How's the bike infrastructure where you ride?

[Jeremy McCreary]

Q: On a scale of 0 to 10, how would you rate the bike infrastructure where you usually ride?

Please share the area being rated and give us some idea of the reasons for your rating. If you have a helpful comparison, please share that, too. I'll start....

Coastal San Diego County, California: At least 8/10 overall north of San Diego proper — i.e., Del Mar to Oceanside.

Wide, well-marked bike lanes on all major and many lesser roads, some with physical barriers; many well-marked shared bike/car lanes where necessary; many MUPs; some totally separated bike paths. Bikes everywhere.

Drivers here are generally used to the bikeways and respect them. Pedestrians and runners are often the biggest threats — especially in touristy areas. Runners seem determined to take over some of the dedicated bike paths — even when they have dedicated pedestrian paths to run on.

Of course, the infrastructure here's not as impressive as Amsterdam's, but top-notch by US standards. In contrast, almost NO bike infrastructure where I am at the moment — Concord, CA, at the NE corner of the San Francisco Bay Area. Decided NOT to a rent a bike here for that very reason. Very few bikes on the streets.

 

[JGcycle]

Southern New Brunswick, Canada: 2/10

In my area there are a few bike lanes marked off along the shoulder of the road--these are random and sporadic. Plus some imaginary bike lanes that consist of markings on the edges of the pavement suggesting that motorists "share the road" with cyclists. On the plus side, the vast majority of motorists are very respectful of cyclists, and give bike riders a wide berth.

 

[rob feature]

Denver: 8/10

We have some of the best bike infrastructure in the country (south Denver metro), but still have a long way to go if you want to replace a car for most people. Quite a lot of bike routes around here are in the streets, and while most will give you plenty of room, there's always the 1%. And the people on phones. And the drunks.

That said we do have an extensive set of bike paths that go to cool places, connect neighborhoods, and depending on where you live, can let you be car-free. And more is being built all the time.

It's also legal to ride sidewalks here - which is huge. I can get just about anywhere I need to go linking sidewalks, paths, and ditches. A mountain bike background expands the routes as well. And riding the ebike, you can take off through grass with ease, mash up steep embankments, and quickly cross roads.

 

[scottsdalecommuter]

7/10 quad cities iowa Illinois borders on roads is decent but we have a really nice river bike path that connects our cities and we just built a nice new bridge that has a beautiful pedestrian and bike path. I feel much safer biking here than in Phoenix, cars are much more polite. We also just moved a four lane road with bike sharrows to a two lane with middle turn lane and bike lanes in one of the main roads in our city! Every time I have emailed the city about a bike project they have been very responsive too. I would move it up to an 8 or 9 if we could get a few more major town crossing routes, there are a few spots in town you have to get creative or use sidewalks to get to.

 

[Rider777]

Boulder City, Henderson and Las Vegas, NV: 9/10

We have well over 100 miles of paved dedicated bike/hiking paths. My favorite and the one I ride 95% of the time is the River Mountains Loop Trail. It's about 34 miles long with an accumulated elevation gain of about 2,400'. It encircles the River Mountains which are orientated north to south and are just east of Henderson. A few miles of it goes by Lake Mead too! It is completely independent of any streets and is one continuous loop. Coming from Boulder City there are at least three spurs off the RMLT that you can ride into Henderson and Las Vegas. These spurs are paved dedicated paths with no cars of course but do cross streets depending on how far you want to go. I could ride from Boulder City all the way to Summerlin (about 50 miles via bike route) without encountering any cars (other than the street crossings). And some of the street crossings are provided using a bridge or tunnel .

It's very easy to get around via ebike (R&M Delite) here and I often do errands via my ebike.

The powers to be are continuing to expand bike paths here and the big one is going to circle the whole Las Vegas valley. It is by my guesstimate about 70% complete.

Thanks for starting this thread Jeremy !

PS: I've got one more and it's a doozie. I'll make a separate post.

