Our apologies to the Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association (dorba.org) and the fine work it does maintaining a large number of off-road trails in the area, but we're skinny-tire guys here. In fact, some of our staff members occasionally bike-commute to work, though to be honest, a good, solid mountain bike is needed to ride many of Dallas' poorly maintained streets. For our money (new rims cost a bundle), give us the good ol' White Rock Trail — not the part around the lake, necessarily, but the portion that runs from the north of the lake to Valley View Park north of LBJ Freeway. Its 9.3 miles aren't packed with pedestrians and strollers like Katy Trail, and it takes riders through native forest, past shopping plazas and under freeways, giving cyclists the full panorama of city living. That includes the grittier side — we've seen homeless guys bathing in the creek and one shaven-headed, shirtless soul lugging a 6-foot-tall cross on a freeway bridge embankment. Best yet, if you really want to put some miles on, you can connect to the Santa Fe Trail to downtown, or with a little backstreet maneuvering past Valley View Park or from the connecting Cottonwood Trail (watch out for homeless people's shopping carts), riders can reach Plano's extensive trail system, making it possible to ride from downtown to Frisco without fear of catching an SUV in the back.
Readers' Pick White Rock Lake