What USA city has the best bicycle trails?



B

Bruce W.1

Guest
What city in the USA has the best set of bicycle trails for commuting to
work and recreation? I might move there.

Thanks for your help.
 
Bruce W.1 wrote:

> What city in the USA has the best set of bicycle trails for commuting
> to work and recreation? I might move there.

Anchorage.

<eg>
 
Bruce W.1 wrote:
> What city in the USA has the best set of bicycle trails for commuting to
> work and recreation? I might move there.

Boulder Colorado is very bike friendly.
Although housing prices there make moving there just a dream for most
people.
 
Bruce W.1 wrote:
> What city in the USA has the best set of bicycle trails for commuting to
> work and recreation? I might move there.
>
> Thanks for your help.

Davis, California (according to the League of American Bicyclists)

See "http://www.bicyclefriendlycommunity.org/list.htm"
 
Sorni wrote:
>
>
> Anchorage.
>
> <eg>
>
>
=====================================================

Not too shabby. It covers the city well, interwoven throughout.

If total length is the metric then Cincinnati/Dayton has it beat, but
these are mostly outside of the city.
 
Rich wrote:
> Bruce W.1 wrote:
>> What city in the USA has the best set of bicycle trails for commuting
>> to work and recreation? I might move there.
>
> Boulder Colorado is very bike friendly.
> Although housing prices there make moving there just a dream for most
> people.

Yeah, well Palo Alto is also in the "Gold" category for
bike-friendliness, and the housing prices there put Boulder to shame. A
2/1.5 condo in Palo Alto is around $800K.
 
"Bruce W.1" <[email protected]> writes:

> What city in the USA has the best set of bicycle trails for
> commuting to work and recreation? I might move there.

Minneapolis/St. Paul looks good on paper, especially for dedicated
bike/ped corridors in useful locations. But in the downtowns, the
bike lane system ranges from bad to designed with homicidal intent.
 
I consider Chicago to be the bike friendliest large city in North
America. Probably not up there when it comes to total dedicated trail
mileage, but except for the heart of downtown, it's excellent--and
flat. :D

Winter cycling is surprisingly popular, and beats freezing your ass off
waiting for the train or bus.
 
landotter wrote:

>I consider Chicago to be the bike friendliest large city in North
> America. Probably not up there when it comes to total dedicated trail
> mileage, but except for the heart of downtown, it's excellent--and
> flat. :D
>
> Winter cycling is surprisingly popular, and beats freezing your ass off
> waiting for the train or bus.

I live and work in Chicago, and I find it very bike friendly. Landotter's
right, though; it isn't dedicated trail mileage that makes it so nice. It's
mostly that the street grid is well suited for cycling. The trails are
mostly confined to places where trails make sense -- like along the
lakefront -- where they don't constantly cross streets.

There has clearly been an increase in cycling here over the past three or
four years, summer and winter. It's not just a Katrina-gas-price thing. The
mild winter has helped this year, but there is more to it than that. All
through 2005 and January 2006 I've often found myself in the mornings part
of a string of four or five cyclists, and that wasn't true a few years ago.

I even find the heart of downtown to be pretty good by the standards of
congested urban areas. Multilane one-way streets are pretty good for
cyclists.

--
Paul Turner
 
wouldn't climate, economics, and other urban design characteristics
play and equal part?

i.e. if cul-de-sac ville super arterial suburbs have wonderful bike
paths, that still doesn't help me, because work commuting involves at
least a small portion or regular streets.

also if a town is LACKING in seperate bike paths, but still has wide
streets, bike lanes, (which you may or may not like), and a generally
good attitude towards cycling it would be more appealing (fort collins
is a good example, but maybe there's trails i don't know of)

i live in denver, and we have excellent trails, but the trail people
think i take to work actually goes far out of the way before wrapping
around to my work. much quicker to take nice quiet straight side
streets.

multiple connecting and interwoven trails are great, but i only use
trails on weekend rides. commuting to work, grocery store, and small
errands around town are all streets

just throwing that out there, i'm sure you know what you're doing :)
 
The Denver Metro Area has TERRIBLE trails. Repeat - TERRIBLE trails.

Please, no one come here and use these paltry things. You wouldn't
like them and you would only clutter up the measly few trails that we
have. So, stay away!
 
> What city in the USA has the best set of bicycle trails for commuting to
> work and recreation? I might move there.

I worked for many years in DC and lived in a few different places in
Northern Virginia. The bike commuting between DC and NoVA is pretty good.
There are enough miles of pathways that there are several places where
you can live in NoVa and be close to a path.

I don't think it's true any longer but at one time the DC area boasted
the longest continuous bike trail in the country (the W&OD Trail).
 
There are just a very fw, and they are not interconnected at all. Here
is a map showing the measly, segmented, puny little things. You
definitely would NOT want to ride them, since they are covered with
cement, kept up well, and have almost none of those exciting street
interesections. Very boring as you ride along rivers and streams with
noisy birds and lousy trees.

www.sandcreekgreenway.org/assets/maps/Postmaplarge.jpg )
 
There are just a very fw, and they are not interconnected at all. Here
is a map showing the measly, segmented, puny little things. You
definitely would NOT want to ride them, since they are covered with
cement, kept up well, and have almost none of those exciting street
interesections. Very boring as you ride along rivers and streams with
noisy birds and lousy trees.

www.sandcreekgreenway.org/assets/maps/Postmaplarge.jpg )
 
On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:36:21 GMT, "Bruce W.1"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>What city in the USA has the best set of bicycle trails for commuting to
>work and recreation? I might move there.
>
>Thanks for your help.

It isn't NYC.
 
On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:36:21 GMT, "Bruce W.1"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>What city in the USA has the best set of bicycle trails for commuting to
>work and recreation? I might move there.
>
>Thanks for your help.

It isn't NYC.
 
Of course, the map shows only the longer lousy major trails.
Fortunately, it doesn't show the shorter trails, as that would make it
too cluttered and would bore one even more.

Please don't ride them as we don't want visitors to be disappointed.
Just drive right your car right through Denver to the mountains where
you can ride on several hundreds of miles of paved bike paths and mtn
bike trails.

http://tinyurl.com/9qcue
 
Of course, the map shows only the longer lousy major trails.
Fortunately, it doesn't show the shorter trails, as that would make it
too cluttered and would bore one even more.

Please don't ride them as we don't want visitors to be disappointed.
Just drive right your car right through Denver to the mountains where
you can ride on several hundreds of miles of paved bike paths and mtn
bike trails.

http://tinyurl.com/9qcue
 
Colorado Bicycler wrote:
> Of course, the map shows only the longer lousy major trails.
> Fortunately, it doesn't show the shorter trails, as that would make it
> too cluttered and would bore one even more.

Dear Brer Rabbit, err CB I mean. Thanks for the warning.

John Kane, Kingston ON Canada
>
> Please don't ride them as we don't want visitors to be disappointed.
> Just drive right your car right through Denver to the mountains where
> you can ride on several hundreds of miles of paved bike paths and mtn
> bike trails.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/9qcue
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom Back