The Rides
The Ride. It is the cathedral of our sport, where we worship at the altar of the Man with the Hammer. It is the end to our means. Indeed, The Bike may be the central tool to our sport, but to turn the pedals is to experience the sensation of freedom, of flight. It is all for The Ride.
The world is overflowing with small, twisty roads that capture our collective imagination as cyclists. We spend our lifetimes searching out the best routes and rides; we pore over maps, we share with our fellow disciples, we talk to non-cycling locals all in pursuit of the Perfect Ride.
The Rides is devoted entirely to the best routes and rides around the world. Some are races or cyclosportives, others feature in the Classics and stages of The Great Races, while others still are little-known gems, discovered through careful meditation on The V. Be warned: these rides are not your average Sunday Afternoon spin; these rides are the best and most difficult rides in the word – they represent the rites of passage into La Vie Velominatus. It is to be taken for granted that these rides require loads of Rule #5, many of them Rule #10, and all of them are best enjoyed in Rule #9 conditions. They have been shared by you, the community. The Rides also features articles devoted to the greatest rides and providess a forum for sharing other rides for discussion.
If you’d like to submit a ride or an article about your own favorite ride, please feel free to send it to us and we’ll do our best to work with you to include it.
[rideitem status=”public” title=”Haleakala” distance=”56km” category=”Grimpeur” url=”http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/50412514″ location=”Paia, Maui, Hawaii, USA”]
Haleakala is simultaneously the longest paved continuous climb in the world as well as the shortest ascent from sea level to 10,000 feet in the world. Though not terribly steep, this is a long, grinding climb that will reduce a strong rider to a whimpering lump.
To put the effort in perspective, this climb is 60km long a an average of 6% with two pitches as steep as 17%. That translates to somewhere between 3 or more hours of nonstop climbing, usually in Maui’s direct heat and often into a whipping headwind that spins around into a headwind no matter which direction the switchbacks take you.
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[rideitem statuc=public title=”Liege-Bastogne-Liege” distance=”265″ category=”Rouleur” url=”http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/58053308/” location=”Liege, Belgium”]
Liege-Bastogne-Liege is not only La Doyenne, the oldest of the Classics, but also represents perhaps the most demanding course in cycling. The 280 km, 3000m vertical route starts with an easy ride out from Liege to Bastogne which lulls riders into a false sense of security; the hills are frequent, but none of them terribly demanding. Into Bastogne, and the story changes on the way back to Liege with 9 categorized climbs in the second half, including the fearsome Côte de la Redoute and the Côte de Saint-Nicolas.
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[rideitem status=public title=”Paris-Roubaix” category=”Hardman” distance=”265″ url=”http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/58052610/” location=”Compiégne, France” guideurl=”http://www.cyclingpave.cc/” guide=”Pavé Cycling Classics”]
L’enfur du Nord. The Hell of The North. The Queen of the Classics. This isn’t a ride over the stones from your local brick-paved roads. You think climbs are what make a ride tough? We’ve got news for you: this is the hardest ride on the planet and it boasts a maximum elevation of 55 meters. These are vicious, brutal stones; the kind that will stretch each kilometer to their full length, the kind of stones that you will feel long after the rattling of the bars has stopped. These stones will change you. Forever.
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[rideitem status=public title=”Mortirolo/Gavia Loop” category=”Grimpeur” distance=”115km” url=”http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/59027020/” location=”Bormio, Italy” contributor=”Joe”]
The Mortirolo is perhaps the most feared pass in Western Europe, and the Gavia the most storied. Given their proximity to each other, its a wonder why this isn’t the most talked-about ride in Italy. Maybe it is; its impossible to say without being Italian. The loop nature of this ride makes it feasible as a solo escapade, but any ride with the kind of stats this one bears – 3200 meters ascended in 115 kilometers including the viscously steep Mortirolo – is best enjoyed with a riding partner or support car.
