PAlt

Hidin' in Chi-town 'til New Years Eve. No bike & chilly here. Back to riding to start the New Year right

VegaVixen

Hm. Hicktown. Could be just about anywhere around here! I'm a lifelong resident of the area. I should know!

Ever ride TT?

thomspins

lol where is Hick-town?

CycleMagic

Hick-town=Hickory. plenty of cyclists, but not too many BF'rs (if any!)

VegaVixen

I used to go through Hickory on my way to Brown Mt. Beach. You've got some nice hilly terrain up that way. So far, my rides are fairly flat, with the exception of some wicked little hills on the University campus, and in my neighborhood.

VegaVixen

I think some weekend, we BF'ers in the greater Charlotte area should get together, just for a fun ride. I mean, leave the serious riding for another time, just so no one gets dropped. It's just about meeting each other, doing a little riding, maybe stopping for coffee (and pie) somewhere. Maybe if we all hit it off, we could have a standing fun ride once a month. A little rolling Foo Party, if you will.

Any thoughts?

recneps

if your northside, the huntersville business park rides get big tue and thur with up to 40 riders. the booty loop always has people on it.

the bolt brothers ride as far as i know end in the last 15 miles being fast (25 avg). isnt there some big group ride in davidson on saturday mornings?

VegaVixen

But do they drop?

I know that a Foo-formed group would never drop. Good info, recneps, but let's get an all-inclusive BF ride, ok?

thomspins

I'm game.
I do enough hard training and racing; it's nice have "fun" riding every once in awhile.

Yeah I've done the Bolt Bros. ride; that's good weekend dist. training for racers in season/no no drop on this one.

Where would be somewhere good to ride where the traffic would be low enough where we wouldn't have to worry too much about getting ran over constantly; and could goof off a bit?

recneps

I like riding up near the airport, end of west blvd area. nice country roads and soem descent hills for Charlotte, and very little traffic.

its kind of ****ty riding out there though, seeing how you have to ride out through remount and all that.

I've got nothing to do right now and im free to ride anytime with school being out.

VegaVixen

We'll have to think about where to ride. And how far. I agree, it shouldn't have a lot of traffic so that we can socialize a bit. recneps is recommending airport area. I'm thinking possibly Old Statesville Road? Any other suggestions? CycleMagic, you can join us, you know. What's your area like for riding? I mean, besides hilly.

thomspins

it might be a little bit of a drive for a few of y'all but all throughout south of Fort Mill in york county down in SC are some wonderful riding areas!!

I've been on some longer 3hr~ish rides out there before and only have had like 5-10 cars pass by.

flyingscotsman

Moving in June/July to about 100 yards from SC border, care to share the routes that you take down there.

VegaVixen

That sounds promising. I can hop on I-485 without much problem.

I'm pretty sure there must be some nice quiet roads up in my area, and going out towards Cabarrus County. I just haven't had time to explore them yet, having only started riding again in November. I pretty much stay on #49, which would not be good for a group goofing around.

Anyone else have some suggestions? Hopefully, we'd have several routes, and could take turns on them 'til we find the sweet one that suits everyone for a standing Foo ride.

Midnight Cyril

I don't have any suggestions for where, but I'm down for a BF ride if it's a time when I'm in town. Maybe next weekend?

substructure

Gaston county has a lot of good terrain. We have a Gaston County bicycle map with 5 major routes designed with low traffic in mind. I've done route 2 from Mt Holly to Cherryville a few times (there and back 60 miles). It has some hills but traffic is real low. If any of you go through Gaston County stop by the Welcome Center in Belmont and pick a map up. Then look for me riding a blue Cannondale all over the place.

If you live near Shelby, a great group of guys and gals host a lot of rides on Saturday mornings and other times as well. Stop in Bohemian Cycles on Lafayette St downtown Shelby for more info. Scott (owner) will gladly welcome you in and tell you all about it. Right now there are 3 groups riding at different times. Group A (17-18 mph avg) does 50 -60 miles every Saturday with coffee. Group B (16-17 mph) does 40+ miles and coffee outside Boiling Springs, NC. Then there's strickly a Gals only ride on Saturday. Where they talk about men and Oprah or something .

CycleMagic

sorry, I am late in checking this thread....YES! we DO have some hilly rides! If any flatlanders want to come up here, we can get some hilly miles in together.

CycleMagic

Thanks for the invite!

Catawba/Alexander/Caldwell county riding has rolling hills, some steep climbs and most of our routes are out in the country side. Depending on the day/time, very little traffic. Depending on what y'all want to ride, I know a few routes that would be fun to do as a group.

There are also a few charity rides out here: Brett's Ride, Murray's Mill, Old Soldier's Reunion, Resolution Ride (this was the first year), that are all pretty much country/small town and rolling hills. All of these routes are marked and the distances are generally 15, 30, 60 miles.

thomspins

A good ~40 mile loop I do (all country, low traffic, a few good climbs) is as follows:

The start is about~15minutes west of Rock Hill, SC

Start at Hightower Hall on Brattonsville Rd.
South on Brattonsville
Continue on Darby
Turn right on Aaron Burr
Turn left on Old York Hwy.
Turn right on Hardin Strait
Cross over US 321
Continue on Connor
Turn right on Armenia
Turn left on Quinn
Bear left on Pathway
Turn right on Suzy Bole
Turn right on SR 97
Turn right on SR 322
Turn left on US 321 *store stop if needed is here
Turn right on SR 322
Turn right back onto Brattonsville Rd

VegaVixen

Let's try to get something coordinated before end of January. I'm a bit swamped with other issues, but will keep checking back. CycleMagic, can you keep your finger on this pulse?

substructure

I'm totally up for something. It would be wonderful to meet local BF'ers and do a good, long ride.

On the 14th I'm doing the Polar Bear ride in Gastonia. If you are intersested here's the link:
https://www.gastoncountycyclists.com/..._flyer2007.htm

Message me and we'll meet up.

CycleMagic

That Polar Bear ride could be fun; how mean of them not to have potties though! ha ha

thomspins

anyone going up to Durham on Sunday for the Cross race?

substructure

There may be a few of us doing the Polar Bear ride in Gastonia on Sun. 14th.

Any others interested PM me. I'd like to at least meet before the ride even if we don't all ride together. I plan on holding on the lead group's wheels like a desperate fool.

CycleMagic

I am planning on going to the Polar Bear Ride as well....weather permitting. Looks like Substructure will be hanging with the big boy crowd, I'll be chillin' in the back-or middle-ish.