How friendly a bike city is St Louis (St. Louis, Ballwin: sales, 2014)

[yikyakker18]

I am moving to St Louis in a week from San Francisco, and while SF is a very friendly bike city with bike lanes all around the city I am not sure how easy it is for me to bike regularly in St Louis since I have never been there. So wanted to check with you.

I bike because that's my primary source of cardio plus I love biking more than running. So I am in 2 minds whether I should ship my bike to St Louis or if I have to sell it off in SF before I get out of here. Please give me your suggestions and let me know if there are any groups in St Louis for road bikers.

[U146]

St. Louis is a very bike friendly city. I've seen people bike all the way up Clayton Road from Ballwin to the St. Louis city limits. Where I live biking around Forest Park is huge.

[STL74]

People absolutely bike here so bring your bike. Sharing the road is probably nowhere near as friendly as SF but I don't road bike so that's just a guess but it is most certainly done here. There are also trails and parks and of course the Katy Trail. Most people I know bike to some degree.

[billiken]

Bike lanes and bike paths in general are growing every year. Great Rivers Greenway gets a bunch of sales tax and grant funds to expand the trails throughout the area. I'd bring the bike.

[FrankMiller]

It depends a little bit on where you live, but at the very least there are multiple trails to ride on throughout the area.

[Jjmars]

Don't expect the average driver to be as bike aware as SF.

[ColoradoAthlete]

Originally Posted by Jjmars

Don't expect the average driver to be as bike aware as SF.

This.

I lived in South St. Louis County (Affton) from 2006-2014 for my job. Being a very active and fit Denverite, and one who cycled to work and back as a way of life, the general culture and attitude of St. Louisians towards cyclists was, at best, neanderthal and appalling, to say the least.

I would bike to work on a few of the busier roads for short distances (Lindbergh/Gravois), and was met with more than my fair share of middle fingers, f-bombs, and my favorite - degenerate, common, blue-collar white trash a-holes blasting diesel out of their trucks to pollute everything and everyone around them.

There are bike lanes, mostly in the City of St. Louis, but unlike Denver, San Fran, Salt Lake City etc. they are not really recognized or respected for their purpose by the unathletic autocentric masses on their way to Quik Trip for a greasy sausage roll, a pack of Marlboros, and 20 lottery tickets (many St. Louisians are well known to foolishly spend their limited incomes). I had more than my fair share of confrontations with the local trash on the roads. It's funny how St. Louisians love to honk and swear from the comfort of their air-conditioned cars, but when confronted they turtle worse than David Backes.

There ARE trails, but the network is very limited (Forest Park, Grant's, a dirty park known as Carondelet), and 90 percent of the trails are asphalt (the paving choice of the poor folk) and in moderate-poor repair. The same concept applies to the majority of the roads). Creve Coeur is the nicest and safest cycling option, but go early - it gets crowded quickly and full of people with selective hearing than cannot understand the command "ON YOUR LEFT."

Summary - one CAN cycle in St. Louis, but expect a cycling culture that is decades behind more modern and progressive cities. Be safe.

[Jjmars]

Originally Posted by ColoradoAthlete

There are bike lanes, mostly in the City of St. Louis, but unlike Denver, San Fran, Salt Lake City etc. they are not really recognized or respected for their purpose by the unathletic autocentric masses on their way to Quik Trip for a greasy sausage roll, a pack of Marlboros, and 20 lottery tickets (many St. Louisians are well known to foolishly spend their limited incomes).

Wow that's spot on.

Originally Posted by ColoradoAthlete

There ARE trails, but the network is very limited (Forest Park, Grant's, a dirty park known as Carondelet), and 90 percent of the trails are asphalt (the paving choice of the poor folk) and in moderate-poor repair. The same concept applies to the majority of the roads). Creve Coeur is the nicest and safest cycling option, but go early - it gets crowded quickly and full of people with selective hearing than cannot understand the command "ON YOUR LEFT."

I agree it's limited and in most cases you need to transport your bike to the place you want to ride. Something for the OP to keep in mind.

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by ColoradoAthlete

This.

I lived in South St. Louis County (Affton) from 2006-2014 for my job. Being a very active and fit Denverite, and one who cycled to work and back as a way of life, the general culture and attitude of St. Louisians towards cyclists was, at best, neanderthal and appalling, to say the least.

