DnvrFox

I keep reading that we should be riding for FUN, implying that "FUN" is slow, non-challenging rides through the countryside, and that most of us don't know how or don't want to ride for "FUN."

Ok, as a 50+r, what is the single MOST fun ride category for you?

I couldn't include all the categories I wanted, so please add more and comment below.

Thanks!

GrannyGear

The rides I most look forward to and remember and then savor are the ones where towards the end there are no more comfortable places on the saddle, I'm fairly wrung out and looking forward to getting off the bike. Usually these rides involve some climbing (and descending!) and are done with friends and shared Clif bars. Oddly enough, within a few minutes of stopping and while putting the bike up on the rack .....part of me wants to head out again. Another good one is to take off on the moustache barred, Pasella shod bike and "zoom" around town--just another old farte showing off whatever fitness he's got.

Overall, I need a mix of solo and group...there's a mental set that goes with each that is rewarding and special.

cheeseflavor

I agree! Have you noticed though, as you're in those last couple of miles, and you know you're near the end that you can pedal a bit harder, go a bit faster? Maybe it's just that feeling of "I'm almost there" that gives a person that bit of energy...

Take care,

Steve

stapfam

Already voted for mountain Bike- But I want to put in a strong suggestion for Tandem. Tandem was too vague, But mine is a mountain Tandem. Still class that as Mountain bike, so Thats where my vote had to go.

Noted that some categories are for group rides, and I suppose this is a group ride, but the Randonnees that are arranged in the UK, are great.

Digital Gee

It's a great question, and I'm not sure how to categorize my answer.

To me, a fun ride is one where I truly feel like my bike and I are one organism, each an extension of the other. Another aspect is when the weather is perfect for the ride -- usually sunny, not too hot, not too windy, but just right. Or sometimes, the ride is fun when I use the bike to explore places I've not been to and wouldn't go to otherwise -- the alley over there, the "No outlet" street over here, the back of the parking lot behind the store, the path by the trolley, etc. Sometimes the fun is in meeting a goal even when it hurts or seems out of reach, like my metric century. And sometimes the fun is from the scenary, like the bay or the ocean or the babes AT the bay and ocean.

Fun can also be the ride I'm squeezing in when I 'should' be doing something else, like work or cleaning up my place or whatever. Fun is when I ride somewhere and stop along the way for a cup of java and become aware of how good it feels to be on a bike and not on my couch.

Fun come from seeing other people out on their bikes -- bikes of all types, some serious, some not, some experienced, some not. Fun comes from knowing I'm a Fred and laughing at myself for it anyway.

Fun comes from riding on my bike after I've changed a flat, since I know that i'm such a klutz about repairing anything, and having it actually work.

But mostly, fun for me is when I am swooping. I'm unable to describe it, I just know when I'm doing it. Swooping is a blast.

cruzMOKS

What I do mostly is comfort bike challenging ride. (Or do I have a hybrid bike with comfort handle bars?) Those rides allow me to be in shape to enjoy riding. I plan on getting a road bike this winter. Will I enjoy that more?
I have only been on one group ride. I enjoyed it the most of the 40+ rides I have been on since Aug 05

glassman

I keep reading the same things but if I am not getting my heart rate up or challenging myself to ride in a certain time, then I am not having fun. But then we are all different and our ideas on whats fun will be different. I went for a group ride the other evening and the group was not there and 2 others wanted to ride for 15 minutes and then come back and ride with the group, it was 16mph average speed and while we had an interesting chat, I think we could have cruised a little faster.....now I know that someday I will be old (should say older as I am old already) and then I might like cruising at 16mph .......... OK, now all of you that like riding at 16, please don't flame me, I mean no harm.

bernmart

Challenges are part of the fun for me. But self-imposed challenges. Hills, for instance. Boy, are they challenges. But if I do an all-flat ride (difficult but not impossible in SoCal) I feel as if I've cheated myself. Challenges imposed on me by others are a definite no-no, however.

Red Baron

Most FUN ride for me is with a few young freinds whom have just begun riding. teaching these youung folks (early 20's) the effect and how to draft, the way to climb hills, endurance, etc is very rewarding. especially when I can still take them (grin) if they get 'frisky'.

DnvrFox

I am a bit surprised by the number of folks who selected

"Road Bike, challenging single ride"

Over

"Road Bike, challenging group ride"

at least to this moment, after all the discussion I have seen in this and other forums of the advantages and joys of group riding.

