julius rensch

What road do you choose?
Do you always have a defined destination, or do you take delight in meandering?
What about surface ?
Paved and smooth ?
Dirt, sand or gravel ?
How about ice & snow ?
Flat or hilly?

eja_ bottecchia

The road less traveled, of course.

BTW, wasn’t Lewis Carroll high all the time?

julius rensch

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You are so right eja_bottecchia...Carroll was always in Top Cog....
always also taking the High Road, while we plodded along the Low Road...

Julius in Northwood

ddeand 

Because of my age, I plan out each ride and often ride routes with which I’m familiar. I usually let my wife know which route I’m taking - just in case. If I’m on paved routes, I ride my 1980 Pro Miyata, and on mixed surfaces/gravel, I take my newer C’dale CAADX. I suppose I have a collection of maybe 15 routes (with variations) that I’m comfortable with. I don’t ride in Winter - I’m a fair weather rider.

julius rensch

Bravo ddeand..practical, safe and fun...what more is there?

Julius in Ohio

kcblair

Most roads in my county are paved (and pot holed), Country roads are lightly traveled, so that's what I use.KB

hillyman

What have you got?

fietsbob

eja_ bottecchia

Someone has to travel the low road.

There is a potentially unsavory side to Lewis’ high road, however.

Read Morton H. Cohen’s “Lewis Carroll: A Biography” (1995); and Donald Thomas biography of Carroll (can’t remember the title off hand).

downhillmaster

He never once stated or implied fun.
That leaves practical and safe.
What more is there to practical and safe?
Uhh, just everything.

Machka 

I've gone into a whole lot of detail about the roads we ride here ... complete with photos!

https://www.bikeforums.net/living-ca...like-ride.html

jpescatore

I've been cycling locally in Maryland, DC, PA and VA for 40 years so I don't tend to do a lot of "just exploring" anymore. Every now and then I will do a "just see where the handlebars take me" ride from my house but usually I either head out from home on the bike, or throw the bike on the car, and do a particular route that strikes my fancy that morning.

My favorite routes maximize safety, scenery and challenge. There are some roads I just will not ride on - I may bike 4,-5,000 miles per year on the roads around here but I drive my car about 5 times as much and there are bad stretches that seem to attract bad drivers.

I like biking by stuff to see: rivers, streams, views from hills, scenic old towns, etc. My favorite roads have a mix of all of those - and the combination of being near water and being on top of hills (not much around here really qualifies as "mountains"!) adds the challenging aspect - a decent amount of climbing. But, some of my favorite rides are along the Chesapeake Bay in Southern MD, where the climbing is just short steep stingers and no hilltop views - but amazing views of boats and water.

Most of my riding is road, with a few stretches of gravel or crushed limestone trails thrown in. Most of my rides are solo, but a few times a month I get the urge to ride in a sea of Lycra and do Potomac Pedalers group rides or charity rides. At least half of my rides are "throw the bike on the car" rides vs. just start out from home - I get bored seeing the same stuff more than once a month or so, and every now and then I get the urge to ride car-free and get on one of the many rail trails around here.

That's one of the beauties of cycling - pretty much no matter what you enjoy, it will be good for you...

JenJ

Quiet trails with some shades here and there, great if with a couple of cycling buddies or my cousins. I rather take bumpy gravels over the roads with traffics.

KraneXL

I'd say that has less to do with age and more to do with decisiveness, or prudence. I always plan my route but that's because my ride has less to do with competitiveness and more to do with distance. I'd have to ride at least 6 miles from home to get to my closest MIPs. After that I can choose to ride freely or just enjoy the sights.

Fast riding on our heavily congested roads only invites the likelihood of injury since I have to watch out for all the distracted motorist on the road. I don't expect any drivers to do the right thing by yielding, and I'm generally correct in that assumption. Females may be as good at driving as males but the most certainly aren't' as precise at following the rules.

