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Longest down hill ride.

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Old 07-08-14 | 06:06 PM
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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.
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Old 07-08-14 | 06:26 PM
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Originally Posted by Corben
motorcycles are dangerous.
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.

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Old 07-08-14 | 06:43 PM
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There's a couple short bits of uphill. Close enough though, right? Coast it twice and you can tell everyone you did a century!
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Old 07-08-14 | 08:17 PM
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Originally Posted by curbtender
I know, but it cost you twice that to bring your bike and then you'd have to get a ride up the hill...
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!
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Old 07-08-14 | 10:03 PM
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Originally Posted by Corben
How long it would take me to get to Sacramento from Reno on I80 riding on a bike? I wonder how fast I can cruise downhill before i start freaking out.
You don't want to go to Reno. It's 40 miles and 2600' of climbing to the summit.

Re Haleakala: https://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.

Last edited by caloso; 07-08-14 at 10:59 PM.
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Old 07-09-14 | 07:42 AM
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Originally Posted by Corben
...motorcycles are dangerous.
IMO, they can be less dangerous than bicycles.
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Old 07-09-14 | 09:41 AM
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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.
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Old 07-09-14 | 01:42 PM
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Originally Posted by RPK79
If you don't ride up the hill you don't deserve to ride down it. Sorry.
+1. Also, what's the point if you aren't going to go like a bat outta hell?

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.
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Old 07-09-14 | 01:46 PM
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Originally Posted by John Redcorn
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.
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.
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Old 07-09-14 | 04:16 PM
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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.
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Old 07-09-14 | 05:03 PM
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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.




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Old 07-09-14 | 08:08 PM
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Old 07-09-14 | 11:25 PM
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Old 07-10-14 | 10:06 AM
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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 ..
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Old 07-10-14 | 10:18 AM
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Google Virginia Creeper in Damascus Va.
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Old 07-10-14 | 11:09 AM
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Longest down hill ride.

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

... but you have to climb out again mwahahaha
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Old 07-10-14 | 11:48 AM
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Originally Posted by Corben
How long it would take me to get to Sacramento from Reno on I80 riding on a bike? I wonder how fast I can cruise downhill before i start freaking out.
That would be seriously fun.
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Old 07-10-14 | 02:06 PM
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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.
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Originally Posted by Bjforrestal
I don't care if you are on a unicycle, as long as you're not using a motor to get places you get props from me. We're here to support each other. Share ideas, and motivate one another to actually keep doing it.

Last edited by Artkansas; 07-10-14 at 09:17 PM.
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Old 07-10-14 | 02:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Corben
How long it would take me to get to Sacramento from Reno on I80 riding on a bike? I wonder how fast I can cruise downhill before i start freaking out.
I gather you have to be careful about Donner Pass in winter.
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Originally Posted by Bjforrestal
I don't care if you are on a unicycle, as long as you're not using a motor to get places you get props from me. We're here to support each other. Share ideas, and motivate one another to actually keep doing it.
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Old 07-10-14 | 06:22 PM
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Originally Posted by curbtender
Just another excuse to go to Kauai... Bike Kauai | Waimea Canyon Downhill Bike Tour
I don't know about you folks but that looks like a whole lot of fun!!

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Old 07-10-14 | 06:41 PM
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Originally Posted by spdracr39
If a free ride downhill is what you want why not just buy a scooter and ride up too then you never have to pedal.
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...
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Old 07-10-14 | 06:48 PM
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Originally Posted by John Redcorn
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.
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.
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Old 07-10-14 | 09:36 PM
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Originally Posted by KevinF
The longest "mostly downhill" ride I've ever been on has been leaving Crater Lake (Oregon) and heading towards the ocean. It was "fast downhill" for the first five or six miles, and then it's "more or less" downhill for about 60 more miles. We'd be coasting along at ~25mph and then we'd start pedalling and get up to low-30mph range for a bit and start coasting again, etc. We covered the whole thing in about two hours.

And, for the purists out there, yes, we had ridden to Crater Lake in the first place. Different route but same basic thing -- 30, 40 some miles at 2, 3% grade.
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
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Old 07-11-14 | 12:20 AM
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How about the GAP trail in Pennsylvania from the Eastern Continental Divide to Pittsburgh???

Source: Great Allegheny Passage - www.gaptrail.org
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Old 07-11-14 | 01:16 PM
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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.
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