Coming into town for the weekend. Looking to do 60-80 miles @ 20+mph on my road bike. Staying by Marshall park. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

I'm planning to fly in to Charlotte in early December for a week and hope to rent a bike and do some local rides. Last time I visited, I drove and took my gravel bike with me. I rode the trails at the Whitewater Center and had a blast. Mainly, I'm a road rider who often does some underbiking on single-track trails with my gravel bike. Where would I be able to rent a MTB for trail riding or a road bike for some road rides? Also, what sort of weather should I plan for in early December?

Hey all,

I'm looking for some advice from experienced bike commuters on handling a tricky part of my route.

I’m fairly new to commuting by bike and usually ride to and from work in uptown. Thankfully, most of my trip has sidewalks or bike paths, but there’s one stretch (Matheson, for those familiar) where it’s a “share the road” situation with no dedicated sidewalk or bike lane. It’s a four-lane road (two lanes each way), and I usually stick to the right lane.

At first, I tried staying to the far right of the lane, but I had a few close calls with cars that seemed to think I didn’t need the whole lane. Now, I take up the entire right lane to make it clear that I’m using it, hoping this makes me more visible.

Still, I’ve had a couple of people yelling things like “Get your a$$ out of the road!” from the passenger side. Honestly, I’m not sure what they expect me to do. For context, I’m on a mountain-style bike, not an e bike.

For those of you who bike in similar situations, how do you handle sharing the road? Do you get much backlash, and if so, how do you deal with it?

Next week contemplating taking the kids on a biking adventure from Myers Park up to the Charlotte Amtrak station and to Salisbury to go to the NC Transportation Museum and return same day. Amtrak says bike width maximum is 2". My ebike has 4" fat tires. Am I out of luck to bring it on the 2 stop ride from Charlotte to Salisbury? Any thoughts/experiences appreciated.

Hey All -

I’m not local, but I’m coming to Charlotte and am looking for fast group rides in the CLT area.

I’ve been to weeklyrides.com and am overwhelmed by the number of rides. Can anyone help whittle down the list for me?

For reference, I’m a cat 2 racer looking for rides that will challenge me.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Wanting more places we can ride that are paved loops paved and on a road as little as possible, preferrably none. Of course, you can make your own loop as well. I have a Bianchi road bike and Trek DS hybrid. Wife has a Velotric ST Plus. Live in China Grove and have been on many trails recently.....Mallard Creek, Thermal Trail, Huntersville Biz Park loop, Granite City Trail in Mt. Airy, Wacammaw Neck @ Pawleys, and Irish Buffalo Creek trail yesterday evening. Good to be back in Carolina's after moving back from Arkansas last year. Razorback Greenway there is amazing and mtn biking in Bentonville is even better. I see there's a loop at Park Road Pond, .7 miles. Thx in advance.

Hi all,

I recently applied for a grant that State Bicycle Co. is putting up for aspiring filmmakers to document a fun trip that they're embarking on. I submitted my application and am getting everything in order for it, but wanted to open this up to the public at-large for anyone wanting to tag along. Even if it doesn't get the grant, I'm still wanting to do it and just have fun!

If you're interested, please comment in here and I'll organize a group chat for us to discuss logistics.

Details:

• Trip will start in the University area at the Boardwalk

• Route will go to NoDa, Uptown, South End, Pineville, Fort Mill, and Rock Hill, with the bulk of it on traffic-calmed routes and/or Little Sugar Creek greenway

• Campsite will be secured in South Carolina, so you do not need to pay for lodging unless you would like a hotel

• Date to be posted at a later time.

I just started biking in clt a few months ago and wasn’t familiar with it until saw all the stickers around town. but, i don’t really see it being promoted

I feel utterly powerless and unable to do anything in the wake of what has happened to our brothers, sisters, and siblings over in Western NC. I know that the cycling community here in Charlotte has displayed a near endless amount of generosity and love in helping out others -- is there any way that we can channel that to help out with the recovery efforts? A canned food drive, getting donations for some of the local organizations, volunteering resources and time? I'm asking because I'm open to ideas -- anything and everything that this city's cyclists can do to help, I want to hear it and see what we can do together.

From where I live I like to ride to Noda every once in awhile and it would be a very straight shot if they would just open up the entrance to this greenway? Just looking for some answers as to why this entrance always seems to be closed. Thanks!

Anyone get a look at the Sugar Creek Greenway today, especially in the Park Road area?

I rode the Campbell Creek (two large trees down on the path) and McAlpine Creek (one large tree blocking access from Tara Drive) greenways this afternoon and would like to ride Sugar Creek in the morning but expect it to be a mess.

My bike recently blew a flat and it's gonna take me a while to get it replaced. I live in Wesley Heights, and I checked this site and while they brag about having a lot of stations, it seems like over half of them are in Uptown. There's a lot of demand for bike share in west charlotte, the bike racks are all full, there's bikes on like a third of the porches I see, and there's a greenway system that takes you right by the stadium in Uptown. But if you don't own a bike, you're SOL. Who can I reach out to to express interest in that?

Hey 👋 apartment dweller here. I live off mockingbird ln which is right by angry ales and brawley’s. Was wanting to know if anyone in this area knew of any places where I can wash my own bike, even a simple garden hose would suffice, thanks.