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[rideitem status=public title=”200 on 100″ category=”Grimpeur” distance=”330km” url=”http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/58052808/” location=”Vernon, VT” contributor=”cdelinks” contributorurl=”http://cyclowhat.com”]
“Dumptruck of Awesome” has become the catch-phrase associated with this brutally hard, yet strikingly beautiful 330 kilometer (200 mile) ride down Vermont Route 100. This ride was made popular during the summer of 2011 when Ted King, Tim Johnson, and a local amateur cyclist, Ryan Kelly, documented this ride on film. The ride starts on the Canadian border and finishes on the Massachusetts border. With over 2500 meters of climbing on this 330 kilometer ride, you will need to pack a few lunches to get through this one. Do this ride in the Fall, and the foliage might be beautiful enough to distract you from the horrible pain you will most certainly suffer.
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[rideitem status=”public” title=”De Ronde Van West Portlandia” distance=”76km” category=”Grimpeur” url=”http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/15276210″ location=”Portland, Oregon, USA”]
A ride that officially “never happens” each spring, this 76 km route charts a course through Portland’s West Hills, paying homage to the European Spring Classics. Approximately 1,800 meters of paved and unpaved climbs are spread throughout the course, with several sections reaching grades of over 20%. More information can be found at Ronde PDX.
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[rideitem status=public title=”Seattle Master Urban Ride” category=”Rouleur” distance=”130km” url=http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/57732282 location=”Seattle, Washington, USA”]
This is perhaps the most challenging urban route in Seattle, hitting three of the big hills that define Seattle’s topography. The route starts and ends on Phinney Ridge, but hits the climbs of Interlaken and Alder Street/Lake Dell Drive on its way to Mercer Island, before coming back to hit Queen Anne and Magnolia, weaving its way up each of these hills as many times as possible via the steepest route available before the finale to the north via Golden Gardens, Blue Ridge Drive, and Carkeek Park. Panoramic views of the Cascades, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, The Olympic Penninsula and Puget Sound makes this a standout Urban ride.
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@tessar I’m kinda curious about your chain break. Sucks for sure, but I’ve always wondered how common it is. This is the one malfunction on a bike that disables it completely, and I’ve wondered if it is really worth carrying a chain breaker and spare link. How many miles/years on your chain? What type?
Of course, the Gods have them on new, meticulously maintained equipment too.
@eightzero
It happened to me about 2 months ago…fortunately I was in the first seconds of moving in to a hill and only came close to castrating myself on the top tube…but there was a lovely phzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz as the chain fizzed its way through the mech and curled itself quite neatly on the deck….solution use chain breaker, take 2 links out and re-attach…= ride home. OK you lose a couple of gears at the top of the cassette with a shortened chain but it gets you home safely. Trying to put damaged links back together is a real no go…
@Deakus
Do you check the drive train periodically for “stretching” with a wear indicator?
@unversio
It happened on my commuter – a fixed-gear singlespeed with a thick BMX chain that saw an average of 20km a day over the past two years, through winter and humid summers and a few months locked up next to my beachside job. I tried my best to clean it once in a while, but if I’m going to spend time cleaning a chain, it’s on my #1 or the TT bike. Nope, this chain was long dead, rusty and stretched enough for the wheel to hit the end of the dropouts and still remain slack – I should’ve replaced it so long ago, but I figured on this bike, I should just run the parts into the ground until they fail. Any money spent on that bike is money that’s not going towards the other two, so…
The minitool I take when I actual rides has a chain-breaker, but I’ve had the fortune never to need it’s services so far. I doubt it’ll be very good, as it’s nowhere near as massive and reassuring as the PRO chainbreaker I keep at home, which is quite easy to use. I should get myself a Missing Link – it might come in handy.
I was just talking about this last night before a ride with the fellas. My friend had stretched his chain on his road bike so far that it was grinding the teeth down as he was changing gears. He didn’t snap his chain but he had to replace the entire rear cassette.
OK, take the time to watch this video. Dare you not to cry.
http://www.rapha.cc/1910-challenge-movie/
https://vimeo.com/13386163
@unversio Yes, it was one of the link pins…something not right about it, I did have a suspicion because earlier in the ride i had a very faint vibration going through the toe of my shoe that was like a “tick” but with no sound. I inspected the chain and found a link pin starting to move out from its seated position (very odd). Knowing that the chain was already weakenening, and the fact that I could push it back in with my thumb, told me to turn for home straight away and try not to deploy full “gunnage” on any hills….I made it about a mile!