 

[Rider777]

Sun Valley, Ketchum, Hailey and Bellevue Idaho: 8.5/10

I spend summers in this area because where I live the rest of the year (Las Vegas) is too freaking hot to ride !! Believe me I've tried....getting up at 0230 and start riding by 0315 and it's still over 90 degrees !!! No thank you

The main bike trail here which is separate from cars and paved is about 20 miles long and goes from Sun Valley/Ketchum south to Bellevue. Crosses a few streets but very little traffic so no biggie.
You can view the bike trails on Google Maps in green when you enable "biking". Very informative and helpful !

Very easy to substitute your car with an ebike here. In fact that's exactly what I do for the 3 1/2 months of the year I'm there as I travel/live in my Class A motorhome. Yes, I leave the car at home and carry the ebike on my Thule hitch carrier attached to the MH.

These are all small towns and it is very easy to secure your bike wherever you go. Traffic is a non issue when you're in the towns.
And the people are very nice here and low crime.

Enjoy !!

 

[fooferdoggie]

Portland Oregon O cant say as its all I have ridden but I hear its good
94 miles of Neighborhood Greenways. 162 miles of bike lanes, and. 85 miles of paths.
dont have a lot of bike paths that are isolated well they are spread out. two main ones really then lost f little ones. lost f bike lanes that are decent so I have a lot of choices on how to get around and miss traffic. drivers for the most part are pretty good but if course there are always exceptions.

 

[linklemming]

Denver: 8/10

We have some of the best bike infrastructure in the country (south Denver metro), but still have a long way to go if you want to replace a car for most people. Quite a lot of bike routes around here are in the streets, and while most will give you plenty of room, there's always the 1%. And the people on phones. And the drunks.

That said we do have an extensive set of bike paths that go to cool places, connect neighborhoods, and depending on where you live, can let you be car-free. And more is being built all the time.

It's also legal to ride sidewalks here - which is huge. I can get just about anywhere I need to go linking sidewalks, paths, and ditches. A mountain bike background expands the routes as well. And riding the ebike, you can take off through grass with ease, mash up steep embankments, and quickly cross roads.

North of Denver up to Boulder: 8/10
I live north of you in Louisville. Im amazed at what I can ride from my house, everything from the 36 bikeway to all sorts of gravel rides. Dedicated legal eMTB rides do require travel though. (Boulder OSMP is quirky and this is in quite the influx at the moment, that being said, people are riding ebikes on OSMP and rangers seem to be ignoring it..its a long story, I would never break the law ..which doesnt seem clear ).

Do be careful riding on sidewalks, even when legal..pedestrians can be crazy. I was riding in the Broomfield Tech Center Area(near flatirons mall) today where I was somewhere where I never see anyone. I came across a guy I have seen several times with a dog on like a 30ft hard leash(whats the point). As I went past him(at a reasonable and safe speed) he was yelling at me using the word F$ck quite alot. I rode past and said F$ck you back. A few miles later, I thought I should go back and see what the issue was as I felt like I had overreacted and wanted to apologize. I came up on him both hands in the air saying....peace man, lets have a peaceful conversation. Looking back this was a mistake as he went absolutely apesh$t. He put his phone in my face (within inches) and was yelling at me so loud, my ears were ringing. He threatened to call the cops to which I said, do it..which he didnt do, Several threats were made against my life ironically while he was video taping (self incrimination). He was yelling at me for not riding in the bike lane on a road under construction (i.e. note safe for bikes). No amount of logic satisfied him.

No amount of logic would suffice, at one point he stated...look at you, you should be ashamed of your life, your a privileged white male riding a nice bike. I corrected him in that technically I am hispanic to which he responded, your a white supremacist. Crazy lefties

When I thought it was over, I made the mistake of turning my back to him and he kicked my bike, causing me to fall. At this point it was technically 'assault'. I could have called 911 but decided just to move on.

