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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@Blah
Ah, yes that’s right this is a cycling site… it wouldn’t be off-season would it ??? Hopefully the UCI decision on Armstrong later today will calm things down…
With some relief I have to admit our team has now decided to pass up the entry. It was to have been Nov 22-25.
After the first few races of the season we’ve realised we’re just not competitive against guys who are basically full-time cyclists. Even the ones who aren’t on lower-level pro teams spend a lot of time riding competitively in Europe.
We would do quite well in a masters or vets category but this is an open Elite race and there’ll be decent prize money on offer so it will be balls out.
Even the local races here have some good money – one of our guys picked up 3000 dhs (about US 700) for winning the masters category a couple of weeks ago. All goes into the pot.
@Oli
Guys, lay off, he can’t have any fun anymore. He was injured when he was on the FOB. Poor bastard never got a taste of the real thing.
@ChrisO
Well shit. I was looking forward to your commentary and the real life, unfiltered “in the know” aspect of your reporting.
EJN
@niksch
as long as it could hop under a boom gate, there would be no problems – they are pretty open. It was an odd enough event for it to get in our city’s major newspaper.
Car parks don’t have “security” as such. The terminals are a different story – but nothing like the USA.
@Marcus Yes, car park is the term I was looking for. Anyway, clearly we don’t have random kangaroos infiltrating our airports and car parks. Gunmen in salons seem to be the current thing, unfortuntately. I would welcome a ‘Roo or an antelope in the news.
The kids and I did see a young black bear on the route we rode this morning (on their part of it at least). He was in a dumpster, which tells me the dry weather and wild fires we’ve had are affecting the gathering of chow for the winter naps. We’ll see what happens.
Niksch, I bet this little girl was wishing you were her uncle/cousin whatever – I’d take wasp spray over a shotgun (don’t worry folks, she’s wounded but OK apparently),
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/pa-girl-9-shot-relative-mistakes-skunk-article-1.1188883
The mind boggles on so many levels, not least of which is how the two could be confused.
@ChrisO Hit in the shoulder with a bullet….by a shotgun?….mmmm something is amiss…..do you see what I did there…a…miss….(rolling round on the floor at his own joke whilst the rest of the world sighs sadly shakes their heads and walks away)….
@ChrisO
Being walked on a leash by Kylie ….most middle aged man’s wet dream. Would this be the Neighbours era Kylie or the all new modern pop singer one…….?
@Adrian
There was a perfect crossover point!
@Deakus i was going to day somewhere beween streetfighter and “cant get you out of my head”……
@Adrian, @ChrisO & @Deakus We’re back on track after Macbeth at the weekend and @the Engine‘s bible quote this afternoon.
The “can’t get you out of my mind” or the “Where the Wild Roses Grow” Kylie would work for me.
@Chris The Nick Cave thing didn’t really do it for me…to quote Monty P “Strange bints lying in ponds…..”
In her prime
@Chris
OK..@Adrian @Chris…I need to step back from this one…your disturbing level of knowledge on Kylie is making me quite uncomfortable…I must confess I was coerced in to attending a Kylie concert a few years back through work (entertaining a journalist) but this has left me permanently mentally scarred and I wish to declare that I have no knowledge whatsoever on the subject..(she is delightful to look at though and I was a neighbours fan in the early years).
Forthwith therefore I give to you “As a man sow, shall he reap. and I know that talk is cheap. But the heat of the battle is as sweet as the victory.”
Bob Marley.
@Adrian fair point, although I wasn’t actually thinking of her in the pond, just that era. The 14 year old Kylie look doesn’t do it for me.
@Deakus there’s a massive difference between appreciating her and having an in depth knowledge of the songs.
