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As a parent and an American during an election year, I had to make all sorts of crucial decisions in 2024. The聽most difficult and important of all was which bike to bring with me on my summer vacation.

Each year at the end of August my family and I travel to Adirondack Park in upstate New York, where the cycling terrain includes paved climbs, gravel roads, and and rocky trails that disappear deep into the wilderness. Every spring, I start thinking seriously about which bicycle will have the privilege of accompanying me. The optimal choice is generally a rig聽wide of both tire and gearing, and past standouts have been my A. Homer Hilsen and my LWB.

This year I figured I’d probably just bring one of those two bikes yet again, but at the very last second I made a bizarre and potentially foolhardy decision. Like George Costanza buying an ’89 Chrysler LeBaron because it once belonged to Midnight Cowboy star Jon Voigt, I ultimately went with a 1998 Trek Y-Foil 77, on loan to me from the collection, a historic bike museum and shop based in Washington.

Like the LeBaron, the Y-Foil 77 was also聽of highly dubious celebrity provenance, having once belonged to the late writer and bon vivant George Plimpton.

It may seem far-fetched, but Classic Cycle also to “prove” it that it was owned by the Paper Tiger author. Who am I to argue?

As a rider with traditional (some might even say old-fashioned) tastes who likes normal diamond-shaped frames made from metal and who has been one of the cycling media’s most outspoken critics of the carbon fiber hegemony, I’ve always found the Y-Foil to be absurdly outlandish. It was hard to imagine myself even riding the thing, let alone liking it.聽It seemed more like a triathlon bike than a road bike, which鈥eew. Yet the more I rode it, the more I began to appreciate it.

Sure, the bike only holds one water bottle at a time, and yes, the void where the seat tube is supposed to be makes it look like a device made to bore holes in giant wheels of cheese. (The unorthodox frame design also makes sure you get every last bit of road spray should it rain.) But I rarely carry more than one bottle anyway. Despite its outrageous appearance it handles just as any well-designed road bike should, plus the beam design of the frame provides just a tiny bit of suspension which makes the ride surprisingly smooth and comfortable.

Trek only sold the Y-Foil for two years, in 1998 and 1999, and since then the bike has acquired a bit of a cult following鈥攑artially because they’re kind of rare and some people think they’re cool-looking, but also because of the aforementioned smooth ride quality, which is unusual for a road bike that only clears a 25mm tire. I’d never been a member of the Y-Foil cult, and so I knew little about the bike’s history, apart from vaguely recalling the design having been banned from competition or something.

So I started reading up on their history, and was surprised to learn that not only wasn’t it a triathlon bike, but it had supposedly been designed with Paris-Roubaix and the cobbled classics in mind, and early versions even聽had a suspension-corrected fork. This explained the pinched-looking front end of the frame as well as the elongated fork crown, which Paul Johnson of Classic Cycle likens to a pair of high-waisted jeans.

The revelation that the Y-Foil was聽designed not for triathlons but for the cobblestones of Europe was almost harder to believe than the whole George Plimpton thing. So to find out for sure I reached out to Trek, who connected me with Jim Colegrove, a now-retired engineer who worked on the Y-Foil.

In the nineties, Colegrove told me, cyclists (or at least bike companies) were having a love affair with beam bikes. Trek was also having lots of success with . So the idea behind the Y-Foil was to bring the design over to the road and to take聽taking advantage of beam-maina.

As Colegrove and the team at Trek saw it, when it came to road-oriented beam bikes, 2001 model was the one to beat, though they also felt it had three fatal flaws: lateral deflection (they called it “wag”); bob (the feeling that you’re sitting on a diving board); and weight (the Zipp was quite heavy). So Trek set out to design a Y-frame聽road bike that would suffer from none of those problems. At the same time, they also saw an opportunity to incorporate a , which people at Trek were convinced was “going to be a thing,” as Colegrove puts it.

Not everybody on the team agreed, and of course suspension forks on road bikes聽didn’t turn out to be a thing at all (at least not until gravel happened). Still,聽the 1992, 1993, and 1994 editions of Paris-Roubaix had all been won on Rock Shox forks. Trek planned to offer the new Y-frame road bike to pro teams, and so the suspension fork made it onto the bike. (Or at least the suspension fork compatibility did. Colegrove doesn’t know if anybody actually ended up using a suspension fork on a Y-Foil, and I’ve certainly never seen a squishy Y-Foil either in the wild or on the Internet.)

Alas, just as Trek launched the Y-Foil, the Union Cycliste Internationale, cycling’s governing body, ruled that road bike frames “shall be of a traditional pattern, i.e. built around a main triangle.” This rule meant the pros wouldn’t be able to ride the Y-Foil in any race under the auspices of the UCI, which is to say all the races that matter to people when they’re deciding which expensive road bike to buy.

Colegrove wonders if perhaps the UCI may have made the rule specifically to foil (see what I did there?) Trek in order to protect innocent European bike manufacturers from a big bad American company with the capability of producing futuristic aero bikes at scale. However, it’s worth noting the ruling affected European bikes too, such as, so perhaps they really did just want to uphold tradition and spare us all from a nightmarish all-recumbent pro cycling future.

Of course there was still nothing keeping you from buying a Y-Foil to race聽a triathlon, or your local USA Cycling-sanctioned criterium, or just riding it for fun and enjoying the head-turning looks and aero benefits. (According to Colegrove the wind tunnel results showed the Y-Foil to be “significantly” more aerodynamic than a traditional frame.) But the bike industry doesn’t work like that, and since the Y-Foil would never be seen under the winner of the Tour de France it had limited appeal and went into, as Colgrove puts it, a “black hole.”

Despite the aero factor it wasn’t a true triathlon bike, nor would it ever have a pro cycling pedigree. While the bike did make it into production, the last year it appeared in the Trek catalogue was 1999鈥攖he same year Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France on a stock Trek 5500 with a diamond frame.

25 years later, all of this lends the bike a certain pathos, and since I was enjoying the bike much more than I thought I would I figured I’d bring it with me on vacation as sort of a consolation prize. Just across Lake Champlain聽 from New York State lies Vermont, a land criss-crossed with gravel roads, where the bike could finally taste the terrain for which it had been designed, yet few Y-Foils have ever experienced.

Road cyclists have recently embraced wider tires. With cyclists tackling roads with rougher surfaces, 25-millimeter tires鈥攚hich is the widest a Y-Foil will allow鈥攁re now considered too narrow.

However, I made it through the roughest sections without washout or pinch flat, and otherwise the bike was not only competent but smooth, the beam offering just enough flex to allow me to comfortably shift my weight onto the rear wheel. Having successfully negotiated the gravel roads of Vermont, I rolled onto the ferry to Ticonderoga, NY.

Ticonderoga is steeped in history and the things that made this country great. There’s the eponymous , the eponymous (they weren’t made there, but that’s where the graphite used to come from), and there’s the , which draws Trekkies from all over the galaxy.

