abshipp 

Mine was a 62 mile, 5200' ride from Rozman NC up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and descending back down through Pisgah National Forest.

Long and steady climbs in the beginning, great views, and long flowing descents on good pavement. Plus very light car traffic on the Parkway made for an amazing day on the bike.







If you had an exceptionally fun day on a bike this year, post it here!

Imaginos

My second ever bikepacking overnighter. 27 miles each way,fully loaded,lots of hills. I was back home in 24 hrs. I’m gonna do a bunch of it in the coming year.

WNCGoater

Hey, Devils Courthouse on the BRP. That's near my neck of the woods! My favorite ride was in July, a Metric at the coast, 63 total miles that included a brief but heavy rain shower around mile 45.

Hiro11

I did 162 miles fast out in the cornfields on rough gravel in temperatures approaching 100 degrees. I was helping a friend train for Unbound. We started with ten people and finished with three.

Honestly, it was the heat that ended up killing me. It just sucks the life out of you.

I had planned hydration and nutrition carefully, but my body started rejecting water and food fully thirty miles from the finish, something I've never had happen to me. If you've never felt this, I'll just say it's no fun. I kept overheating and needing to stop and dump water on myself to cool off. I have never been so deep in a hole. I reached the point where my hands weren't strong enough to shift gears from all the rattling. The last ten miles of easy pedaling out of the wind and in shade took everything I had. I couldn't talk, I could barely stay upright. Another friend who is tougher than me got us home. It took me days to feel right again.

Can't wait to do it again. I learned many lessons:
1. Eat all the carbs you can handle. 60-70 grams / hour seems ridiculous, but it's actually probably right to me. No matter how you feel, carbs carbs carbs. Flow 60/90 and SIS gels are both awesome.
2. Sun sleeves, a light neck gaiter and a cooling beanie under your helmet are much better than sunblock. Get them wet and they will cool your arms, neck and head. This feels amazing at mile 135.
3. Bring extra chamois butter.
4. Go out eeeeaaasssy. Just soft pedal the first fifty miles.
5. Plan out hydration and nutrition dumps along the route in advance if possible.
6. Good bar tape and good gloves are essential. Your hands will go first.
7. Set up your bike so you can stay in the drops comfortably or get aero bars. You want your upper body as relaxed as possible.

...etc.

rsbob 

My fave is a 50 mile out and back through the Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest.

mstateglfr 

Probably the mandatory century day on Ragbrai. Ragbrai had a day where the regular route was over 100mi in honor of one of the founders who recently passed.
In late July, it was only in the mid70s as a high and had just 1700' of climb in 105mi. The wind was with us for 90mi too.

But what made it souch fun was that I rode it with a few teens who I've ridden with extensively for the last 3-5 years and this was their last ragbrai together. Super fun the whole time.

Random11

My favorite was 70 miles on the Suncoast MUP north of Tampa with my cycling son on Thanksgiving day. The scenery was not as spectacular as the photos in the above posts, but it's always fun to be able to ride with my son.

808HIcycler

My favorite was my 77.5-mile ride in late September. It was my longest ride, and only my second over 100km, and my first going over 5,000ft of climbing. Can't wait to get cleared for riding outdoors again to get my fitness level back up for the spring. Goal is my first century next year.

Charles Lathe

I don’t know exactly why, because I had a fair bit of cold rain, and snow flurries near the summit of Chief Joseph Pass, but the day I rode from Jackson, Montana to Hamilton, Montana was my favorite riding day of the year. There were plenty of other days that were nearly as nice, but that one was special.

bampilot06

Any of the rides that I didn’t crash.

indyfabz

I’ve gone the other direction fully loaded a few times, just not in one day. I did do Sula to Jackson in one day. Got some rain and sleet heading up to Lost Trail, but then it cleared up while I was taking a break at the rest area. Great country. The 24 mile slog up from Wisdom to Chief Joseph must be tough. But then it’s all downhill to Hamilton.

I’m thinking of heading back out there next spring/summer.

Machka 

One of these two

Nachoman

.
Favorite ride was probably a little cycling vacation to Santa Barbara with some old high school buddies (above).
But even an ordinary, mid-week ride on Harbor Island, can be pretty special (below).

ZHVelo

My ride was the Furka, Nufenen, Gottardo loop, I managed to climb all three within 1 watt of each other and didn't feel terrible at the end.

terrymorse 

My favorite of 2022 was a solo ride up Mt Hamilton Road in September.

A pretty day, clean air, visibility for many miles, and the legs had some extra pep. I summited within a few minutes of my PR.

MinnMan

I'd be disappointed in my year if there was one particular ride that was easily identifiable as the best.

seypat

Officially, it's probably this one. The wife and I rode it 3 times on our day at Christmastown last month. The next week BG announced the permanent closure. I seem to climb and descend on that ride faster than any others. Oh, you were talking about bikes?

https://www.wtkr.com/news/mach-tower...-busch-gardens

phrantic09

Rasputitsa, late April 100k gravel event in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Awesome event run by awesome people.

They get a ton of community involvement, one volunteer made something like 4000 cookies to give out at rest areas. They were also handing out shots of fireball at mile 45ish and beer on the last climb. Can’t wait to do it again.

https://rasputitsadirt.com

merlinextraligh

the views from the Parkway there are great. But I hate that tunnel. Something about the grade and the camber makes me feel disoriented. But agreed, it’s a lovely ride and you can ge lunch at the Pisgah Inn.