I jus finished a 15 day solo bike ride around Lake Michigan and the bike paths saved me through Michigan and Wisconsin, but especially Chicago.

I used to own a bicycle messenger company in Chicago. I used to leverage car traffic to my advantage. Before I moved to Colorado, I counted 21 controlled intersections that I had to cross on my four mile commute to the office. When I moved to Boulder Colorado, my new four mile commute to the new job was downhill and 90% was on a bike path. Recently, I had to go from North Boulder to Westminster, an 18 mile trip. All but 2 miles were on dedicated bike path. The calm piece of mind you experience when bicycle infrastructure can get you where you need to go, safely, is absolutely amazing. Bliss.

Local paths in town are a great way to get around Madison (within the strictures of where they exist), and for me, also often a beginning or end of a longer bike ride out in the countryside.

Four years ago, after I totaled our electric Nissan Leaf (no one was hurt!), my husband Steve Price made a radical proposal: What if we don’t replace the car? What if we buy electric bikes instead? We decided that car-lite living would only work if we never deprived ourselves because we didn’t own a car. Since then we’ve been happily using a variety of modes of transportation as fits the need: e-bikes for errands around El Cerrito where we live; walks to the library, grocery store, and restaurants; AC Transit and BART for trips to Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco; Lyft and AAA’s GIG CarShare for car-dependent local outings; and car rentals and transit for getting out of town.

When I went back to working full-time in the office in March, it was a huge shift for me. I'd been working remotely since 2019, and I'd grown used to commuting to my couch. Initially, my commute to downtown Denver posed a lot of challenges: - Parking downtown was astronomically expensive. - The RTD lightrail took a long time to travel door-to-door. - I felt like I didn't have enough time to consistently workout or cook at home after work, because my commute was eating into my free time. But when I realized that I could travel all the way from my house to my office on protected bike lanes and Denver's amazing trail system, AND I could purchase an e-bike through the City's e-bike voucher program, it was a lightbulb moment for me: -- E-biking to work on Denver's trail systems takes me the same amount of time as driving - and I could skip the traffic! - I could reduce my carbon footprint by reducing my single-occupancy vehicle use. - I could use my bike commute as my daily exercise. - I could increase my time outdoors, which is important for my mental health. - I could save around $300 a month on parking. - I could have full control over what time I left the house in the morning, and not be beholden to a bus or lightrail schedule. Now that I commute by bike >80% of the time, I'm pleasantly surprised by how much it has improved my daily life! And I feel much safer knowing that I can get all the way from my house to my office on protected bike lanes and separate trail systems.

I am a 45-year, year-round bicycle commuter, averaging 3500 commuter miles annually--just as a note. I've ridden in all conditions and on all kinds of city streets in the Denver Metro area. The main positive to Denver's newer bicycle-friendly mindset is that I feel more supported emotionally by this updated cyclist-friendly city culture. It's a psychological boost. However, some of the new bicycle-commuter infrastructure causes me concern for my safety as a rider. For example, on a few inner-city, downtown routes, the city has installed bicycle-specific zones that feature pylons and bollards demarking cyclist space. Automobiles still cruise these streets, but now, they have to negotiate all this cyclist infrastructure, and it feels counter productive. My question is, are all these infrastructure features a benefit--or a hazard, first for cyclists and then motorists? Bollards and bicycles do not mix because now cyclists have to face immovable objects. Pylons and bollards just create new road hazards (in many ways)--and they elevate the frustration of motorists towards pedal commuter's like myself. As well, when is snows, where do the plows clear the snow? Into the bicycle zones. My hope for the future rests with the city designating bicycle-only streets--and there are a number of streets that would work. Yes, this a bigger conversation, but I feel that the best thing is to create routes that convert low motorist traffic streets to dedicated bicycle routs as the most hopeful way forward for urban cycling.

"Wow I mean the car free JFK here in SF through Golden Gate and closing down the Great Highway on the weekends along Ocean Beach is beyond life changing! Sometimes we feel like we are on a bike superhighway. No cars just bikes and people. This combined with the Slow Street program has totally changed the way we enjoy our beautiful city. My spouse would not feel comfortable biking without these car free and slow streets."

Since taking up cycling in my retirement, I find rewarding scenery, making friends, and exercise to be benefits that have enriched my life greatly. I enjoy introducing trails to my friends, and learning from them as well.

My girlfriend lives near the Ballona Creek Bike Path, so I take her on my 2-seater electric bike to the beach every weekend. It's so much fun, and parking there is a nightmare, so we a can avoid that completely.