At no point in our conversation did Colegrove mention the Star Fleet Insignia serving as an inspiration for the design of the Y-Foil, but I have to wonder if perhaps it crept in there subconsciously.

If you’re a fan of technical innovation you may think we lost out when the UCI banned bikes Y-Foil, and if you’re a traditionalist you probably think we dodged a bullet. I’d certainly count myself as a traditionalist. But more than anything I’m also a bike nerd. I can appreciate and enjoy this relic of what might have been.safe in the knowledge that it is no longer a threat to the supremacy of my beloved diamond frame.

The Y-Foil may not have been a commercial success, but Trek did accomplish what it set out to do, which was design a Y-shaped bike without wag, bob, or excessive weight that performs like a good road bike should. I enjoyed every ride with it on my summer vacation, and by choosing it I don’t think I missed out on a thing鈥xcept maybe that second water bottle.

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As he slathered SPF 30 onto his left calf, Ryan Johnson looked back at me and issued a warning: expect honking. I hadn鈥檛 been astride a bike in six years, but here I was on a brutally hot late-October afternoon in Arizona, an e-bike beside me, preparing for a ride. Our destination was a cycling path along the Salt River, which bisects Tempe, a city of 189,000 people about ten miles (or 60 minutes by bike) east of Phoenix. Tempe is home to Arizona State University, and it鈥檚 also the place where Johnson is currently running a grand residential experiment.

Johnson is the cofounder of Culdesac, a real estate development firm that wants to flip the script on urban living. In May 2023, he became one of the first tenants of Culdesac Tempe, a new complex taking shape on an otherwise inconspicuous tract of dirt. More than 225 people have since moved into apartments located inside a tight grouping of white stucco buildings that might be described as Santorini lite, with trendy balconies, spacious courtyards, and inviting patios shaded by trees.

Similar to those pseudo-urban enclaves situated outside America鈥檚 metropolises where residences and retail commingle, Culdesac has its own grocery store, gym, caf茅, and mail service. There鈥檚 a bike shop on the premises, as well as a clothing consignment store, a plant emporium, an art studio, and a wellness boutique that offers IV hydration. A coworking space is located above the gym. Cocina Chiwas, the restaurant on the corner, combines craft cocktails with its own take on Mexican fare. This past May, the restaurant鈥檚 owners opened up Aruma, a coffee shop across from the restaurant.

Once construction is complete, which will take several years, will comprise 760 units total, ranging from studios to three-bedrooms and housing approximately 1,000 residents. The catch: not one of those units will come with a parking space. 鈥淲e鈥檙e the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the U.S.,鈥� says Johnson.

Virtually every residential development anywhere in this country includes parking, a requirement common in city building codes. At Culdesac, if you do own a vehicle, it鈥檚 a condition of your lease that you refrain from parking it within one block, in any direction, of the community. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 tell people that they can鈥檛 own a car,鈥� says Johnson, a tall, lanky 41-year-old. 鈥淏ut if people want to have a car, there are other great neighborhoods for them.鈥�

The thought made me shudder. Where I live, in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., about an hour from the city, a car is practically a prerequisite for getting to the grocery store, the barber, the doctor鈥檚 office, the liquor store. Bike lanes are sporadic. There aren鈥檛 many bus stops within walking distance. Taking a rideshare to visit family, an hour by car at least, seems more than a little silly. While I typically work from home, when traveling I drive to the airport鈥攊n the Ford Bronco my wife and I bought last year. (And if I can be frank: I just want a vehicle.)

鈥淚 had an SUV in high school,鈥� Johnson, who hasn鈥檛 owned a car in 13 years, told me when I met him. 鈥淚 just didn鈥檛 know any better.鈥�

The e-bike ride was my first lesson in automotive deprivation. I had flown here to try out a one-bedroom apartment at Culdesac and experience carless living for several days. There鈥檚 a light-rail stop one street over, but early Culdesac residents received a complimentary electric bike, which is Johnson鈥檚 favorite mode of transportation. (He owns about 70 of them, most stored at his company鈥檚 main office downtown.) Plus, I was told that a ride on the Salt River bike path, 100-degree weather be damned, would provide unobstructed views of the mountains framing the city鈥檚 skyline.

We just had to get there first, which involved traveling on streets lacking any bike lanes. The speed limit on our route was 25 miles an hour, but my e-bike maxed out at 20. Barely ten minutes into the journey, I heard the first honk.

Ditching cars entirely might seem crazy. (In nearby Phoenix, once described by The New York Times as an 鈥渆ver-spreading tundra of concrete,鈥� they鈥檙e more of a necessity than a luxury.) But what Culdesac is attempting to accomplish is a revision of city living, where the pedestrian, not the automobile, is more valued. To Johnson, Culdesac is an oasis in a desert of car-fueled aggravation鈥攁 walkable community that鈥檚 safe, entertaining, better for the climate, and better for the individual. And he believes that if he builds it, people will come.

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The U.S. was built for cars. I鈥檓 talking about our infrastructure: the interstate system, traffic laws, speed limits, and streets. They鈥檙e all designed with vehicles in mind. And yet, some communities have embraced and are moving toward the bicycle over the car.

These towns have done so much: created bike-lane infrastructure and robust greenway systems, leveraged their natural attributes by building singletrack, and put in signage and lower speed limits to make country roads safer. Bike towns vary wildly, some filled with people who pedal to work and shuttle toddlers around via cargo bikes, others good for those who exist solely to shred dirt trails or ascend mountain roads.

To create this list of the Best Small Bike Towns in America, I studied data collected each year by , a non-profit that ranks the 鈥淏est Places to Bike鈥� based on factors like local speed limits and cycling infrastructure, giving each community a score from 0 to 100. The average city in the U.S. scores in the mid-20s, while the most bike-friendly places rate in the 70s to low 90s.

I doubled down on data by bringing in info from the , a non-profit that promotes cycling through education and advocacy, and rates communities with Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze status dependent on a town鈥檚 numbers of bike lanes and lane connectivity.

Safe streets and being able to commute to school and work are important, but other factors determine a great bike town, like the number of dirt trails and mountains nearby to ascend. So I also sought data from 聽which catalogs the number of mountain-bike trails within feasible reach of each community, and looked for towns that also have access both to world-class road-cycling routes and lonely gravel roads to explore. (Trailforks is owned by 国产吃瓜黑料 Inc., the same company that owns 国产吃瓜黑料.)

I wanted to focus on small towns across the U.S., so I capped populations at 100,000, which left out some big hitters like Boulder, Colorado, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, both outstanding places to live if you want to bike. My compliments to those communities鈥攑lease keep up the good work.

While I used as many data points as I could find, this list also contains some subjectivity based on my own experience. For example, Park City, Utah, is in here even though it receives a middling score from People for Bikes. Why? The mountain biking is amazing and there鈥檚 so much of it. I also included towns that go above and beyond for commuters, others that have vibrant social cycling scenes (like group rides and events), and others with epic road routes.

Of course, some cities do it all, and I put them at the top of the list. Here are the 10 Best Small Bike Towns in America, ranked.

