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Any bicycle friendly TX towns?

Old 08-22-19, 05:27 AM
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Any bicycle friendly TX towns?

I'm looking to retire in TX and cycling is a important part of my life. Can any one suggest any bicycle friendly towns in TX I should look at? I don’t much care for large city’s like Austin, Houston, and Dallas they are just to big for me? How is College Station or Huntsville for getting around by bike?
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Old 08-22-19, 07:40 AM
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Smaller cities to look at: Tyler, Wichita Falls, Harlingen, Fredericksburg, San Marcos. You can read about Texas bicycling news at the website in my signature to see what goes on. Numerous news about what cities are doing.
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Old 08-22-19, 03:25 PM
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Originally Posted by texbiker
Smaller cities to look at: Tyler, Wichita Falls, Harlingen, Fredericksburg, San Marcos. You can read about Texas bicycling news at the website in my signature to see what goes on. Numerous news about what cities are doing.
Thanks texbiker
The wife and I looked and rode Tyler’s bike paths back in April of last year. We liked the town but didn’t see much going on as far as we could see in the way of cycling goes. We really like the hills and trees of east TX. I have some good friends about twenty miles away from Tyler so I’ll be going back next month for another look.

I rode around Fredericksburg about 12 years ago on my motorcycle and thought it was a nice town. The one issue there is the houses are double or more of east TX houses of like kind. Things one has to consider when you retire.

Thanks again txbike for responding.
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Old 08-25-19, 07:19 AM
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Depending on how small you want to go, Fayetteville TX has a pretty active cycling club. Do you like hills?

Jeff
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Old 08-25-19, 09:44 AM
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La Grange. They got a lotta nice girls.


Driving through the area, it actually looked like some pretty decent riding country.
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Old 08-26-19, 04:30 AM
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Thanks guys, I do like small towns around 3,400 to 18,000 close to a much larger town with a good hospital twenty minutes away would be ideal. A town of a 262 pop. would be a tuff sell to the wife.

I do agree Fayetteville would be a nice area to ride around.
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Old 09-24-19, 11:15 AM
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You should look to Kerrville and the "Hill Country"! Great area for Biking, either Moto or
Pedal!! Bandera, TX is nice. Many great areas outside Austin/San Antonio without having to deal with the metros directly!
I live in Brownsville and we are very bike friendly with wide bike lanes along most of the larger roads and a dedicated bike trail that winds from Downtown north several miles through many Parks and Resacas (small lakes) There are a number of Bike shops in the area and we have the Gulf Coast to play on! But we are far from EVERYWHERE! 3 hours to Corpus, 6 hours to Houston, 5 to San Antonio, and Dallas is a whopping 8 hour grueling drive! The Rio Grande Valley Stretches from Brownsville, near the coast to Laredo about 90 miles Northwest of us. All along the valley between Laredo and Brownsville are dozens of small communities. Each with their Parks and Trails. Audubon Society has several trails throughouyt the Valley and many of them are Bikeable. State Parks and NAtional Parks in the Valley promote bikes.
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Old 09-24-19, 11:17 AM
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Brownsville and The Valley are a bargain Real Estate wise!!
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Old 09-29-19, 03:20 PM
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Originally Posted by tim24k
I rode around Fredericksburg about 12 years ago on my motorcycle and thought it was a nice town. The one issue there is the houses are double or more of east TX houses of like kind. Things one has to consider when you retire.
For 90% of Fredericksburg @ 30% of the price, try Copperas Cove.
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Old 09-29-19, 04:15 PM
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Originally Posted by tim24k
I'm looking to retire in TX and cycling is an important part of my life. ...getting around by bike?
I'm unsure if you're looking for a cycling 'scene', or great riding in the area, or just living w/o using a car much if any.

It would be hard to find a Texas town with a population between 3400 and 18000 that wasn't easy to ride around in daily life. Typically you'll find wide streets, minimal town traffic and gentle terrain in small Texas 'burgs.
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Old 09-30-19, 07:34 AM
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Originally Posted by tcs
I'm unsure if you're looking for a cycling 'scene', or great riding in the area, or just living w/o using a car much if any.


