bikebuilder14

My coolest ride was probably somewhere in Coeur d lane Idaho. I got to go down a ski hill with no snow and rented some awsome kona bikes. We got to ride up a gondola. Super fun

trekker pete

30 years ago while in high school, i worked at a restaurant and bike commuting was a neccesity rather than a choice. I made a few rides to work on my old phillips 10 speed in the single digits. That was likely my coolest ride. Nowadays with other alternatives, i generally grab the car keys when it gets much below 30.

livin4eternity

Assuming the OP is talking about "cool" = awesomness vs cool (weather)...I'd have a hard time picking between these two:

1) A 300 mile, 5 day loop-tour around the Gulf Islands of BC & Washington State... with my brothers. The weather was fantastic for most of the trip (OK, there were some rainy nights, but that didn't make it any less fun), the scenery was incredible, and ferry rides are always good fun (we had 4 of them). It was the first bicycle tour of any length that I had ever done. Doing it with my brothers was an added bonus.

2) My 4 brothers and I entered the 24 Hours of Adrenaline race in Canmore, BC a couple of years ago. It was an amazing experience riding the trail at night: nothing but you & the patch of trail illuminated by the headlamp. The scenery in the Rocky Mountains is awesome and the trail was a brutal challenge. Again, being able to do this with my brothers made it extra special.

stapfam

Couple stick in my mind

South Downs Way in one day
100 miles offroad with 10,000ft of climbing. Attempted it 11 times now and failed twice. Most treasured trophy come from this event from 97- Cheap plastic plaque and all it says on it is "Survivor". Only given out this year but started doing it in 94 and did my last one in 2006. That year we failed at the 65 mile mark but in torrential rain Mud and wind.

Mont. Ventoux
Went road in 96 as I was finding offroad just a bit tough for the serious events. Just one year later and I climbed Mont Ventoux. Not fast and lowered the gearing on the OCR3 to 28/28 13 miles at average of 7.5% and 5,000ft of continual climb.

Artkansas 

Riding down the Angeles Crest Highway was pretty nice. It was 9 or 10 miles long, downhill. I was young, in-shape and on my Peugeot U08. Only a Porsche was able keep up with me because of the curves.

bikebuilder14

I am soon going to Nantucket for my Uncle's wedding. I am hoping to take my bike on the ferry if they let me

AdamDZ

Riding my MTB in Florida's Everglades National Park in February 2006 in 90F weather while my friends in NYC were digging themselves out of a major blizzard. The scenery was kind of surreal too, lots of damage after a storm, almost no people, very deserted. One of few nice vacations I had in my adult life Oh, I lost a lot of weight since then



It was really, really weird and hot, I've never seen such scenery nor experienced such temperatures in February.

cnnrmccloskey

Rode ~15 miles down from portland to High Rocks park last summer during 105 degree weather, lotsa fun, short but it didn't feel short

tsl

Wimp.

I'm a lifelong lowlander and flatlander. I climbed Mt. Evans, the highest paved road on North America. The ride started at 10,000 feet and I rode up to 14,130 from there.

There are Colorado guys who do that every weekend, but for me, it was an accomplishment of a lifetime.



And then I got to do the 14-mile, 4,000 foot descent.

Even better, it earned me the right to wear this:

late

We biked across Italy with Ciclismo Classico. I'd been to Italy before on a bus tour. This was much, much better.

https://www.ciclismoclassico.com/trip...e_across_italy

late

We biked across Italy with Ciclismo Classico. I'd been to Italy before on a bus tour. This was much, much better.

https://www.ciclismoclassico.com/trip...e_across_italy

cyclezealot

That's a hard call.. Riding down the Loire Valley in France amongst the vineyards and between chateaus. That is pretty special. But, for the most part not too challenging.. Ah. What the heck though. If you doing a long trek for a week or so, who needs to climb the Alps.. ..
...Two favorite rides for scenery and effort; I'll always think as best- Big Sur in California, Or climbing into Eureka, Nevada on US 50..

Jeff Wills

Since the OP mentioned Coeur d'Alene, I'll put in a vote for riding most of the length of the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. My wife and I did this a couple years ago as part of Bike Idaho. It's really an incredible facility- smooth, straight, entirely off-street. There's toilets and such along the path, along with a couple coffee stands. We went from Wallace to Plummer and then back to Harrison... a really good way to spend a day on a bike.

purplepeople

One winter night many years ago. Coming home late from work on my mountain bike through this little park with falling snow and fresh powder on the ground. The only light was the glow from street lamps at the edge of the park. As I rode, the powder was being thrown up in a mist around my fenders. Utter silence, except for the soft continuous crunch of my tires on the snow. Religion.

:)ensen.

AdamDZ

Have you prepared in any way for that? That's indeed impressive.

Adam

DieselDan

Some friends of mine and I took to Bennett's Point Rd. in Colleton County, SC on a clear, mild night with a full moon. Round trip was about 40 miles and we had no other automotive traffic to deal with. Bennett's Point Rd. spurs off of US 17 near Green Pond community and goes to a small fishing village aptly called Bennett's Point.

calamarichris

Mmmmm... Evans. I sure hope I can ride up her this summer.
My coolest ride ever is every time I go to Palomar. I've passed dozens of cars and two motorcycles on the way down. Love it, love it.


And runner up was when I rode up the hill to Sequoia National Forest:

Randochap

Hard to pick one. This one was pretty good. Also a two month trip through Alaska, Yukon and British Columbia.

umd

Mammoth to Yosemite

slipknot0129

Since I only got my bike a couple days ago my coolest ride was when I got to ride my bike in town. It feels alot better then the pot hole dirt roads I live on. Hopefully the grader fixes my road.

tsl

The highest and longest climb that's convenient for me is about 150 feet in a half-mile. I did hill repeats, and plenty of 'em. Hill repeats are pretty boring, so I mixed it up doing some standing, some seated, sometimes racing to see how fast I could get to the top, other times seeing how slow I could go.

As a substitute for altitude training, I rode distances right on the border between zone 4 and zone 5 on my HRM. Began the season able to go a quarter-mile like that. Before heading west, I could ride five miles like that. I don't know if that helped because once on the mountain, I had to stop every mile on the climb to catch my breath and let my HR settle.

Flying Merkel

Coolest ride ever? Hard to pick. For sheer fun factor, it was San Clemente to Dana Point Harbor. I was on a dumpster find beach cruiser, my buddy was on a Univega MTB, and a non-riding friend visiting from Washinton was riding yet another dumpster cruiser. It's only a few miles, but it was a Socal spring day of the type that makes the tourists cry. We hit every drinking establishment at the harbor, rode down stairs and through ditches. Our friend told us later it was the most fun she'd had on her trip. Made her want to get a bike of her own.

Too often cycling is a chore to overcome. Serious riders (like me) can lose the fun factor in the pursuit of a pointless goal.