1. Crested Butte, Colorado

Population: 1,654

People for Bikes Score: 87

League of American Bicyclists: Gold

Why I Chose It: This small Colorado ski town could have earned a spot on this list solely based on its assessments in People for Bikes and the League of American Bicyclists for its bike infrastructure and safe streets. But Crested Butte rose to the top of the pack because it鈥檚 also a fantastic mountain-bike mecca, with a lift-served downhill park on the edge of town and access to more than 750 miles of trails within the greater Gunnison Valley.

Oh, and it鈥檚 an underrated road-cycling destination, with mixed gravel and paved rides beginning in town and climbing to scenic lookouts like Ohio Pass and Kebler Pass, where the Elk Mountains rise ahead in a mix of craggy peaks and aspen-clad slopes.

Number of Bike Trails: 247

Most Popular Bike Trail on Trailforks: tops the lists. This eight-mile, mostly downhill high-alpine trail begins at Schofield Pass and drops more than 1,000 feet, passing through wildflower meadows with views of the Gothic Valley and Mount Crested Butte.

2. Davis, California

Population: 68,000

People for Bikes Score: 77, highest ranked medium-sized city in its report

League of American Bicyclists Status: Platinum

Why I Chose It: Davis, a college town on the outskirts of Sacramento, is a bike commuter鈥檚 dream. It was the first city in the U.S. to implement dedicated bike lanes, back in 1967, and has only improved its bike infrastructure since. Currently, more than have bike lanes, giving locals 102 miles of those and 63 miles of off-street paths to pedal. Many intersections have bike-specific signals, and there are even bike boulevards, meaning streets shut down to motorized vehicles. Davis has been repeatedly touted as the most bike-friendly city in the U.S. by organizations like People for Bikes, and the League of American Bicyclists estimates that 22 percent of residents commute regularly by bike.

Number of Bike Trails: 7. Davis proper isn鈥檛 much of a mountain-bike community鈥搈ost of the in-town trails are short paths cutting through neighborhoods and parks. But there are good trail systems within the greater Sacramento Valley, known for its patchwork of vegetable and fruit farms, including the 20 miles of trail at Rockville Hills Regional Park 30 minutes south.

Most Popular Bike Trail on Trailforks: , in Rockville Hills, connects you from the trailhead parking lot to the gems within the stacked-loop system, including Lake Front, which has a fun, easy downhill before skirting Grey Goose Lake.

聽3. Jackson, Wyoming

Population: 10,698

People for Bikes Score: 79

League of American Bicyclists Status: Gold

Why I Chose It: Jackson Hole made this list for its bike-lane connectivity. More than 100 miles of paved trails run through and beyond town, with 115 miles of singletrack surrounding it鈥攁nd that鈥檚 just within the valley known as Jackson Hole. Not only can you bike to the grocery store on a designated route, you can pedal into the National Wildlife Refuge and Grand Teton National Park on a paved trail (it鈥檚 20 miles from Jackson to Jenny Lake inside the park), with views of the jagged Teton Range and herds of elk.

Trailheads for popular singletrack begin right on the edge of neighborhood streets, and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort鈥檚 extensive lift-served routes are 15 minutes from the town center. Biking is woven into the fabric of the community, through the extensive infrastructure and events like bike swaps, youth programs, and In June, a landslide closed a 10-mile stretch of the Teton Pass mountain road for three weeks, impeding the commute between Jackson and less expensive communities in Idaho. The silver lining? Cyclists enjoyed a car-free pedal to the top of the pass. Teton Pass is open now, and classic rides like Parallel Trail, a 1.5-mile downhill with lots of jumps, are once again easy to access.

Number of Bike Trails: 105

Most Popular Bike Trail on Trailforks: takes top honors. This beginner-friendly three-mile cross-country trail begins at the Cache Creek Trailhead and has a number of connectors that allow you to form fast, rolling loops with other trails in the same system, like , for nearby post-work romps.

4. Aspen, Colorado

Population: 6,741

People for Bikes Score: 75

League of American Bicyclists Status: Gold

Why I Chose It: Aspen checks all the boxes, scoring high marks from People for Bikes and the League of American Bicyclists thanks to its infrastructure and low-speed streets. The city of manages more than 22 miles of paved bike trails connecting parks within the town鈥檚 limits, and the Rio Grande Trail offers 42 miles of no-traffic asphalt from Aspen to Glenwood Springs.

Aspen also has a bike-share program in the form of , which has stations throughout the Roaring Fork Valley and offers 30-minute free rides in town.

Aspen-Snowmass and the Roaring Fork Valley was the first destination in Colorado to earn Gold Level Ride Center status from the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA). The Roaring Fork Valley has more than 300 miles of trails, from lift-served descents at Snowmass Mountain Resort to hut-to-hut bikepacking through some of the cabin system. And then you have the road routes, like the bucket-list-worthy 16-mile roundtrip from downtown to Maroon Bells, where the twin 14,000-foot Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak rise above the placid Maroon Lake.

Number of Bike Trails: 191

Most Popular Bike Trail: The crown goes to , a 4.4-mile downhill romp in Snowmass鈥� Bike Park that is full of berms and rollers from top to bottom. Both beginners and pros love it as being fun regardless of how fast you tackle it.

5. Ashland, Oregon

Population: 21,285

People for Bikes Score: 70

League of American Bicyclists Status: Gold

Why I Chose It: Ashland is celebrated for its annual Shakespeare Festival, but this southern Oregon town deserves to be just as famous for its biking. The only question is which riders have it better here, the roadies or the mountain bikers? Road cyclists have the 55-mile Cascade Siskiyou Scenic Bikeway, which begins and ends downtown and climbs 5,000 feet out of Bear Valley, with views of iconic landmarks like the volcanic Pilot Rock and the 9,000-foot tall Mount McLoughlin.

Hundreds of miles of rural paved roads extend into the surrounding Siskiyou Range. Mountain bikers enjoy the 100-mile trail system in the 15,000-acre , where singletrack ascends to the top of 7,532-foot Mount Ashland and runs all the way back into town, more than 5,000 feet below. runs shuttles ($30 per person), so you can skip the climb up Mount Ashland and focus on the descent during your 13- to 25-mile (depending on the route) ride.

All cyclists get to pedal the 20-mile Bear Creek Greenway that runs north from the edge of town, connecting Ashland with surrounding communities. Fun fact: Ashland is home to the United Bicycle Institute, a school for bike mechanics and builders, that has offered one- and two-week programs since 1981.

Number of Bike Trails: 86 trails

Most Popular Bike Trail on Trailforks: Locals love the two-mile , which drops almost 1,000 feet of elevation in a series of machine-built berms and tabletops. (Hand-built trails are narrower and often more technical.)

