

I am especially interested in the places below:
Madison Wisconsin, Chapel Hill North Carolina, Philadelphia, Davis California

Davis, California is a very bike friendly town as is Chico, CA. You can also add Corvallis, Or, Eugene, OR and Boulder, CO to the list. However, I some of these are really just large towns. The common theme amongst all of them are that major state universities are located in the town. So naturally they tend to cater to students and, as result, cyclists.

Slightly larger towns that are bike friendly include, Seattle, WA, Porltand, OR, and Tucson AZ. Most of these are progressive cities that have many bike lanes and paths in and around the cities.

I am only commenting on cities that I have actually been lucky enough to ride bikes in. It wouldn't surprise me if Madison, WI, and Chapel Hill are also bike friendly because of the major university thread of my first paragraph. I have been in Philly, and their are some nice places to cycle, but I haven't actually done it so I won't comment there from experience.

Originally posted by lveilo
I plan to do a postdoc in America and being an avis cyclist I'd like to know which are the best cycling cities in the USA amonh medium to large university towns. (all aspects of cycling but mainly commuting and road riding).

I am especially interested in the places below:
Madison Wisconsin, Chapel Hill North Carolina, Philadelphia, Davis California >>>

PHILADELPHIA! Its also the best city, period. :)

BTW I recently discovered a great small town that is trendy, quant and very much into cycling for utility as well as sport. Its only about 5 mins away from me, and if not for the fact that I plan to move home to Philly, I'd live in this place!

They also have a GREAT bike store in the center of town called Pitman Bike World. I found accessorfies there I couldnt find anywhere else for utility cycling (like metal folding side baskets, etc).


I think the town website is http://www.pitman.org Its in Southern New Jersey, in Gloucester county. Its called "a walking town" because they dont even have school buses...kids all walk to school.

My only gripe is that the town was oriignally found in the 1800s as a Methodist camp meeting town, and so its a "dry" town (no liquor sold)...but its not run by fundamentalists, dont worry! Stores are closed on Sunday and no liquor sold mostly still out of regard for the wishes of the founders of the town 100 yrs ago.

On Broadway (Main street) there is an old, classic movie theater that still plays a pipe organ before movies. The town is a curious mix of environmental types, artsy types, and homeschoolers. And you can buy a nice Victorian house for under 200,000.

I don't know what best cycling city in the US is, but here in the Bay Area, I'd have to go with Los Altos..

Houses are expensive, but it's the most bike friendly city and there are plenty of fun hills to ride nearby. And there is a good bike shop and many good coffee shops.

And it's close to Stanford.

I live in Cary, NC which is near Chapel Hill. Due to UNC, there are many bicycle-friendly places in Chapel Hill. A number of greenways also provide easy access to the town center. The roads surrounding Chapel Hill offer some decent riding once you get beyond the suburban sprawl. This part of North Carolina has rolling hills and a fair amount of greenspace outside of the cities and suburbs.

I am preparing to jump back into cycle commuting after a five year absence. I work in Research Triangle Park, about 17 miles from home. The way in is OK, but the most direct way puts me on a busy road at peak hours. I don't fear cars, but I am wary of them in the mornings. More people would cycle into work with wider verges on the roadway and a few car-free routes into the Park.

I commuted to work on a bike when I lived in Arlington, VA. The Triangle area isn't nearly as bike-friendly as DC. The DC area has a great number of greenways and bike paths that connect nearly all of the metro area together. In the RTP area, the infrastructure is primarily set up for automobile traffic.

I have ridden in the Boston area (not bad, but drivers are nuts and the winters are lost in snow) and San Fran. (though that was purely recreational riding) and commuted in Seattle (roads not great, but it's been awhile since I commuted from West Seattle to downtown. And the weather is problematic).

I have been communting in Albuquerque, NM for the past 10 or so years, and it has become a great cycling town. There are several alternative routes to most parts of the city, including dedicated routes and lanes that service the University of New Mexico and downtown. The "bosque" trail is probably one of the best urban paths in the country, it runs along the Rio Grande for about 26 miles of uninterupted, flat, tree-lined and smooth riding.
If you want a challenge, there is a bike path from town to the Sandia Crest, a 32 mile ride assending approximately 1 mile, reaching 10,000 feet. It's a lung burner. There are several scenic open road rides east of town.

