End of year round up: What was your BEST ride of 2012?
- Thread starter arallsopp
- Start date
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Marshmallow_Fluff
Guest
- Location
- Beds
Majorca, Cala Mesquida to Alcudia.. Very pretty, lovely roads and the sunset in Port D' Alcudia was breathtaking.. The ice cream wasn't bad either!! 
DCLane
Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
- Location
- Dewsbury, West Yorkshire
For me there's several:
- Doing my first sportive; the Evans Leeds one in February with @oldfatfool and finding I wasn't that slow
- Doing the C2C in April in a day and a half fully loaded with kit - next time it'll be in a day
- First imperial century, first metric double century
- Surviving the horrendously cold and wet Brian Robinson sportive in April
- The BHF Night Ride and getting my first KOM on Strava
- Winning a new bike from Sustrans for covering the most journeys & miles in June
- Coming 173rd out of 2500+ on the Etape Pennines earlier this month
- Riding from Dewsbury to Bridlington and back in a day simply to play on the beach with my youngest who'd gone on a day trip there, covering over 170 miles
And that's the start. Excuse the list, but it's the first time I've been able to do this - 18 months ago I couldn't climb a flight of stairs without stopping to catch my breath.
Next year beckons; the Etape du Dales, a racing licence and my first triathlon. Looks like it could be fun ...
- Doing my first sportive; the Evans Leeds one in February with @oldfatfool and finding I wasn't that slow
- Doing the C2C in April in a day and a half fully loaded with kit - next time it'll be in a day
- First imperial century, first metric double century
- Surviving the horrendously cold and wet Brian Robinson sportive in April
- The BHF Night Ride and getting my first KOM on Strava
- Winning a new bike from Sustrans for covering the most journeys & miles in June
- Coming 173rd out of 2500+ on the Etape Pennines earlier this month
- Riding from Dewsbury to Bridlington and back in a day simply to play on the beach with my youngest who'd gone on a day trip there, covering over 170 miles
And that's the start. Excuse the list, but it's the first time I've been able to do this - 18 months ago I couldn't climb a flight of stairs without stopping to catch my breath.
Next year beckons; the Etape du Dales, a racing licence and my first triathlon. Looks like it could be fun ...
8th Day cycling from Roscoff to Montpellier May/June this year..
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/hr0k8AH8Ngw
Fully loaded with tents and kit but both felt 'on it' - broke all PB's
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/hr0k8AH8Ngw
Fully loaded with tents and kit but both felt 'on it' - broke all PB's
D
Deleted member 1258
Guest
Its not been a good year for cycling but have managed 4000 miles so far. I was ill with waterworks problems in the spring and missed the Cotswold reliability ride and Mike Vaughan's Warwickshire 100, a charity ride. Since then my fitness has been a little below par. The best ride was the Myton Hospice Cycle Challenge in August, 60 miles for the charity plus 30 miles travelling to and from the event to give me 90 miles for the day, a warm sunny Sunday, a good atmosphere and a lovely route though the lanes for most of it. Also a flash of more normal form, I was crossing Coventry with less than 5 miles to go before my legs started to fade. An excellent days cycling.
markharry66
Über Member
this year for me mostly work, year before out every weekend something I intend to change only two 85 milers this year nothing fantastic and feel like I have wasted a year. Upside is thanks to the advice on this forum I have a stunning new triban 3 give it a few weeks it will have a few dents in it
PpPete
Legendary Member
- Location
- Chandler's Ford
No one's mentioned it yet, so for me I'll say the Bryan Chapman Memorial (600km Audax)
So many fabulous memories:
6 am start from Chepstow.
Meeting so many folks I know from this and another forum
Racing the motorbikes on the swooping downhills of the A44
Sunset at the top of the Llanberis pass
The satisfaction of helping another rider with a a busted wheel at the YHA
Sitting in the sunshine outside the Weobley and lauging at the bins overflowing with Ginsters packaging from earlier rider.
Getting back to Chepstow with 30mins to spare, and not being the lanterne rouge
So many fabulous memories:
6 am start from Chepstow.
Meeting so many folks I know from this and another forum
Racing the motorbikes on the swooping downhills of the A44
Sunset at the top of the Llanberis pass
The satisfaction of helping another rider with a a busted wheel at the YHA
Sitting in the sunshine outside the Weobley and lauging at the bins overflowing with Ginsters packaging from earlier rider.
Getting back to Chepstow with 30mins to spare, and not being the lanterne rouge
SportMonkey
Guest
I was gutted I couldn't do the full distance, but going down those stairs was interesting.
I've had a few highlights. My first ever group ride courtesy of @400bhp, @potsy and @hacienda71. The Manchester 100 as a CycleChat group. The Manchester-Blackpool night ride, CC also. Last Sundays first hill climb. Finally today's ride out to Circuit of the Americas on my new steel bike was great, if a little interesting. I've got a Social Cycling Austin ride to come on Thursday too. It's scary that I've don all but the 100 without gears, and most of the things I've achieved have been thanks to this forum.
Edwards80
Über Member
- Location
- Stockport, UK
Tough question! With it being my 1st year of serious riding I have too many to list 
1st 20 miler.
1st ride into the hills which had me walking everywhere wondering how I was going to make it home (and having hypothermia when I did get home :S )
1st 40miler. . . 50 miler, 70 miler, 100 miler. . . 1st 140 miles in a day. All pretty satisfying looking back at them!