@Chris
But so many Rules broken…
@Chris
Er…it was you who was quoting the two songs between which was her best period…I am enjoying the pics…but I think we can go a little further in our mutual appreciation of “the form”…..enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHood00sNJU
@Deakus I possibly didn’t word that as well as I could have. I meant that she looked particularly fine at these two points in time rather than making any comment on her finest artistic period – you’ve quite obviously picked that out with the AP commercial.
@the Engine nope, none that I can see there, unless I’ve missed the one about riding in a tutu.
Green Fairy in Moulin Rouge would be top of my list.
But Can’t Get You Out of My Head would be acceptable… the number of times I’ve watched that video and imagined all the out-takes where that barely-dress doesn’t stay miraculously in place.
Does anyone know if someone on here lives, or is vacationing, in or around Murrieta/Temecula in Southern California? Was out riding yesterday and saw a rider rocking the v-kit ahead of me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t close the gap up the climb and lost sight by the time I crested the top…
@ChrisO
Oh God, it’s back on… and I’ve re-volunteered.
We’ll see – the teams are six riders so maybe I won’t make the cut. But there aren’t that many takers so I could be in by default.
Don’t even know the course yet but there are some hills up that way. I’ll be happy just to finish but it should be quite an experience.
@ChrisO Clearly a tragedy, and there is no excuse for this at all in my opinoin.. My home training, first and foremost, and my military training second, would lead me to be sure of my target. But GD, this is tragic, and there is no excuse.
@ChrisO
Good luck and drive on!!
Now, this is clearly off topic, but related to your skunk posting from earlier. You are correct, and this is jackassery on one level. The shooter is clearly at fault and should be held accountable. Sober or drunk, he alone is responsible. A sportsman never picks up his firearm after drinking, and a sober sportsman is alway certain of his quarry. Eitehr way, this guy was in the wrong. Clearly a tragedy on all levels.
EJN
“Being sure of your target” is the #1 approach for every hunter safety class I’ve attended.
So Velominati – how does one train for a four day race that is exactly a month away ? Apart from starting 6 months ago, maybe 6 years even.
Names have been submitted. No backing out now. Tragic is right Niksch, in theatrical terms anyway – suffering extreme adversity as a result of hubris, fate or the will of the Gods.
Apparently we will get an invitation letter from the ruler of Sharjah, and the event/federation are providing us with accommodation, support vehicle etc. No mention of soigneurs and blood transfusions – preferably the blood of a better rider than me.
Dear Dr Fuentes, I hear you need to make room in your fridge…
@ChrisO
Short of the Italo-Hispano Crooked Hematologist Society being exiled to he Gulf next week with suitcases of EPO for your team only?
The episode in A Dog in a Hat where Parkin’s team is double booked, shows up at one race, TTTs the front for a hour, redlines everyone, abandons into the sunset comes to mind too.
@ChrisO I how I envy you. Tragic in hubris only. This will be a great event for the year for you and your team. You’ve talked modestly, but now it’s time to kick it in the ass!
What’s the name of your team? You & the rest of the team must have a great base to guage, so I cannot presume to give any decent training advice, except that you have about 10 days, maybe 14 for hard efforts [if my VMH coach has a say], then there is a week of tempo and modest intervals, then a week of ‘easy’ rides. Easy rides could be 40-50 miles though, I guess. But i am a poseur in this regard.
I am looking forward to updates, and if I was not going to be in the far East over the next month or so, I would totally be your team soigneur…no massages though. And, I can do IVs, but only if I’m getting shot at.
@Chris
I’m not experienced to give advice but at this late stage it might be better to focus on riding tempo / endurance blocks (as a team) and getting enough recovery / rest to make sure that you can finish the 4 days.
I like this website / photo blog for an insight into a racing team that might help prepare you in some way:
http://manualforspeed.com/
　A good article on being a soigneur for a small team:
http://manualforspeed.com/2012/07/youre-not-doing-it-for-the-cash/
And this one on stretching is also pretty good:
http://manualforspeed.com/2012/07/stretching/
Whatever happens, good luck and let us know how it goes.
