Which cities across the US and Canada have the best cycling culture? I’m thinking cities where there is a good amount of people riding bikes for pleasure, commuting, and just around the city on paths/trails. Also places where people know about their bikes, own bikes, and have a lifestyle where bikes are a part of it. I’m in Toronto area, and see it as a place with pretty good bike culture, but looking for your thoughts/ideas!
Tucson, Bend, Portland, Bentonville/Fayetteville?, Boulder, Colorado Springs, San Fran, Seattle, Eugene?, Denver, and surprisingly, Boise was great for car behavior.
For training (not commuting), Palo Alto and surrounding Silicon Valley in Norcal is hard to beat. On weekends, cyclists are everywhere on the ‘nice-to-bike’ roads, both in and out of towns, which does make it safer for everyone as all drivers are accustomed to seeing and dealing with them.
I still don’t like riding in Norcal on weekdays especially now that the pandemic is decreasing and people are driving a lot more to work, but weekends are absolutely great. I never feel like a target out here.
Vancouver is pretty great! Lots of local mountains, with a competitive strava leaderboard. Even Phil Gaimon made his way up to take the three local KOMs (Grouse, Cypress, Seymour)
Minneapolis was really great when I worked there. Some dedicated bike greenways that let you get around certain places without having to be on any streets. Bike lanes on quite a few streets.
Montreal. Cafés (Le Club) and microbreweries (Messorum) that support clubs and the sport. Camillien Houde climb in town. Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and the Estacade for car-free riding. Lots of dedicated bike lanes in town. Bikeshare program if you don’t have your bike but want to use a bike to get somewhere. Bike paths over the major bridges into town give you access to loads of riding off-island. Birthplace of Cervelo, home of Argon18 and a few smaller brands. French people everywhere so you can pretend you are riding the Tour de France.
The only downside might be that the traffic on the trails and popular roads is ridiculous these days. Out yesterday and it was like Amsterdam at rush hour.
(Toronto was not bad either. I rode a lot when I lived there mostly along the lake and in High Park/Humber area. The only issue I had was the sprawl - hard to get out of town on a bike but some really good riding in Milton, Guelph, Lowville, Niagara, etc.)
Montreal, Toronto are both disasters for bike riding. Lived in both, and you could not pay me enough to live in either (if you really want to ride, not live around constantly dodging of traffic trying to get to cycling venues that are actually rideable. To me for a city to have great cycling culture, you have to have fairly safe and smooth riding everywhere, not just specific venues.
I am not really sure which Canadian cities qualify because either the traffic sucks, the road surfaces suck, and the weather sucks 5 months per year. But almost all the medium sized Canadian cities are much better than Montreal and Toronto. Vancouver, is definitely more rideable and its rideable all year.
Vancouver is pretty great! Lots of local mountains, with a competitive strava leaderboard. Even Phil Gaimon made his way up to take the three local KOMs (Grouse, Cypress, Seymour)
X2 for Vancouver. Mountains in the north, flat in the south and a 10km loop of Stanley park downtown. You will see quite a lot of recreational riders around. It’s great in summer, but from October onwards there is constant rain, which is not so much fun
Salt lake city and the surrounding areas are pretty good. There are a fair number of bike lanes downtown, and while there are some roads you don’t want to ride, there are other roads that can get you where you want to go. Tons of people on bikes, and the riding in the area is just amazing.
(Eye roll)
Expecting someone from Ottawa to understand culture is a lost cause. Call me when your city doesn’t go to bed at 7:45 pm.
Not Nashville
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(Eye roll)
Expecting someone from Ottawa to understand culture is a lost cause. Call me when your city doesn’t go to bed at 7:45 pm.
I think you are conflating two different topics. I am orginally from Montreal and get where you are coming from on other aspects of culture (going sleep at 7:45 has nothing to do with good cycling though). London UK and Hong Kong and an endless list of cities around the world top Montreal for the type of culture you’re alluding to.
But we were talking cycling, Montreal and Toronto are not great by any stretch. At least not good enough to being into any discussion with posters from around the world from way better cycling cities, which I why I did not bring up my city (Ottawa), which although far better than Montreal and Toronto, it is not quite there relative to other cities around the world with way better cycling. But its as good as many European city. Montreal is a traffic and construction mess (and yes, I have lived downtown Montreal at the corner of Mountain and Penfield, done all the bike paths, the Circuit and endless repeats on Camillon Houde climb). Its a rideable city, it just does not have a lot of good cycling.
Lightheir brought up Palo Alto. Montreal does not even come close. Ottawa actually comes close to Palo Alto, we’re just missing the long climbs and we have 5 months of crap whether, but if you’re a winter athlete + cyclist, this place is heaven and beats Palo Alto since you can’t ski there, but the topic is not if I can ski or you can go to cafes/bars. Its about cycling which first means you need good roads to ride and ride most of the year.
If Montreal was so good, all the pros would flock there vs Tuscon, or Boulder or Girona (I suppose we need a cut off for what a city is too…maybe Tuscon, Boulder, Girona don’t qualify, but San Jose/Palo Alto should as would San Diego).
Anyway, no need to get competitive about which Canadian city is better. This is like worrying about which Canadian city has the best soccer team in MLS, when the best soccer teams are no where near Canada…they are all in Europe and South America. Likewise, our riding is much better than many US or European cities, but we’re not top tier given the competition around the world.
I don’t belong to any clubs in Ottawa and mostly ride by myself (only had a tri bike until last summer), so I can’t comment on the current group/ club culture. However, I think this city was about to become a major gravel riding/ racing scene. There were plans to host a gravel racing series in 2020: https://gravelcup.com/
Maybe the cycling culture in Ottawa will shift more towards gravel over the next few years.
Not Nashville
You are very correct unfortunately.
I think L.A. does. Granted I am biased and I know we have a million and one distracted shit drivers here, but every weekend the local Mountains are packed with people riding.
Lots of great places highlighted, thanks everyone! Nice to see Vancouver mentioned, I was recently in BC and did a tandem bike around Stanley park with my wife. A great spot for sure, and lots of bike paths/lanes in the city
Lots of great places highlighted, thanks everyone! Nice to see Vancouver mentioned, I was recently in BC and did a tandem bike around Stanley park with my wife. A great spot for sure, and lots of bike paths/lanes in the city
The only catch with Vancouver, is you almost have to be the Chief Financial Officer of Huawei to afford to live there, and I think she can’t go bike anyway as she is under house arrest LOL!
Surprising Chattanooga is great for cycling. Downtown is one of the few places where I don’t feel like I’m going to get killed riding my bike. That sucks about Nashville tho.
I think L.A. does. Granted I am biased and I know we have a million and one distracted shit drivers here, but every weekend the local Mountains are packed with people riding.
The Santa Monica mountains are a near-bike-heaven. It’s why so many pros train there year-round.
LA downtown anywhere is pretty sucky. There are those that say they make it work, but let’s be real - it’s sucky. At best you’ll get a decent urban ride at 7AM on Sunday, but even then, once quarantine is over, the cars come out en force.
Santa Monica mountais are so special they are absolutely worth a flight from out of town just to ride them. Few to no cars on the climbs (albeit an annoying PCH highway, go in a group for safety)
Marin County! Fairfax, Mill Valley, Sausalito in particular. So many good places to ride there.