# Richmond



## Dan333sp

I'm considering moving from Miami to Richmond in the next few months for grad school and work reasons, and I was wondering if anyone here lives in Virginia and can give me any info about Richmond in road bike terms- how friendly lcoal drivers are to cyclists, the best rides in the area, any good clubs to ride with, best bike shop ect. Any advice would be appreciated, I'm visiting the city at the moment and I like it so far.


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## DG62

I'm not from Richmond (or have ever ridden there), but I believe it is a fairly bike friendly city. It has a history of supporting professional cycling and I believe there is/was an effort underway to bid as a host site for the World Championships (not sure what year). Two years ago, NAHBS was in Richmond. I don't know much about rides or shops in the area although I do know that Conte's has a shop in the Richmond area and has sponsored teams in the past. 
Races have been/are held in Byan Park (training series and regular).
The Virginia Cycling Association (Virginia Cycling Association) has a list of Viginia cycling clubs. Looks like Altius, Cycor and Richmond Velo are a few clubs in the Richmond area.
I have heard Richmond is a fairly hilly city, but if you are looking for bigger hills the Blue Ridge Mountains are only about an hour away.
Good luck with grad school. Hope you find time to ride.

DG

Good luck with grad school (Richmond?/VCU?). 


This link might help as well: Virginia Cycling Association


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## davcruz

I live in the RVA area (born and raised and have my own family here now). I would call it fairly bike friendly on a personal level, we don't have much in the way of bike lanes in RVA but overall the climate is understanding and courteous to bicycling as a whole. Quite a few decent shops around as well as clubs/organizations and events.Obviously there are tons of students in the Fan area and downtown using bicycles to commute, the SS hipster rage is in full blossom here. There are many marked routes outside of the city for most any type of riding you want to do. I ride out in several of the counties mainly. We also have the Capitol Trail going in; this is a bike path between Colonial Williamsburg and downtown RVA. I think it should be in the 65 mile range when complete. They have sections of it done now, the longest of which is around 15 miles, then you jump out onto Rt 5 until you get to the next section, it is a nice path. Our weather is also good for cycling, fairly warm and sticky (you are used to that being from Miami) in the summer but not too cold in the winter.


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## harlond

Ditto to what davcruz said. I've been riding here for 20+ years and could count on one hand the number of incidents with drivers, and those were mostly buzzing, no harm done. Also, the Richmond Area Bicycling Association (I believe Richmond Area Bicycling Association) organizes a lot of local rides, including a ride from Richmond to Ashland every Saturday, which on a good day gets a hundred or more riders of all ages and abilities. And practically all of the other riders wave back.


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## jpdigital

I've lived in Buffalo, Denver, Richmond, NYC. Of all those, Richmond by far had the best road biking scene/cycling culture. As was stated earlier, there's no bike lanes to really speak of (I moved away about 2.5 years ago, it may have changed since then). I lived out in the East End, and commuted to work by bike toward Midlothian; it was a mixture of urban riding, and some light back-woods/suburban type riding. Where I lived in the east end, I was about a 6 minute drive from Shockoe Bottom (and less than a 10 minute ride from downtown), I could take a 35 mile ride with less than two stoplights, and a lot of rolling hills along back-country roads. From my apartment, I could take a different ride every day of the week of 25+ miles with hardly any lights. As far as cycling goes, I was beyond sad to leave the riding behind.


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## Brownstone322

I live in Greater Richmond, and I'm a member of "RABA" (Richmond Area Bicycling Association), and I would describe the local cycling culture as "OK." There's very little in the way of bike lanes or bike paths that I know of, but there's lots of open, rolling country for road-biking. I live in Western Henrico County (Glen Allen), and I can quickly get to rural roads in Hanover County, where I do most of my riding. But RABA has group rides all over the area, mostly on the periphery of the city.

Beware that there's not much flat ground here, not for long. Richmond sits on the "fall line," and most of the ground rolls. The eastern side of the city is flatter, and the western side (the Peidmont side) is hillier. Nothing like Miami, I'd surmise.

Coincidentally, Richmond was just awarded the 2015 Cycling World Championships, so all the big boys will be racing here in four years.


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## mattotoole

Major change is in the works to make the city more bike friendly, starting with 80 miles of sharrows and bike lanes. Some great trails are in the works too. Even before the World Champs bid, city leadership had hung its hat on the cycling peg. 

Virginia Cycling Assn. can hook you up with a race team, and RABA is a big club with something for everybody.

Richmond is an up-and-comer as a city in general.

Tell Champe i sent you.


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