@motor city I’m afraid that having done nothing more strenuous, recently, than act as a filter for various, malted and grape based beverages, no amount of training is going to prepare me for a desert based stage race this November. @ChrisO might find the links useful, though!
@Chris ha. sorry mate.
Thanks motor city, those links are a good read and slightly scary – hopefully I will manage to put something together to recount the experience if the Keepers would be interested in an article ‘Living the MAMIL Dream’.
I think I will probably go more along Niksch VMH’s outline. I’ve been doing a lot of tempo sort of work so I’m OK with that, well as OK as I ever will be.
It’s the race stuff that I think I need to concentrate on – the elastic band of chase, cover and attack, repeated until you feel like shitting your bibs.
We did two races last weekend – first of the season for me – and I have to say that if I was being interviewed for tomorrow’s ride (it’s the Eid Al Adha holiday here – Eid Mubarak everyone) I would say I have good sensations and I am tranquilo. The racing sharpens you up a lot.
I have a four day weekend ahead where I will do three rides, two of them will be pretty hard, possibly all three depending on who is riding. I’ll go at those as hard as I can, and for the next two weeks do mainly intervals and racing-style rides.
I have a week where I have to travel from Nov 4-11. A few days at home where I can go out with the club and do some miles, then I’m at a conference in Prague for four days, so I’ll have to hit the hotel gym bikes, and maybe try to find some spinning classes, and when I get back just do tempo stuff to re-acclimatise and get over the travel.
Then on the weekend of Nov 16-17 I have a choice. There’s a 220km ride on the 16th which will be mostly tempo but a bit of racing towards the end. In fact 160 of the 220 are pretty much junk miles. Or I can do two races, each about 60-70km but they will be up Jebel Hafeet, which is not unlike Alpe d’Huez (or so I’ve been told by people who’ve done both). I’m thinking that consecutive race days will be better. It’s not each individual stage that will get me, but the day-after-day efforts.
Finally take it easy-ish for a few days leading up to the race. Honestly my main aim is to finish the thing. I’m probably going to be the oldest competitor there, and it would be ludicrous to think I am going to be competing with 25 year old semi-pros.
Regarding fitness I was quite pleased today when I was at the doctor’s – just feeling a little chest congestion coming on and wanted to nip it in the bud, especially as I won’t be able to get to see a doctor easily over the next few days if it gets worse. They were doing the pre-consultation checks and I set off the machine’s little alarm with a resting HR of 39. After that the nurse wanted to do a manual check just to be sure.
So three days of solid rides in the bag – really a test to see how I would feel after backing up.
Thursday was a hard 110km ride and Friday was a very hard 135km ride – in a big group but spent about 40-50km in breakaways working close to the limit so that was a good hit out.
Today just an 80km recovery but at a good pace in a group.
I have booked a massage for tomorrow…
Will do another three good days during the week – not long but two interval days and a tempo day in between.
This is the event BTW.
http://gulfnews.com/sport/sharjah-to-welcome-multitude-of-cyclists-1.1092621
I only learned through the newspaper that it has an ITT. I don’t have a TT bike so I’ll have to see if I can borrow one or get extensions. Good that there is a TT stage actually – I won’t need to make much effort.
@ChrisO That looks awesome. Have an absolute blast. Can’t wait to read the guest article on it.
@the Engine
I saw this poster hanging in your hoose last week there, you must have scanned it in then ?
@niksch
It happens way too often. A legend of mtb here in NZ was shot and killed by his hunting mate just a month or two ago. It was early morning, no drinking involved, but somehow it happened. There’s been a couple of other similar cases at least in the last couple of years here. A girl brushing her teeth at a campsite, shot. How the hell does this happen? The people who tend to use guns may just be a little bit trigger happy or gung-ho? I don’t understand anyone wanting to shoot anything.
(My apologies if I already shared this, but I was a bit weary afterwards.)
