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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@chris
@wiscot
You want to direct this vitriol at @KogaLover, not me!
I agree 100% that British TT distances are always miles, regardless of the Rules.
I just did some sums again and to ride a 50 minute 25 with no aero kit would require you to do at least 450w or maybe more, and also have a whole lot of V at your disposal. I doubt Marcin was within 100w of that to ride sub 43. A friend of mine did 46:53 the same day putting out nearly 350w and he’s particularly non-aero.
What I like about TTing though, is you know the effort to produce those good times remains the same regardless of the kit in use. To get to the top of the TT game in any era you had to be prepared to turn yourself inside out and then some.
What’s not to love about that?
@RobSandy
Oh no! I wasn’t aiming at you! I was just picking up the thread!
Yeah, I loved the TT game. Equipment-wise in the 80s, most of us were on a pretty level playing field equipment wise – regular bikes, nice wheels, skinsuits, maybe an aero helmet. TT bars and discs started coming in 89/90 but were really expensive. Nowadays everyone’s riding damn near pro-level bikes and gear.
I also liked the honesty of it all. Your time was your time. No sitting in or drafting. AFAIK, it was pretty clean too. A few guys might have used an inhaler, but the “rewards” (prize money) was so pitiful. 120 riders at maybe 5 pounds each. 600 pounds. 1st, 2nd, 3rd in men, women, veteran, schoolboy and a couple of quid to the timekeepers and you were lucky if a win got you 40 pounds – most often much less. It might have bought a new tire!
Also, you tended to see the same names up there each week. Rarely did anyone “come out of nowhere) to win.
@wiscot
I find a TT a refreshing break from racing RR’s or crits now. So many times in races I come off the track thinking ‘damn, I could have done that differently and better’, where with a TT you can pace it wrong but really it’s just you and your legs, and your time is likely to be a pretty fair reflection of your strength.
Without sounding big-headed, I’m going well right now and I knew that I had a good time trial in my legs, and also that my new bike woulc be fast – but even my most optimistic estimates didn’t have me taking nearly a minute out of my PB. I was thinking 21:45. So I’m pretty pleased with that ride. Probably in the form of my life. Can’t complain!
@RobSandy
Glad to have sparked some discussion on contentious issues on this site again, welcome! Must have missed the memo about British TT distances always being in miles. Seems the US influence on this website is waning when the Brits are taking over. Am going to do a charity ride mid June from our London office to our Kent office so will have to get used to riding on the wrong side of the road. I always click out my right foot first (sidecurb being to my right)…
Should I start a discussion on #29 again? Got a lot of attention back in the days.
@KogaLover
You’ll probably have to get more used to motorists actively trying to murder you if you’re used to European driving attitudes to cycling!
There is no discussion to be had on Rule #29. You know this.
You can point out all my rule breaking here though, if you like…
Time Trials are much more of A Thing in Britain than pretty much anywhere else so I reckon they get to write the rules on that.
I’m always in several minds about them. Yes they are the Race of Truth, all about your own effort… there’s something monkishly pure about turning up to a village hall at stupid o’clock to pin on a number, ride on your own and leave without saying more than a dozen words.
What I’m less keen on is the obsession with equipment and technology. Spending £1000 to go and have someone tell you if your head is in the right position, or different shoe covers would save you 20 seconds. I just don’t have the time or the inclination to go through all that.
So this year I’m just doing mainly club TTs and any opens will be with Road Bike categories or on sporting courses where it doesn’t matter so much.
@RobSandy
That’s a great feeling when you can just fly! Sadly, I’m in quite the opposite form right now. Like @wiscot, I did my annual monster of a gravel race last weekend. It’s a true ball-buster, my average speed was ~2km/hr slower than last year’s. That just makes the suffering go on a little longer.
@MangoDave
One of the great truisms of cycling – However good, or bad, you feel right now…it wont last.
So, rode an hour to a race last night, raced a draining crit for 45 minutes then rode an hour home. This morning I feel as if I’ve been beaten about the legs with hammers, and had to ride 25kms to work into a steady block headwind. I was crawling.
I seem to have lost 150-200w of peak sprint power in the last month.
WTF.
@RobSandy
I might have pinched some of it. I’ve managed a 20% increase in 20 minute power since the end of February.