I would bike to work on a few of the busier roads for short distances (Lindbergh/Gravois), and was met with more than my fair share of middle fingers, f-bombs, and my favorite - degenerate, common, blue-collar white trash a-holes blasting diesel out of their trucks to pollute everything and everyone around them.

There are bike lanes, mostly in the City of St. Louis, but unlike Denver, San Fran, Salt Lake City etc. they are not really recognized or respected for their purpose by the unathletic autocentric masses on their way to Quik Trip for a greasy sausage roll, a pack of Marlboros, and 20 lottery tickets (many St. Louisians are well known to foolishly spend their limited incomes). I had more than my fair share of confrontations with the local trash on the roads. It's funny how St. Louisians love to honk and swear from the comfort of their air-conditioned cars, but when confronted they turtle worse than David Backes.

There ARE trails, but the network is very limited (Forest Park, Grant's, a dirty park known as Carondelet), and 90 percent of the trails are asphalt (the paving choice of the poor folk) and in moderate-poor repair. The same concept applies to the majority of the roads). Creve Coeur is the nicest and safest cycling option, but go early - it gets crowded quickly and full of people with selective hearing than cannot understand the command "ON YOUR LEFT."

Summary - one CAN cycle in St. Louis, but expect a cycling culture that is decades behind more modern and progressive cities. Be safe.

People would probably respect your opinions more if you stopped blasting away with the overt obnoxiousness and judgmental spew. Who the hell died and made you king of anything? I know a LOT of people like you, and after reading many of your posts I'm more than willing to bet that you're anything but the picture of perfection you pose as on the internet. Everyone who spends any time in here knows you hate St. Louis......probably because no one there wants or wanted to put up with your s*#!......so if you can't share your takes sans the name calling and posturing do us all a favor and disappear, Mr. "Everyone on earth sucks, except for me!"

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Wow!! If your attitude comes across as nasty in public as it does in this post of yours that I quoted, it's no wonder the St Louis drivers were rude to you.

But I'm not buying what you posted. I think youre trolling and just looking for a reaction. Im no psychologist, but if you're as fit and healthy as you claim to be, you wouldn't have the attitude that you have and you wouldn't be using those duragatory terms. Fit and healthy and athletic people are generally happy and up beat people and feel good about theirselves. They dont have to be disrespectful to prove a point. I think the post I quoted says more about you than anybody in St Louis or Denver or Salt Lake, San Francisco, or where ever.

From what I can tell, I think you're a good person but you're also an uptight individual and this is your way of venting some frustrations.

Hopefully you feel better, now.

Originally Posted by ColoradoAthlete

This.

I lived in South St. Louis County (Affton) from 2006-2014 for my job. Being a very active and fit Denverite, and one who cycled to work and back as a way of life, the general culture and attitude of St. Louisians towards cyclists was, at best, neanderthal and appalling, to say the least.

I would bike to work on a few of the busier roads for short distances (Lindbergh/Gravois), and was met with more than my fair share of middle fingers, f-bombs, and my favorite - degenerate, common, blue-collar white trash a-holes blasting diesel out of their trucks to pollute everything and everyone around them.

There are bike lanes, mostly in the City of St. Louis, but unlike Denver, San Fran, Salt Lake City etc. they are not really recognized or respected for their purpose by the unathletic autocentric masses on their way to Quik Trip for a greasy sausage roll, a pack of Marlboros, and 20 lottery tickets (many St. Louisians are well known to foolishly spend their limited incomes). I had more than my fair share of confrontations with the local trash on the roads. It's funny how St. Louisians love to honk and swear from the comfort of their air-conditioned cars, but when confronted they turtle worse than David Backes.

There ARE trails, but the network is very limited (Forest Park, Grant's, a dirty park known as Carondelet), and 90 percent of the trails are asphalt (the paving choice of the poor folk) and in moderate-poor repair. The same concept applies to the majority of the roads). Creve Coeur is the nicest and safest cycling option, but go early - it gets crowded quickly and full of people with selective hearing than cannot understand the command "ON YOUR LEFT."

Summary - one CAN cycle in St. Louis, but expect a cycling culture that is decades behind more modern and progressive cities. Be safe.