Everybody likes Top 10 lists. It gets us thinking about a topic and wondering why some items were picked over others.
For instance, Seattle often lands on “best cities to bicycle” lists, but has yet to show up on the League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Communities list.
Anyway, here is my Top 10 collection of “Top 10” bicycling lists over a range of topics — best bicycling cities, best bicycle rides in cities, best bike stores, best ways to avoid being hit by a car, etc., etc. It's all very unscientific, but the decision of the judges is final.
No. 10: Top 10 Reasons to Bike Instead of Drive — While this Bikeworks list is a little silly, it does touch on a lot of the positives of bicycle riding. Entries include “Bicycling is the fountain of youth,” “bicyclists make better lovers” and “you can cancel your gym membership.”
No. 9: Top 10 Bicycling Websites — Here are 10 really good websites that I check out frequently. They include several how-to sites about bicycle mechanics and riding, several about bicycle touring and the rest deal with bicycle racing, safety, advocacy and club news. It replaces a list (Top 10 Bicycling Websites ) that just didn't cut it for me.
No. 8: Top 10 Online Bicycle Stores — Performance Bicycle Online leads the list, followed by SuperGo. Interestingly, Craiglist.org did not make the list, and we all know that's the best place to buy a bike these days. (Note: Airborne Direct and Aardvark Cycles links are broken. I'll come up with a new and improved list.)
No. 7: Top 10 Fall Foliage Bicycle Rides — Bicycling's list is out of date now, but save it for next autumn. Colorado's Squaw Pass is No. 1, followed by rides in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan, Utah, Wisconsin.
No. 6: Top 10 City Bike Rides — These are Sunset magazine's answer to the best rides in cities that might not have made the top 10 bicycle city lists. The Paseo del Bosque Trail in Albuquerque is the best ride, followed by Boulder Creek Path in Colorado and Cherry Creek Trail in Denver. Also rides in LA, Salt Lake City, Portland, San Jose, Seattle and Tempe. Note that all the rides are in the Western US.
No. 5: Top 10 Worst Cities for Bike Theft — This list was put together by the Kryptonite bike lock people from data collected in 2001. Not sure if these are based on raw numbers or per capita. The worst is New York, followed by Chicago, Miami and San Francisco.
No. 4: Top 10 Bicycle Touring Rides — This worldwide list from iExplore lists Route 100 through Vermont to the Canadian border as the best bike ride on Earth, followed by Vaucluse, in the Provence region of France. Other rides in the US include Colorado, Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina, and the San Juan Islands in Washington (read more about bicycling on the San Juan and Lopez islands at BikingBis.)
No. 3: Top 10 Bicycle Cities — The AskMen.com list leads with Amsterdam at No. 1, followed closely by Portland at No. 2 and Copenhagen at No. 3. I particularly like this list because it links to my blog.
No. 2: Top 10 Ways Not to Get Hit by Cars — These common-sense tips from Bicycle Safety are illustrated and easy to understand. Michael Bluejay tells how to avoid getting doored and falling victim to the right cross, the right hook and the left hook, among others.
No. 1: Top 10 U.S. Road Bicycling Routes — I particularly like this GORP.com list because it includes 12 choices, a real bargain for a top 10 list. The list includes a few places I can vouch for great bicycling: Okanogan region of Washington, Skyline Drive in Virginia, Highway 1 in California and Natchez Trace in Tennessee and Alabama. The others are places I'd love to bike, such as Cajun Country in Louisiana, Three Bridges in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and Driftless Area, Wisconsin.
And the worst Top 10: PC magazine's Top 10 Gadgets for the Ultimate Ride. Although I ride a lot, I'm not much of a bicycling gadgeteer. However, I would know better than to include not one but two indoor exercise bicycles on a list of gadgets for the “ultimate ride.”
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