It would be hard to find a Texas town with a population between 3400 and 18000 that wasn't easy to ride around in daily life. Typically you'll find wide streets, minimal town traffic and gentle terrain in small Texas 'burgs.
I’m looking for good riding and a place that I can ride my bicycle from my house to grocery store and back without getting run over. What I’ve been finding is in the small TX towns so far is the main HWY goes through the center of the town at 35 to 45 mph with the shopping lining the HWY with no bike lanes or little or no shoulders. Yes I have and will keep a car and a motorcycle. But will need to keep up my cycling. If I can jump on my bicycle to pop over to the hardware store, grocery, and the like it’ll be fun and easier to keep my fitness.
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Old 09-30-19, 07:48 AM
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Originally Posted by tcs
For 90% of Fredericksburg @ 30% of the price, try Copperas Cove.
Thanks for the tip, I’ll have a look.
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Old 10-16-19, 08:18 AM
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Fort Worth is easier to get around in by bike than by car. You can get from neighborhood to neighborhood on the paved and gravel trails along the quiet Trinity river.
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Old 10-27-19, 06:22 PM
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Originally Posted by c_m_shooter
Fort Worth is easier to get around in by bike than by car. You can get from neighborhood to neighborhood on the paved and gravel trails along the quiet Trinity river.
I have to ask you a serious question and I hope you are truthful. How often in the DFW metroplex do you get honked at while riding?
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Old 10-30-19, 02:02 PM
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In town, not ever as long as I stay off a couple problem streets like Hulen. I actually live 35 miles northwest of town, and get honked at more on the country roads. I am refering to actual Fort Worth, not the mid-cities area between there and Dallas. I used to leave my car at the lot where I work and do any erronds I needed to run by bicycle before work when I worked nights. I still ride to downtown rather than drive if I can.

Look at the map of the Trinity trail network, you can get anywhere you need to go with only hopping on side streets off the trail.
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Old 10-31-19, 07:11 PM
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Thanks for the tip I appreciate it!
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Old 10-31-19, 07:22 PM
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I'm native to DFW area and attended UT Austin. Here are my thoughts. Full disclosure: I'm a road biker and I HATE hill climbing.

Austin: Sure, a great mecca for off-the-wall bike shops, but the heavy HEAVY traffic congestion, hills and summer heat? Pass. I've done the much-lauded river/lake trails and found them unimpressive and, in many places, unpaved. Real estate pricing is also quite insane.
Lubbock: Charming little college town but the roads are in terrible shape! You'd need a full-suspension mountain bike here! Ditto on other small towns ... see more details below.
Dallas: The bike culture is growing. I can ... and have ... biked from the north Plano area, all the way down to its infamous White Rock Lake trail, through downtown Dallas and down south into Oak Cliff (which is turning into Portland) ... about 40 miles ... using safe paved bike paths and some residential streets.

Personally, what I find pleasant for cycling is not the heart of a major metropolitan city and its social-engineered bike paths and lanes, but the outskirts of them: expansive suburbs with smooth, paved, low-density streets around them. Currently I live in the McKinney/Allen area north of DFW and do rides from my doorstep.
The problem with smaller towns away from major cities is, though charming, there is a very limited amount of suburban streets, and often in awful condition, and you have to risk riding on the narrow farm-to-market roads with 70 to 90 mph traffic buzzing around you.

Be curious to hear other's opinions on other cities ... always looking to throw the bike in the trunk and head off for some different scenery nearby.
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Old 10-31-19, 11:46 PM
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Hello dteamcatcher,
I popped over to Galveston Tx about a month ago with the intention to stay only for an evening. I unfolded the Brompton and rode till just after dark, about 20 miles. I liked the town so well I stayed the next day putting on another 50 miles just poking around. All the people were very nice, well frankly like all Texas people I’ve met. I find it odd in 70 some miles on little to no bike lane riding, I didn’t find one cranky person to honk at me. If it wasn’t for the hurricanes I might consider Galveston to retire to. I as in Tyler, TX and it was any more than 25 miles I got honked at. Come to think of it Eugene, OR and Mackinac Island are the only two other places I haven’t been hocked at. But then Mackinac Island autos aren’t aloud on the island so that really doesn’t count. :}

Thanks C M Shooter,
I’ll have to check out maybe one of the smaller towns next to DFW. I plan on coming back the first full week of January. Hopefully the weather will corporate.
Thanks C M Scooter
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Old 11-02-19, 09:36 PM
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Originally Posted by tim24k
I'm looking to retire in TX and cycling is a important part of my life. Can any one suggest any bicycle friendly towns in TX I should look at? I don’t much care for large city’s like Austin, Houston, and Dallas they are just to big for me? How is College Station or Huntsville for getting around by bike?
Hondo Texas is a great bicycling town I’m the only one. Seriously I’m not sure which small towns have good bike culture. However, Kerrville has is going on as far as bicycling is concerned but it’s the neighboring town to Fredericksburg and housing is expensive compare to other small Texas towns.
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Old 11-04-19, 08:20 AM
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Is Kerrville TX look like a nice town is a bicycle friendly town? Does it have bike lines?

