Roody

I have raced quite a bit in impromptu sprints with local teenagers on bikes. I guess they see the devilish grin I wear when cycling, and think they should challenge an old man. You have to feel good when you beat somebody who's 30 or 40 years younger than yourself. or feel good even if they beat you by only a little bit.

fietsbob

moved from University centered town that had such, now in a more affordable one that I participate in with the occasional

service to cyclists needing repairs, and cartoning them up , a few Hrs of Payroll @ LBS.

put time into resisting the outside forces bent on ruining the place and extracting huge wealth thru exploiting the location

On a river, by the Sea. to export fossil hydrocarbons.

Zedoo

I won't drive a distance that requires hotel expenses. In my area, I sometimes noted an event then forgot it until after it happened. Once I attended a meeting of cyclists. I was the only carfree person there, but I didn't have a bike or fitness to ride with that group. Average 20 mph for 15 miles? Won't happen on my beater bike. Years later I bought my first helmet.

Jim from Boston

Do you participate in cycling events?

Another resurrected thread on LCF, duly noted, though only three months from the preceding post. I had not seen it before so thanks for the opportunity to write. Though the Event Season has perhaps begun in Australia, it has peaked here in Massachusetts, and autumn is a great time to ride.

My main event riding is on the Fifty-Plus Annual Rides, almost each year one or two, since 2010. In fact those rides are the centerpiece of my cycling year as I train for them, beyond just my usual commuting. This year I did one in Michigan in July and a presumed major one is in October in Pennsylvania. I usually rent an SUV to drive to them, to easily accommodate my bike(s); about 700 miles to Michigan (also to visit family), and about 500 miles to Pennsylvania.

Otherwise I am a solo rider due to time constraints, enjoying the loneliness of a long-distance cyclist.

Machka 

The new Randonneuring season starts on November 1 and we've got our eye on a couple events.

So we rode most of the route of one yesterday.

Here's hoping the actual day of the event will have considerably less wind!!

Machka 

Sunday 1 November -- Ranelagh Ramble 100K - Audax Australia event

We started the new randonneuring season today with the Ranelagh Ramble 100K.

We rode this route two weeks ago as a test ride, in a howling gale, and yet still finished within the time limit. So a) I hoped that the wind would not be anywhere near as bad, and b) I had a small degree of confidence that we could finish within the time limit again.

Today was warm ... for a change. We started the ride at 9 am and the temp was already 19C/66F.

Up the main highway, that's uphill, and then a series of left turns to get us onto the backroads. We had three patches of gravel (several km long each) on the route, and hit the first one early in the ride. All was good until the rather steep descent. I'm not a confident descender at the best of times, but especially not on gravel. That was a very, very slow descent! But we were back onto pavement at the bottom and didn't hit the next gravel section until just before the first control. That one was OK because there wasn't much in the way of descending.

A comment about the gravel sections ... while they can be a bit of a pain for us road cyclists, they do help to reduce the amount of traffic, and slow the traffic a bit.

The ride organiser met us at the first control with bananas, lamingtons, and water. Very nice. Then we were on our own for the next 70 km.

The lumpy route took us into the next town where we had a quick pitstop, and then up another main highway for about 10 km before turning off onto a quiet road running along the foreshore. That's quite a pretty road, and there we encountered our third patch of gravel.

Just before we reached the next control, the temperature hit its high for the day ... 28.4C. But we could see storm clouds gathering.

We stopped at the control, and each had a Coke Zero and ice cream bar while enjoying the few drops of rain those storm clouds tried to produce. And then we were off again for the last leg of the journey.

That leg starts with a fairly steady climb for about 5 km, and then a series of descents and smaller hills back into the start/finish location. After that 5 km climb, it is actually a reasonably quick run into town. And while the storm clouds lurked, they didn't develop into anything.

We rolled up to the cafe with 45 minutes to spare! It was a good ride ... one of my fastest in a long time.


Stats
Distance: 98.5 km
Rolling Time: 5 hours 16 min (18.7 km/h average)
Total Time: 5 hours 58 min (16.5 km/h average)
Climbing: 1174 metres (3851 feet)
Temp High: 28.4 C (83 F)
Wind: 15 km/h gusting to about 25 km/h, with a few little gusts up to about 40 km/h.

[HR][/HR]

The first two photos were taken on our recce two weeks ago ...

Machka 

See ride report for most recent event here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/long-dista...l#post18318402

cooker

What's a lamington?

Machka 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamington

Roody

ew

CliffordK

I did 2 marathons while I was in Portland (and not car-free). But, I hate driving in downtown Portland, and the marathon start wasn't appealing at all, so I ride my bike to the start.... And, whew, also back home after a bit of a rest following the marathon. I did a lot of running in Forest Park, and would ride my bike and park it there for training.

That has been a few years.

Oh, prior to that, I did the Reach the Beach bike ride when it started in Monroe, OR. So, I rode from Springfield to Monroe early in the morning. Did 150 miles or so to the coast. Attended their dinner afterwards. Then camped in the local camp ground, and rode my bike back 100+ miles the next day (I took a few shortcuts).

My Official "car free" period started 1 week before the Eugene DRT Cargo Bike race last year. I did a scratch build of a cargo bike + trailer, and did the "race". I had a blast, but decided not to repeat it this year. I rode about 15 miles to the start of the race with the empty cargo setup.

I decided to join the Portland classic bike ride last summer, and made the ride from Eugene to Portland in a long, winding day along the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway. Then back home a few days later, again with a few shortcuts. I had far more riding coming and going than the official classic tour.

