jppe

I think I asked the same thing last year but what the heck. I do recall last year learning about some events I'd like to give a go at some point.

Here is my initial list:

Tour de Lake Lure-100k
Assault on the Carolinas-100k
Mountains of Misery-100 miles plus 3 more miles of absolute Misery
Blue Ridge Parkway Tour-My brother and I have are doing a supported 7 day ride (my wife) of the length of Skyline Drive & the BRP-600 miles & 62,000' of climbing
Ride the Rockies or Bicycle Tour of Colorado-week long tour
Tour de Wyoming-week long tour
Charlotte Motor Speedway Time Trial Series-6 events over 6 months
Blood Sweat and Gears-100 miler in the NC mountains

Considering:
Cycle Oregon
Dairyland Dare
A century in Va

Bucket List:
A California Double
Triple Bypass
Cross Country Tour

What are you planning and what else should I consider?

Biker395 

Wow! What a list!

Don't you love the names for some of these events? Mountains of misery ... lol.

There are only two things on the list so far for me:

1. Everest Challenge (I have the mug ... I figure I should earn it).
2. Knoxville Double (much loved, and I miss it every year ... mostly because it's the weekend before the 508).

If you get around to that California Double, give one of us a shout, eh?

woodcraft

Solvang double
Marin double metric or double
CX series in the fall

scrming

After a long absence, i finally got back on the bike last fall.. i haven't done any type of organized ride in about 5 years... but 2015 is the year!

So far I've registered for 2 dirt/gravel road races in March: Melting Mann (21 mile) and Founder's Barry-Roubaix (24 miles).. Looks like a couple more dirt/gravel road races may get added to my calendar but they are later in the Fall.

I also plan on doing The Black Bear Century in July. This timed ride corresponds with the Michigan marathon canoe race!

There are a few other casual tours I plan on doing through out the summer...

2015 is the year!

qcpmsame 

As far as events go, doing a century with our local club is the only one I would classify as considering on a "list". I'd like to equal, or exceed last year mileage, and maintain the health level I have gotten to. I'm open to other events that are in our region, if somethings comes up. I just don't travel well, so those out of the area probably wouldn't get consideration. A 50+ event on the east coast would get consideration.

Bill

gabedad

tour de cure New england Classic 2 day 150 mile

Three other tour de cures around new england probably centuries on each

Seacoast century

Possibly the flattest century in the east - naragansset

A couple of local club centuries
A breast cancer rider by a LBS

A couple of others that I am looking at as well.

MikeD1

I'm always impressed and inspired by what other riders on this forum are doing. I just got back onto the road bike in May of 14 so I'm really just getting going again. My focus right now is Tri, will probably do 3-5 Sprint events this year and MAYBE one Olympic . . . all depends on the knees and body overall. Probably going to do a handful of 10 mile to 40K TTs as well. Would like to do at least one Metric Century this year (did one last Fall). Depending on various factors, might shoot for a full Century in late summer or this fall.

rm -rf

Last year, I did the 63 mile Tour de Cashiers ride. It's May 2, 2015 this year. It's difficult, due to the many 8% to 12% grades (and the ridewithgps maps underestimate some of the grades!). I saw some riders stopped with leg cramps on the 4 mile, 1800 foot Cullowhee Mountain Road climb. The ride had great sag support and rest stops. And good food at the end of the ride.

I was one of the last 63 mile riders, with an 11.5 mph average. This was a tough ride so early in the year for me. I had a great time.

63 mile metric route
101 mile century route

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three rides that I'm considering for 2015:

Bike Virginia Tour, Friday, June 26 to Wed, July 1, 2015.
Some of the local bike club riders have done the Bike Virginia Tour, and had a great time.

Starts on June 26. This year, it will do 5 1/2 days of rides out of two base camps, so they don't need to move every day. I'm thinking about doing just the first half, near Abingdon VA. They have a choice of different length rides each day.

Abingdon has interesting historic architecture, and it's at one end of the fantastic Virginia Creeper Trail. I'd have to bring bigger cyclocross tires to ride the gravel trail after the tour.

The Bike Virginia website is tediously slow. Wait for the pages to load. Bike Virginia Tour 2015

The first half is really 2 1/2 days of riding:
Friday is just a 17 mile warmup ride.

