I ride near home
 

I seem to have this thing against hauling my bike on the car for the better part of an hour just to ride somewhere "nice". Not too far away is the Katy Trail and there are a number of nice mountain bike trails in that area but I usually talk myself out of driving the hour it takes to get there.
Instead I usually ride the same local trails over and over, but I do enjoy them.
Any other "homebodies" out there, or do you prefer to go to destination trails?

I generally start my rides from home. Today finds me 700 miles from home with my bike on a ride that started from home.

I find the notion of driving to ride distasteful. I'm willing to use a train, but not a car. For me, the number one thing that interferes with the joy of riding is motorists. I would prefer to be part of the solution than be the problem.

Mostly homebody, but I enjoy the change of pace and will venture out in my car. My most extreme example was driving two hours to the Little Miami River trail in order to get in a 50 miler. The trip back was a downer, but it was well worth it.

Good Lord. Elitist much? Any idea how your bike was delivered to the bike shop?

I will throw the bike in the car for the occasional group ride where the meet is too far to ride to. Since I often do 40-50 on a weekend ride, I can get to most of the cool places starting from home.

I like solo riding far from home occasionally but after a recent fall put me in hospital and left me with concussion I'm a little bit less confident

Dudelsack - Bike delivered by bike.

I ride my bike to go somewhere far more often than I go somewhere to ride my bike. Having said that, I have taken some delightful rides, such as exploring the Del Dios mountain biking / hiking trails w/ son #1 , after putting our bikes into my wife's Passat wagon and driving about 30 mins. or so.

On one of our family reunions I was glad I had splurged on a two-bike carrier for the Passat's roof rack, and I'll probably bring a mountain bike or two along for this year's reunion at Big Bear.

Well I guess my wife and I are the exception. First we sold our home in Maine and moved to North Central Florida to live near some rails to trails and kayak sites. It's a commute to any of them. The main ride is on the Withlacoochee State Trail about 10 minutes away by car. Next we use our motorhome to travel to rail trails throughout the country and Canada. If fact we are getting ready for a trip to the North East and Atlantic Canada for the summer months. Generally we ride in the morning and drive in the pm to a campground not far to another bike trail. I use a number of sources to find the trails to ride on, but the one I use the most is Traillink.com.

All that carbon dioxide that man is breathing out. It's an outrage.

I'm a roadie. In the same sense, unless it is an event I just walk the bike 75ft out to the fogline and pedal.

I ride from my house to the Withlacoochee Trail (~6.5 miles one way). That's one of the main reasons we retired here. :beer:
Other trails are too far so driving is a must (Suncoast Trail = 20+ highway miles away, Nature Coast Trail = 55 miles away).

The only time my bike is in a car is if I need to take it to a shop. I'm lucky to have good riding roads nearby. It does mean that my routes get repeated but I can vary them enough to keep it interesting and if I want I can make it harder than I like given some of the local climbs

All my routes start and end at my home...

I plan on doing both. But mostly riding from home. Maybe seeking out some flatter sections of road until I toughen up some.

I am lucky, there is a lot of nice riding around me. But I can see the reasoning for traveling a bit for some folks.

My favorite ride starts with a 35 mile trip to Collinsville. If I didn't enjoy the trails out there so much I wouldn't do it. I only live 2 miles from the Katy but I tend to get bored if I ride that too often.

Speaking of which, sknhgy, how about joining us for the Katy Trail Social in July?

I almost always ride to my destination trails. Luckily, there are two trails that are relatively close by (about 2-3 miles from home). When it's not feasible to ride all the way, I carry my bike on the bus. I try to avoid driving as much as I can.

The ones that see the most use were delivered as tubing which was artfully transformed into my favorite bikes. When the builders were done, I rode them home. Trucks, cranes and trains were all involved, but no cars.

Not that any of that matters. My point is that it is much more pleasant for me, and almost everyone else I have spoken with, to ride on roads without cars. I choose to not make our roads less pleasant for other cyclists. That's not elitist by any reasonable standard. Does the notion of people willingly sacrificing their own comfort threaten you in some way? The name-calling strikes me as pitiful and adds nothing positive to this or any discussion.

