Best and worst cities for cyclists

The 21 best US cities for cycling — and three of the worst — are touted in the March issue of Bicycling magazine.

Writer Brian Fiske appears to have made the choices based on several factors, such as availability of bike lanes and bike paths in the cities, the strength of bicycle advocacy groups, the city government's willingness to support cycling, popularity of bicycle clubs and cycling events, and the overall bicycling culture.

Not surprisingly, Portland, Oregon, was chosen as the best overall city. Fiske writes about, among other things, the city's facilities for cyclists, the Pedalpalooza bike festival, the SHIFT group that relocates people by bicycle, and coolest of all, he quotes bike blogger Jonathan Maus at BikePortland.org.

And the 21 are (the envelope please):

More than 1 million population:
San Diego
Chicago
New York City (he doesn't mention the monthly Critical Mass arrests and 21 bicycle fatalities in 2005)
Philadelphia (honorable mention)
Phoenix (honorable mention)
500,000 to 1 million
Portland
Denver
Seattle
San Francisco (honorable mention)
Austin (honorable mention)
200,000 to 500,000
Madison, WI (Daily Cardinal touts local cycling)
Tucson (Tucson Citizen reports on its great cycling attributes)
Albuquerque
Minneapolis (honorable mention)
Anchorage (honorable mention)
75,000 to 200,000
Boulder
Eugene, OR
Ann Arbor
Chattanooga (honorable mention)
Cambridge, MA (honorable mention)
Below 75,000
Davis, CA (the first platinum level Bicycle Friendly City chosen by League of American Bicyclists)
The 3 worst:
Atlanta (growing car use; declining facilities for cyclists)
Boston (cutting budget for bike coordinator, few bike lanes, bad roads)
Houston (too much red-tape and layers of bureaucracy to accomplish goals for bike lanes/paths)