Mountain biking is great There are great dirt paths, from flat forrest type riding, to rock jumping to pure mountain biking, all within riding distance so you don't have to load your bike onto your car to take a nice ride.

Motorist for the most part as used to bikes and are generally courteous if you follow the rules of the road.

No problem with the weather. In the summer, it rarely gets above 100 (maybe 5 days a year) and winter rarely gets below 25. We get about 8 inches annual of rain, and the snow never lasts more than a day or two. All in all, its the best of all circumstances.

jacatty

Please do not include ANY New Hamshire town in this mix especially Manchester. The state as a whole is very bike unfriendly and we are treated as second class citizens.

Here is an excerpt(sp?) that i am writing and it is not finished but i have to commit this to paper before i forget about being hit from behind by a prick of a sargent.
This story is not the only reason i am not happy with New Hampshire. The general badness of the roads, the people that yell and honk at you is what drives me to say this.

PLEASE remember that this is an unfinished and unedited story that really happened in Concord NH.

On the 26th of September, 12:30 P.M, i was riding my bicycle in Concord heading North through town on my way to Laconia for a century.
Having ridden from Manchester on that hot day my muscles were warm and i had no problem keeping up with the cars and the posted speed limits on the various roads that i traveled that day. I proceeded down South street, heading North, after having been stopped by a traffic light on__________ street. As usual, cars let me get rolling before they pass me after i have gained sufficient speed. Traffic from the previous light had passed me with one car left to pass about 30 feet, 10 Meters, behind me. I scanned the road ahead to see if it is okay to take a drink of water and the road was clear. Being thirsty I took the opportunity to get a drink of water from my bike's water-bottle holder mounted on the downtube. Having ridden a bicycle since the age of seven and being experienced in pack of 75, or more, riders, i am well aware that an improperly returned water bottle, one that falls onto the ground, can take down many riders as they trip over the bottle at high speeds. So i try to look down and visually confirm the placement of the bottle as opposed to doing it blindly, that i also can do. At this point i am traveling at a rate of 20 mp/h.
When i completed placing my waterbottle i looked up, the placing of the bottle is a very short and well practiced maneuver, there was a car that had backed out, rear end first, out of a residence and onto South street. I have been in a few accidents, none were my fault, so i know to avoid the little tresspasses that happen to me on a daily basis as i ride my bike. No harm to me was done that day, althought the potential was there since i had nowhere else to go but on the right side and around the car that pulled out, so i just kept going down South street with the goal of hooking up with Route 3 to get out of town.
All of a sudden i hear sirens so i turn over my left shoulder and see the blue lights of a police car. This is the car that pulled out of the residence, rear end first, and it turns out to be a police officer, with the female passenger, who says to me while we are continueing down the road:" Dont' you know that you have to obey the rules of the road and the state of New Hampshire?"
I thought to myself that this is coming from the guy that backed out of the driveway, rear end first, without having a clear view and possibly putting me in danger. The officer could not have seen anything until his seat passed a point where it was no longer obstructed by cars that were parked along that street, and driveway he pulled out of, that day.
So i answer: "No ****!"
You know, I regret saying that now since it set the tone of the interaction between him and i later on that day when he did finally give me a ticket for failing to yield to him when he was backing out of the driveway. At this point there was no mentioning of me having to pull over despite the lights so i continue down the road.
Then the Officer says to me:"Don't be an Idiot or i will give you a ticket!"
The Officer then speeds off at a fairly high rate of speed, for that road, in the North direction.
I thought to myself:" Excuse me, i am not an Idiot and you are the one that was driving rather unsafe and how rude of you to call me an Idiot."
I put on the chase with my bike with the hopes of being able to talk to him again about his comment to me but he lost me when he made a right turn and i was not able to see him when i got to that turn.
After looking for a few minutes for that Chevy Impala i gave up and came to a stop light. This light was in front of the state Capitol building facing West and was a three lane stop light with lanes going left, Forward and right.The forward lane is what i chose and after a little time a car pulled up to me on the right wanting to turn right. The car wanting to turn right is the Officer that i was looking for and i found it comical that he pulled up to me on the right after i had been looking for him so i chuckled to myself when i saw him. Apparently the Officer did not think this was funny because he asked me if there was something funny to which i replied:"Yes, there is."
He asked me if i had any ID on me and i responded with a yes so i give it tp him . The Officer tells me that he is giving me a "Summons". Since we are blocking both lanes of traffic i suggest that we take this to the sidewalk on the right and he aggreed. So i proceed to hop on my bike and make that right hand turn and stop aproximatly 5 Meters from where he pulled me over. The Officer followed me around the turn with his Impala and must have not seen me stop on the side of the road because he did not stop and rammed me with his car, from behind, at aprox. 10 MP/H almost knocking me off my bike as i was in the process of unclipping my legs from my pedal. I am stunned. I just got hit by an Officer in a policer cruiser.
He gets out of the cruiser and walks towards me and i say to him that he just hit me with his car and his response was:" Whatever".I look to the female passenger who had her window rolled down and ask her:" Did you see that? Did you see him hit me? Did you feel him hitting me?"
There was no response from this individual whatsoever. I might as well have not existed for her because that is the response i got.
Now, the next view minutes were very tense and i do not remember much other than him being in my Face and personal space alot. I never cussed at him or gave him any reason to bring me to jail yet he was threatening me with jail because he did not like the way i responded to his questions. I answered all his questions just not in the tone that he liked so i remember him saying that if i "keep going like this" i will go to jail. He asked me if i wanted to go to jail and i as a matter of course said no.
I really do not know what set this guy off but he was so close to my face that i could see his eyes through his sunglasses and i was wearing sunglasses as well that day.
This is when i realized this guy has some really bad breath. I mean a really FOUL smell and it is offensive to me so i take a step backwards from him and tell him that he is in my personal space and he tells me to"Don't you step away from me!" in a very forceful tone. Not being easily intimidated i step forward to the spot i was before a few inches from his nose. These were some very tense times for the both of us i am sure.
He hands me the ticket and tells that it is a summons to appear and that i have some choices. To pay the fine and plead no contest.To plead not guilty.
At each step of the way this Officer is wanting a response from me if i understand what he is telling me and i respond with a very emphatic yes.
This whole time the female in the car that was his passenger did not say or do anything other than sit in the car and occaisionally look at me while i was eating my nectarene as i waited for him to appear with my ticket.
After he got in his car and this charade was over i got on the sidewalk and walked away knowing i had to true my rim a bit in order to keep on riding that day.
I hopped back on the road with my bike to asses the damage and sure enough i would hav to true the rim since there is a very little tolerance for the rim being out of true.
If i hit a police cruiser at the same speed as he hit me i would go to jail for countless frivolous charges including, assault, property damage and a few others i am sure the Officer could cook up so why is it that i had to walk away from being hit with no consequences to the Officer at all.

