Biking Asheville-How Bad is a City With a 9/100 Bike Score?
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- Опубликовано: 21 сен 2024
- Today, we'll do a scavenger hunt by bike in the city of Asheville, North Carolina, which scored a 9/100 for bikeability. Of course, I'm using Google Maps to get everywhere, and so it's not going to take us on the best routes. But does it truly deserve this low rating?
Thank you, advocates who work thanklessly to improve bicycling for the rest of us. Due to your efforts, Asheville will continue to get better and better for those on two wheels. ashevilleonbik...
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This video feels like the old seths bike hacks days
So true
Seth is jacked like it's the old days. well done
i miss those
Agreed! The urban cycling and even reviewing the other styles of bikes is awesome.
I love my mtb but I also have a Brompton and a cargo bike lol! N+1 household here
Loving the urbanist adjacent content recently. You rule, dude.
I love this format and hope to see more of it
yes it's very nice.
What impressed me most is not the lack of cycle paths but the amount of litter near the stairs
Welcome to America.
@@VitaKet Nope...Welcome to Asheville
stuff like this make me feel grateful that we even have kinda okay bike lanes where i live. sure they have some flaws but atleast i don't have to dismount to climb stairs :D
Hey Seth, please try keep a meter distance from parked cars to avoid being doored.
It gives me anxiety when you ride that close!
Much love.
Maybe it was a camera perspective thong. But how often he had to ride in a door zone was definitely the sketchiest stuff he was doing all video.
I really hope he visits some other cities to see what it's like.
I wonder if a colab with @NotJustBikes would be interesting.
"I don't feel like ruining my wheels today" *hucks 8 steps* 🤣
Thanks for showing us around Asheville!
most surprising, all the trash on the street. Ashville? the iconic mountain bike get away with all the breweries. looks like every inner city.
All the trash and graffiti does not make it look like an appealing place to ride.
What city doesn’t have trash in the streets?
@@Gruwg2024 Cities with proper upkeep. An airplane ticket may be required to see one, though.
@@john_john_john I think it's reflective of the lack of concern for public spaces in the US (not that it's only a problem here, but oh is it a problem). We overprioritize private property and pay little concern to the spaces that aren't "mine/ours".
@@Gruwg2024 Some cities are trashier than others.
Hats off Seth for braving the traffic!
As someone who grew up in the 70's, that's better than anywhere I ever cycled before about the year 2000 :-) Yes, there were less people and less cars back in the old days, but the drivers in the video seemed to be by and large pretty courteous. As much as people complain about bad drivers, it's so much better now than it used to be. In that respect I actually think the sharrows are helpful. It gives you legitimacy to be on the road. As you point out in the video, there are circumstances in which a painted on bike lane can be dangerous since people tend not to think about them, or they can be filled with dangerous objects. Often removing objects and cleaning the bike lanes is nobody's job. When I lived near London around 2010, this was my biggest problem with cycling -- you are stuck in bike lanes that are full of garbage. In your video, I think the most dangerous thing I could see there was the street parking -- especially when it coincided with a bike lane. That's just a recipe for disaster.
I have been following people for bikes for a long time, and my town got a 6 out of 100 and hasn't improved in the past several years the city says they will improve pedestrian and bike traffic in the next 25-30 years. It's an absolute joke. Thank you, Seth, for putting this video out to help get traction on the People for Bikes site.
Florida plate, keep our distance. That's universal.
Great video. Thanks for coming by Gravelo Workshop, Seth!
hey seth do you think you could bring back cooking with seth
We need a petition for seth to do it😂
Stair drop in the hoods is sketchy.great video seth
My recommendation to bicyclists when there's no bike lane and an inadequate shoulder is to ride in the center of the lane and force drivers to make the decision to cross the dividing line in order to pass you. If you leave enough room for them to squeeze by without crossing the line, then they will, even if it means all but running the bicyclist off the road. When they have to cross the line, they are now potentially contending with other motor vehicles, and they tend to be a lot more careful which makes it safer for everyone.
OMG Seth Hold's the Lane?!? I always immediately fall in love when I see other people doing this, and I feel validated in already loving you.
This would make an interesting series to help highlight the non major metro bike struggles for us in the South east!
Great video.
I am a bit struck by the trash everywhere. I always thought Ashville was a super clean, green, eco city.
Homelessness
* i thought it’d be so clean and eco with all the stroads *
Yeah na it's about as gross as any inner city. I feel like the same kind of people that are stereotyped to be here aren't the cleanest people in the world.
