Your favorite place to ride...please describe.



kyperman

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Aug 27, 2004
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I would love to start a thread that gets a TON of hits, it would help my ego a bit. So that being said, it seems like the kinds of threads that get the most traction are the ones that allow someone to describe something important to them, a person, place, feeling, etc.

Please tell me about your favorite place to ride, what makes it your favorite.

Mine is on the cornfield lined roads around my home in west michigan. There is little road traffic most of the time, the only sounds I usually hear are the sounds of the tires on the road, the wind in the trees and corn and in the middle of summer, the tree frogs and cicadias making them selves known to the opposite sex.

Now you....
 
At dawn on the Little Miami Trail in South West Ohio. Otherwise it would be on Colonial Parkway and into the Yorktown Battlefield National Park in the Yorktown - Williamstown - Jamestown area of Virginia. The best time for either of these rides is Spring and Autumn as it gets uncomfortably hot and humid in the Summer.
 
kyperman said:
I would love to start a thread that gets a TON of hits, it would help my ego a bit. So that being said, it seems like the kinds of threads that get the most traction are the ones that allow someone to describe something important to them, a person, place, feeling, etc.

Please tell me about your favorite place to ride, what makes it your favorite.

Mine is on the cornfield lined roads around my home in west michigan. There is little road traffic most of the time, the only sounds I usually hear are the sounds of the tires on the road, the wind in the trees and corn and in the middle of summer, the tree frogs and cicadias making them selves known to the opposite sex.

Now you....

I have two locations :

1.Just outside the City of Limerick (where I moved to from Dublin), there is a beautiful village called Murroe, which has in it the historic Glenstal Abbey.
The Benedictine Abbey lies in the heart of green, lush countryside.
It's a beautiful place to cycle through.

2.My old training route in Dublin/Wicklow : cycle up the Embankment and out toward Blessington and Wicklow - in to the Garden of Ireland.
 
kyperman said:
I would love to start a thread that gets a TON of hits, it would help my ego a bit. So that being said, it seems like the kinds of threads that get the most traction are the ones that allow someone to describe something important to them, a person, place, feeling, etc.

Please tell me about your favorite place to ride, what makes it your favorite.

Mine is on the cornfield lined roads around my home in west michigan. There is little road traffic most of the time, the only sounds I usually hear are the sounds of the tires on the road, the wind in the trees and corn and in the middle of summer, the tree frogs and cicadias making them selves known to the opposite sex.

Now you....
Mine sounds very similar to yours.

I live in a remote part of Washington state. Most people think of large pine trees, rain, green grass and mountains when they think of Washington. Not where I live, complete opposite. Picture VERY hot summers, 100+, dry heat, lots of flat farmland.

We've recently been riding out on some newly paved 'backroads'. Very smooth roads, Rolling hills, very quiet. Often times, the only thing you hear is the mechanics of your bike, and the soft spray sound of the circle irrigator sprinkler heads. Very peacefull. As you go from one type of crop to the other, the temperature and smell changes. Before I really even realize it, I've already gone 20 miles.
 
Thats sounds very nice, I can almost see the green hills.
limerickman said:
I have two locations :

1.Just outside the City of Limerick (where I moved to from Dublin), there is a beautiful village called Murroe, which has in it the historic Glenstal Abbey.
The Benedictine Abbey lies in the heart of green, lush countryside.
It's a beautiful place to cycle through.

2.My old training route in Dublin/Wicklow : cycle up the Embankment and out toward Blessington and Wicklow - in to the Garden of Ireland.
 
The only thing I DON'T enjoy is the occasional whif I get of the cow manure that is spread around from the local farmers....not a good smell.
Klaüs said:
Mine sounds very similar to yours.

I live in a remote part of Washington state. Most people think of large pine trees, rain, green grass and mountains when they think of Washington. Not where I live, complete opposite. Picture VERY hot summers, 100+, dry heat, lots of flat farmland.

We've recently been riding out on some newly paved 'backroads'. Very smooth roads, Rolling hills, very quiet. Often times, the only thing you hear is the mechanics of your bike, and the soft spray sound of the circle irrigator sprinkler heads. Very peacefull. As you go from one type of crop to the other, the temperature and smell changes. Before I really even realize it, I've already gone 20 miles.
 
kyperman said:
The only thing I DON'T enjoy is the occasional whif I get of the cow manure that is spread around from the local farmers....not a good smell.
I can sympathize with you. One section of the Little Miami Trail used to bisect a hog farm. It was only for about a quarter of a mile but I couldn't hold my breath that long, at least not while riding. The first time I rode out that way I noticed that the farmer had a wind sock outside of his door but nowhere nearby to land an airplane. Just a bit down the trail I found out why. Thankfully the hogs are gone now and the stench with them.
 
Places with lots of hills and descends. with roads in good shape in the woods, and no cars.
 
