Originally Posted by
cyclist2000
fitness/tourer. I ride to get into a fit enough shape so I don't suffer through my week tour, which may include a century ride.
+1.
I ride because I like the feel of moving. Most of my rides are commuting or running errands, because there are more work days than weekends, and riding makes the commute fun.
Weekends are longer rides; some two or three times a year I'll do a 75 or a century as a fundraiser for a charity I care about.
For the past several years now, I've tried to do a week-long tour for my vacation. I've had four "successes" (GAP/C&O, P'tit Train du Nord and Quebec, Finger Lakes supported, and Pacific Coast Washington supported) and one "DNF" (Skyline Drive in Virginia, unsupported). I'm planning an unsupported ride from Maine thru New Hampshire and Massachusetts just to the NY border in August -- that's hills! -- so I'm making a point of running my errands locally on the bike, with a trailer to carry my groceries up and down the nearby terrain. It's training, and it's fun.