Your most cherished day on the bike?

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  1. GJanney

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    Interested to see what stands out for the forumites.

    Mine was doing RAMROD solo in 2011. RAMROD is around Mt. Rainier - 150 miles, 11,000 feet ascent. Bonked on the final descent - was glad I could go 45 mph and catch the guy on the road ahead of me, as he was nice enough to give me gel blocks to eat so I could continue to the feed station. Finished the last 40 miles on relatively flat roads, all into a headwind.

    Legs and back were sore as hell, but the next morning I got up super early and boarded a plane to go fishing near Bristol Bay, Alaska. What a summer it was for me!

    Posted 3 months ago

  2. Orange Crush

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    That reminds me; RAMROD lottery should be coming up soon, right? Entered lottery last year but no luck.

    There are so many cherished days on bike; hard to say; every year brings new ones. I would not even know which one to pick from last year.

    The wise man said follow me...and he walked behind.
    Posted 3 months ago

  3. Spud

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    Having my older brother fly out from MA and join me to ride El Tour. That was a great day. Many laughs talking about our youth, and the things we used to do as crazy kids.

    "Riding is about rhythm and flow. It's the wind in your face and the challange of hammering up a long hill. It's the reward at the top and the thrill of a high-speed descent. Biking lets you come alive both in body and spirit."
    Posted 3 months ago

  4. Keith RIchards

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    Harriman RR in New York State in 45-50 F weather and a rainstorm so bad that the surface of lake Tiorati looked like fog from the force of the raindrops. Miserable weather. Suffered through it, got dropped on the first lap. Hooked up with another dropped rider and got back to with 30 seconds of the front group by the finish. Just swallowing up and spitting out riders as we caught them. Just two guys focusing on speed, power and pain for two plus hours. Glorious stuff.

    It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong.
    Posted 3 months ago

  5. jpouchet

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    I would say any day on the tandem where when we return my wife says: that was a blast, I feel great, let's go do this again tomorrow.

    However I still think the two most memorable involved my kids.

    1, when my daughter wanted to 'ride with you' on her big wheel. So we took the tandem around the block, slowly, while she gave chase! That girl is just as stong-willed today at 24!

    2, riding with my son on our MTBs when he was around 15. He had been riding the bike every day to summer school and was in amazing shape. On the 1/5 mile grind home the kid lit-it-up, put a huge gap on me, and almost kept me from regrouping at the top! yeah, that was a proud dad moment. He still makes me proud every day.

    Posted 3 months ago

  6. The Diesel

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    During the 2011 Tour Divide somewhere just south of Elkford, BC when I caught up with Craig Dolwin, after trying to catch him up for the previous 1,500 or so miles and at some point being more than 250 miles behind him. I finished a day later in Banff in 2nd place of the northbound race and got a well-earned PBR at the finish line!

    Posted 3 months ago

  7. stronz

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    Riding Le E'tape in 2004 from Limoge to St. Fluor. No famous cols but a very long 240 km ride. finished in just under 10hrs. (Mr. Virenque won it two days later in 5:59) Middle third through the massif central -- climbing the Puy Marie -- a supposed old volcano with around 17% slopes for around 3km was just epic. Had to struggle to keep the bike moving literally standing on the pedals in my lowest 34/27. Just brutal and glorious!!!

    2 days later camping out on the side of the same Puy and watching Virenque motor away from Axel, then Ulrich, hamilton, Mayo and the blue train calmly motoring up that mountain in their 39/23's mostly without getting out of the saddle was a sobering site. Realized something was not quite "normal" then and there.

    Found a video of it on youtube -- the joker in the yellow hat on the right at seconds 10 - 15 is moi. Gives a good sense of the circus that is the Tdf.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_NeQ2TA5Ao
    My ride along that route still gives me great inspiration.

    Posted 3 months ago

  8. Orange Crush

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    Too many moments but I've got some most cherised words:

    "he doesn't say much but he's strong"

    As heard from behind me at end of 6 day (200k each for 1200k total) Tour of Benelux cyclosportif, which covered key parts of Flanders, Liege and Amstel.

    Awesome words to instill confidence in a somewhat quiet early 20s kid. On most days I had plenty of time to soak in the tub before my roomies would arrive.

    Posted 3 months ago

  9. pikeHillRoad

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    I am with OC's first post. Hard to quantify most glorious day. So many.

    Posted 3 months ago

  10. 79pmooney

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    Maine International, 1977. The fastest ride and hardest anything this body will ever see. Survived the split on the two mile hill coming out of Skowhegan. Dropped my chain on the next two hills, caught back on both times and finished two minutes down on the two leaders and in the field. Good enough to finish under the old course record.

    Many rides that summer. The rides up Mt Wachusett with Kate. My two solo 175 mile days, the 160 mile ride back to Boston from North Conway with a fellow racer after a weekend of racing.

    My first Cycle Oregon when I paced three young women for a few miles, then served as domestique after I was cooked. When my seat clamp broke 3 miles from camp, one of those women served as my domestique, leading me, calling out who was behind us and calling out traffic. All very helpful when you are riding out of the saddle at slow speed on the flat in country you've never seen before. That ride finished with a two hundred foot climb to the top of the bluff which I did in a 42-14 (you have to have advance warning with no seat and DT shifters and flat ground is required to shift.) A 1/4 mile later, the HS football cheerleaders gave me a grand welcome at the finish! (I was going to get used to that; it's a regular feature at Cycle Oregon, but I had never seen it before.)