Cycler6n said:
Places with lots of hills and descends. with roads in good shape in the woods, and no cars.
My favorite place is a nice road that usually has no cars and is surrounded by trees and wildlife. the road used to go to a coal mine that closed several years ago..
 
North Carolina, US 221 from Grandfather Mountain Highland Game fields to Linville. Two miles, 629' elevation drop,17 turns; if you go off to the right you will fall off the mountain and eat a tree.
 
e-doc said:
North Carolina, US 221 from Grandfather Mountain Highland Game fields to Linville. Two miles, 629' elevation drop,17 turns; if you go off to the right you will fall off the mountain and eat a tree.
sounds great.... Do you get a lot of speed?
 
e-doc said:
North Carolina, US 221 from Grandfather Mountain Highland Game fields to Linville. Two miles, 629' elevation drop,17 turns; if you go off to the right you will fall off the mountain and eat a tree.
Bad part of this is that there is a 629' elevation climb to get back to your car. Probably don't get a lot of speed in this direction. The other way sounds awesome though, but with 17 turns in 2 miles, you can't get a whole lot of speed....if they are real turns, i.e. 60 degrees or more.
 
Along the road that runs alongside the beach theres something about the peace and tranquility of hearing the ocean crash as you ride past.
 
Rockingham recreational trail in NH. Starts near Lake Massabesic and goes nearly to the coast. All dirt, but not too rough, former railroad bed, 26 miles each way through woods, past ponds and wetlands and through little New England towns with brick mill buildings and picket fences.
 
1. My semi-usual 70 mile back and forth route through Saguarro Nat'l Park West and back over Gates Past headed East toward Tucson.

2. Edwards, CO to Steamboat Springs.

The best thing about both of those rides is that they're everything that the Bleak, Living Hell of Ohio wasn't/isn't: beautiful; awe-inspiring; replete with great climbs and descents; and completely lacking in the flavor of idiot driver that is common to Ohio.
 
I am really lucky living in the south of Canberra. Within 15min I am out in the country side with nothing but farmland. The best bit is the choice, 6 great climbs of various lenghts and grades, including the infamous Fitz's and Corin Dam, and a great selection of rolling terrain. The best bit is that the roads are fairly smooth, wide, and best of all even on the weekends you would be lucky to see 1 car every half hour. they are even respectful and cycling frendly. We have had 20 of us in a double line with 4 cars behind us who could not pass due to a double white line sit happly behind us till be could let them pass.
 
I am really lucky living in the south of Canberra. Within 15min I am out in the country side with nothing but farmland. The best bit is the choice, 6 great climbs of various lengths and grades, including the infamous Fitz's and Corin Dam, and a great selection of rolling terrain. The best bit is that the roads are fairly smooth, wide, and best of all even on the weekends you would be lucky to see 1 car every half hour. they are even respectful and cycling friendly. We have had 20 of us in a double line with 4 cars behind us who could not pass due to a double white line sit happily behind us till be could let them pass.
 
kyperman said:
Thats sounds very nice, I can almost see the green hills.

Thanks.

Yeah, this location literally does contain forty shades of green (sounds like something from Tom Jones song, Green Green Grass of Home!).

It's even better in the summer on a sunny day.
The route is lovely.
Think of meadows/rivers, trees, plenty of flora and fauna, perhaps the hum of a distant tractor engine, the peel of the bells from a church in a village, the occasional car might pass you on the road : idyllic.

In Sicily a few years ago, I cycled from Palermo to Saint Stefano : one of the most picturesque places I've ever cycled through was after the town of Bagheria : there is a beautiful climb up to a Norman building on the old coast road : on your left you have the beautiful blue Tyherrian Sea, Norman building and golden sandy coast and on the right you have lovely green vineyards.
I wish that I was part of my local cycling route!
 
alienator said:
1The best thing about both of those rides is that they're everything that the Bleak, Living Hell of Ohio wasn't/isn't: beautiful; awe-inspiring; replete with great climbs and descents; and completely lacking in the flavor of idiot driver that is common to Ohio.
You almost had me reply that you weren't riding in the right part of Ohio, but since I have pledged not to get off the track of the threads anymore, I'm not going to do it:D . I guess to each his own, or beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or whatever along those lines:rolleyes: .
 
kdelong said:
You almost had me reply that you weren't riding in the right part of Ohio, but since I have pledged not to get off the track of the threads anymore, I'm not going to do it:D . I guess to each his own, or beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or whatever along those lines:rolleyes: .

Well, in the 35 years that I lived there, I pedaled pretty much all across the state, samping a broad cross-section of what it had to offer. This is my conclusion: the weather sucks; the scenery is boring; and the general public is not cycling aware on the road. And to top it off the state has nothing else going for it: next to 'nil high tech industry; **** schools and funding of schools; the Home of Taft (gee, that worked out well....); has the highest rate of "brain drain" in the US; the economy there blows; and the entire state pretty much typifies the antithesis of "forward thinking." Other than that, it's a great place. :rolleyes: