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LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLISTS This important bicycle oriented organization is a great source of bicycle friendly towns in America. The list i have compiled below includes towns that may or may not be bicycle friendly. Some of the places listed are simply places i have enjoyed riding at or in. Some of them i have never visited.
PORTLAND OREGON
This NW city named as one of the top bicycle towns in the US. Very close to where i grew up.
DAVIS CALIFORNIA
Davis is purported to be a big bicycle booster town. Maybe having the university located there helps.
CHICO CALIFORNIA
They support the bicycle culture from what i understand.
TUCSON ARIZONA
This city with over a million people i understand - is supposed to be a pretty good bicycling town.
FORT BRAGG, CALIFORNIA
Located on the coast 10 miles north of the small town of Mendocino. This place offers a lot in the way of services and facilities. It has basically everything: grocery stores (Safeway), close campgrounds, library, public restrooms, showers, a bike shop, some locally owned eateries and fast food restaurants like McDonalds, Subway, Round Table Pizza, and very beautiful scenery. Also, good weather. There is also a really nice paved shoulder to ride on between Fort Bragg and the town of Mendocino, a really neat trip of about ten miles one way. However, please keep in mind that in general large portions of Hwy. 1 are very dangerous for bicycle riders as you may already know. I love this place, but it tends to be over-crowded like many other places on the coast. MacKerricher State Park is very beautiful and I have stayed there on several different occasions. You can camp there and then get up in the morning and ride your bike to town for breakfast. I think it's about 3 miles from town. Take the two lane paved shore line logging road (no vehicles allowed) to town. I forget what it's called, but it's really neat.
CAMBRIA, CALIFORNIA
Once awhile back I camped overnight at the nearby campground "San Simeon State Park" in the
primitive campground section. This is a good place. Plenty of shoulder room on the highway to town (Cambria) and around for safer bicycle riding. Nice area. Close to the beach and amenities. Plus i think the famous Cambria Bicycle Outfitters are located here.
CRESCENT CITY, CALIFORNIA This is a very good place to live. I lived here for about 4 months. Bicycling is generally pretty good especially if you head north on Northcrest Ave towards Brookings Oregon. It rains in the winter some, but not as bad as some people say. Many times i rode my bike in the rain. I like the weather in Crescent City - extremely nice summers especially.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
I know San Diego is a hot bicycle riding place noted for its' very pleasant weather, bicycle shops and bicycle paths. In Inperial Beach--the KOA campground might be a good place to stay for a bicycling vacation.
CATALINA ISLAND, CALIFORNIA
I have never camped on Catalina Island nor have i rode my bicycle there. But, I am looking into the possibility of camping at "Hermit Gulch" campground and using my bicycle around town and the general area.
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
Web sites galore! Big recreation area. Close to the beach (many beach towns: Avila Beach, Cambria,
Cayucos, Grover Beach, Los Osos-Baywood Park, Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, San Simeon).
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
Orange county is a big bicycle friendly place and I should have included it on this page. Click this link for access to good bike riding info, like maps, etc.
LOMPOC CALIFORNIA
Great weather and very good place to ride bicycles. I lived here for about a couple of months but for personal reasons i had to leave.
INDIAN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
This is a real find for me. A long time ago, when Dr. GENE SCOTT (of Los Angeles fame) televised his show or church service in my area, he would occasionally mention a beautiful place to ride bicycles called "Indian Valley" but they never mentioned where it was located. So I called the church and also wrote to them asking about the place and they would never disclose to me the whereabouts of "Indian Valley". The problem is there are two or more "Indian Valleys" in California. And the indian valley they were refering to is really hard to find in my opinion. However, I have been successful in finding the location and I am going to publish the whereabouts on this web page. The bicycle friendly "Indian Valley" is located in Plumas County, CA north of the town of "Quincy" off hwy 89 and includes the towns of Greenville, Crescent Mills, Taylorsville, Indian Falls, Canyondam and Genesee. This area is in Northern California, NE of Oroville and a little SE of "Lake Almanor" off hwy 89. The closest bicycle shop is "Bodfish Bicycles" in the town of "Chester" on the north end of Lake Almanor, phone number is: (530) 258-2338.
Update: Remote, beautiful, one low cost primitive campground close by: Near Greenville ($8.00 a night). This place is really a beautiful area but not really what I had in mind for cheap camping and lots of bicycle riding. I don't know where you'd take a shower or shave if you wanted to. I guess if you had a motorhome or self-contained trailer you might find it more comfortable. Not to many amenities for the person visiting the area. But, on second thought I guess you could put up a tent and "rough it" in the campground for awhile. It's a pretty neat area really.
Update again: I just discovered that you can use the The Taylorsville County Park and Campground. It is located 1/2 mile east of Taylorsville past Indian Creek, right across from the Indian Valley Riding and Roping Club (Rodeo grounds). This is close to Greenville.
450 + campsites.
$14 per night for overnight camping.
$75 for group picnic area use.
Coin-operated showers at $1 (quarters).
Showers open 24 hrs per day.
Flushing toilets.
RV dump station.
Tennis court.
Horseshoe pits.
Beach access for swimming and fishing.
Group picnic area.
Quiet time - 10p.m. to 6 a.m.
Open April through October, weather permitting.
For special event arrangements, reservations, and other information about the campground, contact the manager at (530) 284-7692.
BORREGO SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA
This place is located approximately 30 miles west of the the Salton Sea. I have visited here and ridden my bike here and will report my experience with this location. This town is a popular destination for bicycle riding clubs. It is bicycle friendly. There are long stretches of highway with established bicycles lanes. The town itself is very small and built on the slopes of the adjacent foothills or mountains. The town itself is not level, but the lateral roads branching out from the town are considered relatively flat and make for good long distance riding. The area is touted as being "flat" but it's not as flat as I was hoping it would be. The town is very clean and nicely organized. Borrego Springs is a nice place. There are several grocery stores, some locally owned restaurants, no bike shops, a hardware store, a state park where you can camp. Free camping is also permitted on the Anza-Borrego state park lands. You might find a reasonable place to live if you like trailer or mobilehome living. It gets pretty hot in the summertime, but it's a dry heat not a hot heat (lol).
RIDGECREST, CALIFORNIA
As far as I can tell - this is the mother of all bicycle towns. Possibly not very well known. This place is flat and has very long stretches of relatively flat uncrowded highways for those into bicycle racing and need a good place to train. I think the elevation is approximately 2200 ft. I like Ridgecrest... wished I could live there. The housing costs (I think) are pretty reasonable. People are building nice new homes in the area just as they are in Borrego Springs. It is located out in the middle of nowhere and I mean nowhere. Ridgecrest is not located close to any major city. But guess what, and this blows my mind: They have all the things a person could want in a town: Fast food restaurants, pizza joints, all-you-can-eat buffets, Walmart, Albertson's Grocery Stores, a bicycle shop(s) check out: TJ Frisbee Bicycles Stater Bros. Groceries, Home Depot, Staples, Sears, donut shops, K-mart, Big 5 sporting goods. If you like to be able to ride your bike everywhere---this is the place to be. Nice climate but can get very hot in the summer time (114 degrees), nice roads, good tasting water, low cost of living, all the amenities you need.
LAUGHLIN, NEVADA
I made a trip here and brought two of my bicycles with me and had a great time. It was
in the summer and very hot. I stayed at "Don Laughlin's Riverside Resort" a good place to stay to save some money (they had very low room rates) used their swimming pools, ate at their buffet and generally had a good time. I was able to ride my bikes and when I got too hot could locate some street that went down to the river where I could cool off. The river water was clear and clean; at least it seemed that way to me.
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