A Visitor’s Perspective On Bicycling in San Diego

Boston’s Chic Cyclists blog posted a reflection on bicycling in San Diego today:

Cycling in downtown San Diego is a little like Boston except with no separate bike lane. It was cool for San Diego and intermittent rain. Hardly any bikers. Didn’t see any bike commuters. Rode around using roadway and sidewalk when available. Cars gave me room. There is a wide promenade along the shoreline which is good for sightseeing, including the aircraft carrier Midway. Rode out to airport to pick up my rental car saving the $12 cab fare… Picked up a bike map put out by the County, but didn’t get chance to use it. The bike rental shop was right downtown, two blocks from my hotel. Closed on Sunday so big problem for weekend rental. My car rental was $13/day. The mountain bike was $25/day, $10/hour.

I would sure love to see more positive evaluations of our infrastructure, ease of movement, and bicycle culture. We have the attractions (zoo, museums, beaches, parks, restaurants, neighborhood culture, etc.), so how can San Diego capitalize on its many virtues to make our city more bike-friendly? Most short-term visitors stay downtown and along the waterfront, so what could a bike-friendly urban core look like here? How could we make what already exists better? Comments are open, give us your ideas!