End of a Charlottesville neighborhood bike ride (part of our Discover Transportation Freedom program). This is part of the city's famous downtown pedestrian mall.
OK, wrapping up this series (until I have another city to write about,.. and I may soon), here are 7 things I loved about living and bicycling in Charlottesville, VA.
In Charlottesville, I didn’t actually bicycle a lot for my own personal needs. I lived 5 minutes (walking) from work. And the most sensible solution for me for grocery shopping was taking the bus. However, I was the director of an organization promoting clean transportation options in the region and we focused a lot on bicycling. We had a number of bicycle events that allowed me to get out on a bike. From those rides, here are my 7 favorites things:
- The feeling you get after climbing a hill. Charlottesville has its hills! And while going up one isn’t a pleasure, the feeling of success, relief, endorphins, etc that you have after climbing one is pretty nice.
- Exploring different neighborhoods. One of my organization’s big projects was organizing neighborhood bike rides all over the city. Exploring each neighborhood and its local attractions in the process was a lot of fun and very interesting.
- Beautiful, old neighborhoods with large, old trees. Like Chapel Hill and Carrboro, being an old university town, C’ville has some beautiful old neighborhoods. I loved biking through them and especially loved the ones with the large tree canopies overhead.
- UVA campus. The University of Virgina campus is quite beautiful. Biking through it is a pleasure.
- C’ville bike community. Charlottesville has a great bike community. One of the big benefits of bicycling is the great community atmosphere it can create. C’ville is a testament to that and a great city for anyone who wants to be a part of that.
- Bike picnics. Some of the neighborhood bike rides I mentioned above were connected to picnics. Those were a lot of fun and it was very interesting to meet people from around the city at them and enjoy some delicious food at the same time.
- The Community Bike Shop’s variety of fun events. Another great bike organization in the city was the Community Bike Shop. From great youth workshops and programs to Valentine’s Day vegan cookies delivered by bicycling angels to bike-in movies, they come up with a wide range of fun and useful events. Wonderful people and programs.
That’s it for this series… I haven’t written about the city I live in now yet, but need to do some bicycling here first! (Right now, I walk almost everywhere and use the tram/streetcar from time to time).
Have any comments you want to share on great bicycle cities you’ve lived in or live in? Drop them in the comments below!