6. Park City, Utah

Population: 8,374

People for Bikes Score: 48

League of American Bicyclists Status: Gold

Why I Chose It: Park City鈥檚 People for Bikes score isn鈥檛 stellar. While at 48 it鈥檚 well above the U.S. average, it still doesn鈥檛 crack their list of the top 10 small cities due to the city鈥檚 lack of bike-safety projects and like grocery stores and hospitals. But its ranking is climbing鈥攗p 15 points, from 33, in the last three years鈥攁nd the town is interlaced by an impressive of non-motorized bike paths. Park City also has a share fleet of electric bikes, and the city introduced a that actually pays people to commute during winter.

All of that is great, but I chose Park City for this list because of its mountain biking. It is an IMBA Gold-Level Ride Center, with more than of singletrack extending directly from town into the Wasatch Mountains. I live in a good city for mountain bikers (Asheville) but am jealous: the you can pedal in Park City is absolutely bonkers: this might be the best town in America to live in if you鈥檙e a mountain biker. The only downside is the trails鈥� seasonality; you鈥檙e not riding dirt in the winter, but that鈥檚 why they make skis.

Number of Bike Trails: 629

Most Popular Bike Trail on Trailforks: The Wasatch Crest Trail is a classic mountain-bike ride in Park City, running for 13 miles west of the city with plenty of high-alpine ridgeline singletrack and accompanying big-mountain views. Almost all of the trails are amazing, but locals love , a short A-line section of the Wasatch Crest Trail, with crazy exposure on a knife-edge ridge.

7. Harbor Springs, Michigan

Population: 1,271

People for Bikes Score: 92

League of American Bicyclists Status: Not Ranked (communities must apply for consideration)

Why I Chose It: Harbor Springs, a small waterfront village on Lake Michigan, earned an outstanding score in People for Bikes鈥� latest rankings for connectivity: cyclists can pedal everywhere safely, from grocery stores to schools to parks, thanks to low-traffic, low-speed streets (that are pretty flat, too), and the Little Traverse Wheelway, a 26-mile greenway that connects Harbor Springs with several communities and parks along Little Traverse Bay.

Pedaling isn鈥檛 just relegated to in-town cruising, though. The place has a vibrant mountain-biking scene thanks largely to , a lift-served bike park with 22 miles of mountain-bike trails. There鈥檚 a mix of trails for all levels, while cyclists just looking to cruise will find several miles of wide paths at the and the .

Number of Bike Trails: 54

Most Popular Bike Trail on Trailforks: The short , a double-black downhill trail at the Highlands Bike Park, gets top honors for its bevy of wooden features like jumps, drops, and berms.

8. Provincetown, Massachusetts

Population: 3,664

People for Bikes Score: 96

League of American Bicyclists Status: Silver

Why I Chose It: Provincetown had the second-highest score of any town in the U.S. thanks to its suite of low speed limits, multiple bike paths, a dedication to the commuting cause, and the lack of hills. The secluded island community of Mackinac Island, Michigan, had the only higher score, and while I love the idea of a town that bans cars, I ultimately left the place off this list because of its seclusion and the inherent difficulty of living and working there. (Mackinac only has 500 year-round residents.)

Provincetown has a Bicycle Committee that plans projects and prints an annual . A beach town on the tip of Cape Cod, it was essentially built for single-speed cruising鈥攖hink pedaling to the ocean and then to get ice cream鈥攁nd that sort of low-speed, casual cruising remains a fixture of the lifestyle. The year-round population is just over 3,000, and yet Provincetown has five bike shops. A five-mile loop trail traverses the forests and dunes outside of town, with spurs to beaches facing the Atlantic.

Number of Bike Trails: 21

Most Popular Trail on Trailforks: Province Lands Bike Trail is the main attraction with a hilly, paved 5.25 mile loop through sand dunes and beech forest. Check out the 3.5-mile , which connects two popular beaches on opposite ends of the Cape.

9. Sewanee, Tennessee

Population: 2,922

People for Bikes Score: 83

League of American Bicyclists Status: None, but the University of the South in town has a Bronze ranking

Why I Chose It: Sewanee is a small college town on the top of the Cumberland Plateau in Middle Tennessee with beautiful Collegiate Gothic architecture and stunning fall foliage. Life revolves around the University of the South, and the community in general has the languid pace of a tiny southern mountain town, which, frankly, is ideal for someone riding around. Sewanee is the number-one-ranked Bike Friendly Community in the South, according to People for Bikes, based on the low-traffic streets and bike access to essential destinations like schools, jobs, and grocery stores.

Cyclists could probably live a car-free (or car-light) life, but there鈥檚 more here than just going from A to B. The 22-mile Perimeter Loop is a mix of singletrack, double track, and pavement that encircles the university鈥檚 campus and provides access to other trails in the area, while the 12-mile Mountain Goat Trail is a paved off-street option that traces an old railway from Sewanee northeast to the town of Monteagle. Road cyclists can create 25-mile-plus loops using the country roads that descend and ascend the 1,000-foot-tall Cumberland Plateau.

Number of Trails: 34

Most Popular Trail on Trailforks: The 14-mile singletrack portion of the is the locals鈥� favorite option thanks to its cross-country flow and mild technical difficulty.

10. Fayetteville, Arkansas

Population: 99,285

People for Bikes Score: 50

League of American Bicyclists Status: Gold

Fayetteville barely made it under our population cap of 100,000, but this southern mountain town is a great sleeper destination for cyclists. It may not get quite the attention of hot towns like Bentonville, but Fayetteville is surrounded by the Ozark Mountains, with 50 miles of singletrack in town and the nearby ridges, not to mention hundreds of miles of gravel roads.

Within the city, cruisers have 50 miles of paved bike trails, and the future is only looking brighter. Fayetteville鈥檚 council a community where every resident is within a two-minute pedal of an established trail, and the town is building an average of two to three miles of paved trail every year. Fayetteville is also the beginning of the , a 40-mile regional bike path that connects communities throughout Northwestern Arkansas.

Number of Trails: 154

Most Popular Trail on Trailforks: Mountain bikers love , an intermediate flow trail that connects with two downhill trails, Red Rum and Chunky.

Graham Averill is 国产吃瓜黑料 magazine鈥檚 national-parks columnist. He rides his bike everywhere around his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, even though it has a poor People for Bikes score because of a lack of .

For more by this author, see:

8 Surf Towns Where You Can Learn the Sport and the Culture

The Best Ways to Get 国产吃瓜黑料 in West Virginia

The 10 Best National Parks in Canada

The 5 Best National Park Road Trips in the U.S.

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When it comes to bicycles and components, people tend to defend their preferences with what amounts to an almost-religious fervor. But ultimately our opinions about what鈥檚 鈥渂est鈥� are often just that鈥攐pinions. The insufferable retrogrouch insists that steel is the only material worth considering, while the performance-obsessed racer maintains that, gram for gram, nothing beats carbon fiber, and ultimately they鈥檙e both right in their own way. Then there are all the parts you can bolt to them: from stem to stern you鈥檒l get a thousand recommendations on which components to use, and unless you鈥檝e got uncommon fortitude you鈥檒l probably find yourself burnt out on bike setup tips before you even get past the handlebars. It鈥檚 all enough to make you decide, 鈥淔uck it, I鈥檓 leasing a Hyundai.鈥�

But what if you鈥檙e not worried about what鈥檚 鈥渂est,鈥� whatever that means? What if your goal is to build yourself a future-proof bicycle? Something simple and cheap to maintain, and that you can ride and enjoy more or less indefinitely so you鈥檒l never have to listen to any of this crap again? Well here鈥檚 your step-by-step guide to building a future-proof bike that will last you (almost) forever.

