Jakedatc

Pretty much every time i ride i need to go 10-25mi away to get away from unridable roads/traffic. Once in a while i'll ride from my house to the bike path in town but that is scarier than the roads most days.

moving soon, hoping to find good routes from the house.

gc3

Does getting chauffeured count??

Heathpack 

Absolutely. You don't think I drive myself, do you?

indyfabz

Mostly whenever I lead group rides. I have lived on Philly pretty much all my life. It's hard to get motivated for the same old routes from my front door. I lead a half dozen or so rides in NJ and in a few counties surrounding Philadelphia. The NJ rides are particularly nice. Most use a lot of quiet, scenic roads, and there is good climbing to be had. Yep. The notion that all of NJ is flat is simply incorrect. There are plenty of hilly areas in the state.

bikecrate

Excluding vacations, I'm a door to door rider 99% of the time. The only occasion I'll load up the bike in the car and go somewhere is if it works into some odd change in my schedule or holiday.

silversx80

The thing I love about being a roadie is that I never have to load up my bike for a ride. With mountain, the only good trails are too far away to ride the MTB, but the road starts at the end of my driveway.

Seattle Forrest

Can I come? Used to live in the Bay, rode a lot but a long day for me was like 30 miles at the time. Did some hiking and camping up there and loved it. I've been wanting to go back with my bike for years, there's just too much up here to distract me.

Anyway, if you go ride Tioga Pass, make a weekend out of it. Find a cheap hotel or somewhere to camp, and have some time to relax before/after your ride. Three hours driving then a great ride then three more hours in the car is a little too much. More power if you can do it though.

Seattle Forrest

I still enjoy riding around town, but it's easier to get excited about rides I haven't done yet.

My afternoon ride involves a loop around Lake Union, below; I do this one from my door and add side trips and hills to make it longer, depending how much time I have.



I'm heading out to the Methow soon to ride over Washington Pass, it'll be about four hours drive to ride these roads.

woodcraft

5 or 6x a year. A couple of events, a couple of trips, a couple of club rides in the neighboring county.

I rode Tioga Pass last year- five star!

Tuolumne Meadows to June lake loop & back - A bike ride in Mariposa County, CA

indyfabz

Unfortunately, the Philly area is not nearly as scenic as Seattle.

Did Rainy/Washington twice from Colonial Creek Campground to Winthrop during two self-contained trips. Both times in late May so there was snow on the ground (but not on the road). The first time it was snowing at both summits. Beautiful ride.

wallrat

For road riding, 4 or 5 times a year. They are usually for centuries or fondos. For mountain biking I'd travel once a month on average.

Wildwood 

I've ridden up Tioga Pass road a few times, but always starting close to Mono Lake. I wouldn't be able to make that climb at the end of a long ride.

I drive to new locations for fresh scenery and new roads on a regular basis.

diphthong

i would say about once a month to hit farther starting points in san diego county (palomar mtn., julian, laguna mountains, anza-borrego or cuyamaca rancho state parks)
and about once a month to head outta town within a 1.5-8 hr drive (mammoth/yosemite, grand canyon, las vegas, zion, phoenix, san francisco, death valley, santa monica mtns).
this year has been a little slower for out-of-town riding than the last two tho. variety is the spice of life.

Nachoman

About once a month too. Just to mix it up from our regular three or four loops.

Jiggle

About an hour, but only for free group rides. I don't pay to ride my bike.

Riveting

I'll drive to the start of a ride that is 13 miles away when I need to be at the start early enough (6:30am) that it would require me to ride from home at 5:45am in the morning darkness, which I don't like to do, This type of driving occurs more often in early spring and late fall, when the daylight is less.

When the temps get down to freezing, I'll often drive the 13 miles to the start of a group ride, since I can only seem to be in the freezing cold for the duration of the group ride (about 120 minutes in the winter), and not much more before the fingers/toes start getting permanently cold. Riding to the start and back would add another 90 mins total, which was just too much time in the cold. But I recently invested in some Pearl Izumi cold weather windstopper bib pants, which might allow me to ride the full 3.5 hours.

I'll drive to special courses and gran fondos (2+ hours away) that are worth the drive since it contains a significant hill or mountain.

Seattle Forrest

Have you done Washington Pass? A friend of mine just got back from Harts Pass with pictures of yellowing larches, the time is really soon.

Shuffleman

I am guessing that this depends on where you live. I live in a suburb and can ride my bike from my house to the group ride starting point.
I must say that I rarely if ever travel for a ride. For mtb, I have no choice. At this point, I will drive 45min to an hour for a good trail. Once my 8 year old is able to ride for longer stretches we will travel further to get to some better trails.

Wildwood 

It has been 3 years since I rode Hwy 20, not this Fall either unless the weather holds for 3 more weeks.
BTW, Seattle Forrest - thank you for your wonderful pics and informational/inspirational posts.

Jeremy_S

About twice a month to a group ride thats just a bit too far to get to from my house. If it was a really slow ride I'd be fine but they push it a bit and adding 30 miles to the ride would probably put the hurt on me.

Other than that, I have a couple of spots west of me I like to ride for climbing or scenery and they're 50-60 miles from home. I'll head out there every month or two just for a change of scenery.