I"'ve worn out a car driving the 400 plus miles to Western North Carolina. After you go there to ride it is hard to ride around North Florida.
I leave St Aug @ 4:00 AM and I am in Brevard at 1:00 PM and usually have my first climb done by 6 or 7.

Ask anyone that lives there, the riding is first class a lot of the year.

I usually ride from home, although sometimes we load the bikes in the van, when going somewhere, driving to ride, did that twice with my brother-in-law, about 7 or 8 years ago....

Oh yeah, that's another thing - the premier riding in the midwest is in southwestern Wisconsin. I can ride there from home, but it's maybe a 60 mile RT just to get to the beginning of the really high quality riding country (and it's not so easy to cycle over the St. Croix river presently). So sometimes (not enough!), I drive over there for some really pleasurable rides.

Usually ride from home, although my wife and I took our bikes a couple of weeks ago for a weekend getaway. We passed so many cyclists on the road that by the time we got half way there I felt so guilty that I pulled over, jumped on my bike and let my wife drive the rest of the way. If nothing else, my conscience was at ease, but truth be known, it was a great ride.

Hey, Retro, which trails near Collinsville? I live near the Katy as well (O'Fallon) but have been wanting to investigate the riding on the Illinois side.

Where I live it's near sea-level, and mostly pretty flat. I have a choice of taking the bike path "this way" or mixing it up and taking the bike path "that way." I can take the bike path out to where the good riding starts, but that's at least 25 miles.

If those were my only choices, I wouldn't ride very much. So I drive to where the good riding starts. That's usually at least 30-45 minutes of driving, but I frequently drive three hours or more for good rides (and stay overnight in a motel so I can ride the next day too.)

Life is too short, and weekends too precious, to spend half of it on a damn bike path.

I actually do both.

IMO, Metropolitan Boston offers interesting cycling in all parts of the area. I live in downtown, so my loops from home allow me to explore all sectors of the region. In about 30 to 60 minutes of cycling I can be out of the city and into pleasant suburban to exurban areas. I’m an early morning rider, so even city riding is calm though not as much on the return trip. Another benefit of Boston cycling is that the Commuter Rail allows bikes on the trains during off-peak hours, such as outbound on weekday mornings and weekends, So one can eliminate city riding and proceed directly to prime cycling routes, though subject to the train schedules.

My main reason to cycle from home is that I must squeeze my riding time into my work and family life, and driving or taking the train takes too much time away from riding. I rarely do organized rides, but have driven about 350 and 700 miles to participate in the Second and Third Annual Fifty-Plus Forum rides (the latter in Michigan, also to visit family). So I was glad to have a Fifth Annual Ride in Metro Boston last year, about 30 miles away, to be reprised this year on July 26 (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). :innocent:

I think your tone and tenor speak for itself. No need for me to become embroiled in this.

If the worst someone would call me is an elitist, I'd bow before him and kiss his feet :)

Further west in the Tallahassee area, we have a lot more hills. I find my part of north Florida near ideal. Rolling hills and miles and miles of country roads that are nearly free of cars. Virtually all my riding starts at the end of my driveway.

But I did have the chance recently to ride with my brother in the Ashville, NC area. Most of the roads we traversed were similar in topography to what I see here (although with a few more cars). But I did have the chance to do two real climbs/descents. First time I'd encountered a hill where brakes were needed on the way down. It was great fun.

I much prefer the winters here though. He rides most of the year, but I'd find a lot of the winter and early spring too cold. And fortunately, I love the oppressive heat and humidity here in the summer. (And I have to say that for all the complaining I see on these forums about the scourge of cars, drivers here are great. I get a close pass or some other annoying action two or three times a year. 99% of the drivers are courteous and give you plenty of space.)

I saw that thread. If I don't have any family activities that weekend I would be up for the ride. The Madison County Trails are my favorites and I haven't been getting down to the Katy near as much as I used to.

Elitist!