I did my first true cyclotouring last week & it was superb. Went along with a friend, who has ridden across the U.S., and we pedaled from central NC to the ocean. He rides to get around or from place to place & almost never for fun or exercise or to meet some butterflies. Rode a cross bike set up with a rack & one pannier.
Day 1 – Durham, NC to La Grange, NC. 165 kms, 6’45” of saddle time. Weather was incredible, with sun and around 26*C for most of the day. Took low-traffic roads as much as we could, some slightly uncomfortable bits on the highway. Stayed with a family we found via Warm Showers, which is like couch surfing for touring cyclists. Very nice, cool dude who has ridden across the U.S. multiple times, his mother, sister, and her daughter. All were very nice & open their home to us, as well as prepared a feast.
Day 2 – La Grange to Surf City. Took us about 5’45” and around 125kms. Great weather again, quiet country roads & the majority of drivers went clear to the other lane to pass. Sublime riding with only two rough stretches. One was around 12 km of loose sand. I pulled out the V-meter though, strapped it to my stem, and pretended the sand was cobbles. Second stretch of sand was pack but…every so often we’d see piles of dried, half-shucked corn. Plus blinds. The threat of being shot in the face was a bit disconcerting. As my pal said, “Sheeeit, that fuckin’ deer had wheels!” Thankfully no one out hunting. My favorite part: our only food was 1/2 of a chocolate cake the neighbor made, carried in a plastic bag. It was one jumbled mass after sitting in a pannier, but it tasted great. Also napped at a playground for an hour.
Met friends at the beach for a long weekend. Great weather again, swimming for a few hours a day. None of our local friends even brought suits as they only consider swimming when it’s 38* and July. Not for us Yankees. The water temp was 22*, plenty warm for me.
I loved the riding. No schedule, no time commitments, just riding, resting when needed & plenty of time to laugh and shoot the breeze. It was a welcome change from doing training rides and getting too caught up in numbers and form. Just riding for a) fun b) to get to the beach.
For anyone who hasn’t done any destination riding or touring…do it! It’s a great way to keep things in perspective & remember why we started riding bikes, then riding more and more and more. See Gianni’s article for more on this!
@Adrian
Yeah, aint nuthin hotter than sweat pants and buck teeth.
saturday did an ad lib route of the kearsarge klassic that runs through new hampshire.
if you love gravel, dirt, and kickarse views, i’d strongly suggest either doing the official ride, or trying to go at it solo. zero dissapointment will be had, guaranteeeeeeed
@roger Great pic! Saturday was fantastically nice weather!
@roger Awesome photo. When are you hosting the Cogal there???
I’m tempted to ride in this snoreastercane, any thoughts?
Don’t know if anyone has seen this yet but….. holy crap.
@pakrat
Amazing! My biggest question was, what is that wheelset! If they can survive that I’m buying a set!
@DerHoggz
Did you go for it? My concern would’ve been getting blown off the road!
@graham d.m.
I’m pretty sure he answers that in a Part II/follow-up that I’m guessing is linked on y’tube. I can’t recall if he names the wheelset (the maker should encourage him to do $o) but he does say they survived intact, did puncture (explode) once.
@graham d.m.
I, personally, whimped out. 50+ mph gusts and rain were just a bit too much for me. I rode the trainer in the basement instead. Merckx forgive me.
A few images from the Hincapie ride in SC this past weekend. Over 1000 riders went through Tryon.
@mxlmax
Looks like fun. And we have another impossible photo of George without shoe covers.
@mxlmax Did you take those photos? Is that Cuddles there as well???
@Buck Rogers Images from facebook (Hincapie Gran Fondo). Yes Cadel and Tejay van Garderen were there. Wanted to go, but 170.00 to ride 80 route or 125.00 to ride 50 route. And logistics of picking up a mandatory packet the night before was not possible.
Here’s Cadel Breaking the Law (Rules).