riding from the back door or from the car?

[Fixed]

i have always liked riding from my house but i live in the middle of a city . so i am thinking it might be wise when i start riding again to load up my bike and drive somewhere where it is safer to ride . what do you guys do ? that or i do my 20 times around(my neighborhood) a loop course in an hour ride kinda boring but still fun cos i have about the only hill in town half the loop is up hill the other half is down but it is safe there
cheers

[bicycletricycle]

I just cant drive in a car to go on a ride. It just seems ridiculous. Besides, I don't have a car, but that's not the point.

[Lifelover]

Fat tires from the house!

[BrownBear]

I live in Chicago when I'm home from school and I ride to the lakefront to get to the areas i need to for training. I would never consider driving. We have a loop called Fort Sheridan out in the north suburbs and I ride the lake to evanston (another suburb along the way), evanston to fort sheridan to do loops, then back home. Long day on the bike but worth every bit of it rather than driving.

[Fixed]

i really liked riding to davis island to do my training rides (it is very beautiful there )and i have a bike lane most of the way there but that is where(on my way to davis island ) i got hit (in the bike lane )so i may be a little shy now .
cheers

[rounder]

I leave from my house for rides. But i live near the country and the main roads have shoulders that you can ride on. The country roads don't have many cars and there is nice scenery. I work in the D.C. suburbs, and there is no way that I would ride those roads on a regular basis with all the traffic and stressed drivers. If i did live there, i would take my bike out more into the country for a more peaceful ride.

[rugbysecondrow]

I do both. I like riding from my house but I will drive to hit up new rides or to meet with friends or a group.

[onsight512]

I do both. I like riding from my house but I will drive to hit up new rides or to meet with friends or a group.

I do both. Most of my riding is commuting to and from work. When I took everything into consideration I decided that the best way for me was a short drive to the bus station followed by a bike ride down the MUT followed by a short train ride to get to work. The traffic in the afternoon is what keeps me taking the train for that portion of the commute (North Hollywood into Hollywood). Im mostly okay riding in traffic, but Cahuenga Pass makes me uneasy.
Do whatever feels best for you and have fun.

[AngryScientist]

i do both, most rides do leave from my house, but i definitely do travel a lot with the bike to do some specialized rides, whatever you feel is best and safest is the way to go.

[93legendti]

Whenever possible, from my house.

[Black Dog]

Nothing wrong with doing both. There are a lot of rides out there and only so many of them can be done from the front door. Take the car once in a while and enjoy the ride.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . but I've done all the usual routes so many times there's not much new left. so I am more open to driving to a starting point.

But my usual rule is that I will not do a remote start ride that is shorter than the drive time to get there and back. So if I drive an hour each way to get to the start point the ride better be longer than two hours or to me it's not worth doing. Keep in mind vacations don't count.

BBD

[AFS]

These days pretty much from my house. But when I was coming back from a long layoff I would drive to an area that had less traffic. I just need a calmer environment to get back into the swing of things. Even though I live in the country the flatter routes that I needed were heavily used by farm equipment and tractor-trailers. I did forget my front wheel once and when I went back to the parking site, about 20 minutes later, it was no where to be seen.:crap: But other than that it worked out well for me.

[msl819]

both for me too. on the road bike it is almost always from the house. however, my local mtb trail is about 9 miles from the house so i drive there. like others on here too i commute most days via bike so as of lately my vehicle has gotten most of its miles carrying my mtb to the park. how backwards is that?

[Jason E]

If it is not a Mtn Bike Ride where I need to go to the trail head, or an organized ride, I leave from the house. It's a time and logistics thing...

We moved to a different part of Raleigh. Now if I leave from my house I am 5 minutes from a number of great local road loops, and plenty of jump offs for extending the loops. Today was a great 31 miles with low traffic lots of ups and downs, and an occasional rider.

Love it.

[Matt-H]

I am fortunate to be able to ride from home and do some great road and mtb
rides. Add young kids into the equation and the vast majority of my rides are out the back door.

[Mike748]

Both. I try to be smart about when I'm on the road. Saturday afternoons are bad traffic-wise so if that's when I can ride, I use the car to go somewhere safer or to the MTB trail. I consider it risk management.