The Frame

If you ask the question 鈥淲hich frame material should I choose?鈥� the answers may send you running for the hills. You鈥檙e about as likely to get a measured, impartial answer to that one as you are to the question, 鈥淲hich presidential candidate should I vote for?鈥�

Nevertheless, at least there is an easy answer to the frame question: steel. No, I鈥檓 not saying materials like carbon fiber are bad鈥攚ell, not this time, anyway. There are valid reasons to pick almost every frame material, with the exception of, I dunno, glass or ice.

Still, we鈥檙e not talking about which one is lighter, or stronger, or faster, or even more comfortable. We鈥檙e talking about a future-proof bicycle here, and here鈥檚 why you want steel for that:

Over time, standards change鈥攅specially axle widths, which keep getting wider, and steel is the only material that really doesn鈥檛 care what size axle you cram in there. I have a 40-ish year-old steel road bike frame, which would have been designed to accommodate a 126mm rear axle. In my time with it I鈥檝e used everything from 120mm to 130mm in there with no problems, and I doubt very much the frame would care if I took it up to 135mm or even beyond. This means I can potentially choose pretty much any hub made in the past century, which means if I need a new wheel I can spend a thousand dollars on something new and modern or I can pick up a used one for $40 on Craigslist without worrying too much about the dimensions. No other material offers this amount of versatility. Plus, you can pick up a 40-ish year-old steel road frame yourself for a couple hundred bucks and confidently (and cheaply!) ride it for another 40 years.

Of course, you don鈥檛 need to choose a road frame: hybrid frames, mountain frames, cyclocross frames, even those newfangled 鈥済ravel鈥� frames all make good candidates. But an older road bike frame in particular will also have additional attributes that make it a great candidate for a future-proof bicycle. These include:

• A threaded bottom bracket shell, which means you can use anything from the loose-ball square-taper bottom brackets of yesteryear to the outboard bottom brackets of today.
• A threaded fork, which means you can use a quill stem and easily futz with your bar height for all eternity as you become less and less flexible鈥攐r convert to a threadless fork if you鈥檇 rather, which is a relatively straightforward operation, even with a one-inch headtube.
• Caliper rim brakes鈥攍ike steel, I鈥檓 not saying they鈥檙e better (at least not this time), but old-fashioned sidepulls (dual- or single-pivot) are cheap, effective, so simple as to be idiot-proof, and you鈥檝e got decades upon decades of inventory to choose from
• Horizontal dropouts鈥攜es, a vertical dropout is more secure, but a horizontal dropout lends versatility in that it even allows you go single-speed should the need or desire arise. Also, you know those ? Horizontal dropouts are the original flip chip.
• Clearance鈥攔oad bike designers didn鈥檛 come up with the idea that road bikes should have limited tire clearance until somewhere around the 1990s. That means you can generally fit 28mm tires easily and even go wider in many cases on those older steel road frames.

Also, remember: there鈥檚 no rule that you have to use drop bars on a road bike frame. You can turn an older steel road frame into anything from a full-on race bike to an upright urban commuter.

The Wheels

Forget the 鈥渨heel systems鈥� with proprietary rims, hubs, and spokes. Whether you buy them already built or you customize them yourself, you want a traditional pair of wheels with 32 or 36 steel spokes. This means if a spoke breaks you can just install a new one鈥攁nd you can keep riding in the meantime, since you鈥檝e got 31 (or 35) more. This also means you can keep your hubs and even sometimes your spokes should you need to replace your rim due to wear, damage, or changing needs. There鈥檚 nothing stopping you from swapping in wider rims, or tubeless rims, or even carbon rims if that鈥檚 what you鈥檙e into. As for the hub, you want a Shimano-compatible spline pattern, and better yet an actual Shimano hub. Cartridge bearings are generally used as a selling point when it comes to hubs, but those are for skateboard wheels, and nothing beats good quality cup-and-cone bearings for smoothness and serviceability. Also, a Shimano hub will let you use like 30 years鈥� worth of cassettes, from 7-speed up to as high as 12 speeds depending on the vintage of the hub; plus the freehub bodies are not only replaceable, but in lots of cases they鈥檙e even interchangeable, which means you can keep the hub going practically forever. Also, you want a Hyperglide hub, not the newer 鈥淢icro Spline鈥� stuff. Given how long Hyperglide has been around, parts for it shouldn鈥檛 be disappearing anytime soon.

The Drivetrain

As far as shifting, for maximum future-proofing, you want the oldest system there is: friction. Shimano derailleur? Campagnolo? 5 speeds? 10 speeds? 20 speeds? (Okay, 20 speeds is not a thing鈥et.) Pretty much anything will work with a friction setup, giving you virtually unlimited access to decades upon decades鈥� worth of cassettes and other consumables.

Okay, fine, frictions not for you. Go with indexed downtube shifters, or bar-end shifters, or thumbshifters. Or, by all means, go 鈥渕odern鈥� with the convenience of integrated shifters such as Shimano STI or SRAM DoubleTap. (Or of course Campagnolo Ergo, but once you commit to indexed, integrated shifters you start getting locked into manufacturers鈥� proprietary parts, and Campagnolo can make using more widely available Shimano drivetrain stuff a bit more difficult.) Just keep in mind that indexing requires you to match your drivetrain components more carefully, though given the abundance of components out there this isn鈥檛 much of a problem.

And whatever you do, go mechanical. I mean, nothing鈥檚 really stopping you from putting electronic shifting on that old steel frame, but if you鈥檙e going for future-proof above all else nothing beats the simplicity of levers and cables, and even if mechanical shifting is disappearing from the high end of component makers鈥� offerings it鈥檚 unlikely to vanish completely within our lifetimes. And again, we鈥檙e talking about future-proofedness here, so you want to be able to keep riding through those solar flares and electromagnetic pulses.

So yeah, you want a classic road bike. For sheer versatility and simplicity, nothing beats it. Or lease a Hyundai, whichever works for you.

The post How to Build a Bike That Will Last (Almost) Forever appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Pizza. At an Italian restaurant in a strip mall just outside an idyllic town in the Blue Ridge Mountains, seven teenage mountain-bike racers and two coaches crowd around a table. It was a busy Saturday in May 2022 at Virginia鈥檚 interscholastic mountain-biking series, known as VAHS.