    And many more!

    Ben

    Posted 3 months ago

  11. vtguy

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    All my days on the bike are great ones, but the best was the 50K hilly cycling leg of a duathlon. Really felt on top of my game and had the 2nd fastest bike time out of over 200 at age 49.

    Posted 3 months ago

  12. jacobus

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    I've tried to separate cherished from memorable. My most cherished ride was probably riding up Mt Ventoux, back in 2003.. The ride itself was not particularly special. It was not the longest, hardest or most epic ride but it was my first time in France. The previous two days I did not, for various reasons, reach the summit of Alpe d'Huez and Col d'Izoard. When I finally reached the summit of a famous mountain, i was a little overcome with emotion.

    Posted 3 months ago

  13. rnddude

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    For me it would be riding in Death Valley between Panament and Lone Pine at about 11PM at night, temps about 70, with a full moon and about a zillion stars above us. So bright we turned off the headlamps and rode with only the ambient light. Dead calm and ultra silent, stunning experience.

    "To be free and to live a free life - that is the most beautiful thing there is."
    Miguel Indurain
    Posted 3 months ago

  14. CB2

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    I'm firmly in the "cherish every moment" camp. On the most mundane commutes I'll lift my head up, look at the world and say "I'm so lucky, this is fücking great!"

    Riding with my kids is always special. I especially love the dynamic when I have more than of them along.

    Jam Econo
    Posted 3 months ago

  15. C2K_Rider

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    Single days: Qualifying for Nationals in the TT; Finishing the Terrible Two and feeling good, Riding some snow-covered passes in Montana with friends.

    But so many of the best days were while touring. Two rides across the US on camping trips adds up to a lot of days. The best were those cruising across the great plains. We got up with dawn and rode into the sunrise and then camped on the side of the road where ever we happened to be when it got dark. Truly carefree days!

    "The stone age didn't end because the earth ran out of stones, and the oil age won't end because the earth runs out of oil" -- Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute, rmi.org
    Posted 3 months ago

  16. GOLDENBOB

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    Most of them look like this:

    Posted 3 months ago

  17. hoshie99

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    Likewise - lots of good days. Some highlights:

    1) Teaching both my daughters to ride!

    2) Random day riding home back across Golden Gate Bridge as a young racer - realizing that one day I'd remember these rides up Alexander and cherish the view and time in my life in the city. And I do and still remember that thought today...

    3) Accidentally riding with Greg Lemond and Alex Stieda as a young racer. It was a big thrill

    4)Some fun race highlights, mostly in criteriums. Don't miss criteriums though!

    5) First time up Sneaky Pete trail near Palo Alto - amazing weather, just a great day and fun loop all by myself.

    6) First annual Tour De "My Last Name" where some buds and I did an overnight and back - 2 days, ~160 miles total of great riding plus some beers. My wife had a catered bbq waiting when we came back. What a sweetheart.

    7) Levi's Gran Fondo long course - had some misery due to weather, some great moments, a very balanced day. HAd to talk my friend up Coleman Valley road (he hit a low point then which is understandable).

    8) Showing up last year to Sea Otter, not having raced in 15 years and never racing cross. Looking to my right and hearing someone say "Hi Don" and realizing the current master's world and US cx champ was in my race. That and getting some cheers at the beer tent as I executed a good dismount / remount (which was not a foregone conclusion since I was such a newby).

    I could go on and on!

    J

    Posted 3 months ago

  18. jookey

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    Today! Woke up early, rode 45 minutes on the trainer. Got family up and went skiing. My seven year old lit it up in the moguls. Came home, 2 miles xcountry skiing, dinner and now cooling down on the trainer again.

    Posted 3 months ago

  19. jacques_anquetil

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    second the kids. me and another dad took a gang of the neighbourhood kids riding. one was heard to say "this is the best day ever!" hard to argue with that.

    Posted 3 months ago

  20. bodynazi

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    Prolly some of the races I've won. Yesterear, state crit championships, superweek, more recently coming back to racing after 17 years license-less and snagging a couple of wins and a hard-fought 2nd place when I felt like complete crap, 3rd place for 24 hrs of Gunnison duo category a couple of summers ago - 3rd is not super (out of 10 or 12) - but it was a good effort for a big crit rider guy. I've had some great days w/ the wife doing the White Rim in Moab in a 10 hr push - that's a crazy beautiful place.

    Posted 3 months ago

  21. Orange Crush

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    Good points jookey - cherish the moment(s).

    Posted 3 months ago

  22. Inferno7

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    First time I rode a century in less than 5 hours. And countless MTB rides.

    LeMond VO2 max 95, Armstrong 82....doh
    Posted 3 months ago

  23. longslowdistance

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    Winning a (for me) big race with my mom at the finish line.

    Posted 3 months ago

  24. madvax

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    There are several rides that come to mind, but the most cherished was my first Markleeville Death Ride in 2005.

    Posted 3 months ago

  25. merlinak

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    If tinypic will work, photos of three very good days.
    One at Tre Cime di Lavaredo in the Dolomites, a climb that nearly done me in back in 2010 but which went very much better in 2012. NOte very low gears.
    One atop the infamous Stelvio. a very long day for this old man in 2010.
    But the last, at the end of the mass (9000) 150km ride around Lake Taupo in New Zealand 2011, teamed with my daughter. Proud Papa.

    Posted 3 months ago

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