Last edited by tim24k; 11-04-19 at 06:04 PM.
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Old 11-04-19, 09:18 PM
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Originally Posted by tim24k
Is Kerrville TX look like a nice town is a bicycle friendly town? Does it have bike lines?
I did a motorcycle trip to Kerrville last June and spent a few days there. Other than the main highways going through, there's not much in the way of secondary roads. You'd be at the mercy of Farm to Market roads in the surrounding area.
Look at Google Maps and hit the "bicycling" option and you'll see a very short trail near the river. Otherwise, you've just got major roads and a sprinkling of residential streets.
I also like to drag the little yellow Google Maps man down and see a streetview of different side roads to get a good judge of bicycle-ability.

Here's my trip album if that helps. Wonderful area for motorcycling though!
Hill Country Vacation
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Old 11-04-19, 09:33 PM
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We all skipped the key question:



Why Texas?



The hard part is it sounds like you're asking for competing items: small town with lots of bike paths. I haven't lived in TX for 15yrs or so, and at the time, DFW was just figuring out what it meant to be 'bike friendly.' I wonder what Denton and the area around UNT is like these days. It's a smaller (college) town, but close enough to DFW that if you want to go to a Costco/Stars/Mavs/Rangers/Cowboys game, you can without too much trouble.


But, why Texas? Summers are awfully hot, and winters are icy cold without the snow to make it seem appropriate.

Last edited by superdex; 11-04-19 at 09:39 PM.
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Old 11-04-19, 09:37 PM
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Originally Posted by superdex
We all skipped the key question:



Why Texas?
As a native Texan with Brooklyn parents ...
1. Pretty much all-season riding weather, though I often head to your Colorado for lower temps in the summer.
2. Low taxes.
3. Cheap real estate (overall).
4. Strong economy.
5. For us lazy cyclists ... it's got a lot of FLAT sections.
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Old 11-05-19, 04:20 AM
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Originally Posted by zbillster
As a native Texan with Brooklyn parents ...
1. Pretty much all-season riding weather, though I often head to your Colorado for lower temps in the summer.
2. Low taxes.
3. Cheap real estate (overall).
4. Strong economy.
5. For us lazy cyclists ... it's got a lot of FLAT sections.
I agree with all of the above.
Their’s about three months weather wise that I don’t want to be in TX. Their’s five to eight months like this year where I don’t want to be here in the dripping cold weather of the Northwest.

TX people are a proud and industrious kind of people that think much the same way as I do. Just as soon as I ride over border on my motorcycle or the landing gear on the airplane touches the runway in TX, I get this overwhelming feeling that I’m safe and back home again.

So so the search is on for a bicycle friendly college town in TX to retire in for this old toad.
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Old 11-05-19, 11:46 AM
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Originally Posted by tim24k
I agree with all of the above.
Their’s about three months weather wise that I don’t want to be in TX. Their’s five to eight months like this year where I don’t want to be here in the dripping cold weather of the Northwest.

TX people are a proud and industrious kind of people that think much the same way as I do. Just as soon as I ride over border on my motorcycle or the landing gear on the airplane touches the runway in TX, I get this overwhelming feeling that I’m safe and back home again.

So so the search is on for a bicycle friendly college town in TX to retire in for this old toad.
I kinda had a goal of relocating "somewhere else" 20 years ago ... I just had this "I don't want a cradle-to-grave hometown" existence ... but as far as my values go and what I look for, and the fact that you can have virtual contact with people, products and culture all over the world online now, I don't think I will be happier anywhere else, and I have too many toys and memorabilia I'd have to spend a fortune moving.

I was looking at Research Triangle, New Mexico, Pacific Northwest (um, no, given current trends) but I will stay put for now. I do see the core of Dallas in significant decline but I keep to the outskirts, and may keep moving northward if suburban congestion and rising property taxes continue. Austin was considered a few years ago, but real estate and traffic congestion are just insane ... my old $200/month UT student apartment seems unreal now.

But one key factor in all this is ... "how's the biking weather and geography?" At least as long as my body holds out.
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