Favorite ride of 2017
 

okay so it's a little earlier than usual and i'm probably trying to self-motivate into a few more great rides before the year's end (and so are you), but's what's been your favorite ride of 2017? maybe it was the first one back from a significant injury? maybe it was the one you finally dusted your frequent riding partner? maybe it was the one you met your special someone? maybe it was the one you challenged yourself and surprised yourself into riding faster/longer/stronger? maybe the one you truly reconnected with the bike?
maybe it was the one on the dream vacation where you'd been fantasizing on riding for years? maybe it was the one where you rode really slowly and took your time and discovered some new things/places around your area? maybe it was the one you (finally) rode with the family? maybe the first significant ride on your new dream machine? lay it out. spill the beans. tell me. inspire everyone.

normally my fave ride is a longer one but this year, it's a fairly short one. desolate area. mostly dirt roads riding with a road bike on '23's. got a few flats and the roadie tires got beat to hell so hadda ride 6 miles or so (very, very slowly-elmer fudd voice) on a flat front tire. just made me appreciate the beautiful area a little more. zero rush.
https://www.strava.com/activities/936810524

I fully expect to have some more rides that will challenge this one, but so far my favorite ride was a 62-miler from my neighborhood up to Saguaro Lake in Arizona, that took us up and over Usery Pass, which is a road that drives up into the mountains and down the other side. It's one of the few climbs I've done so far since I started riding again in August after a two-year break. Where I live it's pretty flat, so there just isn't that much climb to be had unless I go looking for it specifically. I did this ride with a guy whom I met entirely on Strava, who happens to live like a mile away from me. It's an example, to me, of why Strava is so cool, since almost everyone in the area whom I now know in cycling I either met on Strava, or met at a group ride or something that I only found out about through someone I met on Strava.

We've got just over three weeks before the Rapha Festive 500 on Strava, so I'll probably get in 15 or 16 more rides before that challenge happens. When the challenge starts I'll begin it the way I have twice before, by getting on my bike for a 30 to 50-mile ride starting just a few minutes after midnight on Christmas Eve, when the challenge starts. For me the 312 miles in 8 days of this challenge are about twice my usual weekly mileage, so picking up an extra sleep cycle by riding at midnight on Christmas Eve, sleeping in a little that morning (I'll usually take it off work), then riding again later on Christmas Eve gets me off to a very good start to the challenge. I mention this because there's a special place in my heart for the two Christmas Eve midnight rides I've done for the Festive 500 in the past, simply because they felt like an adventure. The temperature was usually down into the 30s (pretty effin cold for here in AZ) and I've had to really bundle up and take special precautions like taping over the vents in my shoes, wearing thick woolen hiking socks into my cycling shoes, wrapping plastic bags around them, wearing as many as five layers, a balaclava under the helmet, etc.

My favorite ride lasted two weeks:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23235312

Actual mileage with things like side trips and grocery runs was over 750.

As for single day rides it was New Hope, PA to Brooklyn. Close to a century. Always a fun time.

Some mostly-solo metric centuries, mostly west of Fort Worth. I started with a fast group for a good warm up, then dropped myself after 10-20 miles to conserve energy for the rest of the ride. Helped me finish a couple of metric centuries at 16+ mph, which is fast for me.

Before then my fully solo metric centuries ranged from 12-15 mph, so starting with a group helped nudge my effort a bit.

Still aiming for a solo full standard 100 mile century by the end of the year. Had to delay several times due to family stuff. Hard to set aside the extra hours.

Any chance you could post the route to Brooklyn. I am always riding around New Hope and would like to go east but I am not familiar with the roads.
Thanks.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/9379011


From Hoboken, we take the ferry to Midtrown, ride down the path along the Hudson to Warren St. then cut through City Hall onto the Brooklyn Bridge bike/ped path and make our way to the Nu Hotel on Smith Street.


The ride is an organized event that takes place every year on the Sunday before Labor Day. A change of clothes is brought up for you. You shower at the hotel then go out to dinner. Charter busses and a truck bring you and you bike back to where you started. If you did this route during the week you would be squashed to death by truck traffic through the port area.


I have a few other loop routes that start/end across the river in Hunterdon County, NJ. This is my favorite:


https://ridewithgps.com/routes/15558908


Belvidere is a cool town with lots of renovated Victorian houses and a big town square park. Almost all of the route is great. Except for getting through Phillipsburg, the trip down the river is particularly splendid. Saw a bear one year at about mile 19.5.