Bizarrely the chain is not stretched…maybe 1500km on it, so in the end I salvaged an knackered campag chain at the LBS checked the links, broke a few off and repaired it…..needless to say it is in the locker as a spare….not on the bike!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZmJtYaUTa0
After watching this I think I need to improve my bike handling skills!
Oh God, I’ve just signed up to take part in a four day stage race.
A real race, with national and semi-pro teams… and us.
At which point will I beg to be euthanised I wonder…
I love that photo of FABulous walking his bike up that climb. Not that I’m glad it happened to him, just that he shouldered it like a PRO and just kept going.
Tessar – sorry to hear that! Not a fun commute.
As for me – just did my longest cyclotouring ride to date. 285 kms from central North Carolina to the Atlantic Ocean. Split it up over two days, stayed with a Warm Showers family the first night, got chased by too many dogs, rode some sand paths that seemed to be roads, but had an awesome time.
Definitely a big & new accomplishment for me in the cycling realm. And pulled it off with a good pal!
@Ron Excellent ride Ron. You know what I carry for dogs (when I’m home in central Illinois) is Raid Wasp Killer. It shoots out about 20-25 feet, and by God, the dogs stop chase. I only need to use it when I visit the folks in Illinois, however. In Colorado any dogs I find only want to run alongside because they like the energy blocks!
@niksch
You’re kidding right?
@niksch
riders here often carry pepper spray for the dogs or monkeys……..
Some non-toxic pepper spray or the bear spray that they sell outside of AK & BC are each solid choices if you have some particularly aggressive dogs where you ride…. toxic wasp killer is tantamount to trying to poison a dog though.
@Leroy
If there was a symbol or jersey for “Argumentative Bastard Who Doesn’t Know When To STFU” I would concede that my time as defending champion was over.
Hey @Minion; Pass the popcorn…
@mouse @niksch @ChrisO
I wouldn’t normally add fuel to the fire but…
Can we request that there be a badge made for “Adrians” and that the first one goes next to @Leroy?
@girl That’s an idea but there’s another Adrian on here, not that Adrian who by comparison is a model of virtue and restraint. The sentiment’s good but perhaps another name?
@ChrisO Mantles are being passed all over the place here. Marcus has finally admitted his deep sexual attraction to me (not that I swing that way, or am interested, and not that there’s anything wrong with that) even though I feel the award for enduring pedantry might still rest on your shoulders.
@minion Plan B- Badge that says something along the lines of Rule #43 FAIL
@niksch
@Leroy
I never thought I’d say it, but i’m with Leroy on this one… spraying a dog with wasp spray seems pretty over the top. Niksch, you outlined so many good points on how to deal with dogs, but if it ever got as far as step 4 then you could’ve long been gone from the scene, surely?
Talk of shooting animals and threats of violence isn’t cool, or welcome around here. Let’s take it down a notch eh fellas?
Topic closed.
@brett
Sorry, didn’t see your post until after I replied and the screen refreshed.
@minion
I don’t mind, run with the Adrian theme, and allow me a chuckle from the sidelines…..
Ok, @Leroy must’ve been penning his response as I wrote mine…
If there is any more threatening language or overt aggression from anyone, there will be bannings.
@Leroy
All good, your response was well reasoned and non-aggressive.
Let’s keep it like that.
I learned everything I need to know about dogs and cycling from Kevin Costner.
Kangaroos on the other hand – that one on Looney Tunesthat used to upset Sylvester the Cat? A not inaccurate portrayal. Dangerouslyamenable marsupials that can travel at 70kph+ and like hopping next to other things that move at speed. I know two guys who have had serious injuries from Skippy.
@Leroy wtf is an Australian Shepherd? Seriously?
Forget it. Google just told me. Disappointing
@Marcus
exceptional at Frisbee, according to Wiki….
@wiscot
The road tax (or vehicle excise duty as it is more correctly called) argument is a good one, always come across that here in bonnie Scotia. Last time I had a ‘conversation’ where this came up I had to say to the feller that a lot of cyclists ALSO DRIVE CARS amazingly enough, so we are just taking greater advantage of paying the tax really.
I said to him, look at it this way, you pay for a TV licence (I know this is an alien concept in the rest of the modern world ) so it would be like only ever watching BBC One and not taking advantage of all the other channels, ie it would be pretty dumb.
