Carusoswi

I commute a couple of miles each way each day to the office. Week days, I'll ride 10 - 40 miles in the evenings, depending on the weather and my mood. Weekends, I like to ride one short day - 20 or 30 miles, and one long day - 50 to 75 miles. All of it depends on how much time I have, what else I need to do (sometimes bring work home from the office - argh!), and if I'm in the mood.

I have two routes to the Delaware-Raritan Canal area, each around 12 miles - one is more hilly than the other - I hate riding on the canal - very scenic and safe, but not pleasing to me as my bike is set up with skinny road tires and I find the pavement more satisfying - so, I usually will take a one of two roads that run next to the Delaware River, either on the PA side or the NJ side. A typical ride takes me out toward Washington's Crossing. Then I loop back to New Hope, and then back to Southampton - about 35 miles. I can stretch that ride by diverting to Trenton, NJ on the front end, or out to Bull's Island or even Frenchtown on the other to stretch the fide by as much as 40 additional miles.

For the most part, the roads are wide, smooth, rolling terrain - a couple of steep uphills (and some downhills, too). The scenery is nice, but, once you've seen it as many times as I, you tend not to pay as much attention to it as you should.

Once in a while, I throw the bike on the car and go to other areas. The bike trail that runs through Fairmount Park in Philadelphia is particularly beautiful - and I'll ride that from Valley Forge to Philly - but it's mostly for the scenery, as much of the trail is dirt/gravel. Same with the Lehigh Gorge up near Jim Thorpe. It's an old rail bed - lots of cinders on the path - very soft. Makes for a good work out on road tires - but that is truly a scenic ride - 55 miles out and back and, then, for me, another hour or so in the car to get home.

The thought of taking a short 2 or 3 mile route and riding it numerous times sounds boring to me, but, then, as I think about it, what I do is just a longer circle, and, after you've done it enough times, there really isn't that big of a difference.

I am curious that a couple of you are concerned about being too far from your home. What is the basis for your concern? Are you worried about breakdowns, weather problems, or what?

I carry a cell phone, so if I had a major problem out there, I'd just call for help - family, friends, or the authorities. Haven't done much long distance riding lately as I'm recouping from an accident on my bike. Hope to get some miles in this weekend, though.

Happy riding to all.

Caruso

tvme

I hope the blasted thing is turned off. If I had one ring while I was riding I think I'd have to toss it under the wheels of a passing car.

I'll probably start making longer "loops" but for now the state highways are out of my comfort zone. I'm on one for a while (under a mile) but really don't like it. Eighteen wheelers are a bit much.

Bob

DnvrFox

Central City and nearby rival Blackhawk, small formerly historic towns, are now pretty much one big casino! I know of no bicycle rental shop in either. There may be road or mtn bike rental in nearby Idaho Springs, but I couldn't find any on Google. Certainly a very decent road or mtn bike could be rented at any of numerous shops in the Denver/Golden area.

1. US 6 up Clear Creek Canyon is closed to bicyclists (a very narrow, winding road with narrow tunnels and many accidents and heavy truck and casino traffic).

2. The new "Central City Parkway" (A private road funded by Central City to take casino traffic away from neighboring casino rival Blackhawk) has recently been opened to bicyclists. Be aware it is quite steep (I would guess 8%) which may not seem like much but remember you are at about 9,000 feet.

3. Central City is in a steep narrow valley. In the town itself, besides the main street, all streets are steeply up mountainsides. Even the main street is steep going north. Going further north from the city are some dirt roads suitable for mountain biking that head out into the mountains.

4. Colorado 119 from nearby Blackhawk going north is rideable by road bike, and turns into what is known as the "Peak to Peak" highway, and is a beautiful and popular route.

5. CO 46 goes through Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Lots of mtn biking, and I assume the road would be travelable by road bike. I haven't been on it in years, and don't know if it is paved or not.

Are you planning on staying in Central City/Blackhawk or in Denver? Folks certainly ride from Denver to Central City, but be aware this is mountainous country, and you will be using back roads paralleling the I-70/US 40 corridor. I would guess about 40 miles or so, depending on where in Denver you stayed.



Please be aware of the wonderful Central City Opera each summer, a holdover from the historic past.

DnvrFox

Here we go with the cell phone thing again! Anyone else getting tired of having cell phones derided?

Some of us have family members with medical conditions, etc. Yes, my cell phone is turned on while riding, for some very good reasons. Please consider that other's life situations may be different from yours.

Grampy™

On days I work I usually ride late in the day and so I tend to stay off the roads.... My favorite "out and back" is to ride the local rail trail 30 miles round trip to a neighboring town. The trial is mostly crushed limestone with grades less than 5%.

On my days off I take to the roads whenever possible.... My favorite ride is through the country side to a small town called Stone City. Some of the steepest hills in Eastern Iowa. That loop is about 35 miles.

Here is how Grant Wood painted the town.....

Coyote!

