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Featuring posts about cities, scenic vistas, gear reviews, bicycle friendly businesses, family travel tips, transportation challenges and first class experiences.
Coming off a somewhat disappointing Milwaukee visit a few months back, in which we saw virtually no infrastructure progress made since we last visited in 2010, we cannot help but think that Atlanta has now stolen Milwaukee's baseball team and its bicycle mojo. Atlanta is on fire. And they're excited to show you what's changed.
Maybe your flight is eeeeearly, before the T is running. Maybe you don't like cabs. Maybe you're planning to bring your folding bike with you on your trip. Maybe you're just looking to kick off your vacation with a sense of accomplishment. Maybe you're looking to arrive for your flight alert and ready. Maybe you just like the sound of it... biking to Logan Airport. Well my friend, you're in luck, because it's easier than you probably imagined. Let's get into it.
Milwaukee has a strong bike culture and decent-to-amazing infrastructure. And it has those unfailingly nice mid-western people. And it has GOOD beer. Unfortunately, Milwaukee also has a governor who has cut spending on every kind of transportation except highways...
...is a glorious thing. The morning temperature is "light jacket," but during the day it scooches up into T-Shirt Territory. The trees are a riot of blossoms, and when the wind blows, they rain down on you like you're running out of a wedding chapel. Everyone's got that renewed zest for getting the hell outside.
With Bloomberg no longer at the helm in New York City, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has taken over the national spotlight as the most bike-progressive mayor of a major American city. And while the biking experience is not yet up to the level of the world's best biking cities, it is getting closer by the month due to Chicago's aggressive goals.
It’s Thanksgiving. You’ve probably traveled. Even if you didn’t descend upon someone else’s house, someone probably descended upon yours. The result is always the same: Come Friday after Thanksgiving, you’re ready to get out of whatever house you spent the prior day over-indulging in, and go do …something. Traditionally in America, this has meant waking up at an obscene pre-dawn hour to go wait in huge lines at big box stores to get a discount on a flat screen tv you didn’t exactly need. We at Bikabout feel there’s a better way to spend Black Friday.
Arriving in Vancouver and hopping onto a bike when you're used to places like Boston, your first thought is "this is what DONE looks like." Done arguing, done advocating, done waiting, done building... Vancouver looks and feels like a photoshopped "After" picture if you're a bike advocate. The water on all sides, the mountains tumbling over each other on every horizon, and those incredible bike paths everywhere... swoon.
Seattle has a location problem. It's sandwiched between Bicycle World darlings Portland and Vancouver, both of whom have deservedly hogged the lion's share of what precious little press space there is for bicycles in North American press. Right in between these two lies relatively ho-hum Seattle, ever the bridesmaid, never the bride. Arriving downtown (by train, naturally), one would be forgiven for failing to lift a finger to challenge that viewpoint, really. It remind me very much of the most buttoned-down parts of downtown Boston, but with massive, weapons-grade, "this is not cool" hills. Picture traffic, few trees, drunken Seahawks fans, concrete, and 1st gear hills that go on for 20 blocks.
Portland is constantly touted as a livable city in the transportation advocacy world, and I finally made the pilgrimage to the Rose City for a Net Impact conference in 2011. Experiencing the city in a mere 3 days was a tease, and I knew I had to come back with my husband and daughter to fully explore it by bike. Then in 2013, with plane tickets purchased, a family vacation to Portland was happening and it was serendipitous that I would find a book that would forever influence my vacation planning and ultimately lead to the creation of Bikabout.
Getting an issue of Momentum Magazine is an event in the Ramey household. I squeal when I see it in the mailbox and immediately have to find a quiet corner so I can flip through it. The editorials, photography, and even the advertisements are inspiring for all riding levels. If you don't have a subscription, get one, you won't regret it.
Map of SE neighborhood route in Hop in the Saddle guidebook.
It was while reading the magazine that I discovered the book, Hop in the Saddle, a Guide to Portland's Craft Beer Scene, by Bike. My jaw dropped in reading the description because it was like someone wrote the book just for Kyle and I. I immediately bought the book, made lodging reservations (Tiny Airbnb house in North, Kennedy School and Jupiter Hotel), reserved a bakfiets and city bike rental at Clever Cycles, and we were set. When we arrived, it was like we had a personal tour guide with Hop in the Saddle. With the turn by turn directions, beautifully designed maps, fun descriptions of the destinations, and other resources, I barely had to take out a phone to plan anything the entire trip. We just biked wherever the three lovely authors told us to go and my husband got to drink some of the best beer in America, our daughter had fun at the playgrounds and parks, and I got my fill of the bike porn.
Because we had such an amazing time on that trip and it was so easy, I wanted other people to experience that type of vacation in great biking cities, which is why I credit Hop in the Saddle and Portland as the inspiration behind Bikabout. Please buy this book and support the ingenuity of the three ladies who put it together.
Portland and the whole state of Oregon do the most to seduce bike tourists, and it shows. In the city, you have a network of scenic bicycle paths, neighborhood greenways, and on-road bike lanes, and every major destination is signed for way-finding. Along the signed bicycle routes are unique, local restaurants, coffee shops, retail stores, and it seems you can't bike a mile without passing a high grade brewery, craft beer bar, wine room or cocktail watering hole. Even the bike corrals are well designed and plentiful allowing for last minute pull overs when a rest stop is spotted.
Lodging
Ace Hotel has complimentary city cruisers for guests and a nice, huge bike corral and green bike lane out front.
Anybody who has ever browsed the Airbnb inventory for Portland knows that there are more properties than any other city and many of them look like they could be in a design magazine. The city breathes creativity and it shows in this community of hosts.
There is also a nice selection of hotels and inns that offer bike friendly lodging like McMenamin’s Kennedy School and the Crystal, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Rose, Hotel Vintage, Riverplace and Ace Hotel. All but the two McMenamins provide complimentary bikes for guests, but McMenamin’s makes up for it with their unbelievable “club med for hipsters” amenities.
Bike Rentals & Shops
Clever Cycles rents bakfiets, Brompton folding bikes and city bikes and they have a huge selection of accessories and a kids play area!
Hands down, our favorite bike shop in America is Clever Cycles with a nice selection of rentals: Dutch city bikes, bakfiets (aka the minivan), and Brompton folding bikes.
A fun and tasty shop to visit is Velo Cult that offers maintenance, bike sales, and 12 local beers on tap.
Transportation
Amtrak’s Cascade line has the closest thing to roll-on service for a long distance train in America and connects you to both Seattle and Vancouver. You have to remove your bags and panniers and the baggage car takes it and hangs it in vertical racks. Make sure to pay the $5 bike fee in advance to confirm your space.
Portland’s buses all have bike racks and the light rail is outfitted with vertical hanging racks.
Other Resources
Travel Oregon is the machine behind all the fantastic bike tourism and their site has a wealth of resources for traveling around the state by bike.
to eat
to drink
to see
Biking to Washington Park's Rose Garden is extremely vertical, but you can alternatively take the light rail to the zoo and bike down the hill.
Out of every city we have biked, Minneapolis is by far the best biking city in the U.S. Between the "bicycle interstate highways" that get you where you need to go, water at every turn, the most bike racks per capita and normal folk riding bikes, this city provides a social, stress free and scenic city biking experience.
I am seriously biased when it comes to Madison WI because I was born in the Emerald City, also known as "X square miles surrounded by reality." This city is jam packed with everything a Midwestern girl could want: laid back ladies, farm-to-table food, theatrical thunderstorms, tasty beer, a decent Big 10 athletic department and most importantly, the lakes.
