Favourite Training Rides

[marinoni]

I just got back from an early ride, while out there I was thinking it would be great to hear about some of your best training routes and what makes them your favourite. There are people from all over the world on this forum and I would love to hear what its like riding in your little corner of Oz or the Uk or wherever. My apologies if this has been done before already.
My favourite? Let me start off by saying I'm 45 and 6ft 7ins 215lbs. For me, hills are ugly miserable pigs intent on sucking my life force and making me cry. On my best route there is a 15km stretch near the beginning that is perhaps .5% downhill and usually has a tailwind. For those few minutes I get to feel like a pro, ripping along in the big ring at 45-50kph. What an ego boost. Also, the scenery is great, and very little traffic. However, on the way back? The Horror...The Horror.

 

[franciep10]

Mine is a little district in the Mountains of Jamaica called new market it has a average 6% grade that last for 6 km with tons of switchbacks and then I can coast into Montego Bay for another 30 km with some hilly sections in between so I can basically ride to the beach. so that's about a 57 km ride from my home to my workplace.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Just south of Eau Claire, WI. A metric century usually comes out to 6,000 ft of climbing, a standard century is about 10,000 ft. The multitude of climbs average 1km to 2mi, and some have up to 20% grade sections with 45mph+ drops on the other side. It’s the Midwestern Wallonian Ardennes, the Coulée region of Western Wisconsin. Here are a couple screen shots of my favorite climbs.

and

 

[marinoni]

Just south of Eau Claire, WI. A metric century usually comes out to 6,000 ft of climbing, a standard century is about 10,000 ft. The multitude of climbs average 1km to 2mi, and some have up to 20% grade sections with 45mph+ drops on the other side. It’s the Midwestern Wallonian Ardennes, the Coulée region of Western Wisconsin. Here are a couple screen shots of my favorite climbs.

and

I'm learning something already. I had no idea Wisconsin was that hilly. TEN THOUSAND FEET? Better you than me pal!

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

And that's not even the most difficult. The most insane climbing in the MidWest is down by La Crosse.

Hey, marinoni, I love you man, but when you quote could you leave the images out, it starts to look really cluttered in here. You can go back and edit them out.

 

[marinoni]

Sorry, I'm about as good with computers as I am with hills.

 

[benpounder]

Sorry, I'm about as good with computers as I am with hills.

Edit your post (button at the bottom of your post) and delete everything from and including "[image]" to "[/image]".

Also, for others, and echoing RDV4ROUBAIX's sentiment, it would be nice if folks only quoted the pertinent aspects of others posts - two hundred quoted words followed by an "LOL" seems to me a waste of space...

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

That must be a lot of up/down, as I don't recall seeing a single mountain in Wisconsin, let alone the rest of the midwest.

But still, riding deep rollers all day long is as bad as climbing Mt. Washington. It's like four hours of intervals. Ug.

I'll post a pic of some of mine a little later. Got work to do (like e-mail Roger!).

 

[BigBoat]

And that's not even the most difficult. The most insane climbing in the MidWest is down by La Crosse.

Hey, marinoni, I love you man, but when you quote could you leave the images out, it starts to look really cluttered in here. You can go back and edit them out.

Yes I love that particular area.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

No real mountains in the MidWest. A "Coulée" is a deep ravine, or hollow that is a result of the glaciers melting and receding from the last ice age. Long story short.

Hey, will one of you guys send me a PM if my images disappear after I'm logged out?

Got work to do (like e-mail Roger!).

Yeah dude! What's up with that!?!? Get back to work slacker!

 

[franciep10]

This is the lower slopes of my training ride after that corner it kicks up

This is the view at one of the summits there's a much steeper summit but I was felling lazy that day, the view is beautiful though.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I'm fortunate to live in a very scenic, mountainous part of the world. As long as you can handle a lot of rain, and mountain passes closed to riding (or driving) 9 months of the year due to snow.

My "problem" is that I'm now 47, getting slow, and weigh a little too much. I do ride and am fairly fit, but getting old just sucks. I have forever loved riding through the mountains. The challenge of going up, and the thrill of going down.

Here's maybe my favorite ride (the yellow line in photo). A 16 mile loop with 3,500' of climbing. Short steep sections close to 15%, but about 8% average going up. This is a single lane USFS forest road, with almost zero traffic.

Here's what it looks like up top:

Too many other favorites to list though in the Western US. Everett Memorial Highway up Mt. Shasta. Lassen Peak climb - both sides but mostly from the south. Mt. Ashland, McKenzie Pass, Crater Lake, Newberry Crater, Ripplebrook to Timothy Lake, Larch Mountain, Timberline West Leg. Windy Ridge on Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier from any direction. White Salmon River. Many hidden climbs on the Oregon Coast. Too many more to list! Many in the easter Sierras I've ridden that are just spectacular, and extremely challenging.

 

[quadsRme]

Living in the Chicago area we don't have mountainous areas to ride, although the ride that Alpe is describing sounds like a beauty. Especially since the road is not well ridden by cars. I would love to ride that route sometime....

 

[Zoncolan]

Mt. Avala, a small hill just south of Belgrade (capital of Serbia (tiny country in the Balkans (Southeast Europe))) 5 km climb at 5%. It takes me 40 km to get there + 5 km of climbing + 40 km to get back home= 85 km total. My favorite ride. You can climb by road (tarmac), or you can go via one of the many dirt tracks by MTB (my favorite).

