Website: Tucson ranks in top five for best places for riding bicycles
May 19, 2018, 5:30 AM
(AP Photo/Matt York)
PHOENIX — If bike riding is your thing, you might want to head down south.
According to PeopleForBikes, Tucson held its own against the rest of the nation, coming in at No. 5 for best places for riding.
The organization behind the study used ridership, safety, network, reach and acceleration of biking infrastructure as the factors at play.
With an overall score of 3.3 out of 5.0, Tucson only trailed No. 1 Fort Collins, Colorado by a mere 0.2.
It might come as little surprise to the residents of Tucson as the city holds its annual El Tour de Tucson, an event that brings in more than 9,000 cyclists. They can choose to test their limits with 100, 75, 50 or 25-mile rides or take it easy with one of the fun rides.
Tucson’s best category was the acceleration of its biking infrastructure, which came in at 4.0 out of 5.0. The network category, which rates how people are connected to their destinations using comfortable bike routes, was the city’s worst, coming in at 2.3 out of 5.0.
Among the Arizona cities, Tucson was top dog, beating out Phoenix (2.7), Scottsdale (1.8) and Tempe (1.7).
Yuma was viewed as the lowest in terms of bike riding with a 0.9 score.
Colorado boasted two cities in the top 5 in Fort Collins and Boulder.