99.9% of my encounters are friendly, Broomfield tech center seems weird

 

[kevinmccune]

North of Denver up to Boulder: 8/10
I live north of you in Louisville. Im amazed at what I can ride from my house, everything from the 36 bikeway to all sorts of gravel rides. Dedicated legal eMTB rides do require travel though. (Boulder OSMP is quirky and this is in quite the influx at the moment, that being said, people are riding ebikes on OSMP and rangers seem to be ignoring it..its a long story, I would never break the law ..which doesnt seem clear ).

Do be careful riding on sidewalks, even when legal..pedestrians can be crazy. I was riding in the Broomfield Tech Center Area(near flatirons mall) today where I was somewhere where I never see anyone. I came across a guy I have seen several times with a dog on like a 30ft hard leash(whats the point). As I went past him(at a reasonable and safe speed) he was yelling at me using the word F$ck quite alot. I rode past and said F$ck you back. A few miles later, I thought I should go back and see what the issue was as I felt like I had overreacted and wanted to apologize. I came up on him both hands in the air saying....peace man, lets have a peaceful conversation. Looking back this was a mistake as he went absolutely apesh$t. He put his phone in my face (within inches) and was yelling at me so loud, my ears were ringing. He threatened to call the cops to which I said, do it..which he didnt do, Several threats were made against my life ironically while he was video taping (self incrimination). He was yelling at me for not riding in the bike lane on a road under construction (i.e. note safe for bikes). No amount of logic satisfied him.

No amount of logic would suffice, at one point he stated...look at you, you should be ashamed of your life, your a privileged white male riding a nice bike. I corrected him in that technically I am hispanic to which he responded, your a white supremacist. Crazy lefties

When I thought it was over, I made the mistake of turning my back to him and he kicked my bike, causing me to fall. At this point it was technically 'assault'. I could have called 911 but decided just to move on.

99.9% of my encounters are friendly, Broomfield tech center seems weird

I hope you learned something from this-for the most part just do not react.I found out in circumstances that were not to my liking, some people with a bad attitude just cannot be dealt with.
The area where I reside has no bike accomadations, you just have to watch out and stay away from busy places,its literally 30-45 minutes from basically anything and steadily becoming a gated community only when a "bike a thon' or something comes through are there nuts in Blue stoping everything( without hardly any publicity) the last best event back in 92 was the "Tour Dupont" which everybody enjoyed, now get this the the struggling resort said they wouldn't sponser it no more. The last bike race taught Me one thing some of these "roadies" were incredible athletes.
I can only hope the 'Jackson' river trail is extended closer to the"Homestead" resort, till then I guess I will stick to the increasing dangerous"Eastern Trail" loop,will give credit to the trail bike riders they are for the most part alert and careful. The towns in the 'Shendoah Valley" are becoming more bike freindly OTH, I can only hope my area takes a hint and tries to be more accomadating.

 

[dodgeman]

Western Illinois, Macomb area. 2 out of 10.

Macomb has made an effort to make some bike lanes on streets. This is done mostly done with paint. They also do have a couple of short multi use trails that are more or less a wide sidewalk. I live outside of town and just ride the rural roads mostly. There are no longer bike trails in the area at all. The good is most of the roads are paved and the drivers reasonably courteous. If it wasn’t for Macomb‘s efforts for a few bike lanes I’d give the area a 0 out of 10.

 

[AHicks]

SE Mi, Detroit area. Infrastructure = 1/10
We have some pretty nice parks with MUP's, but what I would call "infrastructure" is pretty dismal

 

[Nvreloader]

Lovelock NV - Pershing Co. - 10/10
We have nothing here for bikes, except the local paved roads,
which you play Bumper Tag with unless you have a 4-1/2 ft pool noddle sticking out, then you have a 3' space around you, if you guts enough to ride the roads.
I have seen 3 bike riders in 2 years..........

Off Road +10/10
There is approximately 6400 Sq miles here, 90% is open public land,
where you can ride just about any where, miles of cow/horse trails, dry washes, creek bottoms, flat playa's, hunting & mining road in and on every Mtn Range.