@all
Thanks to those how managed to keep last nights arguments on dogs civil, and thanks to @Brett for moderating.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but there are a few topics around here that simply don’t belong; we usually really only know them when we see them, but violence towards animals or others are definitely high on the list. Some of the more aggressive posts from last night have been moderated for their deplorable content; we don’t need to name names, but you know who you are.
Please keep the following points in mind when contributing to the conversations here:
@frank
Indeed..I woke to find it at it’s peak this morning…read it, re-read it, reached for the keyboard and thought “Ah fuck it!” and went for a ride instead. Glad to see it had all subsided by the time I got back and life in the V-oSphere had returned to peace and harmony once more….
@strathlubnaig Firstly, are you not offshore yet?
Secondly, regarding VED (road tax)there’s a great word involved. “Hypothecation” means that it is illegal for the government to collect taxes from one area and ONLY use those taxes in that area. Besides the fact that more is spent on our roads than is collected by road tax, the education system (Primary Schools and High Schools) generate pretty much nothing.
Of course roadside debates between cyclists and drivers isn’t always the place to bring this stuff up.
@snoov
Is it illegal ? I thought it was just that they didn’t do it. I don’t see why it would be illegal – they added a tax to London residents for the Olympics.
As for the VED it’s a thorny argument. I know we all pay it (and cyclists are on average more affluent and therefore more likely to pay more tax anyway). However if you add up all the money the governent collects in fuel excise it is vastly more than the amount spent on roads.
I don’t think they do cyclists any favours by giving motorists excuses to feel oppressed.
@ChrisO Maybe it’s just against some rules or something, don’t hold me to it being illegal.
@snoov
In between reading this thread, earning a living and trying to write the the McCogal story I took a look at the Hitch Hikers Guide and it has this to say on VED – worth quoting in full because I think it was written by people who ride bikes and drive cars:
”
The terms “car tax”, “road tax” and “vehicle tax” are commonly, but incorrectly, used when referring to “Vehicle Excise Duty”.[21] Road tax has an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Some people, in particular cyclists, cycling organisations and cycling publications object to use of the term ‘road tax’ since roads are paid for from general taxation, arguing that there is no such thing as a “road tax”. Peter Walker, a journalist at The Guardian explains “I’ve always felt the road tax argument supports a more general feeling of entitlement among too many drivers. Those who trot it out often seem to genuinely treat cyclists like we’re interlopers who should be pushed aside”.[22] The Cyclists’ Touring Club argue ‘most adult cyclists do pay for the roads, even though they impose minimal wear and tear on them’.[23] The Cambridge Cycle Campaign suggested that “Arguing that cyclists therefore have less right to use the roads is like arguing that smokers should take precedence for medical treatment, because non-smokers don’t buy cigarettes and therefore ‘don’t pay hospital tax”.[24]
The direct use of taxes collected from motorists to fund the road network was opposed by Winston Churchill, who predicted “It will be only a step from this for them to claim in a few years the moral ownership of the roads their contributions have created”.[4]
A single issue campaign, ‘I pay road tax’ started by a cycling journalist in 2009 to challenge the use of the term ‘road tax’.[25][26] The campaign has received support from Edmund King, President of The AA.[27]
In a BBC report on Look East in May 2010 about a cyclist who was knocked off his bike by a car the presenter read out a series of emails from viewers expressing the view that ‘cyclists should pay road tax’ if they wish to use the roads. After receiving a ‘huge number’ of complaints from viewers following publicity created by iPayRoadTax, the BBC broadcast a second piece which clarified the fact that roads are paid for out of general taxation.[28] The term “road tax” is often used when referring to “vehicle excise duty” in the UK media.[29][30]
When challenged by iPayRoadTax, Which?, the British consumer magazine, defended its continued use of the term on the basis that “road tax” was more commonly used than Vehicle Excise Duty. A spokesman also said that while they would not stop using the terms ‘car tax’ and ‘road tax’ online that they would endeavour to also make appropriate reference to the full name of the tax.[31]
One organisation that appears to be content with the current use of ‘road tax’ as the vernacular for VED is the Advertising Standards Authority. Complaints that advertisements using the term are incorrect are rejected with what appears to be a templated letter stating “although we acknowledge that the correct term is ‘Vehicle Excise Duty’, more commonly used phrases such as ‘Road Tax’ are often used by advertisers to convey a message in a way that will be understood by the widest audience.”[32]“
@snoov
Well I DID get on a helo on Friday afternoon, but 30 mins in we turned back due to adverse weather and I went home. Saturday morning they called to say I was cancelled for the PM flight, so hi-ho ift was off with the back to Appin & Creran for a nice we 70km hilly ride. Managed out again this morning for a quick 50km locally, now allegedly going to work tomorrow, until the end of the week. ‘Tis a hard life right enough saving oil fields.