Thank you. I like the ride to Belvedere and will give it a go next year. I usually zig-zag around Philipsburg to avoid Main Street when I go north.

Spent 2 weeks in Spain riding with a friend that lives there. While there, we did the Gran Fondo La Musarra and got to meet one of my 3 personal cycling heroes: Miguel Indurain. The other 2 are Merckx and Hinault, which I have met and ridden with once. Insurain is simply just as nice and down to earth as everyone says he is!!!

Here is another nice one out of L'Ville:


https://ridewithgps.com/routes/9888193


The Oldwick Store at 33.6 is popular with cyclists. There is a great outdoor eating area in the back. You can get snacks or a sandwich inside and take it out back.


A shorter one from Bulls Island:


https://ridewithgps.com/routes/15796154


The only place for food an water is at mile 16.8. This route goes by what was the old Peacock Store, a funky little place that, unfortunately, burned to the ground several years ago and was not re-built.

Thanks very much. They both look good. Always looking for spots for good food and coffee. (on and off the bike)

The first one that comes to mind is Stelvio. Gorgeous day, great ride, and fantastic kick-off to Giro vacation. But come to think of it, I think the ride we took up Cima Grappa was more fun - a longer ride, and at one point we stopped for refreshments that were being offered by a friend of our guide (they had grilles set up cooking stuff, beer, etc.) and we had plenty of time to go all the way up to the top before coming back down to watch the riders go over the pass. Oh, and the ride down the time trial course in Milan, watching the teams go by on their familiarization rides! Lots of special rides that trip!

Looking back, it seems like I had a lot of good rides in April - with high kudo and medal counts, and cheery names on Strava, but none of them stand out much - they all sort of blend together. But New Year's Day was special - did some repeats of Bear Mountain waiting for others to make their way up, which they eventually did, so it was really cool meeting up with them and braving the snowy slush on the road at the top together.

Then there was my longest, highest ride ever, the Maratona dles Usual Stuff, which was really nothing more than just riding around all day by myself (over 12 hours elapsed time) getting in ALL the local hills and Bear Mt.

Then just a few weeks ago a group of usual riding mates and I went for a shorter climbing-oriented ride, and I got to lead everyone on a sort of real-estate tour, climbing the East Hill on some nice, broad and quiet roads, which everyone seemed to enjoy.

I hope to get in some good rides the remaining available weekends still, and maybe something more than Citibiking during the week - I just hope all my friends aren't just doing the GFNY training rides - I'm not signed up, and don't expect to....

Thanks for starting this thread, I scrolled back through FB posts and wow it's been a great year on the bike, I've really enjoyed it. Nothing I think that would seem too impressive to list the stats on, its more been qualitatively enjoyable on a personal level.

My highlights were probably winning the state TT championship & discovering mountain biking. The TT stuff is much more internal, it's hard to convey what is satisfying about it.

The MTB is really about exploration, discovery, wondering what's next. I've ridden some great places- Catalina Island, Big Bear Lake, Tahoe, Sedona. Lucky to be able to get out there. I'll add some pics in a moment.

https://i.imgur.com/F2VRGv0.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/pUPZOCQ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/JHqfZFA.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/oOkT9Ay.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/rwdbiuR.jpg

Sounds like a great year - some great locations indeed. As for your year as a time-trialist, well, a Championship is hardly as "internal" as you say. ;) Congratulations!

Last day of RAGBRAI.

Incredible descent into a forest that lasted for miles. Then a tough climb out of the forest.
Ended with excellent views of the wide sections of the Mississippi up in far NE iowa with wisconsin across the river.
The Air Force team cheered us on as we rode into the final town since the group i ride with had dinner with the Air Force earlier in the week. The kids on my team were amazed at their response(they waited for a couple hours for us to ride in and finish) and support.

#1 would be 2017 Bike Sebring 12/24 Hour for 307.8 miles. A bit upset with myself since I stopped riding with a couple of hours left but that STUPID DECISION encouraged me to attempt the 400 mile non drafting RAAM Qualifier at 2018 Bike Sebring 12/24 Hours in February.

By far, my favorite ride this year was the sea to summit climb up Mauna Kea.

