General Discussion Triathlon Talk » How do you bike in the city? Rss Feed  
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2014-01-25 6:25 PM


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Subject: How do you bike in the city?
I must be missing something... I can get out of the city on the weekends for a good ride, but what about during the week? It doesn't seem like there's any good way to get a ride in while in town. Too many stop signs, cars, etc. does everyone just hit the trainer during the week?


2014-01-25 6:41 PM
in reply to: runningmon

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Pearland,Tx
Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
Originally posted by runningmon

I must be missing something... I can get out of the city on the weekends for a good ride, but what about during the week? It doesn't seem like there's any good way to get a ride in while in town. Too many stop signs, cars, etc. does everyone just hit the trainer during the week?


Unless I am commuting to work I won't even try , Cyclist Serial Killers are out there and out on the loose and they are above the law
2014-01-25 6:59 PM
in reply to: runningmon

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over a barrier
Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
our team does wed night rides out of Chicago. In the spring they start at 38 miles and end at 60 when we get more light. While stop signs and lights can slow down still get in a great ride.
2014-01-25 7:01 PM
in reply to: runningmon

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Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
Get a trainer. It's invaluable, also when weather sucks on weekends or you can't find time to get out of the city, you can still get your workout logged.
2014-01-26 9:56 AM
in reply to: runningmon

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Great White North
Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
I have a few climbing loops in a residential area that feature some steep climbs. I do multiple laps of this type of route for short rides. Otherwise I head out of town riding from the front door. A few parks have good mountain biking as well. I also have my hill repeat location at Winsport (its the access road for the bobsled track).
2014-01-26 5:34 PM
in reply to: #4938593

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Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
Like a beast! Own your lane!
And stop lights and stop signs make good interval training!


2014-01-26 5:36 PM
in reply to: runningmon

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Expert
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Madison, Wisconsin
Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
Use what the city offers to your advantage. Loops, use lights for intervals, working on your bike handling skills, etc. Yes if you want to get in a 3-4 hour ride doing it in the city won't work, but you can have plenty of fun with 1-2 hour rides in the city. Think outside the box.
2014-01-26 7:41 PM
in reply to: bcagle25

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Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
Trainer. My weekday rides are always either after swimming or before running. I normally swim and then head home to the trainer at night. For run/bike workouts. I try to bike on trainer and then quick change and run around neighborhood. It's winter here and I'm sick of the cold so those days right now are done at the gym with a HRM on a spin bike and then treadmill. A trainer isn't too bad since you get netflix going. Also, latter into the season you do a lot of intervals or specific type of training and it's way easier on the trainer to stay in the zones.
2014-01-26 8:31 PM
in reply to: Blastman

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Alpharetta, Georgia
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Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?

If you live in the middle of a huge city - yes, I would think it would be difficult.

One option is to put your bike in your car and drive it to a start point outside of the city. Otherwise, find the safest (least-traveled by car) roads to get you out of the city and take that route. 

2014-01-27 8:57 AM
in reply to: runningmon

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Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
take advantage of being on the ground and not caged in your 2-ton shell. improve your awareness of your urban landscape. do a bicycle version of psychogeography. BE THERE!
2014-01-27 9:05 AM
in reply to: runningmon

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St Catharines, Ontario
Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
I commute in the spring and summer in a busyish north american subburban town. Lights dont bother me. Its a good chance to get some extra work getting up to speed again. I have a good map of the best cycle lanes in town and will add milage to avoid the carnage around schools when parents are picking/dropping kids off.

Commuting three times a week adds in 60kms of riding to my week. Which is a great bonus. It helps with recovery the day after running and keeps my weight under control.


2014-01-27 10:36 AM
in reply to: runningmon

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Vancouver, BC
Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?

We choose the routes with the least lights I guess. It seems to work well.

We also have a large park with a 10km loop without stoplights, so I can do loops of that as good training.

2014-01-27 10:46 AM
in reply to: runningmon

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Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?

I live in a smaller city - but on weekday rides, I'll ride out out the city (warm-up), along a nice open route once I'm out of the city (workout), and then sit through the stoplights and traffic coming back in (cool down). 

2014-01-28 6:39 AM
in reply to: runningmon

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Eugene, Oregon
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Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
During the week, trainer at home or stationary at the gym. I actually don't live too far from the edge of Saigon, but simply don't have enough daylight outside of work hours for riding most of the year, and can't risk a flat that would make me late to work. (And riding in the dark here would be suicidal.) On the weekend, if training solo, I do 4-mile loops of an industrial park with minimal vehicle traffic. If I can find others to ride with, we head away from town on a pretty busy road. There are traffic lights but in the third world, they're pretty optional--cars, motorbikes, everyone just goes if things look good. If you obey the lights, it's quite possible you'll get hit by someone running one. (This is what happened the one time I was hit!) So you don't actually need to stop that much early AM in light traffic. Great fun drafting motorbikes, but I don't ride the rural roads solo, for a number of safety-related reasons. We also have great MTB loops through villages and on a large network of dirt and gravel roads, within 20-30 minutes from where I live.

In Oregon, I live in a small city, and the bike club rides evenings during the week. We usually take a bike trail network to get to the edge of the city to quieter roads.
2014-01-28 7:49 AM
in reply to: Hot Runner

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Ontario Canada
Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
I am really lucky to be only about 1minute from a 160 Km network of paved multiuse pathway system along a river system in the city I use this for biking and running a lot of large sections of it are very lightly used others are used pretty heavily and riding can be a challenge you just have to know where to go on it to ride hard, also I am only 5 minute bike ride to open country roads with paved 4 ft wide shoulders. Still with snow on the roads here for 5 months I have to end up spending a lot on time on the trainer from Oct till april.
2014-01-28 8:19 AM
in reply to: jeng

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Great White North
Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
The loop by UBC ? Absolutely great ride.


2014-01-28 11:06 AM
in reply to: simpsonbo

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Vancouver, BC
Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?

I meant Stanley Park, but you are right UBC is good too. Lots of good rides.

2014-01-28 12:12 PM
in reply to: jeng

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Great White North
Subject: RE: How do you bike in the city?
Good hills in the park too. Raced that loop in 2008.
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