When will you be dropping by? :D

Now for the question at hand. I am fortunate enough to live in a bike friendly area, surrounded by nice places to ride my bike. So generally speaking I just ride out from my front door and take it from there.

My friends and I travel, twice a year, to Solvang, CA (about 90 miles from home) for a 3-day weekend of riding. Sometimes I take my bike along with me on business trips. A couple of weeks ago I was in Monterey, CA on business. I brought my bike with me and rode for a couple of days in the gorgeous Monterey Peninsula.

Have bike...will travel! :)

Where do you live?

If you live out in California, I've seen so many great photos of the cycling there in the past few months I'd be thrilled to hop in my motor vehicle and discharge a ton of CO2 into the atmosphere in order to get some riding in out there.

I know, I know, BYOW (bring your own water).

It's merely more convenient for me to ride from my home, so that is what happens the majority of time. But I have no objection ( other than cost ) to tossing my bike on the back of my car to meet friends for a group ride when the occasion pops up.

I actually do live in CA but my wife is coming to Loovul for a week (grading AP Chem tests for National College Boards) and wants to know if there's a place to rent a bike and good places to ride in the evenings. Please advise or message me. Thanks!

When you get to SoCal let us know so Biker395 (Victor), Pameaque, bigjohn and I can show you some great places to ride around here!

Rick / OCRR

When I get a collected moment I'll PM you.

50/50 for me. some rides are worth driving to. also sometimes wifey and I will take an overnite trip so we can explore a new trail and make a weekend of it!

I drive a car, I drive a car responsibly, I will in no way impede your enjoyment of "OUR" roadways.

All my trips are for transportation, and I started riding because of scarce parking and high congestion. Therefore, almost all my rides start or end at home. The exception is when I use my bike rack when taking either my cars or bike to the shop.

Madison County Trails. Most are paved asphalt rails-to-trails and a few are crushed limestone/gravel. One of the best trailheads is in Collinsville, Illinois just behind the Culver's Restaurant. I ride from there frequently. Here's a place to find more info.

MCT Trails Map

Starting from the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge would be tempting as it's closest to you; however, cars get broken into very frequently there.

There are some mountain bike trails near the Southern Illinois College - Edwardsville.

Funny you should ask. The plan for the Katy Trail Social includes a Sunday morning ride starting behind Culvers in Collinsville.

I am out in Ventura County, north of LA and south of Santa Barbara. Less crowded than LA not as expensive as Santa Barbara...in other words, God's country.

Let me know when you are coming.

If you have extra time, you can also hook up with the guys from Orange County, there are also some great places to ride there.

I'd generally avoid LA County though.

Thanks, Retro and Jerry. Time to find that thread...

The grass is always greener.....

I do most of my riding starting from home. I've only have so much time to ride, and driving someplace to ride just doesn't make sense. However, my wife and I will take our bikes when we travel, if we can. And we will plan our vacation destinations with riding there in mind. And once a month or so, we'll make a 45-60 minute drive to a rail trail to go for a ride. Usually with a stop in a town, or a brewpub, for lunch. It keeps things varied and interesting.

By looking at some of the pictures posted here by some in other parts of the country, I'd sometimes think that my area was the bottom of the barrel. Last July 4th, I met a guy from England at a crossroad, looking at a map. Of course I asked if he needed help. He did, and I had an answer for him. We chatted for a bit, and all he kept saying that the riding in the local area was 'great', 'beautiful', 'nice', 'pleasant', etc.
I guess it's just a matter of perception and familiarity.

Thirty years ago, I could ride about 3 miles and be in the country and there were a number of different route that I could take. Urban sprawl has changed much of that so most of my rides are though the suburbs where traffic is not too heavy. My rides give me a chance to clear my mind and think about different things so I actually don't mind riding the same route over and over again. While riding home yesterday I was deep in thought about something and arrived at a major section road when I thought it was still a long way off.

I used to occasionally throw my bike in the car and drive out 20 miles to ride someplace different, and I've been wanting to do that again for the past several years, but don't seem to get to it. Maybe this year.