The details are at the link above.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/eK...SHDi6MUBU=w572

In June of 2017 I got together with some old high school friends for a little cycling vacation in Santa Barbara, California.
It was just a long weekend, but we probably climbed over ten thousand feet.
And the combination of cycling, eating and heaving drinking with old friends, was fantastic.

Slate Peak. I've been waiting to ride it for years.

I got to the top, and there was a small crowd. "Holy crap!" they started, and I thought they were surprised anyone would ride this far, but the next words were "Cervelo makes a cross bike?"

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4425/...0f61cf_o_d.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4450/...5f6de6_o_d.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4377/...ee79db_o_d.jpg

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...72c837_o_d.jpg

Mine would have to be the NYC Century. This wasn't a fast ride for me, mostly because my riding partner was not up for going fast. It was however, the start of my weight loss. There was a friendly contest that was started in my office that I heard about, so I joined in on it. It was starting the week before, and when I told the others that I'm doing the century and it was probably good for 5 pounds right off the top they all rolled their eyes. It ended up being 4 pounds of mostly just water weight. But it was the start and I've lost 25 pounds total so far. I'm looking to get back to around 160 from the 204 I was at. I was always just a skinny guy riding a bike, until I became a fat guy riding a bike. I attribute 100% of my weight loss to the riding, since I still eat mostly anything, and drink beer. I gave up chocolate, cake and ice cream and other sweets, and that wasn't hard to do.

Every outdoor ride since has been my favorite ride so far.:)

Totally forgot to ask you - is that 30mm or 32mm's on the Cervelo? And what brand? You're running tubeless right?

Those are nominal 28 mm, but my rims stretch them out to 32 or 33 mm. Those are IRC Formula Pro tubeless.

I was definitely a little under-biked on that ride, but it was still fantastic. Larches were in full display, and I made it to the top of the highest road in WA.

I did a lot of late spring and summer training for this day https://www.strava.com/activities/1153844476 Ride across Wisconsin 2017. I really enjoyed it, but I don't know if I'd do it again! Ride Across Wisconsin

Kudos! :D

Going to the Sun Road
 

This past June my wife and I vacationed at Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks in Wyoming and Montana. We did lots of hiking in both, but when we got to Glacier our timing gave us a great biking opportunity.

They had record snow in Montana over the winter and they were still plowing Going to the Sun Road in late June when we got there. That shuts the road down to cars but when the plows are not working, the road is open to cyclists and walkers. We arrived on Thursday pm and found that the plowing would stop for the weekend, so I arranged to rent two hybrid bikes (with disc brakes) for Saturday.

We picked up the bikes at the Apgar end of the park and biked over to where a shuttle bus takes you to the start of the closed section at the Avalanche Creek area - on the part that is open to cars, bikes are prohibited between 11a - 4pm. The elevation there is about 3300 feet and over the next 5 miles you only climb about 400 feet, with just stunning scenery all around - a river on the left, steep mountains on the right.

At that point you reach "The Loop" - a scenic view area where Going to the Sun Road takes a switchback turn and the real climbing begins. The next 11 miles or so are a near constant 6% grade up to Logan Pass at 6700 feet. I told my wife, who is a flat road cyclist, "When it stops being fun, you can turn around and glide back." She lasted a few miles and turned around.

I continued on with stark cliffs and waterfalls on my left and the beautiful valley view on the right. It was a brilliant sunny day, temps in the 60s but there was still 3-6 high snow drifts along the side of the road and all the snow melt made the many waterfalls and the Weeping Wall just awesome. The downside was my wife had the cellphone/camera with her - I took no pictures!

I kept slogging, stopped to look at a mountain goat a bit above the road, and finally made it to Logan Pass - with no camera to take the traditional picture next to the Logan Pass elevation sign! Turned around and glided 11 miles back down the Loop, riding the disc brakes quite a bit, and then made the turn for the leisurely pedal back to Avalanche Creek.

The full bucket list experience would be to do the entire Going to the Sun Road on my own road bike, but this filled my bucket up enough in a very memorable way.

John P.

I got to say this one was definitely in my top 3 of the year : https://www.strava.com/activities/1109247682

I was on form that day, (but had to hold back for my friend to catch up. But since I had to wait, I did have more time to enjoy the ride, and didn't suffer through it. It was a great day!