Bike- friendly city in US?
 

Recently we had a wonderful time in Washington DC, where thanks to the suggestions in this forum, we rented bikes and visited all the museums, memorials and parks riding arround the city.
We found DC and suburbs to be easy to be in the bike with several bike paths and signaling.
Any other city in the US anyone can suggest as bike-friendly? ( We are from Europe)...
Thanks for any response!

my sister and brother-in-law found san diego to be easy to get around on bikes.

Portland, Oregon prides itself in being bicycle friendly, but that in itself isn't reason enough to come here.

Chicago is super bike friendly with miles and miles of trails and the beautiful paths along the lakefront spanning the entire city. It helps that Mayor Daley is a huge biker and making Chicago the most bike friendly city in the country is one of his pet projects. There is even a bike valet in Grant Park with lockers, showers and space for hundreds of bikes.

And you can take your bike on the Metra train and some of the other public transit, but there are rules and times/space logistics to abide by- if you are considering it.

But to go from my house, to downtown Chicago on a bike would be possible, I suppose, but life threatening- too much traffic. But there ARE many long and wonderful bike trails. One goes from near the lake- all the out past Joliet in a Westerly direction- the Old Plank Trail. And now there are numerous other suburban bike trails that connect to it- in some way.

Of course, you are not going to be biking in some of our weather- and that doesn't just include winter.

Raleigh, North Carolina is a bike mecca.
They have built "greenways" around the city for bikes and runners.

Thanks to all for your responses.
Actually, I´ve been in Chicago several times in medical meetings, but unfortunally is in late november.
I would imagine that biking in cold weather with the famous wind is certanly an adventure!
I may give it a try next time with a warm jacket and ride all my way to McCormick Place...
Best wishes.

If you make it out to the west coast, the Santa Cruz and Monterey areas are good for biking.

Eugene Or is a great biking city- small city, bike lanes connecting most of the city and lots of biking to do outside
of Eugene also. Plus summer climate cant be beat -
not quite like Washington DC and Chicago of course - but very bike friendly.

Boulder, Colorado. San Francisco has some great places to bike. The Golden Gate Bridge ride to Sausalito, Tiburon or Larkspur with a ferry ride back is a great way to spend a day.

Within the city of Denver, there is an incredible number of miles of bike paths, both paved and dirt, with incredible mountain scenery to boot. Outside the city, there are numerous mountain parks and open space areas where bikers can roam for miles. With the wonderful weather here, you can usually bike just about 12 months a year!

Anchorage,AK is a very bike friendly city. The some of the bike trails are snowmobile trails in the winter

Another vote for Eugene, OR. We rode our bikes all over the city, it has a great network of bike lanes and trails.
Parts of Philadelphia are bike friendly (Valley Green, from the Art Museum out to Lincoln Drive) and parts of it aren't. And it also has great museums, restaurants, music. The best parts of Center City are enjoyed more on foot than on bike, IMO.
But since you're from Europe, Portland, OR. seems like a good choice...it's very different from Europe, yet equally beautiful. You could day trip (by car or bus) to Eugene and rent bikes there.

See you at the next RSNA!
P.S. Apologies in advance if this doubleposts, we just had a blip in our Internet service.

All of Oregon is Bike Friendly by Law. Bike Lanes Etc. are a matter of public policy.
http://www.directleap.com/bicyclesou...cle-bill.shtml

Thanks again for all the interesting responses.
Any thoughts about Boston or NYC?
Never been there and we were thinking to go there in the near future...
Best wishes!

I was just in Portland, OR and it did look very bike friendly.

Of course there's the ultimate bike-friendly city: Mackinac Island, Michigan. It's not an easy place to get to, but well worth the effort. There are no cars allowed on the island, only horses and bikes. You park your car on the mainland and take a ferry to the island. I worked up there while in college; the year "Somewhere in Time" was filmed.

The problem with riding a bike on Mackinac Island is avoiding the puddles and piles left by the horses:-)

uthijayne, the summer you were working on the Island, I was working as a police officer in <Mackinaw City. We could tell the nights they were filming at the Grand Hotel, because half of the the hotel would be three times brighter than usual.

Keith