Saturday's Orange Route, 100 miles and 8000 feet. ridewithgps link.

Sunday's Orange Route, 84 miles, 6500 feet. ridewithgps link.

Monday, Tues, Wed moves to Kingsport TN (riding in Tennessee and Virginia)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blue Ridge Brutal, August 8, 2015. The ride page. They have 100 mile, 75 mile, and 57 mile routes. The 100 mile route is the same as the 75 mile, up to mile 70. There, you can go directly to the end, or continue to finish the 100 miles. There's a lot of climbing on that last 30 of the century miles -- maybe that's the "brutal" part.

The 75 mile route actually isn't at all "brutal".

I think the 2015 75 mile, 6000 feet route is the same as last year: ridewithgps link. Miles 15 to 37 are on the Blue Ridge Parkway, with most climbs under a moderate 6-7% grade. I don't see any steep climbs on the route, and no really long climbs, most under 500 feet.

That section of the Blue Ridge Parkway is mostly rolling, with rhododendrons in the forested sections. A nice ride.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blue Ridge Breakaway, August 15, 2015. The ride web page. Three distances.
There's a 50 mile route that's separate from the 76 and 106 route.

It's hard to do this route solo, since there's no place for water refills (maybe at Waterrock Knob?) so this works great as a supported ride.
76 mile ridewithgps link.
The 76 mile, 7600 foot route shortcuts the first section of the 106 mile route, then they merge together.

They both do the long, steady climb up Rt 215 to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and continue up to the 6050 foot Richland Balsam overlook. Next is a 12 mile, 2900 foot descent on the Blue Ridge Parkway, with a few short uphills mixed in.

The last big climb is up to Waterrock Knob, 2300 feet at an average 5.5% grade. The last 16 miles are mostly downhill!

JohnDThompson 

The only two so far are the Door County "Spring Classic" (formerly known as the "Ride for Nature") and Fall Challenge:

https://peninsulacentury.com/

Gerryattrick

I'm not one for organised rides normally but, prior to my accident I signed up for the 120km inaugural Velothon Wales sportive in June. I don't know what state my rehab will be in by then but I hope to get on it even if I opt for the 50km short option at the last minute. There are some killer hills on the route and my quadricep tendons might not be up to it by then.

I don't have a road bike but was planning to build one up this winter, which again is on the back burner.

Jim from Boston

What Cycling Events do you have in mind for 2015?

I have previously posted to this Living Car Free Forum thread, ” What you got from BF transportation forums?”

In particular re scrming (from Saginaw, MI), consider this thead, ”Something to consider for the coming year.”

JimF22003

I've signed up for this year's Bike Virginia already. This year is going to be in the far, far southwest corner of VA, and includes some riding in TN as well. This is the same location it was held the first year I rode it, so I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

I came THIS close to signing up for Mountains of Misery yesterday, but chickened out. I've done it four times before, but skipped it last year because I was too fat. Now I'm still too fat, and another year older...

Will do Storming of Thunder Ridge and Mountain Mama again this year, now that they're "local" rides.

Nothing else formal planned at this point.

OldsCOOL

My first ride of the spring when the Criterium Series comes out of hibernation. That is an event.

crazyb

Gable Gran Fondo and maybe a couple of days of Ragbrai

Rick@OCRR

1. I've already signed up for the Camino Real Double Century, so that's for sure.

2. I want to ride the Solvang Double too, since I missed it last year.

3. Then there's The Hemet Double, which is not great scenery wise, but put on by great people; very friendly vibe on this double. Plus, my wife usually rides this one too so that's another reason for me to ride Hemet.

4. Thinking about doing Devil Mountain (Yikes!) again. Yes, it's brutal, yes it almost killed me last year. Such a huge challenge. Will I do it or will I wimp-out?

5. Eastern Sierra on the other hand has dynamic scenery and I missed it last year so will do it in 2015.

6. The Grand Tour Double is a given since it's local, plus my wife likes to ride this double too. So Grand Tour for sure.

7. I can't miss the Knoxville Double since it's my favorite of all the doubles each year.

8. Bass Lake Powerhouse Double is fun too; not too difficult once you get past the flat miles in the dark of the morning (3:30 AM start!).

