Inclined cities, impossible to cycle
06-21-21, 04:19 PM
#26
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Many European cities were built on a hill as a defensible position. And, roads weren't made with cars in mind, or for that matter bicycles. So, some roads even have steps. So, it is often the city centers are at the top of the hill, and urban sprawl is in the valleys.
Many Italian coastal cities are also built into steep mountain sides.
Now that doesn't mean that all roads are straight up a mountain. Some are parallel to the mountain sides.
Let's see if I can remember a few random cities.
Orvieto. Walled city built on the top of a hill. Largely flat on top, but good climb up there.
Perugia. Again, a hilltop city with urban sprawl in the valley.
San Marino. A country around a walled hilltop city.
Cinque Terre. 5 small towns on Italian coast. Each built into its own section of hillside. Lots of steep areas around then.
La Spezia, Tellaro, etc. I didn't spend a lot of time in La Spezia, but many of the nearby towns are noted for steep hillside construction.
Bardi, Emiglia Romagna. Another hillside castle/village.
I'll have to think of some more. But, there are quite a few hilly communities in Italy. Many small.
Many Italian coastal cities are also built into steep mountain sides.
Now that doesn't mean that all roads are straight up a mountain. Some are parallel to the mountain sides.
Let's see if I can remember a few random cities.
Orvieto. Walled city built on the top of a hill. Largely flat on top, but good climb up there.
Perugia. Again, a hilltop city with urban sprawl in the valley.
San Marino. A country around a walled hilltop city.
Cinque Terre. 5 small towns on Italian coast. Each built into its own section of hillside. Lots of steep areas around then.
La Spezia, Tellaro, etc. I didn't spend a lot of time in La Spezia, but many of the nearby towns are noted for steep hillside construction.
Bardi, Emiglia Romagna. Another hillside castle/village.
I'll have to think of some more. But, there are quite a few hilly communities in Italy. Many small.
(All cities I've ridden in and/or lived in)
Berlin - flat as a pancake. An excellent city for cycling, provided you are prepared for some missing cobblestones here and there.
Zurich. Steep inclines east of the river/lake - not so bad in Zuriwest and of course, very rideable along the river and lake.. But here, and in many European cities, you can always get on the tram with your bike if there's a hill you don't want to climb.
Cologne. Quite rideable
Catania. Rideable for sure.
Barcelona. Some hills but mostly rideable. so-so bike share program
Amsterdam: everybody already knows about Amsterdam.
06-21-21, 04:23 PM
#27
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E-bikes are a flash in the pan and I doubt that they will have much impact on bicycle commuting. They sound cool and all but there are going to be a whole lot of them just draining batteries in garages in the next few years. Like most “get people out of their cars” solutions, they sound wonderful…for the other guy. I take no joy in saying that, either but in over 40 years of commuting, I’ve never been able to convince one person to ride to work on much more than a once a year basis…on Bike-to-Work Day.
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06-21-21, 04:43 PM
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06-21-21, 06:56 PM
#29
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I’ve told the story before, but on our honeymoon we went to Paris and Rome. Paris was a pretty easy city for a tourist to ride a bike in, except for the Montmartre area. The Velib bike share had areas that would pay you in credit to leave a bike uphill from where you started. But we saw very few bikes in Rome, and the bike share was a hoax.
We also visited Barcelona for one night. We didn’t spend much time but my impression was that it was full of mountain bikes- which suit the terrain.
San Francisco actually takes care of its transit systems and is also choc a bloc with ubers. There’s not much extra advantage to owning a bike.
We also visited Barcelona for one night. We didn’t spend much time but my impression was that it was full of mountain bikes- which suit the terrain.
San Francisco actually takes care of its transit systems and is also choc a bloc with ubers. There’s not much extra advantage to owning a bike.
Recreational bicycling is fun in SF, I lived there for a couple years. There's a lot of flat terrain in the city, there's Golden Gate Park, there's riding the coast, and of course, riding across the GG Bridge is always wonderful when it's not too foggy. And yes, you can get very good at climbing if you like.
06-21-21, 07:00 PM
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You heard wrong. Downtown is pretty flat. I used to have to switch from the Caltrain to BART, and the quickest way to cover the distance between them was to ride the bike across downtown. Taking the bus between the two lines took about twice as long.
