Seeking advice on cycling overseas

[dstealy]

Hello, I am a long-time lurker on this forum, but this is my first post.

I am seeking advice on the quality of cycling in various countries.

My wife is a US Foreign Service Officer and we are researching locations for her next two-year post. I am an avid cyclist (and ex-triathlete ) so one of our considerations for her next posting is the feasibility of safely going for long rides in the host county, preferably with a local group.

We are currently living in a smaller Southern Africa capital city and I’ve been able to find a small group of cyclists to ride with, so it can be done, but the traffic here is not super heavy and security is not a major problem.

Here is a list of the countries we are looking at, and any of the cities we are looking at will have either embassies or consulates, so they will be some of the bigger cities in any of the countries.

Macedonia
Albania
Israel
Jordan
Bulgaria
Bosnia
Malaysia
Tunisia
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Latvia
Poland
Portugal
Brazil
Columbia
Panama
Ecuador
Chile
Armenia
Romania
Belarus
Ukraine
Slovakia
Serbia
Turkey

Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks for the help.

 

[Mihai]

There is definitely a big US embassy in my hometown Bucharest / Romania (some years ago I even went as a guest to the US ambassador's residence) and lots of avid cyclists. We go for multiple days tours, a monthly critical mass and several other events, plus a free-entrance velodrome for power laps with literally any bike.

 

[shawnrohrbach]

There is definitely a big US embassy in my hometown Bucharest / Romania (some years ago I even went as a guest to the US ambassador's residence) and lots of avid cyclists. We go for multiple days tours, a monthly critical mass and several other events, plus a free-entrance velodrome for power laps with literally any bike.

I've ridden in Italy (and then the rest of Europe) and that's always at the top of my list for bike tolerant countries. Slovakia is good in the western part of the country and sketchy in the East. I have ridden in Poland and it's ok; great people but the truckers tend to be a bit agitated. Latvia I understand from friends who biked there is excellent. I rode in parts of the eastern blocvk right after the fall of the Soviet Union and the roads were terrible, but i hear there have been many improvements. Greece was a fun country to bike outside of the cities; Athens is a very congested and fast city.

 

[vspa]

from your list: Chile, embassy is in Santiago

you can get very good mix of landscapes to ride in; mountains, sea coast, wine valleys. There are also clubs you could join in. You may need to drive into ouskirts of town however to start your rides, city is big and not very cycling friendly. You could say it is also a safe city to live in.

and: Italy, by far the best option i would guess as for cycling-culture.