I live in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, so tend not to bike here much. The Panhandle is a bizarre combination of McMansion farms, cracker box plantations, and DC commuters while retaining redneck traditions and other related rural charms. Luckily Western Maryland is a short spin away.

Being easily bored with a standard route, I can mix it up nicely in nearby Washington County, MD. The C&O Canal is a good flat packed gravel path, nice for warm-up. From there, the County lanes create a meshwork that includes rolling countryside interspersed with stream, creek, and river gorges and hills and mountains that form some of the lesser bumps in the Allegheny chain. In the midst of all this is Antietam National Battlefield Park that features low traffic [and the privilege of contemplating the worst day in American history]. Interspersed throughout are small towns. Also, on the far end of the County is Greenbrier Park that allows bikes on the trails. This is for those times I need to add bruises to my list. This creates opportunity for all kinds of rides.

As it turns out, my little hometown of Leetown, WV hosts some US Department of Interior fish research facilities. I have an impromptu set of courses and ‘trails’ there for when I just need a few miles to satisfy the bike-itch. It’s also good for running and walking the dog.

If there is a point here, it’s that with some research we can find a wealth of bikin’, hikin’, and runnin’ opportunity in the neighborhood.

SemperFi

DnvrFox,
I also carry a cell phone in my wedge for emergencies. My wife respects my time on the bike and has only called once in the last two months. It was a situation that I posted previously on a different thread about a neighbors dog that had swallowed some medication and needed emergency treatment (no, I'm not a Vet). My wife was extra sensitive to the situation as our family cat had just died several days before.
Anyway, I responded like a good neighbor, and the dog lived.

tvme

Sooo very sorry Denver. I certainly didn't mean to hurt the feelings of an inanimate object . If you want or feel you need to have a phone turned on 24/7 that has become your option. I relish my time away- hell I could just buy a motorcycle if I wanted noise pollution

I do carry one (turned off) while hunting or fishing in less populated areas. If I heard someone using one while deer hunting, I'd turn mine on to call the game warden. I would also support legislation to stop their use while operating anything on public streets or for use in aid of a hunt for anything.

Caruso- what do you do? On or off?

Bob

DnvrFox

Did I say I had it on 24/7 or did you just add that to make some kind of a point?

I don't, although some folks are now using only a cell phone, and in that case I would.

But, I strongly support your ideas about outlawing its use while driving or whatever.

But, if you call the game warden on your cell phone because someone else is using their cell phone, won't a 3rd party call the game warden because you are using your cell phone? And then a 4th party call about the 3rd party? And on and on until the whole world is calling about someone else using a cell phone? Soon, there would be no one to call. And if you drive your motorcycle to the forest to shoot deer, then you won't be able to hear other's cell phones. Perhaps that is the solution. Shoot the deer from your motorcycle, and the cell phones won't bother you.

And, I am NOT an inaminate object, although my wife may think so when she gives me her "honey-do" list

Digital Gee

Cell phones are among those things which are both a blessing and a curse. I have one and certainly use it, even carrying it in the bike bag in case I have to make an emergency call (Help! I've had a flat and can't get up!") or my daughters have one and need to reach me (and yes, that happened once.)

But cell phones become a curse when they overwhelm us and are used without discretion or the slighest concern for people around us.

Email is a blessing and a curse. Instant Messaging the same. Digital photography the same. (Too many cameras where you don't even know they are there!). The list goes on and on.

i just hate when someone else violates my privacy or "personal space" with their decision to use a curse/blessing device "in my face." It always seems like the person who chooses to irritate others gets to do it, and the people who would prefer good old peace and quiet have to suffer. Not always, but almost always. And that bugs the bejesus out of me.

Carusoswi

My daughter sings in the opera. She works everyday but Mondays, which she has off. We will probably stay in the immediate vicinity of Central City - maybe it's not practical for me to plan any cycling - we'll see.

Thanks for the info.

Caruso

Carusoswi

Yea - I'm getting tired. My cell phone is in my bag - generally, when I'm riding, even I don't hear it ring. It makes a slightly more noticeable sound to alert me that a new message is waiting for me - and then I pull over, grab it from the bag and check the message - and I carry it because (1 anyone who calls me when they know I'm out riding really has a problem that needs my input and (2 if I break down or am involved in an accident (as I was a couple of weeks back), I need it to notify others of my predicament). I wonder how using a cell phone thusly could possibly offend anyone else.

Mine has a camera built into it - not the cat's meow of cameras, mind you, but, when I need a picture and don't have a camera, it is certainly better than nothing.

Caruso

tvme

Denver,

Now I'm really intrigued. But first some housekeeping.

My original statement referred to the phone which is an inaninate object. If you took offence on behalf of that object... sorry, not my problem


Ummm... errrr... ah... Don't hunt much, do you?


This is the part that piqued my interest.

My statement was, "If you want or feel you need to have a phone turned on 24/7 that has become your option." Are you saying you go to the effort to carry a cell phone on a bike and then turn off your "land line" when you get home********** If so I commend you! You do know it IS possible to ummm... "cut the cord".... so to speak If that was not your meaning, "did you just add that to make some kind of a point?"

