stapfam

Just planning the routes and rides for this year and I am hoping to get a few offroad rides into it.

Nothing planned as yet as I will have a few problems in getting the rides in-Have a busy year on the home front again.

Going to start in April with my usual 40 miler on a flat course that takes in a bit of the local scenery. Not a speed event but will get the legs working up the one hill on the course. End of May and I have a ride that I want to try and do. 65 miles offroad and is an out and back from home. Bit of an Anniversary ride for me. This was the last offroad before medical problems started in 99 that cut my riding back a bit and also the last ride I did in 2001 and yet another medical problem. The ride is easy enough with "Only" about 7,00ft of climbing but is one that I did last year with ease without any training. Took all day on it though but 2 hours of that was lunch at a decent pub.

But into June and a choice of a couple of 100milers. I will only do one as the other planning I want to make is to get a few friends and myself over to France for a days riding. We have a local ferry quite close by and if we can get an early enough boat- we should be able to get a metric in before a good dinner in the evening.

After that I have no idea but the wife wants to go on holiday in July. I did offer her the chance of the other seat on the Tandem for the French trip but I won't repeat her response as It may come up as a long line of "*****************".

So what have you got planned for this year-- Or are you like me- cutting back a bit.

rdtompki

Most of our long rides are organized rides, several within a few hours of home. You've got to be quick to register for some of these rides. The Wine Country Century, Santa Rosa, CA registration opened on midnight, 1 February and a few days later the 2500 bike registration is closed! The schedule for this year looks as follows (all in California)

January - Borrego Springs Century - did the 100K
February - Palm Springs Century - just a few days away. catching up with 8999 of my closest friends
March - Solvang
April - Tierra Bella (Morgan Hill, CA)
May - Wine Country Century (Santa Rosa, CA), I Care Classic (Morgan Hill, CA)
June - Mile High Century (maybe) - too much climbing in May centuries
July - Windmill Century (Santa Maria, CA) - maybe
August - Marin Century - 100K probably
September - Lighthouse Century (San Luis Obispo, CA)
October - Cheese and Wine Century OR Foxy's Fall Century (Davis, CA)

You've got to have a hobby in your old age.
November and December might be rest up months. We did Tuscon last year, but it's a bit far to drive. Worth doing once IMO just like the Bay to Breakers

B. Carfree

I have a question about the registration cut-offs. I used to ride these organized rides back when none of them cut off the registration. Most of them were fundraisers for the bike clubs that put them on. Why do they cut off the number of participants? Is it that they can't get enough volunteers to make it work for more riders or something to do with local law enforcement/government-imposed restrictions? It seems like the more riders the better from both a safety in numbers standpoint and a fund-raising standpoint. If anyone knows the answer, or just has some conjecture, I'd love to hear it.

Back on topic. I hope to ride at least three double centuries, all self-supported. If I really get it going I may try for nine, but that's probably a bit beyond what my knees will allow. I'll take my usual two trips down the coast from Eugene, OR to Davis, CA to see my dentist. This year I want to find a decent inland route to ride back instead of taking the train; if anyone has route recommendations I'm all ears. I may ride to either Denver or Tahoe to visit relatives sometime in July. I may also finally ride over the McKenzie pass during the few days between the road being cleared of snow and when it opens to cars. I hope to find an adequately safe route to get there by bike but if not I'll take the bus. I just can't bring myself to drive someplace to ride, which has kept me from this wonderful ride the past few years.

The most important rides for me will be sometime between mid-June and late September. I hope to take my 20-yr-old son on some long rides in the coast hills. He is interested and strong as a bull, but I'm not sure about his endurance. I'll have to plan carefully to keep it fun.

Phil85207

The organized ride are getting too expensive for me to do many. Every year they go up. By the time a person travels to and gets a motel a small fortune is spent. I will do a few close to home and that's it for me. Even volunteering is up there with the travel and motels.

downtube42

Capping entrants on an organized ride allows them to ensure they have enough food and drink at sag stops, parking spaces at the start/finish, volunteers to handle registration, porta potties at sag stops, local lodging, etc. If the ride is big enough to affect traffic, there may be some agreement with the local municipality to cap entrants. The more services they provide, the more important it is to know how many people are coming.

