Koyote

I don't ride the same exact route each time, but I do stick to the same roads and a handful of standard routes of different lengths. If I am seriously training (e.g., riding intervals), it's easier to be on familiar roads so that I can avoid stoplights and such, and not have to worry about navigation. I also become a fixture on those roads, which (as I have found from experience) means that the regular motorists on those roads tend to be more polite, and more likely to offer me assistance if I ever have a breakdown.

Slightspeed

My brother in law used to ride the same 10 mile route every day. Besides being OCD, his reason was that he had a goal of 10 miles a day, and by adding up the calendar days, he was able to figure out his monthly mileage. I always thought this was wierd, until he dragged home an old Raleigh frame that he found on his regular route in a back alley scrap pile. I built the Raleigh into a nice '73 Super Course. Over 2 years ago, he had a small crash, broke his shoulder joint, cracked his head and gave up riding his bike. Part of his OCD kept him from wearing a helmet. Now he walks the same but shorter route every day.

Juan Foote

I don't see it as strange at all. I lived in a location for a couple of years that the only safe place to ride any distance was the Silver Comet Trail. I rode out and back the same way three times a week for some time. I won't say I was as rigid about the exactness of the ride the way you mention.

TakingMyTime

Well said.

My "regular" ride is up and down Pacific Coast Highway in Southern California. I never get tired of it.

caloso

I had a standing ride that I would do with a friend 3 or 4 times a week before work. It was an out and back on a MUP, so always the same route. I would refer to it as The Standard or sometimes just The Ride. But I would do other routes on the weekends.

Barry2 

I'm English and moved to East Bay San Francisco many years ago. I really miss the old country lanes that surrounded my home town in every direction.
Closest I can get to that UK light traffic haven is a 20 mile loop around our canal trails. I've ridden that loop 19 times this year, and not much else.

I hoping once group rides begin again, I'll get an education of other light traffic routes. But until then, round and round I go.

Gettin' Dizzy

Barry

Wildwood 

Gym rats. Spinners and treadmillers. Not me.

The scenery never changes unless the TV channel gets switched or you binge watch an entire season of ___(insert your favorite series)__ on your tablet.

ps - excuse the term 'spinners', i hear they are now known as indoor cyclists. Self delusion caused by non sequitur thinking. Aka, oxymoronic logic.

edit: Pandemic conditions and indoor riding alternatives in lockdown are absolutely not included in the conversation of delusion. Delusion is the new Reality.

MRT2

As a matter of fact, I do know someone who does this. A friend who always rides the same route. Just a little shy of 20 miles, from his house down to the Milwaukee Lakefront and back. It is a nice ride, but there are other ways to go. I prefer to try to mix things up a bit,on my rides but that is me. I have about 5 basic rides, with 3 or 4 variations for every ride, sometimes combining two shorter rides into one big loop. Or cutting a longer ride off when I don't have the time. That is my preference. My friend just likes the routine of the same ride, 2 or 3 days per week from May to October. And, almost never before May 1 or after October 15.

HeyItsSara

UNACCEPTABLE! My self delusion is caused by my ego. Nothing less.

skidder

Ditto this. Its a 6.5 mile loop that I do a few times in the pre-dawn hours (options for smaller loops, too) on city streets. With COVID-19 its been really quiet (really nice!) in the early morning!
I've got three other routes I ride, all have variations, they all start from my front door, and all have the same initial 2 miles of road at the start.

devianb

If I am riding around in the city a vary it up. If I am riding out of town to another city I stick to the safest most direct route possible.

canklecat

I would imagine some folks find comfort or at least a little less stress when they stick to familiar routines.

Riding the same route every time isn't much different from what most of my cycling acquaintances and I do anyway: Ride variations of the same route most of the time.

If my goal is a workout -- head down, frothing and slobbering up a lather on hard efforts -- I'd rather do it on familiar turf. I mostly ride variations of the same three or four loops spread out across a region maybe 30 miles across. And a lot of folks I know ride the same routes pretty often.

Jim from Boston

Know anybody who rides or runs only one route, like, ever?

Quote:

Originally Posted by burnthesheep

I follow someone online who rides pretty often. Probably 4 times a week. The route? Same identical 40mi route every time. Zero deviation. It's not a commuting route either. Never shorter, never longer. Never different.

I just can't imagine ever only riding or running one path, ever.

I have my favorites, but I explore or mix it up a touch.

Know anyone like this?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retro Grouch

Why do you ask?