This being as far as i got for now...................
It gets better.....
I got to the police station in concord and they wont take a report and send me all the way to the state troopers outpost to talk to them and then the female passenger and the cop both deny making any Physical contact with me whatsoever. They deny this in front of their luitenant who is obviously in cahoots with them since they all have a big chuckle afterward.

Anyway....ill go post this in the ranting threads .............

Madison, WI claims to be a bike-friendly city, but I found it to be anything but. There are miles of bike paths and bike lanes. Unfortunately the bike lanes frequently have obstacles including sewer gratings. The bike lane will sometimes be diverted off the road, up onto uneven pedestrian-laden sidewalks. Campus is probably the most bike-friendly area--lots of bike racks. The lakeshore path has designated bikelanes, but these are not really respected by pedestrians. My worst experiences were in the winter. Once while riding in the bike lane on University Ave, which was nicely plowed for the most part, I was unable to avoid a huge snowbank which covered the entire path. My bike buried itself and I went flying into the snow. Another time, the bike lane was not plowed and I was riding in the plowed part of the road. A car passed by too close and ran me into a snow bank. The driver never stopped to see if I was dead or not.

Portland is a great town for the bicyclist. plenty of trials, mountains, paths. the town just supports it. On any given day you will see masses of people riding there bikes from roadies, mtb's, "beer bikers" etc

I'm in Tucson, Arizona, and I swear to you guys that it's a very good bike city but it does have its slight flaws with the occasional disrespect of a driver and cars not obeying the state law of staying 5 feet away from a cyclist.

