i think i was on a 2-3 percent downgrade from somewhere east of Van Horn, Tx to somewhere west of Kent, TX for quite a ways, maybe twenty miles or more. also had a nice ride from a ski resort in the middle of Vermont to the Hudson River, IIRC.

I've never had a MC for that reason even though plenty of friends/family has had. All the same dangers of a bicycle that you can't ride on trails from bad drivers in cars/trucks (I won't ride bicycle with them, only across, search for "cyclist" or "motorcyclist" on your local news sites, guarantee the story ends up in someone dying.)

Plus on MC you have the added danger of wanting to see what the throttle will do and messing up and dying at completely your own fault. And that throttle will do a LOT. I've not been in a vehicle yet from my mom's slow minivan when I was a teen to dad's corvette or GF's v8 sl500 merc to a v10 ford uhaul* as an adult that I didn't want to see what pedal to the metal would do.

*It was brand new, 24' or 26' box, like 1500 on the clock (but still somehow stunk in the cab of cat-pee) I smoked a riced/fart-can cavalier in it and showed him my rear graphics easily, letting him know he could do that one day too for $29.95 plus mileage.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=392021

There's a couple short bits of uphill. Close enough though, right? Coast it twice and you can tell everyone you did a century!

Wow! I just watched a YouTube of that Hawaii ride. The bikes look like Craiglist quick sales. Rattling and squeaking down the hill. AND THEY HAD TO PEDAL A FEW TIMES!

You don't want to go to Reno. It's 40 miles and 2600' of climbing to the summit.

Re Haleakala: http://www.strava.com/activities/6480433

You will be interested in the 2d half. To tell the truth, it was a bit stressful, what with the temperature extremes, distracted tourists, and cruiser bikes.

IMO, they can be less dangerous than bicycles.

I ride the Black Diamond section of the D&L Rail Trail system, and I start at the bottom and ride to the top. Very gentle grade. It is gravel, so you do have to pedal at least occasionally.

The trail is about 8.5 miles long and gravel. I pedaled about as many times on the way back as I did in each of the miles on the outbound portion. I usually soft pedal and ride at 14 mph or so on the way back, but I was with someone who really wanted to take it slow and enjoy the scenery, so I coasted most of it and probably averaged 8-10 mph.

+1. Also, what's the point if you aren't going to go like a bat outta hell? :D

I used to ride up Mt. Lemmon in Tucson a few times every summer. I'd go about 90 mins up, and 20 mins down. I regularly passed traffic on the way down. :D

This is a user issue, not a vehicle issue. I have several motorcycles, and yes, one is a supersport. It can do highway speeds (64mph) in first gear, and is quite capable of speeds in excess of 150 mph. I have taken it to the track a couple of times, so I can verify that. ;) However, on the road, it (and I) is completely capable of not speeding, or at least maintaining the speed of traffic.

I have some friends who did a 35 mile (or so) downhill bike ride in Hawaii. When asked they said it wasn't as much fun as they had envisioned. They said the tour guides prevented folks from going very fast for fear of overheating their brakes and crashing. I'm thinking that a long enough downhill is either going to involve a certain amount of risk or else it isn't going to be very much fun.

I rode a 5500 ft decent in less than 13 miles in Italy, after climbing it first: Amantea to Monte Cocuzzo in Amantea, 03, Italy | MapMyRide

It's not a carefree ride. The risk of going over a guardrail and not being found for a while is no joke.


http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps7c095cdb.jpg

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...psd5dbd92b.jpg

The Virginia Creeper Virginia Creeper Trail Club | Official Site of the Virginia Creeper Trail Club ? Creeper Keeper

Denver to Kansas City

then turn to the right and go down stream , New Orleans ..


Swiss-German border is the headwaters of the Rhine and the Danube rivers ..

Danube , longer , Delta on Black Sea .. Romanian border ..

Google Virginia Creeper in Damascus Va.

Longest down hill ride.
 

Rolling down into Death Valley seemed to take forever...

... but you have to climb out again mwahahaha

That would be seriously fun.

Highway 74 down to Palm Desert would be fun. But I consider riding uphill an act of insanity.


About a 4,500 foot drop in 10 miles.

I gather you have to be careful about Donner Pass in winter. ;)

I don't know about you folks but that looks like a whole lot of fun!!

I have a lot of miles on motorcycles...

It's totally different in a similar kinda way.

One of my favorite things was to shift into neutral, and kill the motor especially on a long hill. Night time is better, if there's enough light you can kill the lights too.

But even that is not like a bicycle...

Once went stop light to stop light several times with a 76 thunderbird with 3 mountainous people in it that gave me quite the time....

At last light I asked him what he had in it... He said he was a diesel mechanic, he wedged a tricked 460 truck motor in that boat. But it was hell off the line.

I've done this, too, on a supported tour. One day climbing to the rim of Crater Lake from Fort Klamath, overnight at Diamond Lake (monster mosquitoes!), then the next downhill from Diamond Lake to Roseburg. I think we covered the first 50 miles in 2 1/2 hours with rest breaks.

An alternative would be Oregon's Highway 35 from Government Camp to Hood River. From Bennett Pass to Hood River, it's about 33 miles of nearly continuous downhill. Like this: OR 35 Hood River OR to Government Camp OR - A motorcycle ride in Hood River, OR

How about the GAP trail in Pennsylvania from the Eastern Continental Divide to Pittsburgh???

Source: Great Allegheny Passage - www.gaptrail.org

Friendship Road from Tibet to Nepal is suppose to be pretty much downhill for a 2 day ride.....I've never done it but have read about it a few times.