Creakyknees

I've been on a few big n hairy, cut throat, scary-fast, every man fer hisself and the ladies don't get any slack either type of rides. The ATC ride in Austin, and the RBM East rides of old days come to mind

But from reading the internet, I know these are babies compared to some of the rides in CA, CO, FL, NYC.

So, pretend it's the nicest Saturday in the Spring, there are no competing events, LA has been in the news... how many people show up for the hammerfest?

How fast does it go? How far? Exactly how hairy is it?

redtires

Well...in all honesty, I have no idea if this ride happens anymore, but back in the 80's and 90's the "BusStop" ride in Boulder was pretty unreal. The Sheriff's department basically had to finally start trying to stop sometimes over a hundred riders, mostly Cat I, II and pro's as they went ballistic on highway 36 in between Boulder and Lyons. It was basically an unsanctioned, unsupervised and illegal balls out race. There were often crashes as well. In fact, I know a woman who was training for nationals (IIRC) when she crashed on a BusStop ride, broke her clavicle, had a botched fix and...well along with a couple of other circumstances....her riding career was over for good. Btw...the BusStop was the name of the "gentleman's club" where the ride started from.

cedricbosch

Shootout in Tucson, AZ. Multiple times rated as hardest group ride in US. Pros regularly show up and drive the pace. Personally I dont find it that hard. I would say it's a cat-2 level race pace.

cedricbosch

Sounds like my kind of ride!!!

Frunkin

I'll be on that ride on Jan. 10th. Hopefully my middle of winter WI fitness will get me through it.

waterrockets 

+1 for ATC. I've seen well over 200 on that ride, and the front will average 27 mph on some really nasty hills and wind.

Another in Austin is the Tuesday Nighter. No stop lights, 9-mile circuit, 36 miles A, 27 miles B. I've seen over 50 for each of the A and B groups, and it's treated like a race all the way around. There's a Cat 1 who always attacks in the first hill or two. Pros often show (Lance, McCarty, others).

mazdatech10

smr monterey along 17mile drive 35 mile out to top in pebble beach and back mostly race teams from the area 30 to 35+ mph each against the other, on nice summer mornings can get 75 riders

Creakyknees

Yeah I've never done the Tuesday nighter in Austin but it is indeed legendary.

There's one up here in N Dallas/ Richardson / Plano called the Popsicle Ride, that's not all that fast really but it makes up for it by being extremely sketchy, hairy and dangerous. I hate to be ghoulish but seriously, I'm not going to be surprised when somedoby dies on that ride.

esammuli

Swami's and Simi Ride in SoCal are both notoriously hard.

Lithuania

i too have heard lots about the tuscon shootout being ridic

Duke of Kent

Another vote for the Tucson shootout. Never done it, but it is famous far beyond AZ.

ZeCanon

I have done the shootout a couple times. The stuff in CO is faster and longer, we just start later so it's not ridiculous in January. It's just stupidly ridiculous in May.
Busstop no longer exists I think, or at least is not advertised in my circles.

Lithuania

im just going to go ahead and say nayack or whatever that **** is called that the old men are always going on about just so we can go ahead and get past that joke.

Cleave

Hi,

Como Street in Orange County, CA (not NY pcad). You never know if some pros will show up and really break your legs. Haven't been there in a long time (can you spell wuss), but I understand that 100 riders is still not unusual. Stop lights are still optional from what I hear.

VosBike

Shootout is pretty bad ass, and huge in the right weather. But after the warm-up is over most of the group is gone and the ride is so smooth and easy, some serious high speeds coming back old nogales though.

That said, the acacia rides (both sat. and sun.) in colorado springs are smaller and faster and much more vicious most times of the year.

Nyack is a moderately paced group ride, at least in summer. Sorry, Pcad, but that ride is just not long enough or fast enough, sure has got enough change of pace though.

txvintage

I thought the rumor was Popscicle had mellowed some. Too bad.

bikeM3987

+2. And having talked to a couple people (like David Wenger) who have raced at pro levels all over the country, Austin's amateur scene is fast.

patentcad

But you can't even spell Nyack. Besides the old men on that ride would pwn your ass and then what would you do? In reality Nyack can be fast, but not by the standards outlined above. Cat 2/3s drive Nyack, the occasional Cat 1, I don't ever recall seeing a pro on that ride. Typically 20 (dead of winter) to 75ish (spring, summer) riders, I recall one outing last year where there must have been 100, I was waiting for the TV choppers to appear.

It's fast enough for me, that's for sure. The large contingent of experienced 35+ guys make that ride very safe indeed. Very few crashes over the nearly 20 years I've been frequenting the ride. Less than 10 I can remember in all that time.

YMCA

Nastiest??? Miami for sure. There are no good roads for training, so red lights, stop signs, baby strollers, whatever are all used as attack spots. Racers actually hate each other around those parts.

damocles1

Shootout in Tucson...period...

I've never done a ride that consistently hard or fast in my life. I didn't know where I was, so getting shelled wasn't an option. And Gord Fraser was/is very, very fast...! I was @ 70kmh at the last sprint point and he went by like I was on jackstands.
To be honest, I don't remember about 60 minutes of my life following that ride. And I didn't recognize myself in the mirror...

MDcatV

maaaan, you guys have obviously never been on the AABC 7:35 a.m. saturday kentlands/point of rocks ride. sometimes up to 12 people show up. the pace is driven by mediocre cat 3s and really, really strong cat 4s and 5s who could easily finish mid-pack in any masters race. a few cyclocrossers sometimes show up, that's when it is really game on.

the attacks are ballistic on the muur de chapel just before the ballenger creek community center sign sprint, and you dont even want to know how hard they drive the pace up to the "stop ahead" sign atop the big woods road climb.

tuscon, simi, whatever, gimme a break.

gsteinb

You SOBs should see what goes on in my basement.

Creakyknees

let's keep this on topic. I really don't want to hear about your gimp again. And please, no pix.

Psimet2001 

Does it involve lotion?

gsteinb