@strathlubnaig that should have read “…off with the BIKE to Appin & Creran…”
@strathlubnaig Lucky dog.
@the Engine Thanks for that hehe, will have to research the legal part later.
@the Engine oh and what is Simon’s strava id?
@snoov
Er…
@ChrisO
Hmmm – missed this one. Good luck – hope you’ve been training well. When’s the race?
After last night and my last post at 2330 my time, I logged off, and only tonight did I log back on and realize that I contributed to a shit storm.
I did some introspection. I rode 122.5 miles today in perfect Colorado weather for mid-October. I am calm now, and if my take on “wildlife” raised the hackels of others, I apologize.
My experience with wild life or tame life is not the same as most on this page, understood. If I had the medical photo (to post here) of my calf after a dog got a hold of it, I would gladly do so. I never thought it would be of significance, but I am wrong again. (Ex-Wife +1,000,000,= me -0.46)
all said, thanks to the mods for handling a shit storm that I may have unintentiionally caused.
@niksch nice one
now, take this in jest – but this little fella was lucky you werent on level 5 of the melbourne airport car park this morning
@niksch
The fact that you obviously believe yourself to be so special that concepts such as “courage”, (or whatever), are yours alone to claim, just goes to prove you didn’t learn a fucking thing in the sandbox. You, like the rest of us, were no doubt just another scared-to-shit grunt, doing your time, covering your ass, running from brick to brick, damn near peeing yourself the entire time. Just because you were there doesn’t mean jack-shit. The fact that you come back here and posture in the land of relative riches, like all the rest of the “aren’t I now incredible” dickhead kids before you, as if you are somehow different from 95% of every other fucking human being on the planet that has faced the same fight-or-flight circumstances….is well, it’s pathetic, ignorant, and yes, cowardly. Make yourself into a twelve year-old village-kid in Rwanda 20 years ago, facing maniacs with machetes, and maybe I’d be impressed; so far I’m not.
Pull your balls out of the frame and get on with life. Your “cowardice” isn’t revealed by what you did over there, it’s what you have done when back; with this thread as an example……so far you’ve proven yourself to me to be a puss.
Yes, admittedly an R43 violation: dickheads need to be pounded.
@Marcus
Probably hired by the tourism authority to welcome visitors – they just need to have it on a leash being walked by Kylie.
Reminds me of a holiday in Sweden where we were on a ferry out to the archipelago off Stockholm. Gorgeous boat, all varnished wood and brass. All the Swedes seem to have summer houses on these beautiful islands, mostly fairly simple and rustic but some are quite picturesque which always makes me sigh and wish I had one.
Anyway some of the channels are quite narrow and the ferry had to slow right down. So we’re coasting through a channel and there is a particularly enviable house set in the middle of a beautiful forest, fronting the water with a tasteful sailing boat moored at the little jetty and a Mercedes and a Porsche parked in the driveway.
And I’m just thinking “Lord, could that be any more perfect” when, as if cued by a director, a young deer comes bounding across the lawn.
It just needed ABBA to step out of the sauna.
@AL
Try some nipple lube.
@ChrisO
Unfortunately, my nipples got shot off.
@Marcus
You’ve got the Joeys, we’ve got antelopes. Just yesterday afternoon (I believe I mentioned this in a now deleted post) there was a herd of them trampling across a highway. I had to stop my bike to enjoy the brake splash of the motorists.. Fun stuff.
@ChrisO
Yes, I think his bandoliers are chafing.
@Marcus Seriously though, how does a young ‘roo get in you parking garages? You’ve got no security for that?