10 friendliest cities for bicycling

What do the 10 friendliest cities for bicycling in the US do to make themselves that way?

A KCStar article summarizes:

Portland, Ore.

The city of outdoors enthusiasts has 164 miles of bike lanes, 66 miles of bike paths, 30 miles of bike boulevards (low car volume) and ample parking for two-wheelers.

For a standout ride, Adventure Cycling Association recommends Forest Park, one of the nation’s largest urban parks, while Bicycling magazine suggests the 18-mile route from the Willamette River downtown to the rural town of Boring.

Seattle

Not even the rain can stop bikers from cruising 28 miles of multi-use paths, 25 miles of on-street lanes and miles of signed bike routes. A favorite is the Burke-Gilman Trail, a rails-and-trails project that opened in 1978 and continues to expand.

The city is also building the Chief Sealth Trail, which will cross southeast Seattle. The Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club is constructing a mountain bike park.

San Francisco

What’s better than riding the cable cars? Biking across the Golden Gate Bridge. Jim Sayer, executive director of Adventure Cycling, adds: “Most of the neighborhoods and attractions are close together and easy to get to by bike. Despite San Francisco’s reputation for hills, you can use the city’s expanding bike network with great signage to steer you to less-hilly routes from the bay to the sea.”

Read about the rest of the cities here.