Chasing media jobs throughout my career has taken me around the US to live in seven states as an adult, and I’ve ridden my bike in each of them: Wisconsin, Iowa, California, Colorado, Texas, Tennessee and Oregon.
Oh sure, I’ve visited plenty of other states. Forty-four to be exact, leaving me with one ballbuster road trip needed to complete the 50-banger: Rhode Island, Maine, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska and Hawaii.
You really need to live in a place to get to know its cycling DNA. What you learn might surprise you. It certainly shocked me.
If I really had to pick my favorite place to ride, I have to rate Tennessee No. 1.
That’s shocking because when I moved there to work in Knoxville, the folks at my company warned me to be super careful riding a bike around because of all the NASCAR wannabes out there in the hills and hollers.
What I found, instead, as a whole were the most courteous drivers — especially out in the middle of nowhere! That’s the beauty of riding there, getting out into nowhere quickly.
We lived in Strawberry Plains, about 12 miles outside of Knoxville. Although my bike commute into work was on the shoulder of a busy highway, I never had any issues.
Once in downtown I didn’t have the safety net of a bike lane, but that never became an issue, either.
You might think California would rate high, and it does, although as soon as you venture out of the comfort of bike lanes and paths, it’s a free-for-all.
Colorado was sweet, working in Boulder and living out in Loveland. The Saturday ride would zoom past my home out in the boonies and my toddler daughters would ring our cowbells as they passed. For the most part drivers were kind.
Wisconsin and Iowa are Midwest mellow, with paved backroads to help farmers get around in winter and cyclists enjoy solitude in the summer.
Meanwhile Oregon has some great cycling infrastructure in its cities, but most rural roads appear to have an inch or two of pavement outside the white line and steep, deep ditches or straight out ravines beyond that.
Texas? I lived in Austin. If your own hometown hero Lance Armstrong got hit a number of times by cars, well, ‘nough said.
This week’s question: What place do you rate No. 1?
South Western Vermont, Rutland County. Low traffic, miles of gravel roads, great views lots of country stores.
What place do you rate No. 1 That is a time dependent question. I thought Eastern Long Island was awesome in the 1980’s but my graduate advisor, who was also a frequent riding buddy, said that development has turned that area into a riding hellscape. In the 90’s, Honolulu was busy but I rarely had trouble with motorists. Used to ride “Kokohead” (southeast, for Mainlanders) from Honolulu, around the eastern tip of Oahu, and do long rides on the Windward side. The roads were narrow, but it was beautiful and mellow. I’m quite happy with the Santa Fe area, too. I never run out of options. I think of the places I’ve ridden and I think I like the Santa Fe area best. But that is likely due to my only having been in a few places.
I think any place is what you make of it. Sure, there are some places I think would really stink, but I’m not there to test the asphalt.
The Berkshires, Western Mass. Great riding be it pavement, dirt or trails. The automobile drivers are reasonably well behaved also.