Specifically though my 1st few club runs stick in my mind. Flying along in a bunch turned out to be far more fun than I thought it would be!
The above mentioned ride out to the coast with @potsy, @sportmonkey, @i_like_ skol and @400bhp on the MTB was a highlight as was the Manchester 100, riding at a decent pace and getting splatted with crap from the back wheel @fossyant when I nicked a tow The forum ride out to Jodrell bank was ace too, despite the terrible weather.
All my trips to velodrome were ace too. Will probably see a lot of the place during the winter!
No plans to slow down for winter though so hopefully the best ride of 2012 is still to come
1st 20 miler.
1st ride into the hills which had me walking everywhere wondering how I was going to make it home (and having hypothermia when I did get home :S )
1st 40miler. . . 50 miler, 70 miler, 100 miler. . . 1st 140 miles in a day. All pretty satisfying looking back at them!
Specifically though my 1st few club runs stick in my mind. Flying along in a bunch turned out to be far more fun than I thought it would be!
The above mentioned ride out to the coast with @potsy, @sportmonkey, @i_like_ skol and @400bhp on the MTB was a highlight as was the Manchester 100, riding at a decent pace and getting splatted with crap from the back wheel @fossyant when I nicked a tow
The forum ride out to Jodrell bank was ace too, despite the terrible weather.All my trips to velodrome were ace too. Will probably see a lot of the place during the winter!
No plans to slow down for winter though so hopefully the best ride of 2012 is still to come
I have had a great year so far, with some very memorable rides: 266 miles from Wales to England on my own for charity, appalling weather, but a following wind. London to Edinburgh with RB58, a very tough ride, and probably not in the enjoyable category and a boozy ride from home to Paris over 3 days. I've also done several FNRTTCs, Audax events and forum rides. However the one ride that stood out was going to the Olympic Road Race. I left home at early oclock and had the joy of zooming along empty dual carriageways and A roads all the way to Westerham where I met up with Ianrauk and User10571. We then continued along the A25 towards Dorking. The nearer we got, the more exciting it was as it seemed that everybody in Surrey who had a bike was up early and heading in the same direction. Going up Pebbelcombe Hill was like Ditchling Beacon on the BHF London to Brighton ride, absolutely rammed with cyclists, of all shapes and sizes and bike types. The crowd at the corner of the route, with nearly 3 hours before the ride arrived was massive, so we decided to give that a miss and instead rode around some of the course and ended up at Denbies Vinyard. After some wine and food and watching the action on the big screen we headed down to the dual carriageway on the loop and watched the action for a couple of laps. We also met up with Mark Grant who tagged along with us for a while. Gluttons for punishment, we then ascended Pebblecombe Hill once more to watch a little bit more of the action, before heading for home. Just outside Swanley I was going past a pub that had the race on the TV and I even managed to see the disappointing finish!
A great day out, with wonderful company and with fantastic weather. What more could a rider ask for.
Ian's report and pics here. http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/olympic-road-race.107201/
A great day out, with wonderful company and with fantastic weather. What more could a rider ask for.
Ian's report and pics here. http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/olympic-road-race.107201/
Hip Priest
Veteran
Probably The Cyclone in June. Did the 100k route in 4:19 (incl. 2 feed stops), which is not bad for a fat git. The only downer was doing the walk of shame up the steepest bit of the Ryals.
Other than that I had a lovely unplanned 26 miler one summer's evening and it was perfect. The weather was good, the scenery beatiful and it was one of those rides where your legs feel like they can do anything.
Other than that I had a lovely unplanned 26 miler one summer's evening and it was perfect. The weather was good, the scenery beatiful and it was one of those rides where your legs feel like they can do anything.
akb
Veteran
- Location
- Potton, Bedfordshire
Ill let you know at the end of the year...!
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
Now there is some distance between me and the ride, it has to be the ride from Welling to Nelson in June. From the sheer panic as I left home in the rain close to midnight to slowly settling in to the ride at around St Albans. The most enjoyable bit was probably the run from daylight near Nuneaton up through the Peak District. The Peak District was hard work but I think worth it.
The main achievement for me was that this was true long distance (230 miles) with a target time (17 hours) completely unsupported. I've always had the safety net of other people who actually know what they are doing (FNRttC, Ianrauk, arallsopp etc) so this was a ride into the great unknown. Although absolutely nothing actually went wrong, not even a puncture, I now feel more confident that I can do a ride like this. So confident I may repeat it in a couple of weeks time and add the ride back too so I may need to make another entry in this list!
The main achievement for me was that this was true long distance (230 miles) with a target time (17 hours) completely unsupported. I've always had the safety net of other people who actually know what they are doing (FNRttC, Ianrauk, arallsopp etc) so this was a ride into the great unknown. Although absolutely nothing actually went wrong, not even a puncture, I now feel more confident that I can do a ride like this. So confident I may repeat it in a couple of weeks time and add the ride back too so I may need to make another entry in this list!
Mid June, cycling from Bilbao to Malaga, we'd left Villamariel (Valladolid Province) early afternoon and were heading towards Medina de Rio Seco. My cousin took the canal and I took the deserted B roads, the sun was out, the sky was blue, it was about 20c and the riding flat. On my own listening to 1980's 12" disco, a perfect ride.
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3tV_Tm-r6Y&feature=related
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3tV_Tm-r6Y&feature=related
