Capo72

That sounds amazing! That is the future plan for my wife and I, to bike in some great national parks. I've heard crater lake is a life changing experience.

jpescatore

We did Crater Lake in 2015, I had been there years ago. Definitely bucket list worthy, but lots of forest fires!

TMonk

Tour de Murrieta TT (RIP) - especially because they have chosen to discontinue it for 2018.

It's a short ride with a lot of character - half (time wise) on flat to rolling roads, and half going up a gravel climb. Guys at the elite level are riding a mix of TT and road bikes. I like that it takes fitness and skill to ride a good time. I got a PB for the duration, about 10' @ 330 w. I'm 150 lbs for reference.

Seattle Forrest

Glacier was so beautiful I wanted to cry. I've been meaning to go back with my bike for a long time.

Seattle Forrest

North Cascades.

kbarch

Sounds great! I like your angle on the NYC Century - one of my all-time favorite rides.

I like it mostly because of the way it is so different from the others. No, it is never fast, but not because it is challenging; there are just too many stops, and too much traffic. But there is SO MUCH going on. The course goes to ALL KINDS of places - uptown, downtown, past skyscrapers, brownstones, shopping streets, suburban homes, industrial areas, cemeteries, wooded parks, fields, beaches, marshes, rivers and little hills... The organization and support is excellent, and the variety of cyclists you see and meet along the way is unmatched. It's nothing like a road cyclist's ideal sportive, but it is a real eye-opener, and highly enjoyable in its own, special way. One could paraphrase the quote at the top of this forum about learning "the contours of a country" - you have no such accurate remembrance of New York City as you gain by riding through it on a bicycle.

The NJ Gran Fondo is always on the same day, and that's what most of my friends and I did this year (nice, enjoyable, but nothing really special except the food at one of the aid stations ), but I think I shall do the NYC Century next year.

zacster

Yea, the NYC Century isn't a fast ride in total, but you can take off in many places. It is more like interval training than steady road riding. You just have to have a mind set that it is OK to slow down on the streets and save your legs for the faster sections. I got my partner moving a little faster towards the end of the ride when she just wanted to be done with it. And as usual, we took a different route from Central Park back to the Brooklyn start than the marked one because at 6am you can ride down the avenues, but at 3pm they are way too busy.

And the one place you get cheered the most on the ride is The Bronx, and not the infamous Bronx cheer. It is only the 100 milers that do it, and we are looking ragged by then.

den230n

Thank you, author, for this thread.
I've read some posts and these posts inspired me. And I'm going to ride on next weekends.

den230n

[QUOTE=Heathpack;20027501]Thanks for starting this thread, I scrolled back through FB posts and wow it's been a great year on the bike, I've really enjoyed it. Nothing I think that would seem too impressive to list the stats on, its more been qualitatively enjoyable on a personal level.

My highlights were probably winning the state TT championship & discovering mountain biking. The TT stuff is much more internal, it's hard to convey what is satisfying about it.

The MTB is really about exploration, discovery, wondering what's next. I've ridden some great places- Catalina Island, Big Bear Lake, Tahoe, Sedona. Lucky to be able to get out there. I'll add some pics in a moment.

Heathpack 

[QUOTE=den230n;20042470]

Thanks for the props, but it should be "attagirl" actually.

stevoo

Tour Of Unknown Coast. Northern Ca. Just below Oregon border.
Beautiful ride through coastal redwoods, out to the coast and back into town. Has some good climbing too. Beautiful country.

diphthong

haha continue to crush it, Heathpack.

kcblair

Turned 70 this year, and needed to do something epic. Besides a flat 50 miler, I had to take on a local climb. In the Fall, the colors were great, Never have climbed this far or high , ever......... As Bob Roll once said, it was "knee popping, lung bursting" climb.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1219549779 KB

diphthong

^that's the kinda ride this thread is about. congrats!

kcblair

Thank you. KB

den230n

[QUOTE=Heathpack;20042495]I'm sorry. I didn't know, that you're a woman. I'll keep that in mind

shafter

Favorite was the Granbury Blazing Saddles. 75 miles in 110 degree Texas weather with over 5,000 feet of elevation change.
Last year I almost died, but this year I had a blast looking at all the scenery!

GrainBrain

I'm a native and am looking forward to riding ragbrai for the first time next year.

I had a great century ride this summer that just keeps coming back to me. It had been the hottest week of the year, and I pushed through it working at my outdoor construction job to take Friday off. Friday comes and the heat wave had partially snapped, with spotty light rain in the morning.

I started early and just had some great views of isolated misting clouds, very magical to ride through.

https://www.strava.com/activities/10...S&v=1500669877

mstateglfr 

Your first one?- very cool! It’s a heck of an experience- 15-20,000 riders spread out over 60mi or so makes it so that a lot of the time you are mostly alone, but then at times you are also packed in with hundreds or thousands of others(usually in towns along the way). There is something for everyone- some start riding at 5am to beat the heat and crowds. Some ride and eat their way across Iowa. Some ride and drink their way across Iowa. Some are families riding for a few days. Etc etc. It an awesome mix of ages, motivations, and experiences. You can strike up dozens of conversations thru the day while on the bike or waiting in lines, or you can ride alone and silent for the whole day- anything goes and is acceptable. Really fun rolling party across Iowa.

With 2 years ago being Southern IA and this past ride being far Northern IA, There is a decent chance this upcoming ride runs thru the middle section in some way since they mix up the location/route each year for variety. Itd be really cool(and convenient for you) if the rides stays between I80 and US20 this coming year.

diphthong

knocked out an out of town century last week hoping to "upgrade" the fave ride of the year. sigh. no such luck.

Da Reef

My failed attempt at Dity Kanaza. Although I didn’t finish the whole trip was a blas.

furiousferret

A 12 mile ride up my local climb; roughly 14 weeks after being in the ICU for a few days from a punctured lung.

Outside of that the rides have sucked because I was too slow and fat to ride in groups or up hills. I should be solid for next year though, down 30 lbs and pretty fast now =]

wipekitty

Mine is a tie, I think...

Best (most fun): A fast century ride through parts of NE Iowa and SE Minnesota I had never been to before. We were a small but well-matched group of three, took equal turns pulling, and had no flats or mechanicals!

Best (most epic): Another century ride - which I also rode to/from to add another 30 miles. I crashed in a ditch just under halfway through, but the bike was fine and I was okay to keep going. As the day went on, it got hot out and the pain started kicking in. The last bit of the ride home from the ride was intense; my feet hurt, I was covered in sweat, hungry and thirsty, and the pulled muscle in my back was on fire. But I made it home and accomplished my goal of a 200 kilometer ride. Epic and awesome.

bikecrate

Kind of an odd year. Didn't get to do any "special" rides, since all were the same ones I do around town. If there was anything memorable it was a ride I took in the early part of summer. It was hot and super windy. On the way back I totally fell apart. My legs wouldn't turn over anymore. I had to walk my bike up a small overpass that I have climbed 100's of times before. I think this was the first time I've bonked that badly. What makes it special I guess was the next week I had to prove to myself I could do this ride. So I redid the same route and completed it successfully.

aplcr0331

Mice was an end of season ride up the local HC. It was a 70mi ride but the HC segment is 13.4 miles with 3900ft of climbing. Great view from the top it was a warm fall day and my first time cycling up the mountain. Was going too fast on the descent and skidded a bit on the pavement and then into the gravel, resulting in a very lucky save from going down. Exciting and fun solo ride.