Most fun you have had cycling in a day

Stevo_666

Never mind this stuff about quantity of cycling, surely it's all about quality?

Best one for me - a week last Friday, uplift at Bike Park Wales. Distance covered - about 25 miles, all down hill. Fun had - off the freakin' scale

Has anyone had more fun on a bike? Especially one of those delicate little carbon things with no suspension

coulddobetter

Lifeguard at a riverside bathing place in Oxford. Great fun doing jumps into the river on an old bike until my boss turned up.

Flâneur

tends to be the company on some empty roads, Doesn't matter if it is Monaco or Wales. Did enjoy a random venture across some fields and paths on the road bike in France with a friend once, kind of a fuck it attitude, this is only gentle cross country, shit we are descending too fast. May also have ridden the same bikes into a lake repeatedly. No proof though, so I am probably safe

pblakeney

Round the north coast of Mallorca, down the west in the sunshine with cafe stops, an extended lunch and superb company. Back to Port Pollensa in time to have some beers by the pool watching the scenery.
Followed by a blazing night out.
Looking forward to 2015!

Dippydog3

This, any time.

diplodicus

Two come to mind, Paris Roubaix 2014


and riding from the bottom of the glacier (3200m) down to Venosc (900m) in one long mtb descent

veronese68

When I was a kid and I'd just disappear with a few mates riding around on Wimbledon Common. Didn't have road bikes or mountain bikes, we just had bikes. As an adult, generally dicking about on the mountain bike is probably the most fun, though off roading on the CX is good if it's not too technical.

pinno

When the local Wheelers CC was in it hay day, I will never forget the many Sunday runs, handicapped road races and constant chatter, sprinting for Village signs and the cafe stops. Those memories are indelible.

Sunday September 21st 2014. Perfect day with good company. Not a breath of wind or a cloud in the sky, cycled in the sticks and then over moorland at a leisurely pace for 40 odd miles. hedgerows full of birdsong. Magic.

Op: FWIW I think that these endurance riders are totally bonkers but they do posses a mental and physical capacity that is beyond most. Not for me.

bikes`n`guns

Doing jumps down a set of steps outside my mates house on a grifter, Then managing a proper wheelie on a grifter /chopper hybrid.

Doing speedway style skids on the grass on my first road bike. A Sun Squadra 5speed. Managed a few that had to be 40ft or more as we were flying into them.

Anyday out on the road now is a pleasure. Sometimes the shitty weather adds to the greatness.

pinno

BTW. They aren't 'delicate' and they have inherent suspension.

Stevo_666

pinarello001 wrote:

BTW. They aren't 'delicate' and they have inherent suspension.

They are if you ride the routes that I ride...

Anyhow, I notice you haven't posted a 'most fun' ride. Try mountain biking then you might be able to post something

tlw1

Loads of different ones, ranging from the feeling of freedom as a kids to achievement doing epics

Always been fun, even when it's been hard going as otherwise why do it?

Re dirty fun, either the early mountain biking days when we used to play on an old golf course or when we started going to CYB when it first opened

Flâneur

I would like to add, any day I see a friend take a fall/hit/slide and gets back up

veronese68

Our pub wobbles are always good, standard route is 11 miles with 5 pubs. Outbound is along the tow path from Kingston to Richmond with a refreshment stop at either end and a break by Teddington Lock part way along. Then up Richmond Hill for a pint at the top. Then back through Richmond Park trying to avoid suicidal deer for a pint in the local.
The route can be varied slightly but it's a good distance as the desperately unfit can cope and I never get too thirsty. Strange how I'm always the one buying the drinks at the top of the hill. Something to do with getting there first and still being able to breathe perhaps. I once did it on a 1970s folder with a 3 speed just to show the others how slow they really are. That was kind of fun in a weird way.

CiB

Racing the wife & kids in the car down from the top of the Great Orme to the tram station at the bottom. 3 minutes of stupidity, huge fun.

Dropping down from the top of the Wicklow Mtns nr Dublin. And drafting a milk tankerfor a while at 45+mph along the A52 past The Queen's Med when I lived up that way

tangled_metal

The first ride out where our young son was really enjoying the ride. It was on a child seat on my partner's bike, he was about 9 months old and and he was highly animated about what he could see. Too young to talk but he had this phrase that sounded like a rising "Aaawwww!" sound wheneve he saw something else or we pointed something out to him. That was on the canal towpath that goes round the back of our house. We did that a lot that late summer especially since I had just got a new hybrid bike.

Later on I have to say the first ride out with him in our burley trailer when we went for a ride on the road - a straight there and back for about an hour. It was our first on road ride as a family (I had been on the road with the trailer and son once before but mostly as a complete family unit it was always off road routes like cycle paths or a mixed use promenade at the seafront. It proved to my partner that the child -trailer on the road is safe enough and cars tend to avoid it like the plague because they know itis a kid in there. If we had been on bikes with child seat the cars would be closer. I know I have experienced it.

slowbike

I've had a lot of enjoyable rides - from the club run to sportives to holiday rides.... I'm not sure I'd describe any of them as "fun" although they were enjoyable in their own way.

The track day (well few hours) was fun - but in a different way.
The ride around Silverstone was also fun.