Looking for something more than just joining an event like critical mass. I’d like to help continue making progress on infrastructure and safety.

Hey! Just joined and looking at trail options in NODA or anywhere else in the city, thanks!

Anyone know a good place to sell a lightly used trainer? I bought a Wahoo Kickr earlier this year, used it maybe 5 times and realized I cannot stand riding inside. Wondering if there are shops that will pay decently before I put it on Craigslist.

Why doesn’t anyone go? It’s pretty cool, they rent bikes, they have pick up races, and clinics for new riders. Just wanted to get a feel for why folks aren’t going to such a great facility.

I mean in terms of safeness and ease of navigation.

When riding on the Greenway I always say 'on your left' whenever I pass someone. If there's nobody on the opposite side I swing as wide as I can and go on my way. If someone is on the opposite side, I'll slow down so I can go through the gap at a slower pace. And obviously, if there's isn't a big enough gap to pass, I wait.

I made this post today because some guy on the greenway was upset with me while biking. There was a group of seven runners ahead of me, some single file others 2 wide. I slow behind them and see that I can pass as only one runner is coming from the opposite direction and he's all the way to my left, therefore there's a gap for me to pass through. I saw 'on your left' and then began to pass and as I approached the man, and I was maybe 3 feet in front of him, he sidestepped into my way put his hands out, and said "C'mon man" then sidestepped out of the way as I hit the brakes. I then said back to him: "You stepped into my way dude what?". I was genuinely surprised cause I swear I passed like 10 other groups of people in the same way and no one seemed to care.

I come from a smaller town where interactions like this don't even really have the opportunity to happen as we ride on the roads. Did I do something wrong or will some people always be upset no matter how risk-adverse and respectful you act?

Hi everyone! I don't expect anyone to know or remember me, but my name is John Holmes and I am an urban policy advocate situated here in East Charlotte, just off Lawyers Road. I've been doing a lot in the background lately ever since I started working full-time, but there's been a lot going on here in the city that I've had my hand on just so you have some brief context. I helped advocate to our City Council for more sidewalk funding (which, I want to stress, thank you to everyone who helped that become a success), we've been able to finally get some bike projects in East Charlotte (check out the Central/Kilborne intersection!), I've also helped out with some of the public engagement work for the Red Line and the Albemarle Corridor Cultural Trail.

Anyway.

I was recently contacted by a city staffer and made aware that a report came online for the public's viewing. The City of Charlotte’s Internal Audit Department recently released their own analysis and report on the City of Charlotte’s Vision Zero program, a program that had the aspirations of ensuring that traffic deaths were brought down to zero. This is a feat that other municipalities are making great strides towards, both here in the United States and abroad, but since its adoption of the plan, Charlotte has seen traffic deaths, especially for pedestrians and cyclists, continue to rise.

The report has several take-aways and looks at the interaction between Charlotte’s Department of Transportation, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, NC DOT, and the city's contractors, but looking at this from my own background of traffic safety advocacy and being a Strong Towns member, here are the items that stuck out to me:

1. Charlotte’s Department of Transportation has not fully implemented many key components of the Vision Zero Action Plan and does not have a designated individual, with the authority to make decisions, in place to redesign and retrofit our streets to be safer. Until the City places that authority into the hands of someone able to make these decisions, we will continue to suffer these deaths.

2. The CIty of Charlotte’s staff, contracts, and police force do not understand the dangers of blocking sidewalks and bike lanes, even though the city has a standing policy against this.

3. Working Vision Zero programs will see a traffic death occur and examine the variables in order to mitigate them and create a safer environment. If you see that someone was hit in a crosswalk at a lethal speed, you decide to narrow the crossing lane and also raise the crosswalk so that vehicles are forced by default to slow down. Our Vision Zero program does not create projects in response to deaths.

4. We are equating law enforcement being involved with traffic stops as an effective means of reducing traffic deaths - there is not a single successful Vision Zero program that has succeeded because of traffic stops. The issue is, and has always been, that our roadways are dangerously designed and place people in situations where they are induced into driving at high speeds. We can pull people over for speeding on North Tryon’s four-lane roads past its 45 MPH speed limit and pat ourselves on the back for that, but we don’t realize that:

   A) That legal speed limit of 45 MPH is 80% likely to outright kill any pedestrians or cyclists;

   B) People do not speed on roads that are smaller and tightly designed - the fatalities we see on North Tryon are not found at the same frequency on the cramped streetscapes of NoDa or SouthEnd.

5. The City of Charlotte is at odds with North Carolina DOT when it comes to its priorities for transportation. In 2021, rezoning request RZP-2021-015 was filed to rezone a parcel off West Boulevard to accommodate more density in the form of townhomes. Charlotte’d DOT staff sent it back to the developer, making the request to add in bike lanes, extend the sidewalk connections, and a bus shelter. The developer agreed to do this and cover the cost -- only for NCDOT to step in and remove the bike lane, sidewalk extension, and bus shelter from the stop without explanation.

That’s all I have for now - I hope everyone finds some value in this, reaches out to their respective representatives to encourage them to seek out solutions for these issues (such as restructuring Charlotte DOT to have that needed authority figure and getting to the root of why NCDOT is at odds with the City), and (most importantly) stays safe. Have a wonderful start to your week.

Warmest regards,

John E. Holmes III