Your ideal cycling environment?
12-05-13, 02:56 PM
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Your ideal cycling environment?
Do you prefer flat terrain or hilly mountainous terrain?
Hot or cold? Humid or dry?
Outdoors or indoors?
High traffic/city or rural/low traffic?
This ones stupid but do you like smooth paved roads or roads with a little treachery and surprise?
For me it's dry heat with a lot of hills. I can't stand the cold. I know I'm weird
I'm starting to lean towards indoor on my trainer since its getting colder cause I can control the conditions and specify on certain aspects more.
Hot or cold? Humid or dry?
Outdoors or indoors?
High traffic/city or rural/low traffic?
This ones stupid but do you like smooth paved roads or roads with a little treachery and surprise?
For me it's dry heat with a lot of hills. I can't stand the cold. I know I'm weird
I'm starting to lean towards indoor on my trainer since its getting colder cause I can control the conditions and specify on certain aspects more.
12-05-13, 03:02 PM
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cool
humid
outdoors
rural/low traffic
treacherous roads
humid
outdoors
rural/low traffic
treacherous roads
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12-05-13, 03:11 PM
#5
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Rural Vermont / western Massachusetts in late spring:
62 degrees, fresh air
Rolling hills
Backroads, no traffic
Bucolic scenery: red barns, rambling farmhouses, wildlife, fields, streams, cows
Wind-blocking woods
Scenic overlooks, streams to jump in on hotter days
Farmstand coffee breaks
Lots of other cyclists, more cycling-friendly populace than most places
62 degrees, fresh air
Rolling hills
Backroads, no traffic
Bucolic scenery: red barns, rambling farmhouses, wildlife, fields, streams, cows
Wind-blocking woods
Scenic overlooks, streams to jump in on hotter days
Farmstand coffee breaks
Lots of other cyclists, more cycling-friendly populace than most places
12-05-13, 03:13 PM
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12-05-13, 03:16 PM
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Outdoor, rolling terrain, 60-70's and no traffic.
The cross racer in me though wants conditions most riders would stay inside for.
The cross racer in me though wants conditions most riders would stay inside for.
12-05-13, 03:21 PM
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12-05-13, 03:46 PM
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If there is no traffic, I pretty much enjoy it.
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12-05-13, 04:27 PM
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Road bike:
Smooth rural roads, dry, somewhere between 65F and 75F, slight rolling hills to flat terrain, low traffic.
Hybrid:
High density city traffic (so that I can easily bypass stalled traffic), somewhere between 65F and 75F, flat paved roads, no potholes, no taxis, no delivery trucks, and no buses. Multiple meaningful bike lanes (that lead to other bike lanes), and alert drivers who watch for passing cyclists after parking.
* All windless miles...
Smooth rural roads, dry, somewhere between 65F and 75F, slight rolling hills to flat terrain, low traffic.
Hybrid:
High density city traffic (so that I can easily bypass stalled traffic), somewhere between 65F and 75F, flat paved roads, no potholes, no taxis, no delivery trucks, and no buses. Multiple meaningful bike lanes (that lead to other bike lanes), and alert drivers who watch for passing cyclists after parking.
* All windless miles...
Last edited by WestPablo; 12-05-13 at 07:14 PM.
12-05-13, 04:52 PM
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70-75 degrees F, dry, NO WIND. Perfect short sleeve jersey and shorts weather.
Rural, low trafic roads.
Reasonably smooth pavement.
Rolling hills, sweeping turns, occasional climb.
A nice place for lunch about half way.
Rural, low trafic roads.
Reasonably smooth pavement.
Rolling hills, sweeping turns, occasional climb.
A nice place for lunch about half way.
12-05-13, 04:55 PM
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Mountains, cool and dry.
12-05-13, 07:14 PM
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100+ degrees, a flat.highway with a nice wide shoulder! Paradise!
12-05-13, 07:20 PM
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Below 50% humidity, above 75 degrees a wind always above 18mph and hills, 2-3 miles @ 6-10% with excellently smooth tarmac and views to die for.
12-05-13, 07:49 PM
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i like woodsy low traffic routes. or long range MUP's in the middle of nowhere. portland has a cool one out near the coast range between two little towns that follows an old logging RR right of way. goes mostly through the woods and farm fields....
12-05-13, 08:05 PM
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12-05-13, 09:30 PM
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I've cycled in several countries around the world, and this is my favourite road:
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12-05-13, 09:36 PM
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Chiang Mai, Thailand is nearly perfect 5 months out of the year. A climbers paradise, nice weather, beautiful scenery, never far from restaurant/soup stand or store, and lots of cyclists. When the farmers start burning their crops it becomes a terrible place to be for 3 months and the burning is followed by 4 months of constant rain.
12-05-13, 09:38 PM
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How would I pick? One of my favorite things about cycling is the variety of environments and each has its own rewards.
1) Rolling hills through forests and around lakes, 60F with a light breeze (always from behind). Wide well-paved roads with almost no motorized traffic.
2) Downtown in a cycling friendly city with bike lanes and other amenities, lots of coffee shops, locally owned pizza joints, and some street entertainment.
3) Dead flat, zero traffic, well-paved rural roads with long straightaways, warm, sunny and windless.
4) Highly variable gravel with lots of steep hills, twists, turns, a little mud, cold, foggy and with a few deer and assorted critters to keep things interesting.
5) Heavy frost on the morning after a fresh snow. Sun just coming up. 15F and calm.
6) Paved rail to trail on a sunny afternoon with a cool breeze, wife and daughter along for the ride.
1) Rolling hills through forests and around lakes, 60F with a light breeze (always from behind). Wide well-paved roads with almost no motorized traffic.
2) Downtown in a cycling friendly city with bike lanes and other amenities, lots of coffee shops, locally owned pizza joints, and some street entertainment.
3) Dead flat, zero traffic, well-paved rural roads with long straightaways, warm, sunny and windless.
4) Highly variable gravel with lots of steep hills, twists, turns, a little mud, cold, foggy and with a few deer and assorted critters to keep things interesting.
5) Heavy frost on the morning after a fresh snow. Sun just coming up. 15F and calm.
6) Paved rail to trail on a sunny afternoon with a cool breeze, wife and daughter along for the ride.
