Riding in either NYC area or DC

[thew]

I grew up just outside DC in MD, left for college, then moved back to DC proper about a decade later. DC and its inner suburbs (inside the beltway) are really underrated for urban cycling and urban nature. We recently moved away again and I really miss it.

The city's size, density and grid make it ideal for biking for transportation--small and dense enough that you're never too far from anything but spaced out enough that non-arterial streets are generally low traffic. The city's invested a lot of money in MUPs, bike routes and other infrastructure over the last 15 years and biking ridership has really grown, making it a much safer and friendlier place to ride for folks of all backgrounds and abilities. Combined with a really good public transit system it's easy to live car-free. Before the pandemic turned everything upside down, DC generally ranked second in bike mode share (after PDX) and second in public transit mode share (after metro NYC) among major cities in the country.

It's also a great place for riding in urban nature. About 20% of the city is park land, much of it forested. Rock Creek Park and Great Falls are gems. There are paved and gravel trail networks along the Anacostia River and Potomac rivers and their tributaries, some fun non-technical single track in the Fort Circle Parks and within riding distance of the city in MD, and much more extensive single track networks within an hours drive away. The rivers are lovely, especially the wetlands along the Aacostia and the Potomac river gorge just upstream of DC. There's great canoeing and whitewater kayaking if that's your thing.

I loved that I could get up early, leave from my door in NE DC to hit any number of 20-30 mile road routes with options to mix in unpaved trails and single track, get a cup of coffee and drink it by the river, then be home in time to feed my kid breakfast.

The post-war suburbs outside of the beltway are far more car oriented. Greenbelt regulations and zoning has contained the sprawl to some extent in MD but it's really bad in northern VA where there historically has been minimal restriction on development. As others have posted, there is more good riding once you get past the sprawl but its a long slog to access this from DC without driving. That said, it's just 2-3 hours to drive to extensive public lands with great hiking and riding in VA and WVA.

All other things equal, if I wanted/needed to live in the city I'd choose DC over NYC for riding and access to nature. If I wanted to live somewhere less urban but needed access to the city, NYC would probably win out thanks to its commuter rail network.