There's even one that goes up on top of the Humbolt Range/Star Peak at almost 10,000', very nice ride if you got the leg power to climb a 20% rough gravel 4x4 road, for a couple of miles, still closed to heavy snow fall, and won't be open until Aug/Sept?

Ride the shore lines of the lakes in upper/lower valley, with water in it now,
lots of head hunting, birds and wild life, until it gets too hot.

So you can see why I spend 95% of my time riding off road, and I have neve seen another rider of any type out here, off road.

Nothing but speed goats, yeller dogs, sage bunnies, hawks/Eagles, Ravens and various other Tweety birds, Badgers, Kit Fox and you may get lucky and see some Mule Deer in the cooler parts of the day, Feral horses by the hundreds, wild Donkey's.
And if your extremely lucky, you may see a Mtn Lion or Bobcat in the Mtn's.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Lovelock NV - Pershing Co. 10/10
We have nothing here for bikes, except the local paved roads,
which you play Bumper Tag with unless you have a 4-1/2 ft pool noddle sticking out, then you have a 3' space around you, if you guts enough to ride the roads.
I have seen 3 bike riders in 2 years..........

Off Road +10/10
There is approximately 6400 Sq miles here, 90% is open public land,
where you can ride just about any where, miles of cow/horse trails, dry washes, creek bottoms, flat playa's, hunting & mining road in and on every Mtn Range.

There's even one that goes up on top of the Humbolt Range/Star Peak at almost 10,000', very nice ride if you got the leg power to climb a 20% rough gravel 4x4 road, for a couple of miles, still closed to heavy snow fall, and won't be open until Aug/Sept?

Ride the shore lines of the lakes in upper/lower valley, with water in it now,
lots of head hunting, birds and wild life, until it gets too hot.

So you can see why I spend 95% of my time riding off road, and I have neve seen another rider of any type out here, off road.

Nothing but speed goats, yeller dogs, sage bunnies, hawks/Eagles, Ravens and various other Tweety birds, Badgers, Kit Fox and you may get lucky and see some Mule Deer in the cooler parts of the day, Feral horses by the hundreds, wild Donkey's.
And if your extremely lucky, you may see a Mtn Lion or Bobcat in the Mtn's.

Confused about those 10/10 ratings. Typos? Nothing you described sounds like bike infrastructure. If that's all there is to ride on in your area, why not 0/10?

 

[Rexlion]

Yeah, numerical ratings are entirely subjective since we don't have a standard. Tulsa has a lot of bike lanes painted and a few dedicated trails, but I don't feel qualified to assign a number. Eh, I actually live in a suburb so I don't really ride in Tulsa city limits anyway.

 

[mschwett]

this is a great topic but i feel like many of you are being pretty generous with your ratings.

10/10 would mean perfect: you can get anywhere in the region safely, comfortably, and enjoyably on a bike. i do not believe such a place exists, outside of a few regions of western europe where bikes are a prevalent mode of transport.

we can quibble about methodology and priorities of course but many of the cities referenced score demonstrably poorly in objective qualities, like cycling per capita, mode share, fatalities or injuries, protected lane miles per capita, secure parking, etc. we need to hold government and private business to a MUCH higher standard to make any progress in advancing the popularity and utility of cycling!

so, that said, i’ll give san francisco and selected surrounding areas where i frequently ride a 6/10. most roads are reasonably well paved and smooth. there is a reasonably complete network of bike lanes, slow streets, and many streets without them have very low speed limits, frequent stops, or traffic calming measures. more protected lanes are being built. public transit allows bicycles, is fairly fast and safe, and some stations have fully enclosed lockers. major new or renovated office buildings are required to have secure bike rooms with a high ratio of spaces. the country/mountain/coastal roads are world class cycling routes in terms of the technical and scenic aspects of cycling. drivers are hyper-aware of cyclists, and 99% of them behave respectfully.

on the flip side, MOST bike lanes are just paint, unprotected from cars parking into them or turning into them. the network has frustrating gaps, some of which are unlikely to be remedied any time soon due to the age of the infrastructure in question. NIMBYs often make progress difficult and ridiculously expensive. so, 6/10.