 

[Zoncolan]

I'm fortunate to live in a very scenic, mountainous part of the world. As long as you can handle a lot of rain, and mountain passes closed to riding (or driving) 9 months of the year due to snow.

My "problem" is that I'm now 47, getting slow, and weigh a little too much. I do ride and am fairly fit, but getting old just sucks. I have forever loved riding through the mountains. The challenge of going up, and the thrill of going down.

Here's maybe my favorite ride (the yellow line in photo). A 16 mile loop with 3,500' of climbing. Short steep sections close to 15%, but about 8% average going up. This is a single lane USFS forest road, with almost zero traffic.

Here's what it looks like up top:

Too many other favorites to list though in the Western US. Everett Memorial Highway up Mt. Shasta. Lassen Peak climb - both sides but mostly from the south. Mt. Ashland, McKenzie Pass, Crater Lake, Newberry Crater, Ripplebrook to Timothy Lake, Larch Mountain, Timberline West Leg. Windy Ridge on Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier from any direction. White Salmon River. Many hidden climbs on the Oregon Coast. Too many more to list! Many in the easter Sierras I've ridden that are just spectacular, and extremely challenging.

That looks great! Wish I had some big mountains like that closer to home.

How do you post photos. For the life of me, I can't do it!

 

[benpounder]

I'm fortunate to live in a very scenic, mountainous part of the world.

Where, or how did you generate those graphics?

Particularly the profiles - does Google Earth do that as well?

 

[benpounder]

How do you post photos. For the life of me, I can't do it!

The image has to be from a valid URL - Flickr, MySpace, CyclingNews, etc. Second button from the right just above the reply dialogue box looks like a postage stamp of a mountain is the quick way, just copy then paste the URL into that.

 

[Zoncolan]

The image has to be from a valid URL - Flickr, MySpace, CyclingNews, etc. Second button from the right just above the reply dialogue box looks like a postage stamp of a mountain is the quick way, just copy then paste the URL into that.

Thanks man.

 

[flyor64]

My commute to work, which I do twice a week, is 60KMs with about 900 meters of total climbing (and descending )...I pass thru farmland, some pretty cool Norwegian villages and neigborhoods, and over the northern tip of a fjord. If I see 5 cars the total commute I'm surprised. However the farmers do fertilize with natural manure in the spring (right now) and the smell is a bit strong sometimes, but I'll deal with it for one helluva good ride.

I don't have any pics as I've never stopped to take any...I should really.

Does anyone know if you can share a google earth route thru the forum???

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Yeah, I have zero photos from that ride. Not one!

Yes, Google Earth screenshot. If you have Google Earth, you can either screenshot like I did and edit in Photoshop to the size you want. Or you can use one of the icons at the top to export a photo from it, or e-mail yourself a link.

Yes, I just upload photos to PhotoBucket and copy and paste.

Your ride actually sounds nice Zoncolon. Let me see if I can find it on Google Earth. Same with yours Flyor. How is your guys weather? I'd think fairly similar to mine here. Right now it's about 10c and light rain at noon. Typical.

 

[Zoncolan]

Yeah, I have zero photos from that ride. Not one!

Your ride actually sounds nice Zoncolon. Let me see if I can find it on Google Earth. Same with yours Flyor. How is your guys weather? I'd think fairly similar to mine here. Right now it's about 10c and light rain at noon. Typical.

I have no photos from the actual ride, but I do have some from the top. I just can't post it. You can check it out on my profile though.
Weather here has actually been great over the past ten days 24-29 centigrade I didn't have that much work to do last two weeks, so I put in some good mileage.

 

[flyor64]

How is your guys weather? I'd think fairly similar to mine here. Right now it's about 10c and light rain at noon. Typical.

Pretty much the same normally. We've had a pretty mild April and May...didn't really start raining until last week. However, we had a crapload of snow this year and it's still melting in some areas. Our highs are around 13-15c these days...haven't cracked 20 yet this year. Maybe sometime in June!

Thanks for the tip on google earth. I'll try to upload something to show the ride.

 

[marinoni]

My commute to work, which I do twice a week, is 60KMs with about 900 meters of total climbing (and descending )...I pass thru farmland, some pretty cool Norwegian villages and neigborhoods, and over the northern tip of a fjord. If I see 5 cars the total commute I'm surprised. However the farmers do fertilize with natural manure in the spring (right now) and the smell is a bit strong sometimes, but I'll deal with it for one helluva good ride.

I don't have any pics as I've never stopped to take any...I should really.

Does anyone know if you can share a google earth route thru the forum???

That sounds amazing! One question about the manure- if they held a race there would everyone test positive for bull****?

 

[benpounder]

Too much time on my hands...

When I lived in Golden, this is what I had outside my front door - literally. Lookout Mt is a short climb, and steep only at the foot. But I could get it in, along with a nice short spin on top, then the great plunge back home. Then shower and be in the car by 7:00am. Great network of back roads and bicycle paths to make a nice 40 to 100 km ride.

Several years ago, Tommy D set the record here - how much he beat me by is worse than embarrasing...

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I should note I made the profile you see in the bottom of my graphic in a program called Topo!

Here's a graphic photo to Zoncolan's training ride. Mt. Avala. Looks like the perfect ride actually. Mitrovic Hostel (search Google) looks pretty cool!