Totaled108

One of the biggest downsides to biking in Portland, OR, is the fact that so many people are moving here. That means there are thousands of new-to-cyclist drivers on the road, and are trying to find there way around with out hitting folks, peds and cyclists. FAR more folks that walk in this city get hit by cars then if you're on a bike.

Other then that I can't complain.

tjspiel

I could spend quite a bit a time on what Minneapolis does both right and wrong. It's hard for me to tell from your links about where you were routed when you went through Minneapolis. Portions of the MUPs along the river need repair. Not sure who is responsible for all the sections. The park board is responsible for at least some of it and as I understand it they allocate money to individual parks for upgrades and repairs on a cycle of years. So for example, when we moved into our neighborhood the MUPs in the local park were in tough shape. Fortunately soon after it was that parks "turn" for upgrade/repair money and the MUPs were fixed.

A lot of your route was through small towns and suburbs. There's probably over twenty communities between Redwing and St. Cloud. The Minneapolis cycling community has little to no influence on those areas of course and I'm guessing it's in the more rural areas that you encountered the rumble strips.

The "MRT" looks to be more of a "vision" that currently is made up of a hodge-podge of trails, roads, and routes that roughly follow the Mississippi rather than an actual trail. It would be like calling my commute the "tjspiel trail" except that I'm not seeking or getting any federal dollars to improve it. It's the most cycling friendly route between work and home that I could put together but it's only a collection of MUPs and streets that at any time could be interrupted by construction.

Anyway the MRT could potentially be a great trip but I'm not surprised at what you ran into. I'd also say that you probably only skirted the edge of Minneapolis along the river and that's not enough to give a very complete picture of the cycling infrastructure of the city.

paul2432

My home is in a different town than my work, but both are in Boulder County which is a great place to ride a bike. Pretty good network of MUPs (particularly in Boulder) and many roads have bike lanes. Cycling is popular here, so drivers are used to seeing bikes, and usually respect them. I am rarely honked at and have never had things thrown at me or been closely buzzed.

Paul

cyccommute 

The Metro area has started at a much more bicycle friendly point than most other cities. I've been riding bikes in the Denver/Colorado area for close to 40 years. Things have gotten better but it's only incrementally better than it was back in the 80's. We do have more bikeways and more shared roads then we had 30+ years ago but we started from having good facilities and good vision on where to go. One of the advantages that Denver has over a lot of places is that our drivers are better educated about bicyclists. That goes a long ways towards making any place more bicycle friendly.

I recently had occasion to ride across Nashville, TN. The motorists there didn't have a clue as to what I was, how I would ride or how to react to my presence. I might just as well have been a bug eyed alien for all their familiarity with bicyclists. They didn't give room, the roads are filled with high volumes of traffic, the infrastructure hasn't been designed with bicyclists in mind, etc. As long as I've been riding in Denver, I've never experienced the level of basic ignorance about cycling as I have in Nashville. Nashville would be a great place to ride but it would take a miracle to get past the cluelessness of the drivers.

zoltani

The problem with tennessee is that we have one of the highest transportation budgets in the country. We also have two major interstates running though, I-40 and I-75. This means a lot of through traffic, and most of the budget goes toward accommodating these vehicles. I have also noticed that we have some kind of complex about roads, we want them big and well paved so we don't seem as "country" to outsiders. You notice this on the TN/NC border where a road with an AADT of 50 is gravel on the NC side and smooth asphalt on the TN side, ridiculous!

Here in Knoxville there are some OK greenways that are useful for getting around if you live and work close to them, otherwise it's fairly frightening, especially on the west (rich) side of town. In the past five years so many roads have been widened and the traffic has increased exponentially, without creating that many more bike lanes or paths. Often the paths will be there and then just disappear, throwing you onto a busy four lane road, or divided highway. There is a long way to go, but somehow we are described as a bronze bike community. IMO it doesn't help that the former mayor of knoxville's family own pilot gas stations, and now he will be the mayor of the state. People describe him as bike friendly though, go figure.

john423

You mean governor I've never heard Haslam described as bike-friendly.

Up the road in Johnson City, the city commission has seen what the Virginia Creeper Trail has done for the communities around it and wants a piece of that action - they're trying to buy an old stretch of railroad for conversion into a bike/walking trail. That'll be neat-o if it happens, but not really too handy for commuters.

Still, whatever gets people bicycling will probably lead to more commuting, which will lead to more awareness of commuting, etc.

zoltani

Errr, right, governor, sorry.

He may not be described as a bike friendly, but he sure did take the credit and flaunt it when the bronze designation was awarded.

Of note: "The U.S. Census Bureau's most recent American Community Survey indicates that nearly 1,000 people in Knoxville commute to work on their bicycles roughly triple the number in 2006"
That puts bike commuters just over 1%

Too bad most the people who ride the creeper trail get their fat asses trucked up to the top so they can just coast down.

Rail

I'm in the northern outer suburbs of Boston. Cycling, whether recreational or for commuting, is common here.

There are very few MUPs and no bike lanes. Despite this, road sharing between bicycles and automobiles is normally peaceful and an expectation.

rustybrown

Fla. is finally paving shoulders on a select, few stretches of high-speed highways. They're striped as "bike lanes."