I'd been a total homebody for years until just last fall, after a decade layoff, when I bought a bike hitch for my pickup bed for a local century. That's one reason why I bought my house. It's close to a great MUP at about the middle so I can go either direction to either Coeur d'Alene or Spokane and beyond.

I was missing some great riding places up here though and the same old same old gets a little boring. So I'm just now starting to explore those and plan on plenty more of that.

Agreed wholeheartedly. :thumb:

I ride 99% from my garage. I live in inner suburb of St. Louis and consider anywhere inside 270 game. I enjoy south city the most though. It seems like shared and dedicated bike lanes are popping up all around the city. Forest Park is a treasure. Took a trip there this morning. I mostly port bikes when other family members want to try something outside their ability to get there. Yesterday I took my daughter mountain biking, that was beyond both our abilities to get there by bike. It's rare I hit the dirt trails anymore except when she wants to go.

M-F, I ride from my house. On weekends, I'll indulge in a drive out to the country (or to downtown Atlanta, when riding with my urban friends). I've created some great rides on secondary roads near my house, with just a few major street crossings.

I've noticed that older neighborhoods (50's-70's) are more likely to connect streets, while newer neighborhoods tend to be single-entrance (or worse, gated). I wish our zoning laws recognized the need for more "bike-through" neighborhoods. Speed humps are a great way to keep cars from cutting through, and they're fun to fly over on a bike.

I drive to most of the rides I do. Usually it's a club ride at the regular start location but sometimes it's a remote start 30 or more miles from home.
When I ride alone I start from home but that's normally only after work.
I don't mind driving to ride starts and I'm not trying to make a statement with my hobby. I just like riding with friends and I will drive to where they are.

If riding by myself I ride from my house. If doing a club ride or meeting up with others, it depends, but I'll usually drive.

When I ride with others we usually go for food afterward and I'm much less inclined to ride home after that. In fact the past couple of times I've given someone a ride home in my car who didn't feel like riding.

I do both. Mostly if I'm riding alone I start from home. But about once a week I drive my daughter to the stable where she rides a horse, and I get to start my ride over in some pretty rural country over by the Wisconsin border.

About 1/3 to 1/2 of my rides are club rides. If I have the time and the starting point is not to distant, I'll ride to the starting point. But those two criteria are not always met.

To digress some, many of you who club ride seem to do so chiefly on the weekends. Here in the Twin Cities, I'm lucky enough to be part of a giant club that, in warm months, offers about 50 different rides/week, with different starting places, distances, and paces. If I have the time, I can do a club ride most any evening after work, but not all the starting places are that close and I may not have time between work and the 6 PM start time to get there. So I might drive then.

Oh yeah, if I skip work, I can also go on a club ride most any day of the week with the retirees. This is why some of the old guys are so strong and fast! I can't do very much of this at all, but the little taste here and there sure makes me dream about retirement...

I do both, it's mostly a matter of what kind of ride it is. Mon./Wed./Fri. I commute to work and back so, of course, I start from home.

Tues./Thur. we have club rides in the evening (6:00PM start) so I drive to work in Los Angeles, drive from LA to Irvine, do the ride, usually go out to eat with other riders after the ride, then drive home. I really enjoy the rides and the people, which is the only way to justify 85 mi. of driving for a 35 mile ride.

Then on the weekends I usually do big rides in the mountains, so about a 45 min. drive to Encanto Park in Duarte or Glendora or Red Box or where ever the ride is originating.

Sunday is recovery day so sometimes fixed gear from home, other times club rides; so Sundays vary a lot. Since I'd driven to rides on Sat. and Sun. for Memorial Day (Mon.) I did a ride from home with my wife and a friend. Bike Ride Profile | Hills ride with Jackie and Lynn near Whittier | Times and Records | Strava

Thankfully we have some good climbs very close to our home in Whittier. Our friend took a photo of my wife and me at the Starbucks in Uptown Whittier:http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=383226

We are very fortunate to have lots of good places to ride, either right out the door or within a reasonable driving distance.

Rick / OCRR