The Kirkland Corridor bridge over NE 124th has enabled me and my grandkids to access the playground at Totem Lake.

I live on 34 Ave; an Open Street in Jackson Heights that covers my whole neighborhood. It’s 26 blocks/ 1.3 miles long. It’s made is so much safer to ride to anywhere in my neighborhood.

Bike infrastructure has allowed me to open my own business giving bike tours in downtown Los Angeles.

I was extremely overweight with broken bones in my left foot... I noticed a group ride pass by my home when I was eating ice cream and watching Letterman. I realized that I needed to find another way to be so I hopped onto the internet and found a group bicycle ride the next week... long story short I lost about 100 pounds and the broken bones in my foot healed naturally without surgery. Now that the bicycle infrastructure is available for safer and more accessible for a single rider or a few people it promotes me to ride more often and gives me more peace of mind that cars are more aware of me.

Living in Saint Paul & working in Minneapolis has been so much fun and safer for me as a biker, driver, and pedestrian. Sometimes I get around much faster on a bike than I do driving my car. I love all of the new protected bike lanes.

"I am a New Orleanian who was in exile in Atlanta for several years post Katrina. I was the Director of Recreation for the City of Atlanta, and was an enthusiastic contributor to the beautiful Beltline project. That Beltline changed my life in Atlanta for the better. Before the Beltline, I would ride in Piedmont Park, and and one other trail(but it was not well lit, and had a few scary incidents). The Atlanta Beltline does exactly what we envisioned…it connects neighborhoods in a way that allows pedestrians, cyclists, skaters, and and skate boarders an opportunity to safely travel from one neighborhood/community/park to another. On a personal level, I used the Atlanta Beltline several times a week for leisure, exercise, and a means to quickly connect to shopping and eateries along the Beltline. It isn’t perfect, but it literally kept me sane while i lived in Atlanta. Here in New Orleans, we have more biking lanes in the last few years. I absolutely love it! My husband and I love biking the River Road/levee, the Lafitte Greenway, and connected biking lanes. I’d love to see something a little more comprehensive here in New Orleans…perhaps something on the neutral ground on Norman C. Francis, a widening of the neutral ground path on Napoleon Ave, a path on General DeGaulle, and one from one end of South Claiborne to the bridge at Martin Luther king Jr. Blvd. "

I now routinely commute to and home from work on I would say 95% multi use path; full round trip is about 83 miles... some days I get to go even further :+) Bonus, I even got to buy a new bike with racks and panniers!

Protected lanes just make it safer to road bike. In some places you can only ride in the protected lanes or dedicated trails throughout the cities - my brother experienced this in Dallas and I experienced this when I was in Salt Lake City - it's just not safe to bike on the road there. Even in Seattle, which is insanely bike friendly, the bike lanes make you feel safer - there's still some roads/routes you can't take because there's no dedicated lanes.

Bike infrastructure makes it possible for me to rely on myself and active transportation to get me almost anywhere I want to be--not a car. It gives me freedom to explore my city and leisurely enjoy being outside all at the same time. I ride my bike to work, restaurants, concerts, and sporting events. It's my favorite way to get around. When there is safe bike infrastructure the ride can be enjoyable and stress free and brings me so much joy. Biking is a huge part of my social and mental wellbeing.

In 2012, my wife and I moved to Sarasota, FL. After discovering that there was enough bicycle infrastructure to make living without a car at least doable, we went car free in 2012. Our ages were 56 and 48. Since then, our local area has added several miles to the north end of the local rail-trail known as Legacy Trail. This enabled us to access the trail as an alternative to a 45 mph multi-lane road with a narrow shoulder posted as a bike lane. In addition, we now have a few miles of protected bike lanes. After a decade we have saved thousands of dollars and continue to enjoy significant physical and emotional health benefits from this lifestyle choice. Even basic bike infrastructure (that leaves room for much improvement) has allowed us to live free of the burden of car dependency. And the recent addition of an e-bike has made this lifestyle choice even more fun.

Thanks to having decent bike infrastructure in our city, my wife and I are able to get around easily with only owning one car. With the average cost of car ownership being around $10,000 per year, saving this money instead of giving it to GEICO, Exxon, and Ford has made us more financially secure and allowed us to pursue jobs that we enjoy, rather than simply looking for the highest-paying positions.

The establishment of a bike path on a retired rail bed, the Bike-to-Sea trail north of Boston, has enabled me to commute safely out of harm's way for a substantial portion of a long commute. When the sun is rising and I'm rolling into the city, I enjoy meditative time. When I am tired and distracted from work coming home, time on the trail is restorative.