Sirrus Rider

I'm a Houston native and I live on the west side in Spring Branch. I've found Houston to be a mixed bag. The west side is not bad (but not great either). The Heights and parts of the inner loop are fairly friendly, but over all the infrastructure is lacking.

exile

I live in Binghamton NY for now. I really don't have a problem as far as bike commuting goes. Some people are A$$' s, some aren't. Designated bike lanes are really not taken care of so I do what I must.

I don't have a problem with following the law. My problem only arises when it is excessive or punitive or unevenly enforced.

Over the last few years I have seen an increase in cyclist which I think is a good thing.

Fizzaly

Boise ID isn't bad, since we have soo many MTB's around and tons of roadies out and about year round people here are used to seeing and navigating around cyclist so commuting isn't very hard here. The amount of bike lanes is growing monthly and we have a pretty good MUP though it really only follows the river and isn't really designed for commuting it does provide me an easy route for some of my errands. Over all the general attitude about bicycle commuters is good here, i think a lot of it has to do with a lot of people here wanting to be "green" which i have no problem with What is weird in boise is you can't go an hour without seeing a car with a empty bike rack on the back of it.

fietsbob

A Peninsula, one big hill, with OR30/US101 on one side, OR 202 on the other .

Few bicycle because most of the houses are on the hill,
and you have to walk Up, to go home .
Unlike Portland , the river valley is full of River.

bmt074

Haha I once got side-swiped by a taxi on Mt. Auburn st. in Watertown before. He cut so close that the back of his right mirror whacked my left handlebar as he was passing. He slowed down for a moment - he saw that I was still upright and roared off. I still ride in the street there though .

caloso

Sacramento's not too bad. Lots of employers (including the state and local governments) encourage bike commuting, we have an awesome bike trail that runs 30 miles east to Folsom, downtown and midtown are flat and laid out in a grid, and the weather is pretty great.

But.... we could do so much better. There's really poor north/south access, all the bike lanes end as soon as you get to downtown, and the Sactown tradition of leaving leaf piles in the streets means that most residential streets are a filthy, slippery mess all winter long.

dedhed

Milwaukee's OK even if the roads themselves are beat to S***. I do 25m/day on streets and paths. Most drivers are pretty good about giving you room.

Sigurdd50

Madison Wisconsin is A-OK

DX-MAN

You could have been describing MY town -- except mine's 250,000, and 249,850 of them hate cyclists.

I have attached a weapon to my bike, because there have been recent threats.

Yes, I also ride the sidewalk whenever I feel it necessary (legal here most places in town).

john423

I wouldn't mind it so bad if they didn't coast down 3 wide and leave NO room for people who are coming up the trail. Then they act all pissed off when you ask for a lane. I guess they feel entitled since they paid whatever to get trucked up to the top. Where's the challenge in it? I did 60 of 66 miles before I had a flat I was ill-prepared for (lessons were learned) and I had to walk the carcass back the last 6 miles. I will finish it by bikepower sometime in 2011.

mtalinm

I'd say the infrastructure in Boston is pretty good. The drivers are becoming more considerate / aware. It's the PEDESTRIANS who drive me insane. I feel like I'm at much greater risk for running into/over someone than having a collision with a vehicle. This includes:

* jaywalkers who dart out from between parked cars
* joggers on the MUPs with headphones who bob and weave unpredictably

gear

Most of the roads where I live were designed in the 1600s (or earlier in some cases), consequently they are narrow. There is no bike infrastructure to speak of.

Jim from Boston

Thanks for the reply. My post was to refute that Boston is per se a "horrendous” place to ride, though I would not fault one for riding (safely) on the sidewalk. I have done so myself in the Detroit suburbs as mentioned above. One of my worst crashes occurred when I moved over to the sidewalk and didn't see a post sticking up in the shade. I think all cities have dangerous streets if there are no accomodations for bikes. For myself, I occasionally think about how even though I may be comfortable riding in traffic, some other cyclists would go crazy.

IMO, one of the benefits of commuting in Boston is that though the street patterns are crazy, the number of streets are sufficient that, with enough diligence one can find alternative routes.

I think a main use of the rearview mirror is not only for constant monitoring of what's coming, but also for quick checks when you have to avoid an oncoming obstacle. Jim's Rule of the Road is "No matter how lightly traveled and well-paved a road is, you are likely to be passed by a vehicle on the left as you encounter an obstacle on the right."

Jim from Boston

Hi mtalinm,

Thanks for your supportive comment about Boston cycle commuting. FYA, I posted about today’s commute, including an anecdote about a pedestrian encounter this morning.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...8#post11992808

post # 7554

Jim

brumskee

My little po-dunk town and surrounding county (livingston) I would put at about a 3 on a 1 to 10 scale. Not a lot of outright hostility but not much acceptance either. There has been some improvment with a few select roads getting a paved shoulder and an increase in ridership due to dui's and unemployment. Hey, we need all the ninjas and salmon we can get. The dirt roads offer the best riding with low traffic and good maintenence. The worst time to be on the road is during rush so commuting is not advised. Go one county west (Ingham) and there are miles of paved farm to market roads with very little traffic. Great riding as long as I am in the mood to drive to ride. Hoping to someday find the right place to make a car free life possible and enjoyable.

john423

Big of you to double back and apologize to the guy, considering the circumstances. I've loudly apologized to some drivers before when I've completely screwed up.