Chainlink tell me what you know about biking in St. Louis!

Looks like there is a pretty good chance my partner and I will be re-locating to St. Louis-- 

we both have about 10 years under our belt of biking in Chicago and limited experience biking in other cities. Please tell me all you know about what it's like biking in St. Louis!

I've heard varying things about biking in smaller cities, I feel like there is a school of thought that says it's safer because people are less familiar with cyclists and therefore more cautious but then I've also heard it's more dangerous because they aren't looking out for you.

I think we'll have to get a car but we'd both like to primarily continue biking/bike commuting.

I know there was a similar thread on here from a few years back but I'm thinking maybe things have changed a bit since then as they have in Chicago.


Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on March 6, 2019 at 7:58am

That's huge news! Hope it's all a great, happy move. 

I moved to a less bikey area (DC, etc.) and managed to avoid the car so it is possible but I'm not sure what St. Louis has for public transportation. That'd be a good place to start looking. Also, do they have any local bike community type orgs? 

I manage to stay bikey by being multimodal, being flexible with my options (I ride on a really wide sidewalk because the streets aren't an option by my apt), and chose an area with a fair amount of walkability to groceries, movies, and restaurants as well as easy access to public transport. You'll have to chime in and tell us how the move is going.

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on March 6, 2019 at 12:23pm

Only doe a little biking there and it wasn't great. 

Not very congested but also no infrastructure for biking and drivers were obviously not used to seeing cyclists.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on March 15, 2019 at 6:25am

Had the complete opposite experience, personally. Lots of bike lanes, but, more importantly, lots of low-traffic streets for biking on.

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on March 6, 2019 at 2:26pm

It's a nice place to visit but it has all those annoying Cardinal fans there wearing red hat's and such, and they drink a lot.

Seems to be improving for commuting by bicycle. I'm sure you searched and saw this.

https://www.sparefoot.com/moving/moving-to-st-louis-mo/is-st-louis-...

Hey, here's a fun April Fool's ride coming  up over there!

https://m.facebook.com/Themonthlycyclestl/

Good luck with your move. 

Permalink Reply by Jaik S. on March 11, 2019 at 5:47am

This will now be my goto description of other cities:
It's a nice place to visit but it has all those annoying <insert sports team> fans there wearing <insert clothing item> and such, and they drink a lot.

Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on March 11, 2019 at 3:27pm

Lots of sports fans travel to the other city for Chicago / St. Louis games.  Feel free to wear your current team's shirt.  https://www.theodysseyonline.com/open-letter-cubs-fans-fans-baseball 

Happened to run across some restaurant suggestions.  https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/2015/10/cards-cubs-where-c... 

Permalink Reply by kb on March 19, 2019 at 8:18am

The monthly cyclist was a great rec-- they've been super helpful already!

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on March 19, 2019 at 8:33am

that's cool kb!  . . .

Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on March 6, 2019 at 5:15pm

St. Louis Critical Mass was not very big and folded about a decade ago, shared membership with the St. Louis Bicycle Federation, which was a great group for bicycle commuters.  But it stopped getting membership renewals and folded into https://trailnet.org/ .  It is an official government body with tax revenues and expenditures.  Very much tunnel vision on trails and bike lanes, even if traffic is screwed up by reduced lanes and the bike lanes are not usable due to debris in the bike lane, and they don't try to contact the highway department to get it cleaned up.  

Missouri Bicycle Federation lobbies the state legislature.  http://mobikefed.org/ 

There is Bicycle Works, geared toward helping children build their own bicycles for free.  http://www.bworks.org/bikeworks/  They also have a limited number of refurbished bicycles and parts for sale  http://www.bworks.org/bikeworks/store/bikes/ .

There is a recently built Metro light rail from Lambert Airport to downtown Amtrak to Metro East Scott Air Force Base (also commercial).  Also lots of bus routes.  Bike allowed on light rail most of the time and most buses have racks and can be used if not full.  https://www.metrostlouis.org/bike-and-ride/  

Madison County Transit bought up the old RRs, made them into paved bicycle trails, and put a bus stop at every road crossing.  Connects across U.S. 66 Chain of Rocks bridge to north edge of St. Louis, and trails extend to Staunton IL.  Hope to eventually connect to Sangamon County trail through Macoupin County.  Great map.  http://www.mcttrails.org/map.aspx  

Katy Trail State Park is a Former RR right of way that is now a gravel trail most of the way to Kansas City.  

Penrose Park Velodrome is owned by the park district https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/parks/parks/browse-parks/amenity.cfm?id=367 and the track surface was completely replaced with new concrete https://www.facebook.com/pg/PenroseParkVelodrome/posts/?ref=page_in...  .  

Besides the Transamerica route through southern missouri, there is the Lewis and Clark route along the Missouri river and the Mississippi river trail on both sides of the river. 

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on March 15, 2019 at 6:24am

Is the Katy Trail really "gravel"? I would've said it was dirt for most of the way. Or, at least, it's not like big, chunky driveway gravel that's hard to bike on. Pretty smooth riding to my recollection.

Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on March 15, 2019 at 12:45pm

It is crushed gravel.  1/4 inch and smaller.  No RR ballast or driveway rock,  More like the stuff they put on oil and chip roads, but no oil.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on March 20, 2019 at 3:32am

Ah, thanks. I find that size gravel pleasant enough to ride on. The "RR ballast/driveway rock," though...yeesh. :)

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