The team, the Richmond Cycling Corps (RCC), consists of sixth-to-twelfth-graders who attend a variety of schools, but all have lived in or near public housing in the same part of Richmond, Virginia. I鈥檓 seated near the far end of the table. To my right, two eighth-grade boys talk excitedly: Chip, with his closely shorn hair and dimples, and Knowledge, a big, curious kid who鈥檚 somewhat new to mountain biking. Chip鈥檚 trying to persuade Knowledge to participate in a highly competitive racing series that鈥檚 part of the National Interscholastic
Cycling Association, or NICA.

Chip is serious about the idea. 鈥淏ro,鈥� he says. 鈥淣ICA?鈥�

Knowledge enjoys mountain biking and loves being part of the team, but he鈥檚 on the fence about racing. 鈥淭here鈥檚 college recruiters at NICA races. And I鈥檓 not going to college,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to do four years of high school, then another four years of college?鈥�

Chip鈥檚 giggling, twisting his soda straw. 鈥淏ro?鈥�

Knowledge: 鈥淚鈥檓. Not. Racing NICA!鈥�

Chip: 鈥淏ro. Bro. Bro. Bro. Bro.鈥�

They both crack up.

Kamari, also in eighth grade and Knowledge鈥檚 longtime bestie, looks up from her pizza crust with light hazel eyes and whispers to me, 鈥淲here all have you been?鈥� She鈥檚 shy鈥攈er sibling, Tawante, an RCC alum, told me, 鈥淪he鈥檚 even shy with me, and I鈥檓 her brother!鈥濃�攂ut she鈥檚 eager to explore the world beyond her home. Kamari described a favorite trip she鈥檇 been on with the RCC. 鈥淲e went up to Bryce鈥濃�攁 skiing and mountain-biking resort about two and a half hours northwest of Richmond鈥斺�渁nd we made a campfire. We played this game centipede. It鈥檚 kind of like hide and seek. The next day, we rode the bike park.鈥� They did downhill runs with big jumps and took the ski lift back to the top.

The older boys are squeezed in together on the opposite side of the table. One of the team鈥檚 three coaches, 36-year-old Brad Kaplan, is across from me. He used to be a scout for the Oakland Raiders, but after 12 years he left pro football and decided to raise a family. In 2020, he and his wife and their new baby moved from the Bay Area to Richmond, closer to his wife鈥檚 family, where their money would go further. Brad took graduate classes in nonprofit studies. Before working for the RCC, he knew nothing about mountain biking. But he鈥檚 comfortable working with young athletes.

Between greasy bites, Brad turns to Wop, a slender freshman with tightly twisted locks that fall just below his ears. 鈥淚 heard you lost someone this week,鈥� Brad says.

鈥淵eah,鈥� Wop replies. It was his older brother鈥檚 friend, Keshon.

鈥淗ow old was he?鈥�

鈥淭wenty. He鈥檇 just gotten out of jail.鈥� Keshon was shot in Creighton Court, the projects where Wop used to live, near a convenience store where a lot of kids get shot or shot at.

Wop doesn鈥檛 know if he鈥檒l go to the funeral. It鈥檚 May, and he鈥檚 already been to four this year.

The post The Kids from Cool Lane Just Want to Ride Bikes appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The best thing about bikes is riding them. However, depending on where you live, winter may curtail your ability to do so. Sure, you could fritter away the cold and dreary months by Zwifting, but do you really need more screen time in your life? Instead, put your hands and your mind to work and learn how to master your machine by undertaking a winter bike build.

A Fixed Gear (Or Single Speed)

Are you a relative novice when it comes to working on bikes? Do you find it intimidating? Do you wish you weren鈥檛 totally dependent on the local bike shop?

A wise person and/or a very good shoe salesman once said: 鈥淎 journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.鈥� This is especially true when it comes to learning how to work on bikes. Start simple! Making paper airplanes is how you get started in aviation. Pouring yourself a bowl of Lucky Charms is the first step in learning the culinary arts. And building a fixed-gear rig is how you begin to learn to work on bikes.

Thanks to the Great Track Bike Boom of the early aughts, there are about a gazillion suitable frames and parts out there for your fixed-gear project, many of which can be had very cheap. You won鈥檛 have to deal with the trickier stuff like tuning derailleurs or running lots of cables or bleeding hydraulic brake. At the same time, building one presents an opportunity to to learn essential stuff like how to install a bottom bracket or a chain鈥攊deally on a cheap frame you won鈥檛 cry over if (or when) you manage to scratch it or worse. And of course you don鈥檛 have to spend much money, since fixed-gears don鈥檛 have very many parts.

Best of all, they鈥檙e great bikes to ride in the winter when conditions are slushy and salty, since you don鈥檛 have to worry about destroying your fancy drivetrain.

All of the above also applies to single speeds, except you鈥檒l also want to add a rear brake.

A Vintage Gravel Bike Conversion

Okay, you鈥檙e not going to win any originality points with this one. Converting older hybrid and mountain bikes into gravel bikes is totally 鈥渁 thing,鈥� and at this point doing so is like being the 50 millionth person to sport a Nirvana t-shirt. Nevertheless, it鈥檚 a worthy intermediate-level project, and Nirvana remains popular for a reason, so there鈥檚 no reason to feel self-conscious.

A gravel bike conversion does pose some challenges, and the main one is finding a suitable frame. The good news is that there are innumerable rigid mountain bikes and hybrids from the grunge era that are viable for this purpose. The bad news is that, because gravel conversions are so popular, there are too many people who think they can get big, big money for that unremarkable 鈥�90s RockHopper. Even so, you should be able to find something cheap, since pretty much any rigid bike with canti brake bosses and decent frame clearances will do. Just figure out which tires and bar shape you鈥檇 like to use and go from there.

Unlike that fixed-gear, you will have to do a fair amount of cable routing, and if you really want to get fancy you can size up (or down) to 650B wheels. You鈥檒l also have ample opportunity to experiment with drivetrain curation. Do you want to stick with that triple crankset? Do you want to go with a modern single-ring setup? Do you want friction shifters? The cycling landscape is awash with nearly-identical gravel bikes, so why not spend the winter building something with some personality and versatility?

A Classic Road Bike

Speaking of personality, no bicycle exudes charisma like a classic road bike. Light, fast, comfortable, simple鈥� The industry keeps slicing those drop bar bike categories thinner and thinner鈥攇ravel road, endurance road, aero road, endurance aero road鈥攂ut as anyone who buys cold cuts at the deli knows there鈥檚 such a thing as too thin, and at a certain point it becomes impossible to pull the turkey slices apart. A simple road bike with mechanical gears and downtube shifters is the very essence of cycling, and it can handle everything from fast group rides to solo dirt road excursions. Every cyclist should have one.

While people often associate road cycling with elitism and expensive equipment, it is in fact the most accessible form of recreational cycling. There are lots and lots of old road bikes out there that are worthy of rehabilitation, but go for a steel one if you can. Not only is it timeless, but it鈥檚 also accommodating of numerous tire widths. Use friction shifters and you don鈥檛 have to worry about how many cogs it has either. Classic road bikes approach fixed-gear levels of simplicity, but are about a thousand times more versatile. They鈥檙e light as gossamer yet not even remotely precious. Build up an old steel road bike and you can ride it 50 miles into the countryside or head downtown and lock it to a pole.