They have several generous bike paths here and some nice long bike routes that go into the mountains surrounding Tucson and there is a road that goes on forever with a nice bike path on Oracle which is my current training ground with rolling hills and frequent cyclists and a 10 feet birth between the white line and the fall off point of the pavement.

My family lives in Detroit, and I swear to you that Detroit is positively the worst town ever for cycling because of the severe lack of respect by drivers and few FUNCTIONAL bike paths. There are a couple nice scenic bike paths but it's not good for cycling to jobs and etc. It's not a town I'd recommend cycling for training at all.

The fact that Detroit is the home of the automobile culture does not help matters much because the whole city is tailored completely to the automobile with no regard for cyclists or alternative methods of transportation.

Thomas Davis

Unlike bioguy, I've had mostly good experiences biking in Madison. It's possible to bike almost anywhere in the city on bike paths, bike lanes or low-traffic streets without serious conflict with automobile traffic. (A bike map is on-line at: http://www.ci.madison.wi.us/transp/bicycle/bikemap/bikemap.html) Bike paths are treated as part of the transportation network -- like streets -- and they're plowed when it snows in the winter. And all city buses are equipped to carry bikes.

My own route to work every morning takes me down a mile of residential streets with practically no traffic. Then I switch to bike paths and ride along a lake for another mile. Then I ride an elevator -- which the city installed to give bikes and pedestrians an easy connection between the lakeshore and downtown -- to the top of a hill, and I ride three more blocks to my office.

Madison is not a perfect bicycle environment, as bioguy will tell you, but it's better than most places.

Originally posted by The Peddler
Portland is a great town for the bicyclist. plenty of trials, mountains, paths. the town just supports it. On any given day you will see masses of people riding there bikes from roadies, mtb's, "beer bikers" etc

I'll second the Portland vote. Assuming you mean Portland, Oregon. I understand Portland, Maine is pretty good too.

Originally posted by lveilo
I plan to do a postdoc in America and being an avis cyclist I'd like to know which are the best cycling cities in the USA amonh medium to large university towns. (all aspects of cycling but mainly commuting and road riding).

I am especially interested in the places below:
Madison Wisconsin, Chapel Hill North Carolina, Philadelphia, Davis California

I'll second the positive experience in Madison. The re's loads of riders, lanes, paths and bike shops. Winter is tough, but so are Wisconsinites.

To add to your list ... Chicago is a pretty good place to bike for the major city that it is. There's been tremendous improvement in the last few years as we have a biking mayor who is on a bike lane & path kick. There are routes all over the place and plenty of residential streets you can fly down once you figure out a route for yourself. Drivers here (at least up north where I ride) are fairly respectful and reasonable. And we have some really nice forest preserve trails in the vicinity.

Originally posted by lveilo
I plan to do a postdoc in America and being an avis cyclist I'd like to know which are the best cycling cities in the USA amonh medium to large university towns. (all aspects of cycling but mainly commuting and road riding).

I am especially interested in the places below:
Madison Wisconsin, Chapel Hill North Carolina, Philadelphia, Davis California

I'll second the positive experience in Madison. The re's loads of riders, lanes, paths and bike shops. Winter is tough, but so are Wisconsinites.

To add to your list ... Chicago is a pretty good place to bike for the major city that it is. There's been tremendous improvement in the last few years as we have a biking mayor who is on a bike lane & path kick. There are routes all over the place and plenty of residential streets you can fly down once you figure out a route for yourself. Drivers here (at least up north where I ride) are fairly respectful and reasonable. And we have some really nice forest preserve trails in the vicinity.

Originally posted by swimmeronwheels
I'll second the positive experience in Madison. The re's loads of riders, lanes, paths and bike shops. Winter is tough, but so are http://www.cyclingforums.com/editpost.php?s=&action=editpost&postid=386179Wisconsinites.


OK--I have to admit that I may be a bit biased. There are a number of reasons I didn't like Madison that much.

1. I'm a moderate--most Madisonites are to the far left of the political spectrum and are intolerant of everyone else--though they claim they are open minded.
2. UW-Madison is a wonderful research school. This is a plus if you are interested in research. It may be a great place to do a post-doc. I was interested in learning how to teach, and it was suboptimal at best for that.
3. Madison aspires to great heights and is, at best, a second-rate city. It wants to pretend to have the culture of NYC or Chicago, but doesn't come close. It wants to need light rail, but the economic situation really doesn't call for it. I found it pretentious, and I can't stand people who think they are better than they are.

