How about a picture of you riding down Van Ness at 5:00 on a Friday? 
I am keeping quiet about Sonoma County…there is a reason the ToC is coming here for the second year in a row. I hope they have a helicopter to catch the climb from highway 1 up Coleman Valley Rd. Some nice switchbacks then along the ridge tops with coastal views for miles.
How about a picture of you riding down Van Ness at 5:00 on a Friday?
I am keeping quiet about Sonoma County…there is a reason the ToC is coming here for the second year in a row. I hope they have a helicopter to catch the climb from highway 1 up Coleman Valley Rd. Some nice switchbacks then along the ridge tops with coastal views for miles.
I don’t know, I think I’d rather ride down Van Ness at any time than through Sausalito downtown in the summer about noon with tourists on foot and in cars all over the place. You just learn that everyone is stupid and will do stupid things and to use my “karate voice” and lots of hand signals and finger pointing.
Coleman Valley–oh my. I fell over and my big chain ring stabbed me in the calf trying to go up CV from the ocean side. I think I still have the scar. That’s one place I’m thinking about watching the race. Either there or the finish.
clm
Boulder, Colorado
Roads: By and large very good considering the winter abuse. The mountain roads are generally a little more torn up, but there are some great asphalt roads out on the plains.
Hills: Go west and you have hills-a-plenty, go east and you have endless flats and false-flats. As far as hills go, you can have your pick ranging from short and sweet: Magnolia (4.6mi average grade = 8.5% with 1.1 of them at 11.7%) to a long slow grind: Lefthand Canyon: 16.3mi @ 4.7%.
Scenery: Dude, it’s the Rockies!!! Seriously, mind-blowing scenery on some of the remote mountain roads, 14,000ft mountain tops capped with snow all year round, cool flowing mountain creeks that are so close to the road that they cool the air around you and acres upon acres of wilderness, most of which you can get off the bike and explore via the myriad of trails.
Weather: Apart from today (blizzard coming in), the weather is generally awesome. It’s hot in the summer (high 80’s) but ride up a couple of thousand feet and you can feel the temperature drop. It’s cool in winter but not, generally, unrideable, barring the occasional snowstorm.
Traffic: You can find some very light roads. Most Boulder traffic and mountain traffic is very cyclist friendly. The closer you get to the Kansas border, the less this is the case though.
Attitudes: Dude, it’s Boulder!! That means a couple of things, #1, the triathlon community here is huge and prevelant. #2, the poser community is equally large and prevelant. 
That said, there are 5 down to earth folks for every 1 Dave Scott wannabe.
Clubs: Too numerous to mention. Every bike shop has a cycling club, most gyms have a tri club. There is the Boulder Tri Club and numerous running groups, e.g, the Bolder Boulder training group.
All in all, a triathlete’s paradise.
Alan.
Does anything beat looking ahead and seeing miles and miles of curvy roads? Well, I guess my question would depend on how many miles you’d pedaled so far.
Well, in the summer, I live in Southwest Harbor ME, and it’s pretty great.
Roads: In and around town’s roads pretty much suck, but once you get into the park, it’s miles upon miles of one way, empty, and beautifully paved roads.
Hills: Cadillac mountain, a favorite training climb of Tommy Danielson, is pretty good. The rest of the island is darn hilly also.
Weather: 70’s sunny, dipping to the 50’s and 40’s at night.
Scenery: You can’t get much better.
Traffic: Basically none on park roads, moderate on other roads.
Attitudes: There are a lot of cyclists, especially tours, and vacationers, but the locals can be scary driving sometimes.
Clubs: I’m sure there are some.
Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA, about 30km ride to the Gatineau Park (much shorter for some depending where you live). Early mornings you can bike for hours and see more deer than cars, roads are like glass, not a flat section to be found, 10km/hr climbs and 70km/hr descents. At the top there is a great view of where the Canadian Shield meets the Ottawa Valley, it is totally awesome. Not sure what the elevation is but Dev Paul would know…
Raced at Timberman this year and there were tons of people that I couldn’t quite keep up with on the flats but literally blew them away when we hit anything resembling a hill. Great training area for XC skiers come winter too…
You suck… but only cause I’m envious. If you live in AK you missed the most important part of your cycling environment – the breathtaking scenery. Come on, expand a little (pics would be nice).
I’lll try again tonight to post some pics.
Year round riding, hills, oceans, desert, wind, flat areas, but most races are crits in industrial parks, and time trials, not as many road races due to the population in SoCal
.
Laveen in the SW part of the Phoenix area
More and more cars everyday as the farms sell out to housing developments. Now a typical Saturday ride has as many cars as the weekdays used to have. Good shoulder though and we have an indian reservation so the population growth is limited in a few directions. Lots of pollution and not a very cyclist firendly enviroment, at least compared to Tucson, but better than some east coast cities I’ve ridden in. Mainly flat, with one small Mountain. A decent tri and road community.
one a scale of 1-10, 1 being the worst place I’ve ever ridden, I’d say it’s about a 5.75 on weekdays, a 6-6.25 on a weekend maybe a 6.75 if it’s a Sunday since traffic seems to be lighter Sunday morning here as well.
AS the population grows and the cities that make up the phoenix valley continue to sprawl rapidly, the good riding areas are shrinking just as fast.
The heat in the summer sucks. I love starting rides at 5am and it’s already 90 and 105+ at 9am when you finish. Winter riding weather is nice.