@@anonymoususer8924 adding a stereotype to a stereotype,,, a sound logical foundation to build upon
I’m mostly a roadie, and I look for quiet roads outside of town, but this reminds me how much fun it can be to venture into town and explore.
for me one of the most annoying thing almost nobody talks about is traffic engine and tire noise, it becomes really irritating quickly to constantly have high noise cars and trucks just passing aside
No beard and drop bars. Is this the real Seth?
Treacherous, sketchy. The real Seth.
One minute in, “google has us going.. where does it have us going next?”
Obvious bike infrastructure failure here, but you have to know the city to know how to get around. Unless someone wants to make a bicycle routing app. Google is just the fastest route and will put you in danger in any city you visit.
honestlly im just impressed on how that phone mount held up
Grew up in Asheville from 1993:
Asheville is more of a tourist attraction now rather than some high-tech, "1st-world" city. You mainly go for the beer, Friday drum-circle, and the surrounding forests and trails of Asheville rather than the city itself. Beautiful place and always will be, but the weirdness that Asheville was known for has subsided away.
Twenty some years ago a group of us took our downhill bikes to the top of a huge Dallas parking garage by way of elevator and then proceeded to race down😁
“I don’t want to destroy both of my wheels!” Proceeds to drop off of a big ledge. He just can’t resist!😂
Being a mountain biker has definitely helped me be a better Road Rider. The bike handling skills definitely come in handy. Where I live, they recently tried to do a road diet, as well as just put in a lane on a one-way road. People lost their minds on social media, and within 2 days of announcing it they had already canceled the plan.
Hello afrom AVL! I work on Merrimon avenue and a couple of my colleagues and my boss's husband all bike to work. My boss's husband tends to take Charlotte st. up to Kimberly Avenue to get to work and it's pretty easy. I've also met and seen a fair amount of people that commute to downtown using bakes, hoverboards, etc. and they seem pretty happy. The bus depot isn't very hard to get to from downtown and there are lots of bus stops you can wait sat as well. I just cannot vouch for the ride quality and speed of the ART bus system, because I've never had to ride one on my 15-or-so years of living here. Also as a side note fot yuou and all of those tourists out there reading this, My favorite Taco shop in the city is Taco Temple on Charlotte St. They're a little erxpensive, but worth it! Much support and hope to see more videos about AVL soon!
This is an awesome concept for a series! Would love to see you come experience Montreal or Ottawa.
As a Dutch🇳🇱 road designer I would ask how do you guys survive 5 minutes on those roads even when there is more traffic?
I hope that the US infrastructure would be more bike-friendly in the future. Imagine how much greenhouse emissions would be saved if people would grab there bike instead of there 1 to the gallon pickuptruck?
Nice work anyways. Keep up the work 👍
Oh no, Florida plate… keep our distance 😂 😂
In asheville and watched the video in the first 10 minutes of it posting. Loved my chances of getting the prize box... then I remembered his videos post early on his SubStack so no chance of getting the prize box.
Seth carries the bike down the long stairs, "That's a broken collarbone waiting to happen, (I don't want to destroy my wheels." He's more concerned about damage to the bike! My Hero!
Seeing the gravel bike doing stuff like you used to do in Florida is amazing. Great vid!
What phone holder you using for it not to fall off going down stairs?
He’s got a Mous case and mount. I have one also, they are very impressive.
I would love to see a collab with you and Jason from not just bikes.
I have to agree with the mechanic. Seth has a higher threshold for danger and is fit and strong and can accelerate as needed or draft cars or bomb hills. Some people can do that, but the problem is that you leave out older cyclists, women and kids, so your percent of people who commute never gets above a certain level which essentially is the percentage of Seths in any city. A good bundle score is a score that makes everybody comfortable.
Yooo! Shout out to Gravelo. Best shop in Asheville!
A drop bar bike? On Berm Peak? Never thought I'd see the day!!
We have bike lanes and roads every where in Denmark 👍
Must be really nice to live in a country that actually cares about the well-being of its citizens. - signed, someone in the US
I just got back from a trip to Denmark and was seriously impressed with the cycling infrastructure. Copenhagen, that's how you design a city.
DK rules
I didn't really appreciate super good bike infra until I lived in a place that has at least decent bike infra (Portland OR) Coming from the SE I'm much more comfortable mixing with cars than some of the other cyclists here but I still am more motivated than ever to fight for bike lanes and such everywhere just bc it makes riding so much more comfortable.
