Machka 

So ... when you've ridden all the paved roads in your area (and by "your area" I mean within about a 100 km radius of the place you live), and ridden many of them several times ........ then what?

I've got two more roads to ride, and I'll have accomplished just that. To ride in other areas, exploring other paved roads, will require vehicular transporation and/or more than one day.

I'm left with a vague, unsettled feeling of "that's it?"

Maybe it's time to move to a new area.

chephy

It's easy for me: I have such lousy visual memory that I can ride the same road over and over and over again - and "discover" it afresh every time. Unless I deliberately concentrate on remembering things about an area, it probably takes me about 10-15 visits before I start getting the vague feeling that "I must've been here before"...

gcl8a

Do you like map-making? You could make a map of all the roads, in whatever detail you like, which might both entertain you and be useful for others. And it could be an excuse to but a GPS.

geebee

What is wrong with riding the same route repeatedly? I ride through town with a few variations at least a couple of hundred times a year, there is different sights every ride, different cars trying to kill you in different ways, different yelled comments (99.9% positive).
Try riding a different bike, do intervals on different hills, somedays try to beat your best average, try for best max speed, take a cruiser style bike for a slow ride.
Or for the ultimate change get into recumbents there is dozens of totally different rides.
Only joshing about the 'bents, but I really don't get sick of certain routes over and over but do ride different routes for different challenges/destinations when the urge strikes.

lrzipris

I mix and match: take part of one route and link it with part of another. And I reverse routes, in effect, giving me twice as many roads to ride. That is, I don't think of the "road" so much as the route, the full effect--and these variations are, if not endless, then certainly numerous enough to keep me from getting bored. Cheaper than moving.

Cyclaholic

...now ride all the sidewalks


J/K

Cyclepath

Different seasons, different weather, different times of day - it's really never the same ride twice.

I-Like-To-Bike

Try commuting. It's a challenge every day. No exploration accomplishment points though.

chipcom 

Time for a winter tour!!

BluesDawg

Dirt roads

Portis

+1

For me it's not about finding new roads. If it were, I would go by car and find a lot more of them, a lot faster. I'm happy riding the same roads over and over which i do nearly every day.

webist

No. The OP's right. Once you have used a road once, you must wait until it is paved anew before using it again.

supcom

After you have ridden all the roads, ride them again the other direction!

Keith99

Some rides are worth repeating. Some rides are totally different if done in the opposite direction. Some rides are different enough between morning and evening or winter and summer. In the TDF some of the climbs are cat 1 one year and OC the next because of where they are in the stage. Same might apply to your local riding, you can put togeather a differetn ride even though you have done all the parts.

Oh and as others have said, dirt roads and trails. And after that all the roads again of the MTN bike.

I think this should hold you for a while.

Oops almost forgot, riding partners. Change the partner(s) and you change the experience. (and of course if you find riding partners you get on well with a weekend mini tour becomes a more managable thing as you don't have to do all the planning every time.)

genec

Tour.

While you were conquering all the local roads, you had to turn around at some point. At that point you probably asked yourself... "gee, what is around that next bend or over that next hill."

Touring is the answer... it is an amazing feeling to suddenly find out what is around the next corner/over the next hill and to continue on "discovering." If you do a long tour, the feeling of discovery continues, and you meet new people, plus you start to roll into a routine with your camping/eating/sleeping modes.

Machka 

Have you looked at my website (see signature line below)?

Machka 

I've come very close to doing that as well!! I've been in this area for 2 years now, and have covered quite a few kms in that time through all the seasons. I probably know the area better than some who have lived here most of their lives!

genec

had not looked previously... you obviously have done more than 100 km locally. Now get some panniers and keep going.

I don't have a website... I have toured the California coast, the length of Baja, and from California to Texas.

Personally, I would love to tour France.

bmclaughlin807

You're telling MACHKA she should tour????

Machka 

I've toured England, Wales, a small part of France, Australia, as well as several bits and pieces of the US and Canada. I have covered just about all the roads within about a 100 km radius of where I live, and most of them many times ... as well as many of the roads outside that range ... say within a 2000 km radius of where I live.

I'm just sort of grasping at straws to find new places to go locally ... where I can go with the limited amount of time I've got for cycling these days. Or ways to make the old familiar routes more interesting.

supcom

You could try something new like riding a fixed gear. That might make a bit of a challenge. It would be different at the least.

If you can convince some friends to start cycling long distances, you can ride with new people.

How about getting a mountain bike and riding trails or exploring unpaved roads in your area (assuming you haven't already)?

Chris L

Riding all the paved roads around here could take some time -- I live in a city of 500,000, with another city of 2 million just down the road. It could lead to some very boring suburban riding. Then there is the fact that cyclists are "officially" banned from riding the M1 motorway -- not that the police would be likely to care, but that's another thread.

Personally, I'd start on the dirt roads in the area, or start riding all the paved roads at night. Actually, I've undertaken something similar to this over the last two years (although it hasn't really been planned).

Machka 

Well, I wasn't referring to paved roads within the city limits ... I'm thinking of paved rural roads. Although, I've probably covered most of the paved roads within my city's limits anyway ... it isn't a very big city.

The dirt roads in my area are gravel ... you know the kind with the large rocks and deep drifts of smaller gravel which make it really hard to ride on with the equipment I currently own.

cyclezealot

Canada. With the scenery Canada has to offer. SO many options. YOu have to stick to your neighborhood? AMong biking activities I like to do with my touring obsession, hop on a train and ride back home. Maybe northern Ontario just offers the same old wooded terrain? Well, I like wooded terrain.
Scenery has unmentionable detail. Each ride I find new business to take my wife back to. Slightly different deviations of a common path to where ever. New people , animals, restarurants to stop for. And the scenery is so incredible where we are , seeing it once is not enough.
Another activity I find interesting, just completing errands. DOn't drive to that nearby city, ride. Save on gas. The bike can be a functional activity, not just recreational.

Machka 

I'm on the other half of Canada from Ontario! Right where I am, the scenery isn't anything overwhelmingly beautiful ... it's nice, but not breathtaking or anything.

If I can afford the time to travel about 200 kms west, however, I've got the Rockies ... and cycling through there is great!!