No votes for comfort bike or hybrid, despite all that I have seen about "I ride for fun, not for intervals or training." Interesting

rck

To me a fun ride is one of no particular length on a beautiful autumn day with another rider or more. It must include a planned stop at "Irma's" up in Argyle, for a piece of pie and a cup of coffee and any number of unplanned stops along the way just "to smell the roses"

roccobike

To me the most fun ride is anywhere or type of ride as long as it is with my two sons. We seem to have settled on mountain bike trails that are intermediate difficulty. I can still keep up with the thirteen year old, but I can forget trying to keep up with the seventeen year old. He can leave us in the dust anytime he wants.

Blackberry

I picked "road, leisure group ride," cuz that's where you'll find the greatest concentration of females.

webist

I generally ride for time and push only as hard as I feel adviseable on a given day. It delights me when I arrive home and run through the screens on my computer and find a fast Average Speed or a greater than previous distance. I record my computer stats and see a gradual increase in avg speed as well as distance.

All riding that I do I find to be fun. Mostly though, I try to ride hard solo.

stapfam

Time to "Doctor" a bike. Tight wheel bearings or dragging brakes help.

Or make it a 30 miler- youngsters do not have the Endurance of us that have learnt to pace ourselves. Or is it that we cannot go faster?

dbg

I've started doing an anual 8 day summer ride across Wisconsin with a group of families. I love it. Some days are killers (mileage ranges from 50 to 110 and you can do as much as you think you can handle) but I like the tough ones the best. And every day ends at the entrance overhang of some Wisconsin hotel where coolers of beer and pop and munchies and snacks are always waiting. There is nothing better than dragging yourself up those last hills, sometimes finishing near dark and always dead tired --and getting handed a cold beer. The days stories (who wiped out, who made a wrong turn, who hung out at a bar all afternoon) usually continue until everyone retires for the night. And then we get up and do it all over again the next day.

aj in ma

I had to pick mtn bike, challenging ride, although I now enjoy challenging road biking also. Mtn biking is, however, my passion. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be saying that though, the road biking is becoming more fun with each ride. Couple that with the fact that I'm a heartbeat away from 60 so maybe in a couple of years I won't be doing nearly as much mountain biking. It seems to get harder on me each year. Not more difficult really, but my body seems to take a real beating and sometimes by the end of a couple of hours, I feel like somebody beat the snot out of me with a big stick.

aj

John E

I prefer solo or small-group rides. Large-group rides are OK if the group spreads out; otherwise, I get nervous and worry about colliding with others in the peleton. I was definitely NOT born to be a serious racer!

BlazingPedals

Put me on a flattish twisting road and I start hearing the theme song to Top Gun. There is nothing like the feel of piloting a lowracer at 25-30 mph on a road like that, with your butt only 12 inches off the ground.

Dchiefransom

I like riding with my bike club on group rides, but the ones I enjoy the most are the organized rides put on by other clubs, or charities.

DnvrFox

And the WINNER of the most fun ride, by a long shot is:

Road Bike, challenging single ride

37 of the 52 responses were "challenging" or "intensive"

I was surprised by how many voted for "single" challenging as opposed to "group" challenging.

BJ Ondo

Ok Denver fess up, why is there only a "Gentle" catogory for the "Comfort Bike"?? Gee, I've been on 40 mile MTB rides on my Fuji Monterey Comfort bike, 40+ mile road rides with serious, (2000ft. elevation gain in less than 3 miles), with my Comfort Bike, 60 miles of mixed paved, concrete, dirt, sand trails from north of Palmer lake (Greenland), CO. thru Monument, thru Colorado Springs, to Fountain all in one day on my Comfort bike so how about adding a "heavy ride", long ride, something to the "Comfort Bike" area so I don't have to pick a not really true category, PLS!!

DnvrFox

OK, you are only allowed 10 categories, which is why I said in my poll message:


Generally folks who get comfort bikes get them for easy rides.

I will chalk one up for "Comfort Bike, Challenging Rides" as your most fun ride.

BJ Ondo

LOL, I can't help it if I took the "hybrid" idea seriously, the LBS salesperson told me it was "1/2 road and 1/2 mountain bike" so I've never told the bike it wasn't supposed to do what I make it do! I was already to buy a Mountain Bike but wondering if a Road Bike is what I should buy, I bought a compromise machine and so far it's done me well so I can't complain. I went and added myself to the Comfort Bike, Gentle ride, I'll just stay in congneto when doing the challenging rides!

Doug Campbell

Why Doesn't Your Poll Include Cycle Touring? This Is An Area Where Seniors Can Be As Competitive As Anyone And, For Me, The Most Enjoyable.