@chris
That’s a good increase. I think my 20 minute power/FTP has held steady or increased a bit.
But my top end has completely gone – just can’t get the leg speed.
@RobSandy
I had three ops under general anesthetic and hardly touched the bike in the two months prior to that. You don’t realise how much that shit takes out of you.
I’m not quite there yet but I feel like I’m getting back to where I was in 2014/15 which was definitely the fittest I’ve been since school. If you were to search back through a few hundred thousand post on here you’d possibly come across me challenging @ChrisO to a race up Box Hill. That’s going to require a serious increase but I’m beginning to think it’s not impossible.
Leg speed is a bugger, I was doing high cadence intervals last night, 115 to 120 rpm for 10 minutes followed by 95 rpm at the same power for 10 minutes, repeated a few times. I was struggling to keep it over 110 rpm. It didn’t help that I cramped up in the last interval.
Get some rollers.
@chris
@RobSandy
I had a couple of kidney stones. Not life threatening but too big to make their own way out. The timing was poor, the pain kicked in on the plane back from Doha for Christmas, had the first op on Christmas eve and two more in January. Didn’t get back on the bike until February. All good now though.
It does sound a bit like you’re fatigued. Time for a week off.
@ChrisO definitely has an advantage on the hills. There’s very little of him. His leg warmers are constantly falling off his stick legs.
Spicing up for the next 2 days………….is Yates cracking or maybe that just favoured Dumoulin today.
@Teocalli
Yes indeedy! Big Tom is defending! Two great days coming up!
@chris
A plane! From what I’ve heard about kidney stones that can’t have been fun. Glad you’re all on the mend.
Doing any club TT’s this summer? Good way to test where your fitness is going.
I’ll never be the lightest, I know that any hills that crop up in a race will be a matter of survival for me, unless they take less than, say, a minute. I can manage a short steep incline, in the big ring, out the saddle, pretty well. But there is a very definite limit to how long I can do that for.
Can we cultivate more conversations about power meters, FTP and watts/kg? I’m hoping it will act like a bat-signal to draw Frank back to give us demerits.
@RobSandy
The’re not fun at all. I’ve heard it said that it’s the closest a man can come to experiencing the pain of child birth. I’ve also heard it said by women that it can’t compare. Who knows.
I probably won’t manage a club TT this summer as I only tend to be back at weekends and our ten is on Wednesday evenings. I am going to be racing on Zwift, we’ve got a 22 race Qatar Zwift summer series. First race is tomorrow evening. I’ll get my head kicked in.
I’m like you, I’ll never be the lightest or a climber. But I’m hoping to knock five kilos off over the summer. Qatar isn’t the best spot for hill training either, it’s pan flat but there is usually a decent headwind and most of my training is on the turbo.
I’m all for discussions about power, FTP and w/kg. My son has my power meter so my outside rides are ridden by feel with one eye on HR but indoors I’m on a Kickr and definitely working to power. Its a means to an end and you can’t beat the focus it gives your training.
For what it’s worth the best FTP I’ve recorded was 250 w in 2015 but I feel like I’m not far off that at teh moment and 300 w isn’t an unreasonable target for this year.
If that doesn’t draw @frank back, even just to ban me…
@chris
That went well. Not.
I’m not sure what happened, possibly a connection issue, but I didn’t get transported to the start line and the race departed without me.
Delgado’d.
@chris
Well, popped out for a quick post Giro ride. How is it that with millions of cubic miles of atmosphere to fly around in that a fly can fly straight up my nose…………my nose really isn’t THAT big.
Hmmm. Discuss:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/philippa-york-chris-froome-and-trying-to-understand-the-unbelievable/
@RobSandy
Yes I read that too, quite a lot of innuendo in there and few facts – such as the chase group not chasing and/or Tom Dumoulin sitting up and waiting rather than going mano-a-mano. I think it would have been better to discuss where the time was made/lost to have made sense of the fact that it was possibly 50% down to Sky’s plan and 50% down to the chase not doing so. My understanding is that after the initial break the time was made on the descents and that the following climb and valley floor was pretty much even.
@Teocalli
Most articles on Cycling News read the same way.