[Louis]

I used to live about 25 minutes from work, but the riding there was only so-so. When I bought my house access to good riding right out the door was the single most important factor in choosing the location. Of course, I'm now 45 minutes from work, but it's mostly worth it. (Although home ownership is a real pita.)

[rickbb]

All of my solo rides are from the house but rides with friends usually require a drive.
Both are fun!

[biker72]

I always ride from the house. Transporting my bike in a car is defeating one of the reasons for riding....saving gas.

[victoryfactory]

Weekdays after work, from the house. I have 4 or 5 basic routes that
are 20-35 miles. But there is traffic and slower going.

Weekends with good weather, I drive about 1 hr to the farm country for longer
rides (35-60 miles in nicer surroundings)

[Mr Cabletwitch]

I always leave from the house unless its a mountain ride.

[Vientomas]

Road ride: !00% from the house.

Mountain ride: 25% from the house / 75% from the car

[SamIAm]

I have plenty of riding out the door of my house, but that can get old. I don't mind driving to a ride.

If I lived in what I considered a hazardous start location, I would drive to a suitable start point and feel great about it. There are definitely roads I would not ride. Sometimes I am in the car with my wife and just note how inhospitable this road would be for cycling and two days ago just after making that comment, we came upon a rider that had been hit by a car.

It can also be a time consideration. Even if I could ride to the start of a group ride, sometimes time does not permit.

But for the most part, it doesn't get any better than just riding riight out of your garage.

[thwart]

But for the most part, it doesn't get any better than just riding right out of your garage. 1+.

It'll take a while to get by the accident and all that comes with it, but I think riding from home is the best answer.

[fourflys]

driving to a ride vs. from the house...

I do both... I can certainly ride from my door and do most of the time... BUT, I also like to ride in new places that my body isn't able to take me to and back from my door (or time doesn't allow)...

I think it's fine to drive to the start of a ride, especially if you live in the middle of the city...

[rodcad]

There's no right answer here. Do what feels right in your heart and ride your bike. After having lost a friend to a car/bike accident, and after many personal car/bike incidents, I ride 99% on dirt and bike paths. Sharing a lane with cars is just not fun for me anymore. Rednecks, talking on cell phones, texting......no thanks.

[xjoex]

I ride both, I live 10 feet from a big city park. But the single track gets old. I like to ride my bike at different places, so I drive places to ride (or hike and run) on the weekend.

-Joe

[cycling.james]

There is something nice about driving to the starting point for a ride, then getting back in the car after you've finished. I don't own a car, so they're rare occasions when I do that. I feel the same about taking the train though: it can be a nice experience to unwind en route after a long ride instead of weaving through new york traffic. Cuts down on the stress of a ride, even if it does increase the amount of time.

[spamjoshua]

I think safe is best, and hope you know your traffic well, but also know for me:

My head starts happiest, and my ride quality is maximized, if there is no driving/traffic/parking between me and "go."

Happy healing.

[Tim]

No Car- ride from the house to the LBS where I meet up with my riding group on the weekends. During the week, I ride from the house by myself. Living in Montreal, there are several reasonable routes available to me.

[yodelinpol]

I live in N Raleigh. Depending on time of year and traffic around Six Forks etc... I either ride from the house or drive somewhere... To be honest after a long day at work the last thing I want to do is deal with the stress and danger of 5pm traffic... sometimes I just go park at the art museum and go ride to and around the fireroads at Umstead. Or I'll drive up near Blue Jay Point and ride around that area staying off the higher traffic roads... Weekends I almost always ride from the house to wherever I am going.

If it is not a Mtn Bike Ride where I need to go to the trail head, or an organized ride, I leave from the house. It's a time and logistics thing...

We moved to a different part of Raleigh. Now if I leave from my house I am 5 minutes from a number of great local road loops, and plenty of jump offs for extending the loops. Today was a great 31 miles with low traffic lots of ups and downs, and an occasional rider.

Love it.

[fiamme red]

I don't own a car, but that's not necessary in NYC, since trains allow bicycles on weekends. When the weather is nice, I try to take the train once a week out past the more crowded suburbs and ride on rural roads. I rarely do the same ride twice.