Extra Credit: Build Yourself A Wheel

These days it鈥檚 just assumed you鈥檙e going to buy a complete wheel 鈥渟ystem鈥� out of a box. However, every cyclist should attempt to build a wheel at least once. Not only is it immensely satisfying, but even if you only do it once the knowledge you gain from it is invaluable, if only because you鈥檒l be able to true your own wheels.

By the spring your knowledge will have bloomed along with the flowers and the trees and you can ride your project triumphantly into the horizon.

The post Forget the Trainer. Build a Project Bike This Winter. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Bike trips in the United States have 聽since 2019鈥攁nd fatalities have along with them. In New York City, where I live, 2023 is shaping up to be for cyclists. Yet when it comes to messages about bike safety, most of what you鈥檒l hear tends to fall under one of the following two categories:

1) We Need To Fight For Better Bike Infrastructure

or

2) Wear A Helmet

None of this is necessarily bad advice; however, it is woefully inadequate. The problem with the first item is that bike infrastructure projects take years if not generations, and if your town doesn鈥檛 have any then it does nothing for you right now. The problem with the second thing is that wearing a helmet doesn鈥檛 do anything for you if you get run over by a truck. So here鈥檚 some advice to fill the wide gulf between changing the world and strapping some foam to your head and hoping for the best:

You鈥檙e Going Too Fast

The word velocitation refers to when you become accustomed to speed when you鈥檙e driving on the highway, so you keep speeding up until you get pulled over or you drive off a cliff. Similarly, because we鈥檙e so car-centric, our entire country has essentially become velocitized鈥攚e think car speed is normal speed, whether we鈥檙e driving or not. Since bicycles go nowhere near as fast as cars, we just take it for granted that it鈥檚 impossible to speed on our bikes.

But it鈥檚 easy to go too fast on your bike, and just like driving, 鈥渢oo fast鈥� is a matter of context. When you鈥檙e driving, 50 miles per hour is too slow for the Interstate yet way too fast for neighborhood streets. (鈥�) Similarly, 20 mph isn鈥檛 exactly warp speed when you鈥檙e out on your road bike, but it鈥檚 quite fast on a city street. The faster you go, the less time you have to react to drivers pulling out of driveways, their passengers flinging their doors open in your path, pedestrians stepping into the street right in front of you, and all the other stuff that happens on your commute. This is especially true in bike lanes, where you might feel a false sense of security鈥攁fter all, bike lanes belong to us (), and some of them are even 鈥�,鈥� but protected lanes are keep you in a more confined space with less room to maneuver and react.

Also, You鈥檙e Going Too Fast

There鈥檚 going too fast just because you can, or because you think you should, and then there鈥檚 also going too fast because you鈥檙e running late, or you just don鈥檛 feel like waiting. But whether it鈥檚 preparing a lavish meal or riding your bike, rushing is how you make a complete mess of it. Yes, there are some valid reasons to run a red light on your bike, but being in a hurry is never one of them, and the moment you find yourself taking risks just to save a handful of seconds is when you put yourself on a potential collision course with all the other risk-takers out there with whom you supposedly 鈥渟hare鈥� the road.

Above all, safe cycling is a matter of reducing risk whenever possible, and the only place it鈥檚 (relatively) safe to be in a rush is in an actual bike race where everyone鈥檚 got the same agenda; otherwise if you鈥檙e in a rush to get to work on your bike you鈥檙e that much more likely to get hit by someone else who鈥檚 in聽 rush to get to work in their car. Would you rather be a little late, or a little dead?

Don鈥檛 Worry About What People Should Be Doing; Worry About What They Actually Do

Yes, drivers really should signal before they turn. They shouldn鈥檛 turn in front of you in intersections. They shouldn鈥檛 open their doors without looking. But they do all of these things, and more, all the time.

Given the fact that you can pretty much count on drivers to do the wrong thing, as a cyclist you have two choices: anticipate it, thereby reducing your own risk of injury or death, or just charge directly at it in a suicidal fit of righteousness like . Granted, in the age of social media there is no greater currency than capturing injustice on video, so the latter may be tempting. However, being right is only worth so much when your bicycle is destroyed and you鈥檙e splayed across the hood of a Hyundai Elantra.

Don鈥檛 worry, anticipating bad driver behavior and acting accordingly isn鈥檛 a form of surrender; it鈥檚 self-preservation. Your number one goal as a cyclist should be to get to where you鈥檙e going and live to ride another day. You will never change anyone鈥檚 mind out there on the road. Once you鈥檝e arrived safely you can go ahead and fight the evils of motordom all day long.

Oh, and pedestrians don鈥檛 always do what they鈥檙e supposed to do, either. So expect it and cut them some slack. Yelling at pedestrians is the cycling equivalent of rolling coal.

Equipment Matters

• Use lights鈥攁 red one on the rear, a white one in the front.
• Wider tires offer better traction, and are less susceptible to road imperfections.
• An upright position not only gives you better visibility but makes it less likely you鈥檒l go over the bars in a crash.
• Is it wet where you live? Fenders help keep you dry; being dry keeps you comfortable; being comfortable means you can focus more on the ride and less on how miserable you feel.
• Is it hot where you live? Get your bag off your body and put it on your bike instead. This will help keep you cool; being cool keeps you comfortable, and so forth. (See above.)
• You don鈥檛 need foot retention to be a 鈥渞eal cyclist.鈥� For certain types of cycling clipless pedals might enhance your experience, but most of the time flat pedals arguably superior. Also, plenty of novice cyclists still think you should use toe clips.聽 Toe clips are pointless. All they do is create yet another opportunity to fall down. .

Remember Who鈥檚 in Control (Hint: It鈥檚 You)

Riders on social media will often complain that the assholes parked in the bike lanes are forcing cyclists into traffic. Remember: you鈥檙e a cyclist. Nobody can force you to do anything. Yes, you are more vulnerable in the sense that you鈥檙e not in a steel box full of air bags, but thanks to the fact that you鈥檙e riding a light, nimble, and efficient machine you also have more freedom than pretty much anyone else out there on the road. Freedom is power. Is the asshole in the bike lane creating a potentially dangerous situation? Is the traffic outside of the bike lane too dangerous? Just hop off the bike, get on the sidewalk, and walk around it. No, the driver hasn鈥檛 won in this case. Would you rather be right or鈥� well, you get it.

This holds true beyond the bike lane as well. Exercise your control when planning your route, and apply all of the above when you do so. Don鈥檛 pick the shortest route because you鈥檙e in a rush; choose the safest route because you want to enjoy the ride in comfort. And remember you鈥檝e got nothing to prove to anybody: if riding in the rain or the dark or the cold makes you uncomfortable then make alternate arrangements and save the ride for another day.

Ultimately, you can鈥檛 control the behaviors of others, but you have complete control over your own behavior. You鈥檝e also got the power to avoid conflicts instead of engaging in them, and to avoid potentially dangerous situations, and to choose being a happy cyclist instead over being an angry one. The key to enjoying the ride is enjoying the ride. Figure out how to do that and the rest has a way of taking care of itself.