Walking home from the gym I nearly got hit as one women didn't stop her car until she was smack in the middle of the cross walk.

I gestured to her where the crosswalk line begins, but I doubt if she even say me with the triple-decker burger she was eating blocking her view. Californians practically live in their cars so that means drive part-time when you're dinning.

Jim from Boston

What road do you choose?
Just this morning I noted that @Machka had bumped that thread today, started in 2014. Back then I posted:

ironnerd

Yes. As was Poe. It does not diminish the quality of their work.
Writing is one of those wonderful few jobs that can benefit from being high...

I also ride the road less traveled. Ther's not as much traffic.

Lemond1985

Nah, that was Rick Derringer:

KraneXL

I hope you're not implying you need to be high to be a good writer? Then again, I suppose that depends on the type of writing you do. If you're going to write about your internal demons, then I guess being high is the best way to meet them.

BobbyG

@julius rensch
What road do you choose?
Do you always have a defined destination, or do you take delight in meandering?
I mostly commute to work and back home, so my destinations are usually defined, and I have various routes I know are safe. Sometimes I may take a different street or two for additional variety, or jump from one route to another where they cross. However, on my weekend rides I will pick a destination and plan a route to get there; sometimes I will stray from it as I explore an interesting street or path, and sometimes I change the destination.
What about surface ?
Paved and smooth ?
Dirt, sand or gravel ?
Mostly paved roads and hard-packed dirt, sometimes gravel. Two of my bikes are road bikes with relatively narrow 700c wheels (700x28 and 700x35). My MTB-based commuter has 26x1.85(inch) smoothies for the road, which work on dort and loose gravel, but not loose sand or snow.
How about ice & snow ?
I put studded, treaded snow tires on the mountain bike for winter commuting.
Flat or hilly?
I'm in Colorado Springs, so it's mostly very hilly. When I visit my family in Chicago I cannot get over how flat it is there, and I grew up there.

my rides:
https://www.youtube.com/user/bgvideo62/playlists

indyfabz

All of the above (except ice and snow).

Notso_fastLane

I do a lot of both. Most of my riding is still commuting, but I usually get out for at least one ride on the weekends. I always take the same route in to work, but so far, I've got about 5 different routes home, depending mostly on how I feel, and whether I feel like going through the fast rollers, doing some hill climbing, or just cruising.

My weekend rides, I usually just pick a direction, and start pedalling. I'll go through neighborhoods, get myself thoroughly lost several times (often running into poorly marked dead ends), and love every minute of it. Sometimes, I'll hop on the local MUP, and just see where it goes (I've still got one direction I haven't explored more than about 5 miles).

So...all of the above?

ddeand 

While I agree wholeheartedly with what you say, I maybe should add a bit more info. At 71, I am also taking blood thinners due to a pulmonary embolism last year. My doctor stressed that I really need to guard against internal bleeding if I crash and encouraged me to ride with others as much as possible. I decided to stop mountain biking (where I defintely crashed a few times each season) and have stuck with road and gravel riding. Surprisingly to me, as I’ve aged, I’ve become more prudent and decisive and have chosen to err on the side of covering my bases while still enjoying being on my bike. I’m really fortunate that I live in an area (Twin Cities, Minnesota) that has a ton of great, long trails and some wonderful gravel riding.

Kabuki12

I have a regular ride , although not set in stone , I ride into Ventura from my house on the east end of Santa Paula . I usually visit the beach or the harbor and then back again. This gives me a 35 mile or so ride . For now there are orchards between the cities so it is nice. I always let my wife know where I am. Joe joesvintageroadbikes.wordpress

livedarklions

Poe really wasn't. That was a bit of successful character assassination when an author he had been feuding with got the opportunity to write his obituary.

88Tempo

I like to make up my mind after I have been riding for a bit. My wife on the other hand always wants to know what bike, where I'm going and how long I'll be gone. So I usually set a route before heading out the door.