Quote:

Originally Posted by burnthesheep

I ask as I just find it a touch weird. I didn't know if it was a common thing that I was perhaps discounting as unusual.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dedhed

I find it weird that someone cares, much less "follows", someone else's riding habits.

I have previously posted in praise on a few threads:He's not weird, he's an artiste.

bruce19

I had a 20 mi. route that I would do 3-4 times a week for many years. If I had to guess I'd say the climbing was around 60 ft/mi. At the time I was riding a chromed steel frame MAZA (not Masi) w/Campy Athena friction shifters. I always rode it at TT pace. As I was approaching my 50th birthday I trained to do it at 20 mph. I trained all winter on my rollers. Then I trained on the road until my birthday rolled around in June. It was 1996. Then I rode it "balls to the wall" and did exactly 20 mph. After that I was so burned out from all the training that I stopped riding for 8 yrs. Lesson learned.

alloo

I rode the same route for a few months last year. I started different routes based on snowmelt rates. As winter went out, I decided that riding in the snow/ice wasn't worth it. Now I have a bunch of options, and when I need a change of scenery I can vary my commute.

Phil_gretz

NASCAR fan?

FlMTNdude

My weekday riding coincides with commuting, so I always am between two set points. That said, I have about 3 routes ranging from 15-28 miles, depending on my time available and mileage I want to do. Weekends will have about 3-5 miles which always overlap, unless I drive the bike to the location and then start, which is seldom. Even at that, things are mostly variations of 5 different routes. Even at that, of those 5 base routes it could be months before I repeat more than 25% of a weekend route. Considering the people I regularly see while riding, I would say a whole lot of people repeat routes often.

BCDrums

I believe it was Jack Reacher who said, "When in doubt, turn left."

CAT7RDR

Creatures of habit. I use ridewithgps figuring out relatively safe and scenic routes from home. I have about 6 or so variations of 30 to 80 miles I stick with. Sometimes I have to shake it up and drive to a park in the foothills to get into some mountain riding. Obligations as a part-time caregiver keep me closer to home.

rydabent

I have 4 basic routes that I ride around the city. They vary from 20 miles to 35 miles. But then on a whim I will turn off the route to see something that interests me.

hrdknox1

I have a 53 mile route that I do solo 4 times a week. The reason for me sticking to the same route is because I feel that it is the safest route that I can ride from home and back. When I mixed it up a few times I found myself on roads that weren't as safe. On Saturday and Sunday I do different routes with two separate groups.

Tom L

I'm the same way, I have a few routes on the road that I ride all the time, they are the only lightly traveled roads in the area that I feel safe on, most of the other roads I would never ride on

Oneder

I ride the same trail near my house over and over. It is the only place worth riding within distance of my house, and I don't really care enough to put the bike in my car just to ride somewhere else, which is probably worse in most ways especially too hilly if I go to the mountainy areas.

Ross520

Tonight, I planned on riding a century using a route I’ve ran a few times in the past. After 25 miles I was SO ******* BORED I abandoned my plan and decided to improvise. I had a far better time, and wasn’t bored in the least bit for the rest of the ride.

I don’t think I’d even want to hop on the saddle if I didn’t have any variety as far as routes were concerned. To each-their-own, but personally, that sounds like complete and utter insanity.

canklecat

Ditto. I was caregiver for two grandparents and then my mom until she died a couple of years ago. That's one reason I got in the habit of using a 5 mile loop just under 2 miles from home. Good workout and I could be home quickly if necessary -- which occasionally happened when my mom's part-time aides flaked out. I tried to time my exercise time around their schedules but it didn't always work out.

Now it's just me and the cats. I still ride that loop on most longer rides, either as a warmup or after a longer ride. Good fast long oval on roller coaster terrain. Scenery isn't bad, it's just an access road alongside a moderately busy highway, still adjacent to thousands of acres of as-yet undeveloped Texas prairie. It'll probably be fully developed in another 20 years. For now, I have to watch for deer and other critters near sunup and sunset.

But my three other usual routes are mostly larger loops up to 20-30 miles. Put together I mostly ride a four leaf clover shape of large loops that intersection around where I live. On the rare occasion I have the patience to ride a century, I'll usually combine those four loops and it's done.

I enjoy exploring other routes but hardly ever find one that I like as well. Occasionally I'll try a route a friend has posted on Strava or other app. I figure if they ride it often it must be good. But usually I don't see why they ride that route so often -- too many turns, too much traffic, lousy roads, too much time on the MUP, etc. They probably say the same about my usual routes, which are mostly along prairie and pasture rural and suburban roads.