Most Bikeable Cities of 2015 (USA)

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by fflint

Steely, are those snow-capped mountains on the horizon?

yes, those are the peaks of the legendary Wolverine Mountains on the other side of the lake in western michigan.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

yes, those are the peaks of the legendary Wolverine Mountains on the other side of the lake in western michigan.

Wolverines!!!

[KevinFromTexas]

Most of the hills here aren't very steep, but they're long. Some of them might be a mile or more of steady elevation climbing. That might not sound too bad, but when it's 101F outside with 80% humidity, it can suck.

A few years ago I went on a 20 mile bike ride when it was 107F one day. Of course the humidity was lower then since we were in a drought, but that didn't make me feel any better about it.

[Boisebro]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

yes, those are the peaks of the legendary Wolverine Mountains on the other side of the lake in western michigan.

i hear those mountains are covered in aesculus glabra these days.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by Boisebro

i hear those mountains are covered in aesculus glabra these days.

Those trees are, I have been informed by a well-placed source, the right size.

[pdxtex]

so for those of you who ride, nominate one particular infrastructure feature you like from your city. i like to see what other places are doing. i wouldn't really call portland, cutting edge when it comes to grade separated bike stuff, its pretty much just bike lanes or bike boxes which seem pointless to me. i do however love our waterfront loop. its like a ring road in england. its a MUP which runs from downtown to the sellwood neighborhood six miles south and on either side of the river. from there its a good jump off point to alot of different neighborhoods. a full lap is 12.5 miles.

[PLANSIT]

Nm.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I'm always surprised when I see San Francisco rank high on bike lists. I know the city favors that mode of transportation, but it seems impossibly hilly - even for me in Austin. I also assumed that's one reason Austin didn't make the list, but I know San Francisco is much hillier. We could use more bike lanes on our main arteries, but the ones that don't have them in our neighborhood are hilly anyway. Plus there's almost always an alternative "neighborhood" route you can go to avoid the arteries. Our neighborhood is about 7 miles from downtown, and it's 200 feet higher than downtown. It's mostly downhill the whole way, but the hills go up and down on the way. The ride back can be pretty bad after a long day. Whenever I ride in a place that is flatter than Austin I end up feeling spoiled.

About Minneapolis, I notice St. Paul isn't on the list. Isn't it possible to ride from Minneapolis to St. Paul? Aren't the cities pretty well connected with a few arteries between them with good public/non-car oriented transportation alternatives?

For those who haven't toured west Austin, it's extremely hilly and steep. There's no way most of us could tackle that part of the city on bike. It's also terribly dangerous in west Austin, based on the number of fatal bike/car collisions. I think of the main part of Austin as only a bit rolling overall, although Kevin's part of the city does have some good inclines. My neighborhood is flat although the elevation increases by about 250 feet in one mile after crossing the freeway from my street.

Austinites like to think of Austin as a super cycling city, but to me it's just way too dangerous and disorganized regarding bike routes. And the hostility between car drivers and cyclists is pretty bad and getting worse.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Most of the hills here aren't very steep, but they're long. Some of them might be a mile or more of steady elevation climbing. That might not sound too bad, but when it's 101F outside with 80% humidity, it can suck.

A few years ago I went on a 20 mile bike ride when it was 107F one day. Of course the humidity was lower then since we were in a drought, but that didn't make me feel any better about it.

Don't forget about west Austin, though. That's a different world and there are many hills that are steep and high. Notorious examples are Shepherd Mtn and Jester Blvd, and just about anywhere in the Davenport area along 360. There's also Cat Mtn. West Austin covers a large area and the terrain is always a shock to newcomers.

[KevinFromTexas]

^Oh yes, i don't even try it in West Austin. I don't even know that I'd want to do it on a motorcycle. lol I can go on a 30 to 40 mile bike ride in hot weather in the summer and be fine, but man, those hills are awful any time of year.

