mcours2006

I met up with a long-time buddy of mine with whom I had gotten reacquainted recently. We used to ride together in our late teens. We're in our mid-forties now. I ride a lot; he does not. To make a longer story short, I let him lead me through a tour of the various neighbourhoods in downtown Toronto. It was four hours of excruciatingly slow, pot-hole weaving, traffic dodging, streetcar track maneuvering, and pedestrian swerving misery.

Coming from the suburbs, I am used to long stretches of well-paved, straight tarmac where you could put your head down and pedal for ten minutes and not have to worry about hitting anything. Riding downtown, even on the so-called bike paths, is just downright dangerous.

Do you city dwellers normally try to get out of the city to do your rides?

gc3

That's why they make city bikes and beach cruisers

Machka 

I'm with you ... not fond of riding in the city. I'll take a remote road in the middle of nowhere over city riding any day.

jdon

I don't get enthused about riding in downtown Toronto either. Rob Ford uses those streets! I typically ride in the Burlington, Milton, Cambridge triangle.

FlyLikeABeagle

I live in Philadelphia, and have to agree that city riding has a lot of down sides. I usually take a route close to my house that has a bike lane, and ride that 2 miles to a local park that has an 8 mile trail.

rpenmanparker 

Some cities offer quite attractive in-town riding opportunities. Houston is one of them.

RJM

Yeah, it totally sucks.

Lazyass

I lived smack in the middle of D/FW, right next to the airport and moved to the NC boonies six months ago to be near my daughter. I've ridden for an hour, straight out of my driveway, without even unclipping here. Probably longer, actually. I miss home but the riding here is awesome. You can rack up some serious miles in a short amount of time. But oddly, I have to drive 45 minutes to the nearest MTB trails. Back home there's 4-5 trail systems within 15 minutes from where I lived. That blows.

kbarch

It takes about 45 minutes to get "out of the city," so that's not an option unless I'm planning to ride 40+ miles (don't have car, and not interested in taking bike on a train). It's about 20 minutes to get to Central Park or Prospect Park. The Greenway, which I'll take most of the time to get to midtown, is nice, but once in a while, the avenues are an interesting change of pace/scenery/challenge/adventure. The greenway can get kinda boring, especially early in the morning when it's still dark, and tedious when it gets crowded later in the morning and on weekends.

You get any pavé action?

Vintage7080

Given your location, I would head towards the lake and cycle that stretch although it can be busy with runners, cyclists, and pedestrians. Sometimes you have to throw your bike on the car and drive out to avoid all the pitfalls of the big city.

xuwol7

Yes indeed, I have a city bike for just that reason.
For some if you want to ride you have to deal with the city and the crazy traffic, which makes the long quiet roads very nice.
I am one of the few that brave the city streets and traffic but after awhile you get used to it, it is basically a mindset and an awareness of your surroundings at all times.
It will make you a stronger rider and a good way to fine tune your bike handling skills and strong sprints really come in handy....lol

mcours2006

Oh, did I mention the nuisance of constantly clipping out and clipping in? When I ride in the suburbs near my own home I could literally go two hours without unclipping.

rpenmanparker 

It is not the best riding mkst folks will ever do, but it doesn't have to be the worst either.

1nterceptor

Yes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mQz...IoDLA&index=12

Sullalto

Yes, I use a MUP to go from my downtown apartment to the edge of town. Or I'll ride through town to a different MUP going the opposite direction into the hill country instead.

bigdo13

yeah, city riding is for daredevil ass messengers and hipsters with no endurance on fixies...

I'm hittin the highway outta town or riding around places in the city that aren't congested w/ pedestrians and/or intersections... I got all my routes... they work for me... sometimes they get hairy, but I never have to do stop and go riding for hours... that's terrible... and hell on your knees really.

MagicHour

Absolutely. You make it work - riding loops in prospect or Central Park during non-peak hours; riding north out of the city and over the Gwb bridge weekends. Getting an early morning start or riding after dark is key; riding in cold or inclimate weather; anything that thins out the crowds. There's actually a pretty big cycling culture here in NYC, with several clubs and tons of riders, so that helps make it bearable, as well.

3alarmer 

.
...if a place is in Canada, does it qualify under the category "city" ?

andr0id

Come on now. That's stereotyping. It's not that they have no endurance, it's just that they have to stop for a cigarette every few blocks.

Since I come to a stop at red lights and stop signs, I pretty much despise city riding.

pdedes

If you're in Toronto, you owe it to yourself to do the donut ride.

City riding is practical riding, meetings, groceries, errands and socializing. I'm fortunate that rural roads are 10min of riding from my door.

diphthong

try those city rides at night for extra giggles. especially from 2:30am-5:30am. you may feel like the only
person in a giant metropolis.

caloso

Learn to trackstand.

LesterOfPuppets

I think I've finally found my calling.

Dave Cutter

City cycling is different from rural cycling.

Different... not worse or better. Tons of sights, sounds, even smells on a city ride. And the art-work that intercity youth paint on just about everything.... is just beautiful. And I have had many very exciting near collisions with automobiles in the city too (nothing makes one feel alive... like nearly getting killed). I almost never see a loose dog in the city (unless they are attacking).

And many of the city dwellers seem to like to shout words of encouragement to cyclists (they apparently REALLY like cyclist). I don't hear as good as I used to... but I think I hear things like: "Off roading is for the oldmen" and "hey.. glad you're not on the sidewalk". Or just a big compliment like "Fit Aren't You". I swear city people are the friendliest!

calyco

I try to avoid it, it is downright dangerous at times if you are not paying 100% attention.

Yeah, think I will get back to a early morning schedule from now on. Summer was beautiful weather but I also look forward to colder weather and less congestion. Central Park is not so bad, plenty of space but haven't been there since the whole incident/accident. Once you are over the GWB, where are the good spots?