2012-02-11 14:32:13
7
biking in charleston, sc
hey all, i'm going to be in charleston, sc, for the next week or so, and i was wondering if anyone was familiar with the biking "scene" down there. slightly more specifically, i have probably three main questions:
1) if i were to rent a bike for the week, is there a shop or two that come(s) recommended?
b) is there an organization around those parts that might be in some inferior way analogous to bike pittsburgh that i could contact for recommended shops and routes and all things various and sundry and biking?
iii) has anyone biked around there and if so, do you have any fun or interesting factoids to share about "what it's like to ride a bike in charleston, sc"?
2012-02-11 08:44:35
I lived there for a year and a half about a decade ago, but I wasn't on a bicycle yet at that point. 
Be sure to visit https://www.middletonplace.org/ while you are there!
Mellow Mushroom Pizzeria and the Mustard Seed for food! 
I'd stay off the road at night from Thurs-Sat as it's a big drinking town.
2012-02-11 16:39:57
thanks, folks! it turns out i won't be here for as long as i thought, so i won't have anything biking related to report on, but i went to both the mustard seed (which, it turns out, is the favorite restaurant of the friends i'm visiting) and middleton place today, and they were both big hits for me and my gf.
dunno if you heard, headloss, but i may have some sad news for you: the middleton oak (the best part for both me and the gf) has lost two huge branches. it pretty much no longer overhangs the sundial garden it was expected to be viewed from. we were immediately blown away when we saw it, and to imagine that it was at one time even more grand is really quite sad.
for the rest of you: then and now.
2012-02-14 05:27:50
That's pretty cool. And sad. I just found out that there was a tree outside Orlando, Fl called the Senator, 3,500 years old, just burned down a month ago. I probably had a dozen chances to see it, never did. Don't know what ya got till it's gone. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Senator_(tree)
2012-02-14 12:33:40
Glad you are having a good time! Sorry to hear about the oak, I certainly remember it in all of its majesty.
2012-02-14 18:53:29
Charleston is probably my favorite place east of the Rockies, one of the only places I have pangs over if I don't get to.
Everybody there rides fixed/single gear bikes.
Take the Pirate Tour, not the one where the guy dresses as a pirate, but the one led by the guy who's doctorate is in pirate history or whatever. I think it's this one: http://www.charlestonwalks.com/new_pirates.html
Their ghost tour is fun too (often given by the same guy, get him talking about pirates and you get even more information).
really sad about that tree. really sad.
2012-02-16 20:58:05