Even on a small ride with no services, having 150 people show up when you only expect 75 is challenging. You can effectively tell a crowd of 75 about last-second route change, but not 150. If you ran the route through a town with a single convenience store and Subway, that's going to be a choke-point and people will be unhappy.

Allegheny Jet

My schedule is looking like this with a few modifications for vacations, Holidays and such.

March 12 Mid-Ohio RR – Lexington @ Mid Ohio Sports Car Course
March 19 Malabar Farms RR- Lucas
April 8-9 Spring Climbing Camp- Pine Creek, Penna.
April 16 Race Around The Lake – Monroe Falls
April 17 Covered Bridge Circuit Race- Bath
April 23 RATL – Monroe Falls
April 24 Covered Bridge Circuit Race- Bath
April 26, then every Tuesday evening to Sept.- Westlake Training Circuit Races
April 30 RATL – Monroe Falls
May 1 Covered Bridge Circuit Race- Bath
May 7 RATL – Monroe Falls
May 30 The Memorial RR – Lexington @ Mid Ohio Sports Car Course
June 4 Mill Creek Crit – Youngstown
June 11 State RR Championships – Shreve
June 12 Wooster Crit- Wooster
June 18 Ohio State Masters RR Champ – Zanesfield
June 25 Grandview Classic Crit- Columbus
July 4 Twin Sizzler- Medina
July 8-10 Tour of the Valley Race, TT, RR and Crit – Canfield
July 17 Ohio State Masters Crit Championship- Miamisburg
July 24-25 Mid-West Regional Master’s Championships, TT, RR and Crit, Cincinnati area
July 29 Garrett Wonders Crit – Westerville
July 30 Garrett Winders Crit- Columbus
August 7 Zoar RR- Zoar
August 14 Milk Race- Orville

downtube42

I have these dates set aside:

2/19 200k brevet
3/5 300k brevet
3/19 200k brevet
4/2 400k brevet
4/16 200k brevet
4/30 600k brevet
5/14 400k brevet
6/4 600k brevet
6/11 Tour de Cure Indianapolis (probably 75k)
6/18 200k brevet
7/15 100 mile ride to RAIN start
7/16 RAIN ride (Ride Across Indiana) 160 miles
7/18 100 mile ride home from RAIN
8/21-8/25 PBP
10/14 Hilly Hundred

Some of the brevets will be "if I feel like it".

rdtompki

Organized rides do seem to be getting more expensive, but we tend to horses at home so traditional vacations aren't in the offing. The organized rides are once/month getaways the total cost of which is less than one traditional vacation; 1/2 of these rides we can drive to that same morning.

Regarding the size of the rides I've always assumed it was a combination of logistics and agreements with the municipalities and law enforcement.

stapfam

Have to agree about the cost of some of the organised rides. The main one I used to do- The South Downs Way is over £50 now ($80). Whay pay that when I can do it for free. You may get some "Back-up" on the organised rides- but I have a mobile phone if required for the SAG. A Few Charity rides I have no objection to. That first 40 miler is for a local charity and I can pre-enter for £5 or pay £10 on the day. I have entered sending a cheque for £20 as I don't do sponsorship. If the weather is bad on the day- which does happen- then I won't ride it. High Winds across the marsh is not good.

Same with the French trip. I can do that with just paying for the ferry and Dinner. The organised version I used to do cost £25 extra.

Call me a cheapskate if you like but Organised rides have to be cheap for me now. I would rather spend the entry fee on spares for the bike than lining someones pocket.

Beverly

I prefer week long tours and have a few scheduled for this year in addition to the 1-2 day organized rides.

May 21-28........ AMBA (Alabama Magnificent Bike Adventure)
June 18-25....... GOBA (Great Ohio Bike Adventure)
July 9.............. One Helluva Ride - I hope to turn this into a 2-3 day event
July 14-17........ GTCC (Greene Trails Cycling Classic) The details for this one are still underway
August ??-??...... Cycling around Burlington, VT

There are several one day events in the tri-state area (Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana) and I'm sure I'll be attending a few of them, too.

With all the crappy weather we've had this winter I've been thinking about a few days of riding in a warmer location