Alternative birthday ride????
 

Have to admit that this is not my idea and I think it was CCorlew who first put the idea forward. Riding your age in miles is OK but for some of us it gets boring. I used to ride my age Offroad but since getting the road Bike- I am doing 50 to 60 miles almost every week on the Sunday ride. So looking for it still to be a challenge- Do it vertically.

And I dont mean just doing 50 miles up hills but take 100 ft as 1 year. So if you are 50- the climb 50 x 100 on a ride to be 5,000ft of climbing. Now that may sound a lot to you flat guys but you have the boring bit. For those of us with hills- for us to do our normal rides we still do the flat bits---and the hills. Then there are those of us that live in the hills( and the lucky devils in the Mountains). All of our rides take in a bit of slow riding and we cannot get our Birthday rides in as easily as some others. Especially as we get older.

5,000 ft may seem a lot but that is only one Ventoux climb. Admittedly all in one go and around 13 miles- so for me that is not a challenge any longer.

But in my area- we have a lot of hills that give 600ft of climbing. 10 of those and I will ride my age of 61- or near it. The hills may be a 5% or less that will spread over a couple of miles or the baskets at 15% over less than a mile,. But I reckon that this will give me a more challenging ride than going over the marshes or picking a point 30 miles away and riding there and back.

I still reckon that for me to climb 6'000 ft- I will have to do a 30 mile ride- but not something I have attempted. Or It could be that in a 30 mile ride- I would only have to climb 3'000ft- but that is somewhere near my normal ride in any case (2'000ft and around 50 to 60 miles)


So open for discussion- Whats your views

Now I've got to climb my age too???

Does anyone know where the 50+ Easy Riders forum is located?

Come on Tom- We know that with the extra holiday this year(Well done by the way) you should be able to get near your natural age of 25 sometime this year. This is for those of us that are stupid enough to think we are still young enough to think we can do it.

How bout doing your age in KPH...........or if your really brave MPH?

Keep it simple. If you want to customize your own ride, go for it.

Do what you want. My birthday ride will remain to ride a minimum of my age in miles.

I can't imagine celebrating my birthday by riding those stinkin' hills:D:D

It's tough enough for some of us....O.K., for me....to be heading "Over The Hill"
without going over and over still more hills. :)

For me I'll keep it to miles, though I can appreciate your situation and solution.

Stap, you must live in some very hilly country. Where I live in middle Georgia is not a mountainous area, but definitely not flatlands either. According to the tracking I have seen, most of our hardest rides are about 70 ft. of climbing per mile and typical routes are around 50 ft. per mile. Do you really climb 200 ft. per mile? Wow! :eek:

On my 53rd birthday I would have to ride 76 miles of the hilliest routes I could find or 106 miles of the normal routes. Not out of the question, but not something I'll commit to right now for my birthday ride. On the other hand, I will definitely plan to do a few rides with that much or more climbing at some time during the year.

The option about riding vertically simple is not fair for us flatlanders. I would have to go 200 miles to find 5200 vertical feet. In Florida we substitute wind and heat for hills.

It's your birthday, do what you want. Rest assured I will do what I want when mine rolls around again. I'm pretty sure it won't involve a bit over a mile of climbing though....

Stapfam is not going to be popular with the 80 and 90 year olds.

So next we will be wanting to revise metrics and centuries? I like the birthday challenge as it reminds me that maybe I am not getting older just getting better ;-)

My birthday is in January and finding a day to do the ride can be part of the challenge. So yesterday took advantage of the 40+ degree fine weather and did my age (66) plus a couple of more for good measure--actually I just did not want to walk home after making the mark. I do noticed that it is getting harder and harder to make the ride in 4 hours....probably going to be a real challenge at 80.

Hmmm. I didn't read the fine print too carefully before voting. I was thinking I was getting a mileage discount for every 100 feet in elevation. I like that idea a bit better. You should also knock a mile off for each degree above 90 deg F when relative humidity is over 80 pct, half that off for you desert people. I could dream up another layer of additions for high-mileage riders, but I've complicated it enough already.

Keep it the way it is. For some folks climbing over 5000 ft. would be difficult because they live in very flat places. Although... maybe we could then suggest they find a head wind that matches their age?

I agree that 100 feet per mile is hilly, I did a century with 10K feet in December and I don't think I could have done 20K in that same 100 miles. I don't think I know of any 200 feet per mile rides.
As for the birthday ride, I think a hilly ride of twice your age would be a challenge. Only 108 on my next birthday, but 122 for you this time. A birthday double metric!

That's what I think too. Part of the fun of birthday rides is you get to make up your own rules. I think that it's fun to make it a bit of a challenge but there's no point in getting all up tight about it. Riding your age in kilometers might be pretty taxing for some members but barely a warm up for others.

I am pretty sure we did the 5,600 feet required somewhere on my TransAmerica trip this past Summer, in fact I just might have done it on my birthday. I am guessing that I fell short by a good bit on that day, but I will have to do a bit of checking to be sure.

I am sure that it isn't something I want to commit to though. Feet of elevation change (total of up AND down) maybe :)

We have a climb here known as Glendora Mountain road. From Glendora to Mt. Baldy Village and back is right at 5,000 feet. Add the "Ski Lifts" bonus climb and you get 7,000 feet. So that would do it for me.

Except that I usually ride the Solvang Spring Double for me birthday ride, and that's only 6,000 ft. of climbing.

But with 200 miles, maybe I can get by without 7,000 feet of climbing?

Rick / OCRR

Hey, you're not turning 70, you don't need 7000 feet. I think you are going to be 57? 6K will be plenty.

Exactly. It's not about following the rules, it's about marking your birthday with a significant event. We each decide for ourselves what that is. Riding your age is just a convenient mark.

I rode double my age at 50. :D