If you haven't noticed, I do tend to poke a bit of gentle (I hope) fun at a lot of things- including myself. I'm a touch more serious in funnin' the extremists on both the right and the left (my avatar should explain why). If anyone is bothered... well, I suppose they can always ignore me

Bob

DnvrFox

Wow, a BUNCH of stuff to handle here!

1. We do not answer the phone after 8:00 pm, and usually do turn the phones off at night. My wife is the one with the major medical problem right now, and she is with me at night (as far as I know).

2. Inanimate object - you did see the smiley?

3. I don't hunt at all. Shot a deer once, and felt so bad I never have hunted again. Prefer to see them in the wild, but if it gives you jollies to kill them, it is fine with me.

4. Joe has turned off the "ignore" switch, but you are nowhere being ignored in my book. A couple of others - well I wish the switch was available!

And, I guess I do need you to explain your avatar. Sorry to be dense. Must be my shrinking brains (as someone on another forum told me recently).

BlazingPedals

I usually do club rides starting at a township hall a few miles from my house. Most routes are 25 to 30 miles long. We have about 6 or 7 destinations in as many surrounding small towns, with several variations of each ride. They're all loops, meaning we avoid repeating a road on a particular ride. We may repeat destinations from one week to the next, but never have to do the exact same route more than 2 or 3 times in a summer.

jwbnyc

This is pretty much what I'm doing too:

Days off, there is no objective usually, just following the front wheel. It was hot Today. Did about 12 Miles total. Averaged 8.5mph, max 22.5 downhill probably. If there is a new street to head down... there you go. Just moseying along..

centexwoody 

My wife & I ride a variety of distances 3 or 4 times per week: 7, 11.2, 14.6 or 21 mile set of loops that are within a half mile of our house: just cross the RR tracks and take to the country lanes shared with pickup trucks and college frat boys.

The route depends upon time of day (too hot after 9 am in summer Texas) and time available (day of the week determining time between 30 minutes for 7 miles to 1 1/2 hours for 21 miles). There is a lot of housing development (mobile homes, affordable housing subdivisions) going up in this countryside so near to the city so the character of our rides is changing. But right now it is beautiful & we pick the direction of the ride based on prevailing winds. I did an obsessively-detailed map of this corner of our county so we can pretty much do any combination of roads for any length - or to watch a field of hay ripen or the wildflowers...

Carusoswi

I confess - my phone is on 24/7. I am not on 24/7, so, does that count for anything?
I usually carry it my bag or it's in my car or on my desk at the office. When visiting clients, I either stick it in a pocket, a brief case, or carry it in my hand - I detest and refuse to wear it on a belt clip. That's just one of my little quirks.

I don't hunt, but love to fish. I don't think it would bother me to hear someone else's phone ring, but, it would strike me odd to see someone absorbed in a lengthy conversation or making a whole string of calls. That annoys me on the train to NY - someone who gets on their phone and talks the whole way at decibels that force me to share their end of the conversation - or someone who forgets to turn theirs off during a movie or, worse, a live concert (the intimate type of concerts where a ringing phone will disturb audience and artist alike). Don't get me started on concert etiquette - that's another involved topic. We live in an age where venues are so varied that many people don't know or have never learned how to act at a recital or even an orchestral concert. Many equate classical venues to the rock concerts that are so popular with that set that's just a few years younger than me. At those concerts, the music, the crowd, everything is so loud it wouldn't matter if your phone rang - and probably everyone attending will lose some of their hearing as a result.

I'll stop rambling, now. In closing, I hate my cell phone, but really can't live without it.

Caruso

I-Like-To-Bike

No need to be sorry, the shoulder patch/insignia for the defunct Berlin Brigade is quite a cryptic totem for making fun of extremists, presumably a meaning understood only by the cell phone hating poster.

quickKarl

my ave. week is wed nite group ride of 40 to 55 miles, Sat group ride of 50 to 75 or so. sun a short road ride of 30 - 40 or a trip to the mtb trail for 10 miles off road, every now and then a century, done 3 so far this year. most all of the rides in the central illinois area, near Champaign. did do some riding in s. il. near carbondale, 1 of the centurys was down there, great hills..
i'd like to get out more, but i think i might become single if i did..

i do take my cell, its off and in the bag, for just incase..

karl

CV-6 

I try to ride five days a week, 15 to 25 miles depending on the time, weather, and legs. My most frequent haunt is Creve Coeur Park which offers several loops that allow the mileage to vary. It has its drawbacks in the unaware that choose to walk, skate, or ride there. I try to go early in the AM before it is hot and before there are many on the trail. Usually about the only others there are the serious trainers that blow by me on a regular basis. I hit the Riverfront, Alton, or Valdabene for a little variety.

I have visited Denver on business and can say they have the nicest trail system I have ever seen. I got to ride some of it in March. Thought I was going to be there more often this year, but such is not the case.