Quite interesting the same innuendo wasn’t thrown at Simon Yates when he rode away from all the favourites earlier in the race. You know, the same Simon Yates who also returned an adverse finding for salbutamol, and was banned. I’m not saying Yates is doping but I don’t think Froome is either.
I suppose I could just avoid Cycling News. Has Brett got a job writing for Cycling News yet, by the way?
Now the dust has settled, I wonder if Tom Dumoulin is looking back at those descents where he waited for the FDJ domestique and wondering if it cost him the Giro.
@RobSandy
Brett writes for Chain Slap magazine. It’s a good site and he’s got some great pieces on his recent soujourn in Belgium and northern France covering riding and watching a bunch of races including RVV, Paris Roubaix and Tro Bro Leon (which I really want to do!)
I bumped into him and William of Malteni and Pave Cycling Classics at a beer stand on the Kwaremont. We didn’t talk about Fronk.
@RobSandy
It’s all innuendo. I had hoped for better from Phillips York, up to now her writing has always seemed spot on.
Simon Yates was exhausted. Yes, he did crack when Sky put the pressure on but that was due to so much more than the pressure at that moment in time.
Not only is it interesting that no one questions Yates performances, not that I think he’s a doper, but also that no one questions Dumoulin when he goes over a mountain n the front group. Again, there’s nothing to suggest that he’s a doper but for all the Cycling News commenters saying that the past has taught them to be cynical and questioning of everything in cycling, the questioning seems very targeted and single minded.
Should we also question York, she went up a hill pretty damned quick?
Beyond it’s live feed and results Cycling News is an absolute waste of space.
@chris
You would have thought at the very least it could be accurate – that article implies that it was extraordinary riding from Sky/Froome which caused Yates to crack – actually Yates was always struggling and would have almost certainly lost the jersey that day whatever Sky did.
As far as I understand Yates was already off the back by the time Sky started riding hard.
And yes, I agree, the criticism levelled at Sky and Froome is very one-eyed.
@RobSandy
I can’t say I was/am a Sky fan as such (or any other team for that matter) but it’s all turning me into one just to keep the balance!
@RobSandy
Yates perhaps tried to do too much in pursuit of time and bonus seconds in fear of what Doumulin would take back from him in the TT. His team was potentially also weakened by riding so hard to do so given the reduced team sizes.
I’m pretty sure that I read a quote from a non-Sky DS that the rescued team sizes and long transfers had a big part to play in making this years Giro’s one of the toughest. I can imagine that if you’re team is chasing everything it’s more likely to implode than one sitting back a few wheels content to let other slug out the first two weeks. Sky’s attention to detail when it comes to off the bike stuff such as hotels and nutrition probably helps, as would not having the whole team waiting around for a high placing team member to pee in a pot and chat to the press.
In that sense Subwebs’s tactics were pretty spot on, win the first stage then let someone else look after it until the third week. It’s just a shame that Doumulin didn’t have the balls to chase Froome by himself and instead waited for help.
I see Hinault has waded in with his none too subtle views. Hardly surprising, he’s got a position to protect; he doesn’t want some upstart Englishman joining him and Eddy on the top step.
I guess he’s France’s version of Geoffrey Boycott “cricketers today are nowt half as impressive I were when I were a lad”.
@Teocalli
I feel exactly the same, with the reservation that if it turns out they have done a bit more than game the system on TUEs or forget how many puffs of inhaler Froome had, then fuck em.
For all that’s happened I still happen to think Froome is racing clean. He’s just a freak.
@RobSandy
For me that actually (hopefully) emphasises that the sport is cleaner these days. In any generation you would expect a small number of uber-athletes who have some form of genetic capability way above average and so they would dominate for the period of their peak. Particularly if they then end up in a team that has the very best funding and organisational capabilities – allowing for the odd human balls up…………
@chris
Ha Ha! I guess Brett is not a Froome fan. Just been reading his bit from last December about Froome riding the Giro. Wonder whether he still thinks the same now………
@Teocalli
I was thinking of this article
http://www.velominati.com/2017/07/le-bouclier-jaune/comment-page-2/
@RobSandy
No this one http://chainslapmag.com/2017/12/froome-win-record-devaluing-three-grand-tours-row/
@Teocalli
Same old. I probably wont bother reading that although I’m sure the writing is top notch!