Access to the W&OD trail allowed me to bicycle commute relatively safely (still had to travel gravel and town roads) for over 15 years (in all weather except ice and deep snow). This in an area (Loudoun County) where cyclists are not viewed favorably and are frequently met with 'driver animosity.'

Unfortunately my current town has little in the way of current bike infrastructure, however my best experience was from 2018-2020 when I was working in Arlington, VA, and commuting daily into Washington, DC. I started taking Metro, then taking the bus, until I perfected my commute. I would ride a bike in (a Capital Bikeshare bike), park it at a station a block from my gym, and then ride the bus home (the way there was one big downhill and the way back was one big uphill, which is why I rode the bus back). Most of the way there, I would coast downhill on the Custis trail, which is a shared-use path linking Arlington to DC. From there, I would cross the Key Bridge into Georgetown and it was always here that the ride became the scariest as there was no bike infrastructure protecting me from traffic. Those four-ish blocks were terrifying as I fought cars, trucks, delivery vans, and other bikers from time to time. However, once I got to the protected bike lane a few blocks later on L St NW, it was like a giant weight lifted from my shoulders. I felt so much more relaxed and began to enjoy my ride to work again. No one should have to feel like they're fighting for their life while riding a bike. Bikers do us all a service by continuing to bike on roads shared with cars in an effort to show us all that we don't have to be subjected to an auto-dominated life.

Little did I know that my first encounter with bike infrastructure would launch me on the transportation planning career path I now follow. Bike infrastructure and the ability and privilege I have to incorporate a bicycle in my daily routine is something that I want everyone to have the opportunity to experience. Riding my bike as my primary transportation method has opened my eyes to seeing my neighborhood, city, and even region in beautiful new ways. As a person with a physical disability, biking makes it easier on my body to get around the city. Biking makes me feel like I'm doing my part to reduce my carbon footprint, too — but my health and the environment are always further down the list of reasons why I started biking. In seeking ways to bring small moments of joy into my life, biking does the trick. I bike simply because it is fun. What isn't fun, though, is biking on the shoulders of roads pitted with potholes and refuse. What isn't fun is experiencing large trucks and cars passing close, turning in front of my path without checking to see if I'm there first, or failing to share the road safely. Bike infrastructure is so critical to making biking not only safe, but comfortable. I enjoy biking the most when I don't have to be afraid, when I'm not anxious during the trip. Bike infrastructure has benefited my life because it has enabled the lifestyle I want — one that includes biking as my main form of transportation and joy. It has changed my life by further inspiring me to work to make this lifestyle possible for others.

Bike infrastructure helped me take my bike to work and lower my cholesterol.

In 2022, Asheville re-striped 1.4 miles of Merrimon Ave. changing one lane from the four-lane road into two bicycle lanes. This gives me and my family much better bicycling down this primary corridor and a much better pedestrian experience/street crossing.

The trail and neighborway systems here have improved cycling in the city and elsewhere, making it safer and more interesting for users. I look forward to major new projects coming online in the coming years.

I lived in Houston until two and a half years ago. In Houston, the paved, dedicated bike trails provided a safe place to get my exercise. I have since moved to Dallas, which has amazing trails all over. Here, I have ridden even more. At the age of 61, I trained for a sprint triathlon and got a 41-year-old friend to start riding bikes and do the sprint tri with me. There could never be too many dedicated bike trails.

Relatively simple bike infrastructure in Arlington County, Virginia, includes dedicated mixed-use trails that have supported me in commuting into Washington, D.C., for more than 20 years on a daily basis. These same trails allow weekend utilitarian rides to nearby shopping, restaurants, and the public library. In recent years, the addition of dedicated cycle track lanes in the District of Columbia have added to the safety and simplicity of my commute. In the wake of the pandemic, I continue to work in Washington four days a week rather than teleworking, in large part because my commute by bicycle is an important part of my life, an attractive opportunity to be outside rather than an unpleasant exercise.

The Bridge over Eagle Creek on the B&O Trail has provided a safe route to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. What??? No Race Day traffic or parking hassles?!?!?!

A safe place to ride without the nuance of cars or traffic.

My commute to work used to include ~5 miles each way along a busy road with no bicycle lane. When it was time to return to the office after the COVID-19 closure, I was bummed to have to ride that section of road again. After a bit of research I learned that the local transportation district had opened a commuter rail line that stopped a mile or so from my office with a bicycle trail nearby for the ride from the train to my office. Also, I was able to take advantage of a network of bicycle trails along a creek and one trail to a park-and-ride facility where I can hop on the train.