The post Five Bike-Safety Tips That Are More Important than Wearing a Helmet appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

2023 was a big year for me. For one thing, I was coronated as king of the United Kingdom and the commonwealth realms at Westminster Abbey, which is a pretty big deal. Also, I started commuting by bike again in New York City for the first time since 2009, which is even more significant.

That鈥檚 not to say I had left New York City or stopped riding in the interim鈥擨 didn鈥檛, and I didn鈥檛. But riding for pleasure, and riding through the city during the morning and evening rush to the same destination on a regular basis in order to perform services in exchange for monetary compensation, are two very different experiences. So after a 14-year hiatus, I returned to bike commuting. It felt like I was returning to a new metropolis, and one that I was seeing with new (or, more accurately, old) eyes.

When I stopped commuting in 2009, the mayor of New York City was this rich guy, Mike Bloomberg. Bloomberg鈥檚 plan was to gussy up the city, presumably so it would be tolerable to him while he wasn鈥檛 at his home in Bermuda. To that end, Bloomberg appointed this woman named Janette Sadik-Khan as commissioner of the Department of Transportation. Sadik-Khan had an idea that was considered very radical in America at the time: people should be able to ride bikes and walk in a city without getting run over by motor vehicles. So, she started installing plazas and bicycle lanes, including the (meaning bicyclists were ostensibly sheltered from motor vehicle traffic), which opened on 9th Avenue in Manhattan in 2007. By 2009, the city , though barely five miles of that was physically separated from car traffic.

Nevertheless, those were heady days indeed, and cycling was very much in the zeitgeist. Everywhere you went, hipsters were inexpertly piloting brakeless fixies. The New York Times had a regular cycling column called 鈥溾�濃�攖heir first since the 鈥�,鈥� which used to run back in the 19th century during the original bike boom. Talking Heads frontman David Byrne became New York City cycling鈥檚 , and he even hosted sort of a as part of . All of this resulted in endless hand-wringing over whether or not all this was to blame for New York City鈥檚 hyper-gentrification (an unanswerable question really, it鈥檚 a chicken-and-egg type thing), and how difficult it was becoming for .

Meanwhile, for all this excitement, these things didn鈥檛 even exist in New York in 2009:

• Citi Bike bicycle share program (launched in May 2013)
• Uber (launched in New York City in 2011) and Lyft (launched in New York City in 2014)
• Ebikes, escooters, other e-stuff (I mean I鈥檓 sure they existed, but they weren鈥檛 a thing, and virtually all bicycles were still fully human-powered)
• Chick-fil-A (launched in New York City in 2015, doesn鈥檛 have all that much to do with bikes, but it seems worth mentioning)

Anyway, that鈥檚 what things were like when I stopped commuting. Now I鈥檓 back. Perhaps the biggest change, at least on paper, is the increase in the , which now consists of over 1,400 miles, 590 of which are protected. In 2009, the city estimated that around 24,000 people per day ; now it鈥檚 around 54,000鈥攕till a pretty small piece of the overall transit picture, but a sizeable increase nevertheless. Then there鈥檚 Citi Bike. As I mentioned, in 2009 it wasn鈥檛 even a thing. Now it鈥檚 celebrating its tenth anniversary, is the largest bike share program in the country, and as of this past April the system .

But as far as actually riding in the city goes, the biggest change I鈥檝e seen by far is what people are riding. Back in 2009 the height of folly was someone skip-stopping a brakeless fixie down the Williamsburg Bridge path and exploding their tire in the process. (Yes, I鈥檝e seen it.) Now it鈥檚 someone in a full-face helmet and motorcycle leathers coming at you on an electric unicycle at 40mph. Riders clad head-to-toe in protective gear ply the city鈥檚 greenways on high-speed electric scooters like they鈥檙e probing the surface of an alien planet. Pedal-assist e-bikes have given way to full-on electric motorcycles, and thanks to the preponderance of food delivery apps, there is now a steady stream of both electrified and gasoline-powered motorscooters in the bike lane. It now seems like every time I change direction on my bicycle there鈥檚 an electrified something-or-other on my flank in the process of overtaking me, resulting in a near-miss, and sometimes to pedal an old-fashioned bicycle in New York City is to feel like a nineteenth century dandy who鈥檚 fallen through a wormhole in time, bewildered by the bizarre electrified world in which he鈥檚 now found himself.

Meanwhile, while drivers were always crazy, their reckless has now taken on an additional dimension of wild abandon. Sure, they were always like the psycho in the thriller movie, but now they鈥檙e like the psycho after he鈥檚 been stabbed and left for dead but it turns out the stabbing only made him angrier. , and people just drive around with pieces of paper taped to their tinted windows, their vehicles exuding the scent of the week. They don鈥檛 just sneak through intersections a second or two after the light turns red; now they just fully run the light in exactly the way people have always accused cyclists of doing it. Car-salmoning too has become commonplace, and it鈥檚 not unusual to see someone speed into the oncoming lane in order to cut to the front of the line at the red light they then proceed to run. During the time I wasn鈥檛 commuting it became fashionable for city officials to talk about how they were going to 鈥�,鈥� but there鈥檚 now , thanks in no small part to .

In 2009 there was a sense that we were on the verge of a transformation, and that it wouldn鈥檛 be long before the city resembled its forbear, Amsterdam. To be sure, there are more cyclists, and more bike lanes, but there鈥檚 also more鈥verything. It鈥檚 not so much a transformation as it is an intensification. In 2009 New York City saw the fin the 100 years since it started counting them; this number included 12 cyclists. In 2018 the city saw another all-time low, when 鈥渙nly鈥� ten cyclists were killed. But in 2019 that number went up to 29; in 2020 it was 24; in 2021 it was 18; and in 2022 it was 17. Is this simply the result of the increased number of cyclists on the roads? Is it the e-bikes? The unregistered cars and mopeds? The lawlessness of the lockdown years? The ? The unprecedented traffic? The massive shift to Internet shopping and all the truck traffic that comes with it? The legal weed? Depending on what your own personal agenda is you鈥檒l likely blame one thing over the others, but most likely it鈥檚 a mix of all of them, whipped into a froth by the churning and roiling that has always characterized life in New York.

There is one thing that hasn鈥檛 changed in all those years though, and it鈥檚 that for all the mishigas, it鈥檚 still deeply and profoundly enjoyable to ride a bicycle in New York City. Yes, it can be fraught at times, and the bike lanes are often blocked, but once you (or revert to the way we all rode before bike lanes were a thing) you can focus on savoring the freedom from traffic jams and timetables and transit delays and the beauty of pedaling along the Hudson River as the sun sets behind the New Jersey Palisades. Yes, New York changes so much and so quickly that even the skyline itself is much different than it was in 2009. But the transcendent feeling you get when ride into it from across the river is always the same.

Anyway, it sure beats riding the subway.

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