@chris
@Teocalli
More innuendo…
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/velon-belatedly-release-chris-froomes-power-numbers-from-giro-ditalia-attack/
@RobSandy
Note to Sky. When you’re in a hole of suspicion and distrust, stop digging. Yet again, the response to publishing Froome’s numbers is riddled with “ah wells . . .” and “the technology was malfunctioning,” and “it took days to figure it out.” Really?
@wiscot
I’m not sure that this is quite the same. The article suggests that it was a problem with Velon’s live tracker that delayed publication of the data and meant that not all of it was available even then.
Quite what control Sky has over Velon, I don’t know but this doesn’t appear to be Sky muddying the waters. It’s arguable, though, that Sky should have just gone ahead and published the numbers themselves.
In related news, this might be of interest. I would normally say that Cycling Tips is a greater hotbed of anti Froome and Sky hate than Cycling News but the latest Secret Pro mutterings is quite balanced.
https://cyclingtips.com/2018/05/the-secret-pro-an-insiders-view-on-chris-froomes-crazy-giro-attack/
@wiscot
@chris
Ah, perhaps the innuendo was worse on the corresponding Cycling Weekly piece, about his power numbers being seriously impressive. Of course, no corresponding data from the other favourites, apart from the grudging admission that Tom Dumoulin was putting out the same power.
I’m sounding like a Froome/Sky cheerleader and I’m really not. I’d just to see a bit of balance.
@RobSandy
Surely not! That’s simply unbelievable!
@RobSandy
I wouldn’t say I’m a Sky fan, although I liked them more before they completely mismanaged the Wiggins/Jiffy Bag/TUE saga, but I really can’t be doing with myopic, ill educated, fuckwit lynch mobs.
@chris
I’ll second that motion.
@chris
It’s also a very good point that only Froome knew they were about to embark on and and was fuelled for an 80 Km TT.
@Teocalli
Also, Froome was in a position where he had nothing to lose – he knew all he could do was go full gas, all day, and hope for the best. Dumoulin didn’t know what to do – he had no team mates, he had a bunch of tagalongs who he was hoping would work with him, he probably only had the vaguest idea how far ahead Froome was.
The upshot of it all was that the Giro was won/lost on a couple of descents. Not TTs, not climbs, descents.
@Teocalli
But I really wish they’d hurry up with the salbutamol case as I’m sick of being asked about it. One way or another.
@chris
Hey, thanks for sharing that! Great stuff.
Do I think Fromme rode clean? Yes. I’m just fed up with Sky’s BS. Why is it that Froome’s data was messed up? Whatever happened to the “we’re super ethical, transparent, clean” mantra? You’d think that Sky would want, in this scenario especially, to be as up front as possible. But here’s the rub: their rep is so shot at this point, who would believe them no matter what they did/said? And for that they only have themselves to blame.
Just came across this on Rouleur
“Chris Froome’s stage victory on the Zoncolan was generally thought at the time to be, at best, a death rattle. It was barely noted he’d gained 47 seconds on Dumoulin there. But what was his overall margin of victory over Dumoulin at the end? 46 seconds.
To paraphrase a retired Scottish football manager: Cycling. Bloody hell.”
@Teocalli
Moving away from Froomegate but from the same Rouleur newsletter comes this gem. Brian Holm on Mario:
Folk outside the UK may not be able to access this link but it is and interesting internal view from the Sky team on Stage 19 of the Giro https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/44372328
Distributing the whole support team to support the required food intake would not have been something any other team could have reacted to even if they noticed what was happening.
Ha! Didn’t notice you’d already put the BBC link up. A really, really good read. Talk about attention to detail. And when planning on how to refuel Chris realising some staff had never actually passed a bottle to a moving cyclist so making allowances. Deciding when he could and couldn’t ride with a full 500g bottle.
And it all started with an accidental ride months earlier when they saw the climb for the first time.
@davidlhill
@Teocalli
I was also about to post that. Very interesting article.
Reinforces the thought that if Tom Dumoulin had just TT’d to the end and not waited for the others he’d have probably won the Giro.
@Teocalli, @davidlhill If you believe, it should go down as a great sporting achievement for Froome and Sky. The attention to detail, from working out the nutritional requirements to the psychology of how his opponents would react is amazing.