I've been enjoying my 5-mile bike commute to and from work for the past few years. As Atlanta continues to develop more mixed-use paths, I have been able to safely ride to many of the fun destinations throughout Atlanta without using my car. I've been able to pick up a few groceries, grab lunch with a friend in Decatur, attend a photo shoot in Oakland Cemetery, and ride to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. All locations I used to rely on using a car to visit. There are more mixed-use paths being developed and the future looks bright.

Bike infrastructure has allowed me to safely commute to work, the grocery store, sporting events and to meet friends for dinner.

I commuted by bike for 30+ years in the city of Chicago. Many times, the commute was the best part of my day. I started commuting before the bike lanes were installed. Cycling infrastructure made me safer and happier.

The Empire State Trail has been a wonderful surprise. I have ridden into the best shape of my life, riding a different segment of the trail each week, anywhere from 30 to 50 miles per ride. I've also visited and spent money at many businesses located near the trail on every ride. I didn't realize how great the EST was until this past spring, and it has simply been revelatory. Being able to ride safely on a dedicated bike path for miles on end without having to dodge vehicle traffic and experiencing the beauty of the scenery and communities along the trail has just been a tremendous benefit to my life. I live in NJ and wish this type of trail network was available all over the tri-state area.

New protected cycle lanes in Alameda, CA along the Cross-Alameda Trail have made it so much easier to ride our bikes to our kid's soccer games on weekends. The separation from motor vehicles reduces the stress level and makes riding for transportation a lot more fun.

The Whittier bike path was finished this summer and has helped make my commute feel a lot safer. It's a few miles longer (from 17 to 20 miles), but it connects me to the Rio Hondo Bike Path and eventually the Lynwood Bike Path. Definitely a lot less stressful than open roads.

We used protected bike lanes to bike 4.4 miles from our house near downtown Austin, TX to the courthouse to get married! Given that we were both in our 60's, the protected bike lanes made for a safer adventure. After the ceremony, we biked to the Texas State Capitol for a tour and a celebratory lunch, then biked safely home.

When I was looking for a new home last year, proximity to a bike trail was one of my top must-haves. I was fortunate to find a great home only four houses away from the Duck Creek Trail! I am on that trail nearly every day. And sometimes more than once a day. The natural setting is the best stress reliever, and exercising there has greatly helped my energy level.

I started bicycling more than 30 years ago as part of my therapy for PTSD. It went from there to gratitude for the relief it brought to searching for a way to give something back. I live in Minnesota and that's where the Multiple Sclerosis charity rides started with the MS 150 around 1980. I started in 1990, the same year they started the MS TRAM (The Ride Across Minnesota). I pedaled the 150 for over 30 consecutive tours and the TRAM twice. My last ride was the 2021 TRAM, right in the middle of COVID and my wife being diagnosed with Parkinson's Dementia. Since then, taking care of her and having to stay close to home, all my rides have been on the gravel we live on. I'm grateful for PeopleForBikes and their Ride Spot app. It adds to my motivation and is a way to stay connected to others who share a love for bicycling.

Safe and green access to a nearby disc golf course compliments my morning workout.

I’ve been car free now for around 12 years, and only use bikes for transportation. The city of Bend, Oregon, elected a pro-bike mayor and city council last time around. They have worked their butts off on making pedestrians and cycling safer with new cycling infrastructure. There are two dangerous underpasses that are heavily used. The city is building a cycling and pedestrian ONLY overpass that will cross both the highway and railroad tracks. They are also redoing the two underpasses for improved ped and bike safety, by cutting four lanes down to two, and enlarging the bike lane and adding new walkways. This is huge!

At age 63, I began to ride a bike regularly. Then I got involved in the Bike MS events to support a friend. Two years ago I purchased a gravel bike and have thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from riding the Prairie Sunset Trail on the south edge of Wichita. Over the last five years, I have averaged 5,000+ miles and on a trip this year I rode in all nine states we traveled through. Biking has given me the opportunity of finishing well.