Riding your bike on the road with cars, as if it were a car (for the most part) just makes so much sense to me. People look at me like I have two heads when i say that though.
Saw you pass Luella's on Merrimon, should've just stopped in there! Cool to see my hometown from your bike POV!
Holy moly didn't now usa is that dirty.
most of the USA isn't, only cities are like this, they've imported the third world here.
It can be in inner cities. Especially ones like Asheville. Somewhere like charlotte is much much cleaner. But also really boring.
Where have you been to compare it to?? I've been all over the world, and every bigger city looks like this.
People are universally gross, that's the issue.
@@CNYKnifeNut right, my comment also shared that sentiment.
@@CNYKnifeNut Germany, ofc you can also find dirty places but in general its not that bad
This is where I grew up riding the city streets of Asheville.
They have done a lot to make it better but I’m still on the sidewalk over a bike lane I just can’t trust cars.
Merrimon was my stomping ground for over 20years riding I usually would go the river arts district or charlotte st to avoid it.
Yeah, I can believe Gulfport, FL scored a 2. The only bicycles there are the ones that get stolen over and over and over.
coming from a city that has had to fight tooth and nail for ever km of bike infrastructure, and now with a provincial government that is about to make bike lanes illegal in every city in our province, I feel this.
This got me thinking after checking the rankings. Seth a video at the #1 global location, Mackinac Island, MI, would be great. Really cool bike culture with the locals and seasonal workers. Also a really underrated singletrack trail network on the island.
excited to see more of these!
Great vid. I miss this kind of content from you. I think Asheville earned 6 more points.
I've ridden that bridge in the beginning numerous times. Sketchy? Yes, but in 20 years, I've never encountered any trouble.
7:25 "Oh no Florida Plate, let's keep our distance"
best advice I've ever heard on this channel 🤣
Taco Billy is the only Taco joint worth discussing in Asheville
Aww this was cool street riding with drop bars. Can we get an all “sketchy challenge” video.
8:53 - "This is like 4 feet wide!"
But in that four feet you can park a car and block another four feet of the road, and that is FAR more important than letting someone ride a bicycle. Didn't you know that?
Riding with seth, videos are the best
Politicians have almost destroyed Asheville.
God bless you man, pray you are well
I would love to see you travel to the Netherlands to see the absolute top of bicycle infrastructure
So much anxiety when you're going through an intersection. haha
My city isn't even listed on "people for bike", but cycling in Asheville would be a dream for any cyclist in my city 😂
I lived in SoFlo for 6 years some time ago. Totally agree with Seth. Lack of biking infrastructure and everyone will run you over.
Love the video. Make it a series! This city looks fairly average as far as city cycling to my eyes.
11:52 Sam Pilgrim be like "I'll do this without tires"
Sam Pilgrim would have sent it and then laughed at his mangled bike afterwards.
True, dude gets a new bike every month so no biggie...
Despite alot of people going way too fast when passing you on the way to the taco place, they did give plenty of space, which is nice to see for a change. Where I live in the UK, it's pretty manic as it's the biggest in the south west so ALOT of buses and cars. Roads are pretty wide but youll often find 2 or more cars next to each other, so often not a great deal of room. That and the speed that they drive past is dangerous and noone really cares. Apparently it's the 3rd most dangerous city for cycling in the UK, but an average rating of 49 on people for bikes. Outskirts of the city is worse due to a lack of infrastructure, inner city there are bike paths, but only in a few parts
That illegal bus pass by the car at 14:57 ... oof.
This could be a real documentary series.
Seth's bike hacks vibe
Compared to Las Vegas, where people drive 10-20 MPH over the posted speed limit (most of the main streets or 45 MPH) and there's 400 miles of unprotected bike lanes, DUI drivers are out at all times of the day anywhere in the city, some people don't even stop at red lights, a pedestrian gets killed about every other day and I have ONE true sort of bike trail, well this place feels a lot safer.
Amsterdam 85 and Paris 87 😂😂😂😂 ridiculous.
Where did you see the score?
The methodology is flawed, for Paris because it's so big they only count the really build up part of the city (or some other reason). For Amsterdam they also count the harbour and the parts near the water, that's literally the only reds parts of the map. I've biked in Paris 10+ times and work & bike in Amsterdam and while Paris is not bad Amsterdam is literally build around the bike.
@@Tntdruid Search for city rating - people for bikes
The stairs scene was almost as if you wanted to make a crash video, whew! This video reminds me of how much I love helmet cam videos (and dislike chest cams with the restless arms wobbling, framing out too much of the view). Interesting take anyway, how about a series of cycling in the cities of US? Urbanism!