Running Springs, CA (Between Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear)
Population: ~5,125
Elevation: ~6,250’
Location: 34.12’28"N, 117.6’30"W
Roads: Several major highways traversing the mountain. Traffic can vary from light to heavy on these well maintained roads. Many shorter, less traveled roads forking off the highways.
Climbing: HWY 18 West ~ 12 miles & 3500’, HWY 330 ~ 14 miles & 4000’, HWY 18 East 10 miles & 3500’, HWY 38 ~ 30 miles & 6000’, HWY 138 ~ 4 miles & 1500’. Within an hours drive one can also access the north or south side of the San Gabriel Mtns, which has similar climbs, but less traversed roads.
Scenery: Trees or desert vegetation. Squirrels, coyote are seen often, while deer, bears and big cats are not.
Weather: Very moderate amount of snow above 5000’; only lose a few days of riding per year due to snow. Temps vary from the mid to high 40’s at the base of the mountain at 1250’ in the winter, to the 100’s in summer. Temps generally drop 3-5 degrees per 1000’ of elevation gain.
Attitudes: Generally courteous.
Other: The San Bernardino Mountain communities offer affordable living by Southern California standards, but many people have to commute up and down the mountain to work. For a full-time endurance athlete, I believe this area is a great find for those wanting to live/sleep at moderate altitude, and possibly sleep high with the use of a tent, yet be able to get down to 1250’ with a 20 minute drive for intense training. I like it as a future site for an athletics based retreat center.
Plus,
Running Spring hosts the Rim Nordic MTB series every year, great racing!
clm, those really are beautiful looking rides, I’m jealous. I don’t get out much and didn’t picture rides from SF being so scenic. Can you ride there from home, and if so, how long would it take you to get to those roads?
Southern Maryland (Naval Air Station Patuxent River):
Roads: Unbelievable…8 foot shoulders everywhere! Honestly, I have never seen so many 8 foot shoulders. They are for the farm equipment and Amish buggies. GREAT for cycling. MANY lightly traveled roads with HUGE shoulders.
Hills: Some flat with mostly rolling hills. No sustained climbs. You would have to drive a couple of hours to get sustained climbs. **Scenery: **Lots and lots of small farms and lots of water views. We have the Patuxent RIver on one side, the Potomac river on the other and then the Chesapeake bay. Water views everywhere.
Weather: Not too bad. Pretty much middle of the road in terms of temperature. They tell me that there are maybe 1-2 snow days per year. I have only been here since August. Traffic: mostly light and considerate of cyclists.
Attitudes: Intersting place. You have many small farms and back country folks and then thousands of engineers and well educated folks working at Naval Aviation Headquarters and the engineering and aircraft test facilities. Clubs: Pax Velo cycling is great. Multiple group rides each week, year round. Weekly road race from March-October with A, B and C groups. No tri club.
The cycling here is much better than I had expected. I spent 3 years in Orange County CA and 2.5 in San Diego. In some ways, the riding is better here. In just 20 minutes of riding from my house, I can find back country roads with hardly a car in site and 8 foot shoulders. If I pick my routes well, I can hardly see a car all day. The roads are clean and people are friendly. It is getting a bit chilly though. We will see how it goes in Jan-Feb.
Can you pick up a Pesky combo over at Rubio’s for me? Dang I miss Rubio’s. I would even settle for a Carne Asada from Alberto’s… San Clemente is a beautiful place. Great riding up that way…
The best cheap Mexican joint in town, at least for us, is Pedro’s Tacos. I think they still cook stuff in lard! Yum!
*No tri club. *
Bill,
Guess we need to increase our advertising up there – we do have a tri club (several Fairbanks members): www.alaskatriathlon.org
Anchorage is pretty similar to Bill’s details. Bigger city, so more traffic, and sometimes a bit lower on the courtesy scale Active multisport community, with lots of single discipline events as well – running, bike club (mtn & road), masters swimming, etc. Anchorage hosts one of the biggest women’s only tri events in the nation: Gold Nugget Triathlon (1000+ women). Several sprint races, an XTERRA race (Hammerman Tri), an Oly (state championship). Fairbanks has the state’s half-iron, Sourdough Tri.
Thanks
• Jeff
clm, those really are beautiful looking rides, I’m jealous. I don’t get out much and didn’t picture rides from SF being so scenic. Can you ride there from home, and if so, how long would it take you to get to those roads?
Hi Bill,
I can ride from my house to get to any of those roads. My house to the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge is about 30 minutes, then to get up though Sausalito and all that, it’s another 30-45 minutes, depending which way you go (and I’m on the slow side climbing up the hills. Or, if one wants to skip all the tourist traffic, you can drive to the other side of the bridge and start from any number of starting points.
I’m going out on the cross-bike this weekend. I’ll try to remember the camera.
clm
Down in San Diego we had the Berto brothers…Albertos, Philibertos, Robertos, Juanbertos, Eribertos…I’m probably leaving out a couple… You just can’t find that kind of Mexican food anywhere else. I don’t care for the Tex-Mex stuff you get in the Southeast and elsewhere in the Country…
Weekends
weekdays
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Beautiful ozark hills, national forest about 1-2 cars every 20 miles, Great locals bikers and triathletes get along,** Columbia multi sport national champions.** Some winter riding cyclocross, Good MTB trails. Many tris within 100 miles