I started seriously riding road bikes in 2012 in my late 50s, working up to the Babylon to Montauk ride which I did several times. I also rode in all the Boro tours as well as the NY Century. These were somewhat anxiety provoking, because of riding in traffic during some or all of the rides. The NY Century was particularly worrisome. My great joy was riding through Westchester County on the big bike paths, my longest being about 34 miles in each direction riding from Ardsley past Lake Mahopac. I also tried riding from my house in Westchester to the tip of Manhattan, but back then you had to piece together bike paths with traffic riding and there weren't dedicated lanes. Imagine my joy upon returning to the metro NY area after being absent for five years, riding in the 5 boro bike tour, and then being able to ride on dedicated bike lanes all the way up to 72nd Street and Riverside Drive from South Ferry! You could never do that before. Now, on nice days I commute to my job at Stony Brook U via pedal assist fat bike in my work clothes. I wish there would be bike paths that would take me off the roads, but I'm able to get onto the campus fairly rapidly and that's a relief. I dream someday of riding the Erie Canal path. So, bicycle infrastructure has been big!

This summer I went on a bike tour from the mountains of Colorado to my home town, Livingston, Montana. My parents joined me as sag wagon for the end of my trip. My dad used to be an avid biker, but at the age of 75 he has suffered from acute Lyme Disease and recently underwent quadruple bi-pass surgery. He had not ridden a bike for nearly two years, but seeing me and my husband take off each morning and come in with high spirits each evening, he caught the bug again. Unfortunately, our routes between Jackson Hole and West Yellowstone were either on busy highways with poor shoulders or dirt roads and paths rutted out by four wheelers. But then we arrived in West Yellowstone and the wonderful ladies at Freeheel and Wheel told us about the newly paved section of the Yellowstone Shortline Trail. This was exactly what we needed to get my dad up on his bike again. This beautiful trail was nearly flat, far from cars and through the beautiful country my dad loves. We stopped at the bridge over the Madison River and enjoyed the view before heading back. Thanks to the Shortline Railtrail, my dad was empowered to get back in the saddle and know that he was again able to ride, given the right conditions. Conditions we should all have access to.

My wife use our bicycles for fun, exercise, touring and shopping. The bike paths and routes in our city and region help us get out on our bikes on a regular basis to get exercise and stay fit. We use our regular bikes and our e-bike for shopping and running errands around town. We also take our e-bike with us in our RV and use them to go shopping and touring around the cities that we visit. Just last month we were in Victoria, British Columbia and Vancouver, BC and traveled all over these beautiful cities on our e-bikes. The bike paths and routes in these two cities are fantastic and a huge asset for local residents and visitors. Our e-bikes make is easy for us to travel from our campsite, eliminating the need to drive "the rig" around town to run errands.

I drive less and run errands, enjoy trails and ride for pleasure everyday.

I have commuted to work and run errands on a bike path, year round in New England.

Despite its reputation for traffic congestion, Atlanta has become a wonderful city for biking. The inner-city rail-rail, "the Beltline", weaves through diverse neighborhoods far away from car traffic, and is useful both for getting around town and for bar hopping (about 50 bars and restaurants have opened along the Beltline.) Plus there are enough bike lanes along arterials (I'm less crazy about these) and leafy residential streets (nice), that a rider can bike to almost anywhere in the city. During rush hour (morning and evening) for distance up to 2 miles biking is faster than driving-and-parking. Plus you feel good when you arrive. Even in the hot summer months, biking before 9am is fine. As Atlanta has steadily added bike infrastructure, a real biking culture has developed in the city.

Berkeley has bike lanes and bike boulevards that make most parts of the city accessible via low traffic, safe routes. Recently our grandson started kindergarten in Oakland and I was worried that the safe, friendly path to pre-school would be replaced with a new game of "dodgecars" or "truck, truck, grey truck". Imagine my surprise and delight to find that Oakland interconnected its bike infrastructure with Berkeley and offered a dedicated bike lane down Adeline Street all the way to his school. Even though the distance is greater than before, we still make the trip more quickly by bike than by car.

I use the bike infrastructure to commute to work and also to recreate with my family regularly. I prefer to travel to events such as the 4th of July fire works, and or other events on bike with my children. I like to teach my children the importance of Bike/Ped, escooter/ebike, Auto, and Bus relationship. How to use all of them and what advantages and disadvantages each have.

The Man O'War rail trail in Pine Mountain is a great place to ride and get a good workout without worrying about traffic, I love it! Also the fine trail building work done at Pyne Road Park in LaGrange, GA has been wonderful for bikes, hikers, and horses too. We also look forward to a new MTB Skills park at F D Roosevelt State Park in the near future. Our little town is turning into a trail paradise.

I have been biking on the Bartram Trail Hamburg, PA. Working completion of the bridge hooking up to Auburn, PA on the Bartram Trail from Hamburg, PA by Nov 9th of this year. I already pedal 2,200 miles on this path this year.