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06-24-21, 10:29 PM
#31
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I just checked these cities in Google Maps:Duluth, Mn
Pullman, WA
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Lausanne, Switzerland
La Paz, Bolivia
Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Haifa
Sherbrooke, Quebec
Denver, CO
San Francisco
Orvieto, Italy
Perugia, Italy
San Marino, Italy
Cinque Terre, Italy
La Spezia, Italy
Tellaro, Italy
Bardi, Emiglia Romagna
Zurich, Switzerland
...and where Google maps allow, I looked for bike lanes and you know what?
Although these are very challenging cities, a lot of them do have bike lanes going right along the streets. Another interesting thing is that (to address bike lane critics) bike trails go through parks where the terrain is worse than the city streets.
For La Paz, Bolivia, there are no bike lanes through the city but the tourist destination is called the bike trail of death. Yup, it's a bike trail along its cliff.
So I thank you all for contributing to my study. Anybody who gives an excuse that his city can't have bike lanes because it's too hilly is just giving an excuse. I bet there are bike trails in his city going through parks. Any city can have a bicycle infrastructure if it already has major streets for cars.
Pullman, WA
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Lausanne, Switzerland
La Paz, Bolivia
Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Haifa
Sherbrooke, Quebec
Denver, CO
San Francisco
Orvieto, Italy
Perugia, Italy
San Marino, Italy
Cinque Terre, Italy
La Spezia, Italy
Tellaro, Italy
Bardi, Emiglia Romagna
Zurich, Switzerland
...and where Google maps allow, I looked for bike lanes and you know what?
Although these are very challenging cities, a lot of them do have bike lanes going right along the streets. Another interesting thing is that (to address bike lane critics) bike trails go through parks where the terrain is worse than the city streets.
For La Paz, Bolivia, there are no bike lanes through the city but the tourist destination is called the bike trail of death. Yup, it's a bike trail along its cliff.
So I thank you all for contributing to my study. Anybody who gives an excuse that his city can't have bike lanes because it's too hilly is just giving an excuse. I bet there are bike trails in his city going through parks. Any city can have a bicycle infrastructure if it already has major streets for cars.
06-25-21, 11:50 AM
#32
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I just checked these cities in Google Maps:Duluth, Mn
Pullman, WA
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Lausanne, Switzerland
La Paz, Bolivia
Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Haifa
Sherbrooke, Quebec
Denver, CO
San Francisco
Orvieto, Italy
Perugia, Italy
San Marino, Italy
Cinque Terre, Italy
La Spezia, Italy
Tellaro, Italy
Bardi, Emiglia Romagna
Zurich, Switzerland
...and where Google maps allow, I looked for bike lanes and you know what?
Although these are very challenging cities, a lot of them do have bike lanes going right along the streets. Another interesting thing is that (to address bike lane critics) bike trails go through parks where the terrain is worse than the city streets.
For La Paz, Bolivia, there are no bike lanes through the city but the tourist destination is called the bike trail of death. Yup, it's a bike trail along its cliff.
So I thank you all for contributing to my study. Anybody who gives an excuse that his city can't have bike lanes because it's too hilly is just giving an excuse. I bet there are bike trails in his city going through parks. Any city can have a bicycle infrastructure if it already has major streets for cars.
Pullman, WA
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Lausanne, Switzerland
La Paz, Bolivia
Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Haifa
Sherbrooke, Quebec
Denver, CO
San Francisco
Orvieto, Italy
Perugia, Italy
San Marino, Italy
Cinque Terre, Italy
La Spezia, Italy
Tellaro, Italy
Bardi, Emiglia Romagna
Zurich, Switzerland
...and where Google maps allow, I looked for bike lanes and you know what?
Although these are very challenging cities, a lot of them do have bike lanes going right along the streets. Another interesting thing is that (to address bike lane critics) bike trails go through parks where the terrain is worse than the city streets.
For La Paz, Bolivia, there are no bike lanes through the city but the tourist destination is called the bike trail of death. Yup, it's a bike trail along its cliff.
So I thank you all for contributing to my study. Anybody who gives an excuse that his city can't have bike lanes because it's too hilly is just giving an excuse. I bet there are bike trails in his city going through parks. Any city can have a bicycle infrastructure if it already has major streets for cars.
Did you just discover that mountain bikers don't avoid hills?
Bike trails and bike lanes are distantly related items.
Think you should have kept this thread "just for fun" instead of pretending it's some kind of "study".