You gotta check out La Rancherita out in the Mills River area, their torta is one of the best ive ever had. Its a local favorite for Fox Factory employees, as well ;)
The best thing about America is that we’ve allowed all of our farm land to be bought up and developed and we’ve allowed most of our downtowns to be demolished to build parking lots so it’s just endless roads and cars
Begs the question, how would all of this be without your grandma=Google Maps? Not a friendly just average rider with kids. So not for the let’s go for a ride person. Just hardcore let’s go on an adventure rider. But, gotta love the city.
Living in Asheville, I can't imagine traveling around this city in anything but a car. I've never seen a city more poorly designed for bikes and pedestrians in my life.
ok but seth when are you going to go to a cyclocross race you'll have a great time
I just submitted the form to have my hometown (And entire country, I guess?) added to People for Bikes next year. I'm hopeful it'll score good, because a lot of what Not Just Bikes says is good bike infrastructure is stuff we have. Some roads still just have a painted lane/bike gutter (bad) but most roads have a curb and greenery or other barriers separating road, bike path and pedestrian path. And a lot of parallel walking and biking paths that have you nowhere near a road, with over and underpasses to let you skip dealing with car traffic. Drivers are generally very aware of bikes, but I wish people on bikes wouldn't be so entitled and unsafe. Many don't indicate, pay no attention at crossings, have music in their ears, etc.
For the complete opposite you need to check out the Minnesapolis area bike trail system.
Ayyyy from black mtn
I'd love to see you do this in St. Louis. Current STL resident and its the worst place I've ever biked. Literally afraid for my life most days.
6:53 this is one of those situations where I tell the person "Nah Ill do it again tomorrow" & lift my shirt to show my 1911. So you mean to tell me you can operate a 2 ton vehicle 300lb motorcycle (liability isnt the issue), but my bikes a problem? Nah I wont listen to that.
3 hours after posting video. Cashe is gone. Good chance it was gone while ago. I wasn't really hidden. Video looks like deep in bushes, but the spot is just 2 steps from path. I think you should put some airtag or tile in cashe, so you can see when someone finds it.
Did you see someone get it or did you look and come to the conclusion it had to have been found?
@@marklewis7976I didn't see nobody but I find exact spot. Also while I was leaving bush some young couple was looking for it too.
the way the phone wiggled on the stairs made me really nervous
Come to Minneapolis next to show people what's possible, even in the US!
You are welcome to Costa Rica, most of the country has no bike infrastructure …
These bike scores are handy, but I'm not sure if they are always super accurate. For example, Chicago gets a 9 as well. I live in Chi, and while I can definitely recognize that we have our problems, I do think a 9 is a bit unfair.
So if you're ever looking for another city that gets a similar bike score, why not come here?! 😆
In all fairness though, we don't have the mountain or gravel bike potential that Ashville has!
Westgate to Downtown on a bike is probably faster than in a car most days 😂
Found the box. Will upload some videos within the next few days when I get the stuff installed and take it out for a ride
Cries in Sam Pilgrim over the walked stair set😢
Best thing about Ashville is the brewery's and the pizza shop Pie zaa lol
I live in NC. Because of it's drivers, the lack of bike lanes, and roads with no shoulder, it's one of the worst places for bikes.
I dont know how some people live in places like these, with such low maintained or absent infrastructures and not see any problem with it
Sketchy #5 "huck to trash"
can you do more videos where you just ride around town and explore
great video seth
The city is decent for biking but there have been multiple bike related deaths in the past few years and a few hit and runs. The only time I find it's stressful to encounter bikers is on these old mountain backroads. Theyre hardly designed for cars i seems lol. Some people get impatient and try to whip blind corners around bikers too. The parkway is usually fine to encounter bikers since theres so much room to pass or pull off. Be safe if yall plan on biking here
My wife and I just got back from Niagara Falls NY. The score there is a 5. But I will say that rating seems unfair also. We rented city bikes while we were there( bike rental racks were everywhere )and were able to ride all over the city and the state park. They have dedicated bike paths and bikeways. I felt more comfortable riding a bike there than driving our car. There should be a prorated system for our American way of cycling.
I would like to see this review of other places keep going. For me one of the best cities i have ever rode in was tampa, florida.
Loved this ❤
Come to Puerto Rico, you will be lucky to survive on a bike. Score, 5/100 probably... lol
Riding a bike on a city you never visit before is a fun experience