Chicago Ranks 10th in Bike-Friendly Cities List

By Lindsey Miller in News on Apr 6, 2010 6:40PM

Bicyclists: Take a moment to appreciate Chicago's plentiful bike lanes, bike shops, bike classes, and bike racks. The Lakefront Path. The city's handy bike maps. McDonald's Cycle Center. The Chainlink. And, yes, Mayor Daley.

It's each of these features that help Chicago's biking community rank 10th on Bicycling magazine's top-50 list of America's Best Bike Cities for 2010. Here's the entire top 10:

1. Minneapolis
2. Portland
3. Boulder
4. Seattle
5. Eugene
6. San Francisco
7. Madison
8. New York
9. Tuscon
10. Chicago

The magazine cited Mayor Daley's enthusiasm for cycling, a growing network of bike lanes, and amenities like valet bike parking and indoor bike racks as its reasons for including Chicago at number 10. It also considered availability of bike racks, bike culture and bike shops, the opinions of national and local advocates and experts, and the Bicycling and Walking in the United States 2010 Benchmarking Report.