As for a biking environment, I've told you that I found it to be less than it claims. I'd suggest that you take your bike and test it when you go to interview. Ultimately, the most important part in your decision about where to do your postdoc should be the person you plan to work for. In that respect, if you find someone whom you have a personal connection with--you can handle them as a boss; and you share common research interests, Madison will be fine for you. Get good winter cycling clothes, a strong headlight, a bright blinker for the back, and don't forget to drink the beer. Wisconsin has some excellent beers. Take up a hobby like cross country skiing. And don't forget to get into the country side. It really is beautiful. You can get some good hill work if you head out to the west, toward the Mississippi. If you're a mountain biker, there are plenty of trails. North of Madison, there is a good bar/restaurant in Waunakee called O'Mally's. Definitely worth a stop on a morning ride. There's another pub in a small town called Two Taverns which is north and east of Madison. Ride in before noon and order a bloody mary--they make a bloody mary that is more salad than drink (my mouth is watering). Wisconsin, and Madison definitely have an up side. My main point in my previous post was to make sure that you don't simply take the Madison "we're so tolerant and wonderful" crowd at face value. There's lots to love, and lots to hate. They claim to have wonderful bike paths, but they really aren't that great. I've had better cycling in southern redneck PA than in bike-loving WI. The rednecks are impressed that I rode up that mountain on a bike. Wisconsinites think a speed bump is a mountain. It's been 5 years since I lived there and I still have good and bad memories but nothing in between. Madison certainly is a city of extremes.

If you do decide to settle in Madison, the best cycling shop I found is Michael's cyclery. It's over by the arboretum (which is a wonderful place to cycle). I can't remember the name of the street, but I'm sure one of our Madisonites can tell you. Mike is an honest mechanic who always treated me right. He is one of my good memories. Look him up.

-Bioguy

Originally posted by bioguy

1. I'm a moderate--most Madisonites are to the far left of the political spectrum and are intolerant of everyone else--though they claim they are open minded.
2. UW-Madison is a wonderful research school. This is a plus if you are interested in research. It may be a great place to do a post-doc. I was interested in learning how to teach, and it was suboptimal at best for that.
3. Madison aspires to great heights and is, at best, a second-rate city. It wants to pretend to have the culture of NYC or Chicago, but doesn't come close. ....

-Bioguy


Numbers 1, 2 and 3 are SO TRUE. The beer is great and as far as hillls go ... head to Southwestern Wisconsin (toward Dubuque Iowa) and there are some hills!!!

Well, it's not Seattle.

The funny thing is that Seattle is a very outdoorsey place and has a reputation as a good place to bike. It isn't. I've lived in 11 cities over the 50 years I've bicycled and this is the worst.

There is a very bad driver attitude toward bicyclist and it's openly expressed by dangerious and inconsiderate driving behavior. Beside being the lowest of the low, we are denied the right of way as a matter of course. It's an attitude by moterist that were not big enough to hurt them and are not important since we only ride a bike so why wait for us.

The lack of trails and bad road conditions are the other major problems. The city is very unwilling to spend money for bicycle improvements. There is only one seperated trails (Birk Gilman) which is about 20 miles long and in some places quite safe but in others, poorly maintained. It also only follows one indirect commuting route, does not go into the center of town and is heavly used by pedestrians. We do have some bike routes on regular streets with seperation lines but all allow parking inside of the bike lane and aren't wide enough. (Being dored is common here.) They also poorly serve the downtown area and only two have sufficent bridge lanes. Finally the road design & maintance here is really bad with lots of bicycle traps.

My wife and I were just in Seattle last weekend on a short vacation. I kept thinking to myself that the conditions for bicyclists were very poor. Indeed the driving conditions were not good either.

My parents were attending college in Seattle in the '70s, and cycling was their main mode of transportation. I felt humbled, as I would have felt very uneasy about riding around the city.

Additionally, Seattle has some monster hills. We were having dinner in a small Italian restaurant on a steep hill near Lake Union, and I watched a number of cyclists blasting up the hill--which must have been an 8% grade--seemingly undaunted by the insave climb. Kudos to you brave Seattleites, I was thoroughly impressed with your fortitude.