Paul LC

I'm from Houston also, and agree that the bike lane system would certainly benefit from having a plan. Being car free I spend a lot of time on my bike and have noticed that there are some areas that aren't too bad from a cyclist's perspective, but there are some neighborhoods that aren't so hot, bordering on the downright hostile.

huhenio

Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I freaking loving the daily bike commute ... the long way home.

jpdesjar

Portland, ME here...nice place to ride a bike

caloso

Sacramento. In the center of town, it's great. Out in the suburbs, not so much.

Rowlf

Boise. Great commute for me. Pretty much only cross one busy intersection the rest of the 7 mile ride is a breeze on the greenbelt aside from avoiding people that don't know how to ride or getting yelled at by the occassional bum for riding too fast

The further west you go in this valley the worse the commute, very few bike lanes setup that go anywhere and people out there aren't expecting to see you. The north end is pretty good with bikes, drivers tend to give you the right of way

TXChick

Um...not here.

ironhorse3

Here in Louisville, the commute from my house to work is doable @ 3 miles, and along side a park 1/2 the way, and down some not too busy streets the other half. If I want to increase my mileage, there is a challenging loop MUP that has 2 good hills, excellent for interval training through park that is 1/4 mi from my front door. I've done it 2x, the first time 9 months ago not good (rained and I took a not-fun bus ride home), and the next time was I think last Friday. Went pretty well. Next commute: 5/29.

jamesdenver

I wouldn't say Denver (metro) is great is you're in the far flung burbs and exurbs but the city is great. Not only is the downtown great and surrounded by old neighborhoods with quiet streets, but there's well signed bike routes criss-crossing the city too - and not just MUPs along creeks that don't go anywhere.

I commute 9 miles to the tech center along all residential streets. I rarely almost never get honked at - unless I do something stupid. I share the road with cars, roadies, kids going to school on bikes (this time of year,) and x-mart riders too.

Add to that lots of MUPs, bike lanes on select streets and places like this make it a comfortable place for commuting.

ARay

Ditto Sacramento, California. It's flat as a tortilla, warm most of the year, and we have bike lanes galore, at least in the city center and its immediate area. Plus the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail is a great bike path that skirts the American River for 30 miles from "Old town" Sacramento, a tourist district, to Folsom Lake.

murphstahoe

LOLZ. How many times has some gunrack pickup tried to run me off on Pt Reyes Petaluma or Highway 1? Too many to count.

quincunx

Burlington/Winooski, VT

It's okay here. There are some nice bike lanes here and there on Burlington streets. Not quite as good in Winooski (Next town over). I'm finding that areas that get re-paved or have major work done get a bike lane makeover. I'd like to see more of that. I wish I could say the bike lanes were long lasting and connecting, but connect they do not so there are several areas where you'll end up in traffic on on the sidewalk. Drivers are generally courteous, though there are a few idiots in every population.

You'll see a good number of commuters around here at all levels. A few that seem to live off their bikes, a few stripped down to just aluminum and rider. Some in 1K worth of biking gear and some with their work khakis tied to their legs.

djkenny

San Jose CA was not too bad. I bike commuted from Willow Glen SJ to Santa Clara University for a college radio program, as wel as to school at San Jose City College.
The work commute was short from Willow Glen to just past the intersection where Fry's Electronics and Home Depot is...but the drivers were mostly in their own world...talking on cell phones, drinking Starbucks, and rushing around. The bike route wasnt horrible as the shoulders were wide enough, but people always seemed confused that someone was actually out biking ont he street and enjoying the moderate climate. I think the *feel* was rushed and unfriendly.

So much potential though. The North part of SJ in particuliar is very flat. The air quality is still OK, and they could make it so much better if biking was better marketed and infrastructure further developed to encourage getting people out of their cars. I wish they would make the downtown into a biking heaven...right now it is kind of a ghost town. Poorly planned with ghetto car cruisers taking over the streets at night. I have dreamed that they turn all of downtown SJ into a bike and pedestrian friendly location with cars all on the outter core.

I recently visited SJ and proceeded to visit friends on the train in Palo Alto. Now THAT is a nice place to ride a bike. Lots of lanes, cyclists all over, and lovely climate. (dam pricey to live though!)

Davis was astonishing. Just excellent.

My friend works at Stanford. I wanted to shake her when I biked from her $1400 a month cottage on the border on Menlo Park and Palo Alto as I biked into downtown while she was at work. It was about the nicest 20 minute bike commute I could think of! Her nice 3 yr old Raleigh 3 spd cruiser would certainly help her with saving on $4+ a gallon gas...

Still has the CA mentality...and struggling to pay bills while paying big time for gas and a cottage that is much as my mortgage...

We moved to Portland almost 2 years ago. Little piece of heaven. It is a little hilly on my end of the SE from the closer in area to Woodstock...but still very bike friendly and people are tolerant. I go to my zen place when I jam down Steele to Ladd's, through Clinton, and across the Hawthorne Bridge to downtown for work.

Riv-Lantis

Have to agree with Bellingham. Living car free is one of the reasons we moved here. Got here in late October of last year and haven't used a half tank of gas since. I can get to the gym where I work in under 10 minutes by bike, there are 2 grocery stores within walking distance of my house. I can be downtown by bike in under 10 minutes. I never go out and don't see at least 10 other commuters riding around.

There's even a really good bus system for a community this size. And if I need a bigger city, I can hop Amtrak and be in Seattle or Vancouver in under 2 hours.

It rains in the winter, but other than that it's a bike commuter's paradise.

iced_theater

Not sure if my "city" counts as it has maybe 13K people in it is all, but I can ride on the streets without any problem and 99% friendly motorists, or I can get onto the greenbelt and travel nearly the entire town without being on a road. I live in Green River, Wyoming

OPTheory

I live in central Utah and I have no complaints! My commute is beautiful. Nice bike lanes on the main roads. The vast majority of drivers are very curteous, minus the occasional doochebag in a lifted truck with the "hitch balls" who intentionally smokes you with his exhaust - you'll find people like that anywhere though.

Plus, there's tons of road bikers here as well. I see anywhere from 5 to 20 cyclists on my commute.

TuckertonRR

Another vote for Philly - yes, it could defineiteley be better, but what I think's good about it is that most of the streets are so close together, if you're in a car, you gotta stop every block, which is maybe 1,000 - 2,000 feet or so. So, commuting via bike isn't gonna be much slower than driving, plus, depending on where you gotta go, exactly, can actually be faster (no looking for parking, navigating all the one-way streets etc). Also, most of the city is so compact, pretty much everything you'd need or want is within a 10 mile bike ride, anyways.

huhenio

Are you still in philly?

huhenio

Wear a Harley Davidson shirt ... they will think you are in a motorcycle.