Best thing about...

Best thing about living in or near a bicycle friendly city?

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Christopher C. on March 22, 2013 at 10:00pm

Easy! Not having to drive over and hour to get to work and back.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by David P. on March 23, 2013 at 9:17am

Non-homicidal car drivers, perhaps.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by bk (aka: Dr. Mambohead) on March 23, 2013 at 9:54am

Social Rides!!!!
Thirsty, casual,
friendly neighborhood
social rides.
All night even!...
pick any season...
blues cleavin'...
mass up with Steven.....
Por favor? Repitan??.....
SOCIAL RIDES!!!!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by yai danche on March 23, 2013 at 11:19am

Yeah. I'm conflicted about this as well. NYC is supposedly bike friendlier than Chicago, but when I rode a bike there it was very stressful and not easier. So it certainly doesn't FEEL friendly! Here we are becoming more friendly with new bike lanes going in, but motorists probably still hate us and probably more with the removal of car lanes. The best part of Chicago is the abundance of bike shops for every budget and new bike lanes of course.

Crafty Cycling Chick said:

I've never lived in or near a bicycle-friendly city.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 23, 2013 at 11:33am

A mythical beast -at least here in the USA.

The best I have experienced is a somewhat less bike-hostile city.

Crafty Cycling Chick said:

I've never lived in or near a bicycle-friendly city.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by grayn8 on March 23, 2013 at 3:45pm

I thing agendas, politics, and witticisms aside, Chicago is fairly bike friendly in that:

1) we are flat
2) we are based on a grid (albeit love you archer, Ogden, Elston)
3) decent amount of LBS for certain areas
4) our city acknowledges that people ride bikes via buses haul em, some lanes, signs that say yield to us
5) metras bequeath certain hours to us...achem

I like our impromptu parades and beers and baked goodies. I like our linked albeit different tribes and neighborhoods.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on March 23, 2013 at 5:20pm

The Chainlink!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Amanda on March 23, 2013 at 7:36pm

I definitely agree with that!! Bicycles almost always move casters than traffic.

Christopher C. 10.0+ mi said:

Easy! Not having to drive over and hour to get to work and back.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Amanda on March 23, 2013 at 7:39pm

Maybe bicycle friendly wasn't the best way to describe it, but our city is moving in the right direction with rider safety. I'd say that we are making strides. We are way better off than we were 10 or even 5 years ago!

Crafty Cycling Chick said:

I've never lived in or near a bicycle-friendly city.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Amanda on March 23, 2013 at 8:50pm

I guess I mean a city that recognizes that much of their population commutes by bicycle. Our city is working to add bike lanes, raise awareness of bicycle commuters etc. I'm sure it'll never be perfect, but at least there is a recognizable effort being made.

Beans ~ 15 mi. said:

Please define "Bike Friendly"...

I suspect there's no such thing.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on March 24, 2013 at 11:54am

We all want to see progress. This site, our mayor's effort to make Chicago the bike friendliest city in the nation, the "critical mass" movement that is developing, raising awareness of the public at large, these efforts are very encouraging. I look forward to the day when any future metropolitan road project takes into account bicyclists at the outset (as well as retrofitting everything else). We've spent billions on road works infrastructure and the cost of making the system more bike friendly is chump change by comparison, offering huge returns on investment. To most of us here, it's a no brainer. We just have to make sure our voices are heard. This site helps immensely. Power to the self ambulators!

Chi Lowe 12.5+ mi said:

Baww! The nice answers are making me regret my snark :-). Chicago makes me grumpy sometimes but Lisa kinda nailed it: I have you all to scrape me up when I'm beat, and share my joy at the first (and last) snow, enrage and delight me with your comments, and so on. That's how I imagine a bike-friendly city works.