And finally joined a local riding group, and also rode to the start for a "hill day".

Machka 

Photos ...

At the start ...



At the 93 km point ... a bit weary ...

Machka 

What about watching cycling events?

Do you follow the Grand Tours and other cycling events?


The Tour Down Under has begun, and we do enjoy watching whatever coverage we can get of the Tours.

timsataurus

I ride in a social ride on Tuesday nights. Have done charity, social rides, and one brevet. I've also done one tour. I ride 3/4 days a week for exercise, in addition to using my bike daily for transportation. Currently have a goal of doing a century by myself before end of March.

I also ride in the city rides when the close a neighborhood down for cycling and walkers. In Tucson it's called Cycovia and in Portland OR it was called Sunday Parkways. I usually take pictures while riding along.

Machka 

The increasing distances we've been cycling over the past couple months has resulted in the successful completion of our first 200K randonnee since March 2012.

https://www.bikeforums.net/long-dista...l#post18499780

Machka 

Over Easter ... a 300K randonnee.

And we cycled to the start of the event.

https://www.bikeforums.net/long-dista...l#post18639634

scroungetech

The local non-profit bike co-op puts on a lot of rides. There's a social ride monthly that has a costume theme that draws about 200 people depending on weather. But only about 5% actually wear a costume. I ride this one because I see friends there but it almost aggravating in that it is very slow paced-slow enough for kids just off training wheels. There's a monthly coffee outside ride where the ride leader pulls a trailer with a cooler full of iced coffee that is shared in a park at the far end. Those 2 are the big ones. I skip the full moon rides due to an early workday. There is also a large local club that rides regularly, but they usually start way out in the suburbs and seem to attract a more competitive crowd, so haven't participated there. But when I really want to just keep pedaling for 6+ hours no one is interested in going along with me... Gotta learn more songs to sing aloud on rural roads...

wipekitty

I started participating in group road rides again this summer...and have been very lucky in terms of access to rides. Most of the starting locations are within 4 miles of my house, so it is easy enough to ride to the start (as others who live in town tend to do). One group starts at a location in a town 15 miles away; I decided that if I really want to do a 50-60 mile ride, I'm better going solo and having the whole ride consist of better scenery.

My town also has an annual bicycle festival with a number of loosely organized rides, and it starts at the park that's about a half mile from my house.

I have not done a ton of organized events - and determined that I'm not cut out for racing. Randonneuring seems like it would be fun. I'd rent a car for that.

This, exactly! Some of my favorite activities: distinguish Catholic and Lutheran churches; determine whether a farm is Amish or English based on the hay bales; track the ratio of red to non-red barns.

Machka 

More events!

https://www.bikeforums.net/long-dista...donnees-2.html

Machka 

We made a little tour of one of our recent events.

wipekitty

I've been participating in more group cycling activities since I posted here last summer.

One of the groups does longer road rides (75-125 miles), and the starting locations are often in a different town. One of the group members has a truck and is willing to give me rides. (FWIW, he and his wife sold their individual cars and now share the truck.) I took him up on that offer once, and caught a ride up and then rode the 25 miles back home after the ride. For the most recent event, I rode to and from - adding an extra 27 miles or so!

I also participated in one of the Wisconsin Bike Fed spring rides this year, which started 10 miles from home. The flat 10 miles out and 10 miles back was a nice warm up/cool down from an early season 50 mile event.

Gaelen

The city puts on an organized century the last weekend of August. I ride to that. I'm finally starting to feel confident in my abilities, so, gear-depending, I'd like to try an actual race this next year. All the good ones in TX are a ways away, so, I may find a way to afford a car again. My friend's dad goes to some of the events around the area, but, I would feel weird bumming a ride, leaving him to ride by myself for the afternoon, then bumming back.

350htrr

I actually go out of my way NOT to participate in cycling "events"... Why,? you may ask... Because I seem to be somewhat competitive, and "if" I did that sort of thing (entered a bicycling "event") I would lose out on my other things I like to do, like camping/fishing and even "normal" bicycling. ALL I would end up doing is training...

cooker

I actually enjoy occasional events, perhaps because I don't have performance expectations.

I'm a bit overweight and although I do enough cycling and now-dog walking too, to maintain a moderate level of fitness, and can cycle endlessly on flat land, I'm out of contention for any type of contest as soon as we start uphill. So when I did some short triathlons a few years back. I definitely viewed myself as a "participant" and not a "competitor". I set some modest personal time goals for myself and also the slightly jokey goal of not coming last in my age group, all of which I met. I spent my childhood in the water and I bike every day, so I only worried about training for running, but even that I took pretty easy so as not to get injured, which is more and more likely as you get older.

The triathlons were on an island in the Great Lakes, and the first two years, the course hugged the shore and was almost completely flat. The third year they chose a bike route that climbed several hundred feet to the centre of the island, which was a moderate challenge, but the descent refreshed me so I was not in too bad shape for the (fortunately) flat run.

I missed two or three years due to injuries and family weddings and then sadly they canceled that particular event.

Walter S

I raced superbikes for several years. That ended with a head injury. It doesn't matter how careful you are. Your potential demise is out of your control. But I was in it to win and that's a test of wills as much as it is skill and concentration. It's exhilarating when it works. A high like none other. Sometimes it's hard to not be distracted by how good it felt comming off the last turn - except preventing getting passed in the next one happens NOW.