 

[Nvreloader]

Confused about those 10/10 ratings. Typos? Nothing you described sounds like bike infrastructure. If that's all there is to ride on in your area, why not 0/10?

Hi Jeremy
There was a - (minus) sign in front of the 10, didn't show up for some reason,
Sorry...........

 

[rob feature]

North of Denver up to Boulder: 8/10
I live north of you in Louisville. Im amazed at what I can ride from my house, everything from the 36 bikeway to all sorts of gravel rides. Dedicated legal eMTB rides do require travel though. (Boulder OSMP is quirky and this is in quite the influx at the moment, that being said, people are riding ebikes on OSMP and rangers seem to be ignoring it..its a long story, I would never break the law ..which doesnt seem clear ).

Do be careful riding on sidewalks, even when legal..pedestrians can be crazy. I was riding in the Broomfield Tech Center Area(near flatirons mall) today where I was somewhere where I never see anyone. I came across a guy I have seen several times with a dog on like a 30ft hard leash(whats the point). As I went past him(at a reasonable and safe speed) he was yelling at me using the word F$ck quite alot. I rode past and said F$ck you back. A few miles later, I thought I should go back and see what the issue was as I felt like I had overreacted and wanted to apologize. I came up on him both hands in the air saying....peace man, lets have a peaceful conversation. Looking back this was a mistake as he went absolutely apesh$t. He put his phone in my face (within inches) and was yelling at me so loud, my ears were ringing. He threatened to call the cops to which I said, do it..which he didnt do, Several threats were made against my life ironically while he was video taping (self incrimination). He was yelling at me for not riding in the bike lane on a road under construction (i.e. note safe for bikes). No amount of logic satisfied him.

No amount of logic would suffice, at one point he stated...look at you, you should be ashamed of your life, your a privileged white male riding a nice bike. I corrected him in that technically I am hispanic to which he responded, your a white supremacist. Crazy lefties

When I thought it was over, I made the mistake of turning my back to him and he kicked my bike, causing me to fall. At this point it was technically 'assault'. I could have called 911 but decided just to move on.

99.9% of my encounters are friendly, Broomfield tech center seems weird

Haha, I think I've run into this guy. Some guy up in Broomfield invited me to an impromptu boxing match one day. My offense - passing him about 15 feet away in the grass (on an analog bike). I even mentioned I was coming around. Once I passed he started yelling about how I need to announce my presence. I heard his girlfriend say to him - 'he did' . That triggered the fella who started chasing me lol. Wonder if that girl still sees him

I've been riding sidewalks for 4 decades. If it keeps me out of the street, I don't care what anyone else thinks. I'm polite - don't get too close to anybody carrying any sort of speed. If people wanna lose their minds over it - I could care less. I have a standard answer for anyone who feels the need to verbally disapprove of my riding style. I usually say something on the order of - 'yeah, it is a nice day'. While they're taking the time to process that, I just put more distance between us

 

[linklemming]

I hope you learned something from this-for the most part just do not react.I found out in circumstances that were not to my liking, some people with a bad attitude just cannot be dealt with.
The area where I reside has no bike accomadations, you just have to watch out and stay away from busy places,its literally 30-45 minutes from basically anything and steadily becoming a gated community only when a "bike a thon' or something comes through are there nuts in Blue stoping everything( without hardly any publicity) the last best event back in 92 was the "Tour Dupont" which everybody enjoyed, now get this the the struggling resort said they wouldn't sponser it no more. The last bike race taught Me one thing some of these "roadies" were incredible athletes.
I can only hope the 'Jackson' river trail is extended closer to the"Homestead" resort, till then I guess I will stick to the increasing dangerous"Eastern Trail" loop,will give credit to the trail bike riders they are for the most part alert and careful. The towns in the 'Shendoah Valley" are becoming more bike freindly OTH, I can only hope my area takes a hint and tries to be more accomadating.

