Bicylces

Hi Sarah,

I too am making the move to the islands. I will be heading to St. Croix this summer, and from my experience, St. Croix seems like a feasible place for a bike. But like everything it depends on where you live and work. I myself prefer Christiansted and hope to work in the area as to avoid having to ship or purchase a car immediately. But the only problem I can see with bicycling in St. Croix in that all the roads don't seem like they accommodate bikes and cars, and with some of the curves it can become dangerous. Also many of the places on the island are a few miles apart so you might need to take a Bus or a Taxi, say if you lived in Christiansted and wanted to go to K-Mart or Cost-U-Less or the shopping center in Sunny Isle.

But from what I hear, bicycling in St. Thomas and St. John might be a little more challenging. But I understand your desire to avoid shipping your car, I hear its a hassle and coming from the states, I am personally tired of spending so much time in a car and would rather walk.

Hi SarahQ

Unfortunately The USVI is not very bike friendly. St John has steep hills and narrow slippery roads that make riding a bike more difficult. I am not as familiar with St Thomas, but the same steep hills and slippery roads abound. In addition St Thomas (at least in CA ) has some of the worst traffic I have ever experienced.

I do know about St Croix. The riding is much better here, but it is still difficult ,particularly if you are not a wary, experienced rider. There are many "road bike" riders here and triathlons and bike rides. But it is still not bike friendly. No bike lanes to speak of, no courtesy to bikers, and no place to hide along many roads. I would never ride a bike at night for many..many reasons. There are some bad people, but mostly you would be a target to tourist and local alike.

It is sad, because given the proper support St Croix could be a great place to ride a bike. There are some big hills, but , you can get from one place to another without being a super athlete. It would be a boone to business and parking, but it isn't going to happen.

Biking on STX is fine for a dedicated recreational cyclist for exercise or for racing , but it is not a very practical means to get around. Today when it rained my bikes's tires lost traction and I could not climb the 15% grade on the yacht club hill. Also with the rain you had better be a good descender. Coming down a hill at over 30mph with wet brakes is exciting to say the least. I ride the east end loop three or four times a week, but never would consider riding to Sunny Isle. Rding through downtown Christiansted is something I only do early on weekend mornings. Riding in major cities such as Stockholm, Helsinki or Chicago is much more doeable than riding on STX. IMHO riding on STJ or STT is not feasible unless you have a death wish.

One other problem is Endurance Sports, the only bike shop on STX, just recently went out of business.

If you live on STX you really need a car.

Jim