chrisvu05

Hey everyone,
I'm in St. Louis today and tomorrow for some work but my day got cut short early today and was looking for a ride. Any suggestions?

Phantoj

Monday night ride at 6pm in St. Charles: https://www.momentumcycles.com/

https://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...s/581402566143


What did you have in mind?

Talewinds

Ya, where exactly are you? Lots of stuff going on...

aggro_jo

https://stlbiking.com/forum/index.php?

heres where a lot of STL folks hang out. Cant help you out for Monday night but we got a wicked tuesday night crit training series.

enjoy your visit.

chrisvu05

I'm staying at the Cheshire Lodge right near Forest Park and the WashU campus. As far as ride i'm loooking for most anything. I'm a slow CAT 4 rider so I should be able to hang with most any rides that aren't blazing fast. I'm free for the rest of the evening and Iam going to try to make it to the Crit series tomorrow.

Thanks guys.

McTufferton

I rode w/ the folks at Momentum on their Thursday night ride last week. About 15 guys, 30 miles, 21mph average through the rain. The Monday ride is longer and faster (from what I'm told), regardless of what the website says. Monday ride is flat.

I'd join you, but did 75 miles yesterday, and need the day off.

What area are you in? If the Monday Momentum Cycles ride doesn't work, perhaps we can offer more suggestions.

Edit: I'm late... just saw your location.

McTufferton

BF member "Tio" is also a StL rider who lives closer to downtown. Try to PM him.

chrisvu05

It looks like the St. Charles Ride is a little far away to drive. I'll probably just do loops around Forest Park.

Phantoj

Might as well ride downtown, see the city and all. Try the Bike Saint Louis routes: https://www.bikestlouis.org/flash/bikeMap.html

Or pick up a hard copy of the map at a local bike shop.

Tio

McT, I already PM'ed him -- I am all about skipping the middle man (thanks though)!!!

I am in much the same boat as you, a big weekend of riding and hitting the weights with the gf tonight. I am trying to get a Sunday morning metric-plus ride organized (leaving from Schlafy's Tap Room) if you are ever interested. We will leave at about 9am and head out to Creve Coeur Lake, through South-city, and then back downtown.

chrisvu05

Thanks for all the help everyone. I think i'm just gonna do a few loops around Forest Park this evening...i figured at the very least I would enjoy the scenery (both the park and the Wash U girls). Tomorrow night i'm going to try very hard to get out of my stuff early for the Big Shark Crit Series. Thanks again for the help.

Chris

mfav7

Tuesday night crits can be a lot of fun. The course is nice, attitude fairly relaxed, and it is good training. Have fun.

rb07

Hit the off-the-MUP roads for the hills in Forest Park. Nothing that extravagant, but more entertaining than fighting the MUP traffic. I would head out for a ride, but after 80 miles yesterday, I would just be dead weight!

chrisvu05

^^^Jesus I wish I had go this advice before i went out and rode. Forest Park MUPs were ridiculous! I did one lap and realized it was just stupid to ride on with that much pedestrian traffic. So i jumped on Lindell and within 30 seconds despite there not being any traffic, I had the closest call of my life!!! A car buzzed me not more than 2 inches from my bars. It scared the crap out of me because there was no one in the left lane and the car could've easily gotten over. I sprinted and caught the car at the Lindell and Skinker light and proceeded to ask the women "if she realized she almost killed me?" She rolled up her window while telling me to get the F on the side walk. I had 3 cars come within 3 feet of me on Lindell. I even stopped at Big Shark to ask if it was illegal to ride on the roads here or something? Wow, I've never seen a worse cycling area. Hopefully the crit will be much better tomorrow night.

McTufferton

Yeah... Lindell... not such a good idea.

I don't know if this is your first trip to StL, but don't judge it's residents or "cycling friedliness" as a city by that lady... what a b!tch!!

Sorry for your negative experience. Hopefully we can ride next time you're in and show you some better routes.

chrisvu05

See Lindell looked like it would be great....4 lanes...no cars really when I hopped on it. I had 4 cars pass me...3 of them where close enough to were if either of us had made a mistake they would've hit me. The 4th car actually moved over a half a lane which was fine. I looped back into the park and saw some cyclists stopped at a stop sign on the roads in the park and I chatted with them for a few. They said there was a real problem right in this area for cyclist if you get outside of the park roads. I don't mind riding with cars, actually i think it is fun sometimes but not when they don't act like they see all 230 lbs of me in white jersey.

Ready to get back to Nashville!! I'm sure there are some cycling friendly places in St. Louis and unlikely I didn't find one in my first ride. Oh well, wish I had driven out to St. Charles for the Momentum ride.

rb07

Sorry to hear you met the lesser half of St. Louis traffic. Unfortunate, but not surprising (even though I say this, I have had more positive traffic experiences this year than negative, but I've also had the closet call as well). Lindell is a beast. There is a section marked as part of the Bike St. Louis route that I don't take any more on my commute because I just didn't like actually fighting for position on the road (this is closer to downtown away from the park).

The crit should be much better than that! I've heard good things about the course and the series. There's also a road ride in Kirkwood that I've been on and is nice 25 mile route with some kick ups on it and a good group to ride with (https://trailnet.org/calendar.php for more info). 18-ish mph average for the lead group pace I would say (with warmup, etc. etc.). It's not as far away as the St. Charles rides, but not as close as the crit! Decisions, decisions...