Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Duppie on April 2, 2013 at 1:49pm

Doesn't Manhattan have the Hudson River greenway, that is comparable to our lakefront path?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Waterfront_Greenway

Amanda said:

We were in Manhattan, and like Chicago they had bike lanes. I expected a HUGE bike scene in NYC (I've seen too many movies with NYC messengers), but I saw more bikes locked up at daily renting stations than on the road. The bikes I did see being used, were mountain bikes which I wouldn't say is common on the roads here in Chicago. They have bicycle traffic lights like we are starting to see here as well. There were tons of bikes in Central Park. Seemed like that is the place that the road race type riders road. There is a part of me that can understand why I didn't see too many bicycles on the road. The traffic there is a COMPLETE nightmare! It was almost like taking your life in your hands every time you approached a street. Overall I'd say we have a much more developed bike community here in Chicago. We do have some things here that they don't have there. We have the lake front trail. They are surrounded by the Hudson, but there isn't a path that follows along it like we have here. The island is also only 12 miles long and 2.5 miles wide. I think that it's really too crowded to even have a decent ride. You'd have to stop so often for pedestrians, and cars, it'd be faster to walk. NYC is really not my cup of tea. I was happy to get back home for sure! 

h' 1.0 said:

Would be interested to hear how you would compare/contrast NYC and Chicago in terms of bike friendliness.

Amanda said:

Definitely not the response I would have expected from notoriousDUG, but you are right. My intent was to celebrate the positive strides that our city has taken towards bicycle safety/awareness. I just spent the last 4 days in NYC, and let me tell you, I couldn't wait to get back to my beloved Chicago! It's not perfect, but we have so many things to be thankful for here. 

notoriousDUG said:

Me thinks that this thread has taken a nasty turn from its intent...

Seems the OP was looking for a celebration of the things that are nice about biking in Chicago and ya'll have turned it into a festival of taking things for granted and sounding entitled.  Rather than wasting time and space here gripping about what we don't have, what places are better and how much there is still to do how about we celebrate what we do have?

Stop for a second and think about how spoiled we are here compared to a lot of other cities when it comes to biking.  Could it be better?  Could we be bike friendlier here as a city?  Yes, of course we could but there is no city anywhere in the world where the answer to those questions would not be yes.

Go ride a bike in Memphis, or Nashville, or St. Louis and let me know if you still want to complain about the bicycle infastructure and support we have here.

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on April 3, 2013 at 2:57am

I did not. I didn't know there was such a thing. I looked it up on Wikipedia after you mentioned it though. It's nice that they have something at least. I agree that the Hudson is gross! I have to say that after living in the city again I am no longer afraid to ride here. 

yai danche said:

amanda, did you bike the greenway?  it's sorta along the hudson.  but it's got nothing on our lakefront trail!  and the hudson is hideous.  i typically don't go through chicago downtown, but had to recently for some weekday errands.  last year, i would've taken the cta, because it felt like a death trap to ride downtown.  however, now i feel like riding downtown is do-able and not just for the hardcore messenger types.  

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on April 3, 2013 at 2:58am

It was in the early to mid 40's while we were there. I guess it's possible that summer biking hasn't really taken off. I guess that Hurricane Sandy could have had something to do with the lack of bikes. 

h' 1.0 said:

Thanks!

I rode a bit in NYC in 2000 (the only time I've been there)-- my perception at that time was that it was  a bit behind Chicago but I've formed the impression that NYC has caught up to and maybe surpassed Chicago as a bike city in the mean time. Are there maybe any other factors that could have influenced the number of bikes on the street? Maybe winter cycling has caught on more here?

Amanda said:

We were in Manhattan, and like Chicago they had bike lanes. I expected a HUGE bike scene in NYC (I've seen too many movies with NYC messengers), but I saw more bikes locked up at daily renting stations than on the road. The bikes I did see being used, were mountain bikes which I wouldn't say is common on the roads here in Chicago. They have bicycle traffic lights like we are starting to see here as well. There were tons of bikes in Central Park. Seemed like that is the place that the road race type riders road. There is a part of me that can understand why I didn't see too many bicycles on the road. The traffic there is a COMPLETE nightmare! It was almost like taking your life in your hands every time you approached a street. Overall I'd say we have a much more developed bike community here in Chicago. We do have some things here that they don't have there. We have the lake front trail. They are surrounded by the Hudson, but there isn't a path that follows along it like we have here. The island is also only 12 miles long and 2.5 miles wide. I think that it's really too crowded to even have a decent ride. You'd have to stop so often for pedestrians, and cars, it'd be faster to walk. NYC is really not my cup of tea. I was happy to get back home for sure! 

h' 1.0 said:

Would be interested to hear how you would compare/contrast NYC and Chicago in terms of bike friendliness.

Amanda said:

Definitely not the response I would have expected from notoriousDUG, but you are right. My intent was to celebrate the positive strides that our city has taken towards bicycle safety/awareness. I just spent the last 4 days in NYC, and let me tell you, I couldn't wait to get back to my beloved Chicago! It's not perfect, but we have so many things to be thankful for here. 

notoriousDUG said:

Me thinks that this thread has taken a nasty turn from its intent...

Seems the OP was looking for a celebration of the things that are nice about biking in Chicago and ya'll have turned it into a festival of taking things for granted and sounding entitled.  Rather than wasting time and space here gripping about what we don't have, what places are better and how much there is still to do how about we celebrate what we do have?

Stop for a second and think about how spoiled we are here compared to a lot of other cities when it comes to biking.  Could it be better?  Could we be bike friendlier here as a city?  Yes, of course we could but there is no city anywhere in the world where the answer to those questions would not be yes.

Go ride a bike in Memphis, or Nashville, or St. Louis and let me know if you still want to complain about the bicycle infastructure and support we have here.

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