Yes, I definately learned something....just best to keep on going and dont react to someone yelling profanities at you. I tried to be peaceful and logical and and leave with good karma and he wouldnt have any of it. First he threatened to call the police to which I said, "do it" which he told me to call the police. I came back with everything he threw at me(logic wise) in a calm manner and this just seemed to make him madder. He had a phone inches from my face the whole time even as he threatened my life to which I replied, "Are you aware you are documenting your threats to my life". I dont think he was recording, just using it as a shield. The part when he starting shouting racial stuff at me made me realize he was nuts. His statement "Look at you, you should be ashamed of who you are. your a white privileged MF on his fancy bike and fancy clothes" Of course telling him I was technically hispanic (father was from colombia) made him just yell louder at me. Your a white MFr

Probably not a good thing to argue with someone who has a dog either (never occurred to me at the time). He was also HUGE (likely 250 plus pounds, not in an obese way), I would guess a pacific islander.

I did have a guy yell a**hole at me awhile back as I passed him (very slowly), this was in response to me shaking my head as I passed (He had a LONG dog leash which was completely blocking the trail). I stopped and asked him why he said that and he stated that he was pissed that I shook my head. At this point, he told me he was partially deaf to which I replied that he shouldnt let his dog be on a long leash if he cant hear well. At that point, he apologized and so did I.

 

[linklemming]

Haha, I think I've run into this guy. Some guy up in Broomfield invited me to an impromptu boxing match one day. My offense - passing him about 15 feet away in the grass (on an analog bike). I even mentioned I was coming around. Once I passed he started yelling about how I need to announce my presence. I heard his girlfriend say to him - 'he did' . That triggered the fella who started chasing me lol. Wonder if that girl still sees him

I've been riding sidewalks for 4 decades. If it keeps me out of the street, I don't care what anyone else thinks. I'm polite - don't get too close to anybody carrying any sort of speed. If people wanna lose their minds over it - I could care less. I have a standard answer for anyone who feels the need to verbally disapprove of my riding style. I usually say something on the order of - 'yeah, it is a nice day'. While they're taking the time to process that, I just put more distance between us

FWIW, this was in the broomfield tech center, on the path/sidewalk that parallels 128. It was on a fun downhill section (I slowed down alot for him). I have encountered him before (the 20ft + leash stick in my mind), most likely faster.

I have had several heated encounters in this area, everyone here seems to think I am required to use bike lanes, even if they dont go where I want to go.

 

[kevinmccune]

Yes, I definately learned something....just best to keep on going and dont react to someone yelling profanities at you. I tried to be peaceful and logical and and leave with good karma and he wouldnt have any of it. First he threatened to call the police to which I said, "do it" which he told me to call the police. I came back with everything he threw at me(logic wise) in a calm manner and this just seemed to make him madder. He had a phone inches from my face the whole time even as he threatened my life to which I replied, "Are you aware you are documenting your threats to my life". I dont think he was recording, just using it as a shield. The part when he starting shouting racial stuff at me made me realize he was nuts. His statement "Look at you, you should be ashamed of who you are. your a white privileged MF on his fancy bike and fancy clothes" Of course telling him I was technically hispanic (father was from colombia) made him just yell louder at me. Your a white MFr

Probably not a good thing to argue with someone who has a dog either (never occurred to me at the time). He was also HUGE (likely 250 plus pounds, not in an obese way), I would guess a pacific islander.

I did have a guy yell a**hole at me awhile back as I passed him (very slowly), this was in response to me shaking my head as I passed (He had a LONG dog leash which was completely blocking the trail). I stopped and asked him why he said that and he stated that he was pissed that I shook my head. At this point, he told me he was partially deaf to which I replied that he shouldnt let his dog be on a long leash if he cant hear well. At that point, he apologized and so did I.

Good job and BTW my rating for local infrastructure a low 2 it will go up if they have the trailhead moved closer