Originally Posted by pdxtex

so for those of you who ride, nominate one particular infrastructure feature you like from your city. i like to see what other places are doing. i wouldn't really call portland, cutting edge when it comes to grade separated bike stuff, its pretty much just bike lanes or bike boxes which seem pointless to me. I do however love our waterfront loop. its like a ring road in england. its a MUP which runs from downtown to the sellwood neighborhood six miles south and on either side of the river. from there its a good jump off point to alot of different neighborhoods. a full lap is 12.5 miles.

I'm not fussy when it comes to bike infrastructure. Just please give me a bike lane so I have a space to ride in. And bike racks. I don't like the idea of locking up to posts, fences or guardrails. I like infrastructure that makes it apparent to everyone that it's meant for a specific use. I don't even care how fancy.

Of course I love our hike & bike trail and the new boardwalk that helped complete part of its route. It makes it easier since it completes a section of the trail that had been blocked because of development onshore too close to the banks. Previously you had to exit the trail, walk through a state office complex parking lot, and then walk down a narrow sidewalk along a busy twisting street with cars zipping past that had just exited I-35. And then, to get back onto the trail on the other side of the interstate, you had to cross the interstate on the overpass sidewalk. I did it a few times and it was a drag. This boardwalk lets you zip along just a few feet above the water so that the hike & bike trail now makes a complete 10 mile loop. Plus, you can keep going into Southeast Austin and even beyond along the trail system in other parks over there. The boardwalk isn't long - just a mile and a half long, but it makes all the difference.

This is one of my favorite places to be in Austin.





Passing under I-35.





The trail as it hugs the banks.

[Muji]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

im surprised LA isnt on that list. its giant grid. you dont have to have dedicated infrastructure to have good cycling, just low traffic speeds and back neighborhoods. LA has tons of those. discuss.....

I agree in principle, but there are enough quirks to make biking pretty hard in most parts of LA. The continuous street grid mostly consists of major streets with no bike infrastructure and fast and heavy traffic. The smaller neighborhood streets are generally nice to bike on, but the problem is that many of them only last for a few blocks, typically cross major streets at unsignalized intersections, which are generally pretty scary. I've been biking fairly regularly here for the past few years, and I've only recently gotten a good grasp on the better bike routes in my part of town.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

so for those of you who ride, nominate one particular infrastructure feature you like from your city.

my single favorite piece of infrastructure in chicago for bike riding isn't bike infrastructure at all. it's the fact that the city is set-up with a completely interconnected street grid with major streets at 1/2 mile intervals in both directions and mid-majors at 1/4 mile intervals between them. and unlike the LA example above, a great many of the mid-majors have signalized crossings when they intersect with a major street. this makes them absolutely wonderful streets for biking. they're typically narrower streets with MUCH lower car traffic speeds and volumes, and they parallel the majors to get you where you need to go without fighting traffic and inhaling all of that nasty car/bus exhaust one finds on the major streets.

i love side street riding in chicago! it's how i get around this town mostly hassle-free. my daily bike commute is 95% side street riding except for one 1/4 mile stretch that i have to roll on a busy street to get around an annoying cemetery with no cut-through.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

in chicago, an elevation gain of 130 inches is considered a nearly insurmountable alpine height differential.

this place is so unrelentingly flat.

It's a special gift given to us by the glaciers.

Thank you glaciers. <3

[texcolo]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

my single favorite piece of infrastructure in chicago for bike riding isn't bike infrastructure at all. it's the fact that the city is set-up with a completely interconnected street grid with major streets at 1/2 mile intervals in both directions and mid-majors at 1/4 mile intervals between them. and unlike the LA example above, a great many of the mid-majors have signalized crossings when they intersect with a major street. this makes them absolutely wonderful streets for biking. they're typically narrower streets with MUCH lower car traffic speeds and volumes, and they parallel the majors to get you where you need to go without fighting traffic and inhaling all of that nasty car/bus exhaust one finds on the major streets.

i love side street riding in chicago! it's how i get around this town mostly hassle-free. my daily bike commute is 95% side street riding except for one 1/4 mile stretch that i have to roll on a busy street to get around an annoying cemetery with no cut-through.

