Tall bikes, Critical Mass, and other ramblings from a visitor

[dsaxena]

Hi all,

I am in Raleigh this week visiting from bike-friendly
Portland, OR and am looking for info on a good 25-40
mile ride to do on Friday along with info on where to
rent (or borrow) a bike and just some general info on
riding around here.

I am not really looking for something fast and furious but
something that will give me a feel for both in-city riding
and a chance to explore some of the lovely greenery
around here. For reference, I'm staying close to the
Millbrook/Capital Blvd. intersection.

I am also wondering if Critical Mass is still happening here
on last Friday as that is coming up.

What's the overall bike scene is like over here. Is there a
lot of activism to make roads more bike friendly, are
drivers courteous, are there people building custom crazy
bikes, etc?

I'm Carfree by choice and ride regularly for commuting,
groceries, etc and just for fun. I also moved my house by
bike, which is a fairly common occurence in Portland.

See:

http://www.vaudecast.com/media/bikemove.mov.

My brother (whom I am visiting) doesn't own a car but
it seem rather difficult to get around here w/o one. Are
there people here who use bikes as their primary/only
transportation?

Tnx!
~Deepak

[skiffrun]

Hi all,

I am in Raleigh this week visiting from bike-friendly Portland, OR and ... ~Deepak
Is that the same bike-friendly Portland, OR where the bike-commuting city employee is still suing the bus transit co. over the fall-out from being attacked when he blocked a transit bus after the bus nearly side-swiped him?

Now to the serious stuff:

There is at least one recent thread re rental bikes. From Capital/Millbrook, try phoning All-Star (Millbrook/Falls of the Neuse), possibly Flythe (west edge of down-town). I would think that the other shops start becoming logistically difficult if one is without auto.

Mix of city & rural rides? Most of us doing rural rides start at the edge of town & go away from the city. Hilly north and west, becomes flatter and flatter east and southeast. Starting from Cap/Mill could be a way to mix.

Check the North Carolina Bike Club site ("NCBC.org") for possible start locations & cue sheets. Most of those cue sheets start from Blue Jay Point. Virtually all of them are "get away from the city" type routes.

There is/was a group doing the Raleigh bike routes, but I have never re-found the blog (after deleting the "fav tag" for it), and they finished all 14 routes in early Spring. They typically didn't ride more than about 10 miles anyway.

One can easily get in 30 miles (have to back-track) on greenways - used to do that a lot, myself. But it could be difficult to navigate the "breaks" between greenway sections if you don't know where you are going. And they ain't built for speed. And like all "bike" greenways, there are GREAT for running or walking, and decent for riding with children or easy rides, but not so much if you're truly wanting some serious cycling exercise within a limited timeframe (IMO). There is a group that specifically does greenway rides; there is prob still a link on the NCBC site; I don't recall where or when they mount up.

For your other Q's: look around on this site. Almost all of your Q's have been addressed here within the last 5 months. You'll be able to form your own conclusions.

[Zonda]

Hope you enjoy your visit!

[JeffS]

There is/was a group doing the Raleigh bike routes, but I have never re-found the blog (after deleting the "fav tag" for it), and they finished all 14 routes in early Spring. They typically didn't ride more than about 10 miles anyway.

Here you go.

http://raleighrides.blogspot.com/