Then, in the back of my mind, and IF Devil Mountain is do-able and IF my climbing feels good on Devil Mountain I may try the Terrible Two (Brutal and usually brutally hot too). If (and only if) I finish Terrible Two alright I'll sign up for Mt. Tam double to get the Stage Race jsrsey. Lots of IF's there!

I'll just have to see how it goes !

Rick / OCRR

Little Darwin

I don't do a lot of organized rides, but I hope to do two.

I plan to ride the Tour de Scranton again this year (rode it for the first time last year). I'll decide on a distance as it gets closer. This is a good early season ride to urge me to get out as early in the spring as possible.

I plan to do a metric century at least once, probably late in the year. Perhaps the Bucks County Covered Bridges Ride, or another one in the September or October time frame.

John_V 

I plan on doing the same 8-10 metric century/century charity rides I do every year which includes the MS 150. I also plan on riding across Florida again this year.

BluesDawg

Aside from my club's April Fools Ride on March 28th (?) and Red Clay Ramble on August 22nd, I am seriously considering the Bicycle Times Adventure Fest at Lake Raystown Resort in Entriken, Pennsylvania, the weekend of October 9-11, 2015. Less likely but still very tempting is the OK Freewheel, especially the gravel option.

Biker395 

Ah HA!

The Terrible Two is all a matter of the heat. It's always pretty hot, but in bad years, it's really hot, particularly the Skaggs climb.

If the heat behaves itself and you paceline the (generally flat) sections between all those steep climbs, you can definitely do it. As I think I told you, I finished it in daylight, and I would have bet my house against that. No way I could ever finish the Devil Mountain Double that quickly.

BlazingPedals

I'll probably do 5 or 6 metric/century rides around southern Michigan, including 100,000 Meter T-Shirt Ride, Helluva Ride, and Assenmacher 100. Maybe I'll go back to Hilly Hundred if it's not too late in October. I'm also going to be doing NorthWest Tour and DALMAC. I'm waiting to see what else looks interesting once routes get published. I like to do at least one out-of-state multi-day ride, but I'm not willing to drive forever. One year I drove 11 hours each way to do GFLBT. Nice ride but way too much time spent in the car.

Spoke

There are several local charity rides I do each year, but for the out-of-town rides I've got two planned.

In June I plan to return to my hometown of Indianapolis and ride in the Indiana Tour de Cure which starts and finishes on the Indy 500 track. That should be fun.

In September I will head down to Corpus Christi and ride the Conquer the Coast, a 65 mile ride that circles the bay.

And maybe between now and the end of the year I will find something else that interests me and I can convince my non-riding wife to join me on a road trip.

Ride On!
-Spoke

icyclist 

"There are four rides I want to make this year.

1) From the sea to the top of Haleakah Crater, Hawaii, in late February.

2) The Solvang Century (in California), in mid-March, in the Coast Range Mountains. Great scenery, some stiff climbs, oak forests and wine country, winding roads, plenty of rest stops and food, and a bike fair where I always mange to pick something up, usually socks but last year a soft blanket with photos from the Tour de France.



3) A ride up the steepest street in Los Angeles, also in March. Just 1/10th of a mile, but with a 33% grade. I'm the former record holder for most times up in a day.



4) The late April Wildflower Century in and around Chico (Northern California), with canyons and steep climbs to volcanic mesa tops, with almond orchards and pine forests, and with some great food.



Beyond that I'll make a few rides with my club, and otherwise mostly ride alone in Los Angeles.

OldsCOOL

I would like to do the annual ride of silence and maybe if all goes well enter a bike segment of a tri. There is one group ride I may do that is down near Torch Lake that I didnt do last year but wanted to.

jwalther

Shooting for at least five centuries. Registered for the Kentucky Century Challenge and the Three Mountain Challenge in Chattanooga Full Century Ride Option | Chattanooga Bicycle Club I'd like to add another fall event, maybe the Hilly Hundred in and around Bloomington IN. The Hilly Hundred - Brought to you by CIBA

Some of my riding buddies are encouraging me to register for some tri events. Biking and running I can handle, but I haven't been in the pool for years. . .

BlazingPedals

Ooh, mentioning Kentucky reminds me that I wanted to do Horsey Hundred last year but didn't make it.