The one time I went to Chicago, I rented a bike at Grant Park, rode up Lake Shore Drive, around Wrigley Field and back down Clark Street. It was a nice ride, but the trail along Lake Shore still had curbs and even stairs in places. This was almost 10 years ago. Clark Street back down was a nice ride.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

so for those of you who ride, nominate one particular infrastructure feature you like from your city.

Good bike lanes.

I totally agree with McBane... I'm a pretty avid cyclist; I've lived in Sherbrooke QC for most of my life, a very hilly city in the Appalachians that also gets true winter, and (for a young guy in good physical shape like me) I can safely say that "hills" are a minor impediment to cycling compared to "climate". (Not only the cold, but also the packed snow walls, slippery surfaces, ability to own only one [road] bike, the most efficient design for commuting, and use that same bike year-round, etc.)

If they had included no "not municipally controlled" factor in their study, it would have been justifiable.

If they had wanted to include one, it should have been "climate".

If they had had room for a second one, then they could have added "hills" too.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

my single favorite piece of infrastructure in chicago for bike riding isn't bike infrastructure at all. it's the fact that the city is set-up with a completely interconnected street grid with major streets at 1/2 mile intervals in both directions and mid-majors at 1/4 mile intervals between them. and unlike the LA example above, a great many of the mid-majors have signalized crossings when they intersect with a major street. this makes them absolutely wonderful streets for biking. they're typically narrower streets with MUCH lower car traffic speeds and volumes, and they parallel the majors to get you where you need to go without fighting traffic and inhaling all of that nasty car/bus exhaust one finds on the major streets.

i love side street riding in chicago! it's how i get around this town mostly hassle-free. my daily bike commute is 95% side street riding except for one 1/4 mile stretch that i have to roll on a busy street to get around an annoying cemetery with no cut-through.

I just took a wonderful bike ride today from around Motor Row, up through Central Station and Prairie Ave, then out onto the lakefront trail, across on the riverwalk, then up the Dearborn bike lane, over on Kinzie bikelane and up Milwaukee Ave to Wicker Park. I was intermingled with motor traffic approximately 10% of the way. The infrastructure for bikes here is really getting great.

Originally Posted by The North One

It's a special gift given to us by the glaciers.

Thank you glaciers. <3

Actually Chicago's flatness is a result of the fact that it was once entirely underwater and was flattened as a lake bed. The only natural elevations you find here are ridges of sand every few miles that mark old shorelines as the lake receded to it's current position. Obviously Lake Michigan itself and the preceding flooding was a result of the glaciers, but our geography would not be as it is today if it were a direct consequence of glacial action.

Glaciers tend to create rolling hills and strange features like drumlins, kames, kettles, and moraines. We have none of that weirdness here, just endless miles of former lakebed that ranges in elevation from lake level up to about 55' above lake level and no more.

Originally Posted by texcolo

It was a nice ride, but the trail along Lake Shore still had curbs and even stairs in places.

Where? I think you may have gotten off the beaten path. The entire lakeshore trail is flat as a pancake. The only places that have stairs or curbs are the numerous offshoot paths that take you out on the points or down by the harbors.

[texcolo]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Where? I think you may have gotten off the beaten path. The entire lakeshore trail is flat as a pancake. The only places that have stairs or curbs are the numerous offshoot paths that take you out on the points or down by the harbors.

He he.. I was probably on an off shoot and didn't know it. I've been to Chicago once, and that was 6 or 7 years ago.

[KevinFromTexas]

This is probably another reason Austin did so poorly on the list. My bike computer thermometer last summer.

[chris08876]

@KevinFromTexas

Love the photography of Austin. That passing under I-35 looks like a great route. Is that a recent bike path or has it been around for a while? I'm not sure as I'm not familiar with Austin.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by texcolo

He he.. I was probably on an off shoot and didn't know it.

if you were encountering curbs and stairs, then you most definitely were not on the lakefront bike path. i've ridden the entire length of the path from hollywood down to 71st (~18 miles) more times than i can count and nowhere are there any stairs or raised curbs that have to be navigated.