I live on a bike path now

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1. In New York, I was pretty openly disdainful of the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Path, finding it suitable only for walking due to poor surfaces, ruts and humps, and groups of people who liked to walk three abreast, moving laterally in unpredictable fashions. We have an amazing network of bike paths out here in Central Iowa that made me reconsider my path disdain . . . we, too, live near a trail head, and I did the winter ninja cyclist thing my first year out here too . . . http://indiemoines.com/2011/12/02/on-the-great-western-trail-again/
   I think you will come to enjoy it, especially when the snow is done!!!

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2. I agree, I used the bike path around Albany primarily in the shoulder months; otherwise it was just too cluttered with people who were wildly confused about which side was their left, and I’d make better time going with traffic through Menands. Here I’m told it gets that way into Philadelphia, and the road cycling is apparently fairly terrible, which is a huge downside to this, but I’ll muddle through. It’s terrible because the roads are narrow and utterly shoulderless. I didn’t think ANYTHING could make me appreciate Rensselaer county roads, but apparently there are worse things. I may have to take up riding with a group, which is pretty much the polar opposite of what I want from a ride, but at least I’d be turning pedals.

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3. I feel the same way about group riding, and that’s one thing that’s really a problem out here . . . the whole RAGBRAI culture based on a once-a-year week-long rolling party on wheels permeates the rest of the calendar. I think a lot of the blasting boom-boxes on bikes, and people yelling conversations on the road, and groups wearing clever costumes together, and riding six abreast stems from the fact that if its okay to do it on RAGBRAI, then it must be okay to do it all the time. But it is not, and at this point, I really have no interest in RAGBRAI, and instead have been planning EOSBRAI (Eric’s One-Time Solitary Bike Ride Across Iowa). Because cycling has always been an almost completely solitary pursuit for me . . . and even when I ride with other people, I don’t want to talk to them while I am doing it. So I hope you’re able to find some roads and paths that allow you that quiet ride time, too!!!!

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