Great Lakes - anyone familiar with the Melon Metric out of Naperville

for this coming weekend, 7/22/07????

I was supposed to do a 1/2 Ironman, but my recent unexpected surgery has put a restriction on swimming... especially in our lovely Lake Michigan waters, sigh.

but I can still bike :)... so I'm desperately looking for a good long ride that day to keep the sadness away, LOL!! Hey that rhymes! :)

Any comments would be appreciated... :)

I've ridden it a couple of years ago. It's an out and back route. Not really much fun. I have not been back to it since.

I was giving that ride some thought, too. It's a bit farther than I was wanting to drive. The only organized rides I can find this weekend are that one and one near St. Louis...closer at least....some kind of Peach Ride?? benefitting hostels?

All my regular riding pack are heading to Iowa without me.....I hate riding solo....looks like it may be that way this weekend?

I was giving that ride some thought, too. It's a bit farther than I was wanting to drive. The only organized rides I can find this weekend are that one and one near St. Louis...closer at least....some kind of Peach Ride?? benefitting hostels?

All my regular riding pack are heading to Iowa without me.....I hate riding solo....looks like it may be that way this weekend?

how far of a drive is it for you? It's 60 miles for me, not too bad...

I will probably go given that it's supposed to be nice weather. :D

how far of a drive is it for you? I will probably go given that it's supposed to be nice weather. :D

Per Mapquest....263 miles, 4 hours and 42 minutes....

Yes...the weather is looking BEAUTIFUL for this weekend!!

Per Mapquest....263 miles, 4 hours and 42 minutes....

Yes...the weather is looking BEAUTIFUL for this weekend!!

holy cow!!, you would drive that far for a bike tour!! Are you seriously going?

holy cow!!, you would drive that far for a bike tour!! Are you seriously going?

+1 - I live about 1 hour away and I'm not going. This is truely an out and back through the middle of suburbia. Super flat and boring. You actually on a MUP for a while if I remember correctly.

+1 - I live about 1 hour away and I'm not going. This is truely an out and back through the middle of suburbia. Super flat and boring. You actually on a MUP for a while if I remember correctly.

I thought I read somewhere that it was loops... kind of like the Ramble Ride was this year? When you say out and back, do you mean loops? The Ramble ride was set up with one rest stop... that was in the middle of 4 loops with varying distances... all of them equaled 100 miles... I liked that :)

When you say out and back, do you mean loops?

Out and back means you take the same road out from the starting point as you do back in..so, an example of an out and back century would be 50 miles out on Hiway 123 North, turn around and ride 50 miles back on Hiway 123 South...back to the start.

I would go that far if it was what I felt was a good ride...but thus far, it doesn't look promising...suburbia, flat....doesn't sound too awfully scenic...I do like flat, being from South Louisiana....what we call hills down there, most other folks call overpasses...I've been up here in Southern IL since 2003 and still haven't mastered hill climbing, yet...but the new Orca is helping in that regard!

Out and back means you take the same road out from the starting point as you do back in..so, an example of an out and back century would be 50 miles out on Hiway 123 North, turn around and ride 50 miles back on Hiway 123 South...back to the start.

I would go that far if it was what I felt was a good ride...but thus far, it doesn't look promising...suburbia, flat....doesn't sound too awfully scenic...I do like flat, being from South Louisiana....what we call hills down there, most other folks call overpasses...I've been up here in Southern IL since 2003 and still haven't mastered hill climbing, yet...but the new Orca is helping in that regard!

oh well, hope you find something then :) I'm still not sure if I will go... I will have to see what else comes up over the weekend :)

Have a nice weekend :)

I was planning on doing this ride as it is pretty close since I'm in Oswego. I have never done this ride before. Reading the other posts it seems like a dull ride???

Anyone do it last year? Comments?

Thanks!

Well it was not a "out and back" route. There was some overlap of the route to share rest stops. It was real flat though and lots of views of the corn and soybeans :)

Which route did you do?

I did the 68 mile route.

You're better off driving 130mi to Madison and doing the Ironman route for practice. Much more fun, lots cheaper.

I did the 68 mile route.

I ended up doing the 100 mile route. I saw a lot of riders on the 68 mile route, including a few pretty fast pace lines!