I think the most "fun" times I've had haven't been to do with me riding at all - it was helping my niece take her first few rides without stablisers - or if I've got to be on the bike then it's assisting another niece back up a cyclepath with her enjoying being pushed along "fast" - or perhaps it was the other niece (the first one) riding back from a coffee shop (having been driven there) and leading out the whole way - huge mileage for one so young back then ...

tangled_metal

Veronese68 wrote:

Strange how I'm always the one buying the drinks at the top of the hill. Something to do with getting there first and still being able to breathe perhaps. I once did it on a 1970s folder with a 3 speed just to show the others how slow they really are. That was kind of fun in a weird way.

Show off! I used to be like that with the guys I cycled with. First to the top, last to the bar though. Well my bike lock is a real fiddle and takes at least 5 -10 minutes (depending how far back the chasing group is)!! Mind you they were all slow riders on MTB with knobbly tyres and using granny gears while I was on my old road bike pumping away in a higher gearing because to me it is easier to just go for it and get up a hill than spinning away in a granny gear.

Reminds me of another thing I like about cycling with a group. That is how my ancient (20 year old+) road bike was able to freewheel more efficiently than any other bike in our group. We'd cycle up a hill, wait until everyone re-grouped then go slowly downhill freewheeling all the way, building up speed. I could start after anyone in the group and still overtake them. The old bike just ran so smoothly. A mate once said it was down to the old style, loose bearings in a race and not in those cartridges you get now. That made the bike have a slightly lower friction in the hubs. I seriously don't know about that but that freewheeling race thing was fun.

finchy

On my road bike - club run in about 2009 over a very undulating course. We raced every single climb - probably about 20 or 30 of them. Absolutely killed our legs and the cake stop was very welcome that day.

On the mountain bike - with my little boy a couple of weeks ago. We went on our usual circuit, but it had been raining hard and every dip was full of muddy water. He loved every splash, slide and bump, was clapping and screaming and shouting "Mo! Mo! Mo!", which is LittleFinchy-talk for "more, more, more".

pblakeney

Tangled Metal wrote:

A mate once said it was down to the old style, loose bearings in a race and not in those cartridges you get now. That made the bike have a slightly lower friction in the hubs. I seriously don't know about that but that freewheeling race thing was fun.

He is wrong.
It was weight.

homers_double

Probably at Sleepless In The Saddle, lapping that all day in a team of four with a load of other guys as support crew.

pinno

Veronese68 wrote:

Our pub wobbles are always good, standard route is 11 miles with 5 pubs. Outbound is along the tow path from Kingston to Richmond with a refreshment stop at either end and a break by Teddington Lock part way along. Then up Richmond Hill for a pint at the top. Then back through Richmond Park trying to avoid suicidal deer for a pint in the local.

I know that route (roughly) having spent some time in Hampton Hill.

What's the name of the pub as you come out of Hampton Court and turn left? to where the square shaped green is?

Akirasho

... hard to limit it to one but here goes...

A good friend wanted to do her first century ride evah! She is a very strong rider but had never done that distance (close) so I wanted to be there in support.

Also, I wanted it to be a tad of a surprise. I'd informed her that I would try to make it but if she didn't hear from me by 6 AM, then start without. Adding to the surprise, I rode the 44 mile distance from door to door (Dayton to Cincy), starting around 3 AM. I called via cellie around 5:45, telling her... "Yeah, I just wanted to call and let you know that I am sorry... but I'm standing on your front porch now". YAY!

We packed up our bikes and gear into a car and along with her hubby, proceeded to our start down on the Ohio river. There, we met up with two other riders and our journey began.





Basically, we followed the Ohio eastward to the town of Ripley ( http://www.ripleyohio.net/ )... an historically significant town as it was a stop along the "Underground Railroad".





There, we had lunch before crossing the Ohio via ferry and starting our return from Augusta on the Kentucky side of the river.













The Ohio side of the river is relatively flat and we made good time. The Kentucky side is rolling to hilly but the group dynamics were good and we made good time. Then about 30 miles outta Newport, our little group was passed by another cyclist (a friendly guy) which caused one of our group to hop (we were hovering in the low 20s at the time). We did not see our rider again until we met him at a convenience store in Newport (he was good enuff to have cold drinks waiting)!!! It was "magic" (even with a decent paceline, we could not hold the wheel of these two once it began).



Here, we are crossing back into Ohio at Cincy.



Total for newbie's century was a shade over 106 miles at an average of around 16.4. While I had planned to ride home afterwards, a blister on my foot curtailed that plan and I accepted a ride home (I know, I'm a whimp and only managed 150 for the day).

This was a magical day. The energy was incredible (all felt relatively good and figured we'd actually taken it "easy"). Sadly, the rider who jumped was diagnosed with ALS a few months later and has since had to abandon cycling. On a happier note, I was there to witness what, for an amateur rider, was a magnificent performance!

FUN!

Beltaine

A brilliant post and photo's, Akirasho, thanks for posting them !

vinnymarsden

As a group we did the Coast to Coast in May this year…first day was a bit of a detour to take in the Lake District..namely Hardknott & Wrynose Pass…overall the first day was somewhere in the region of 80 miles with a LOT of good hills out of Windermere etc ending at Kirkby Stephen on the edge of the Lakes.
Brilliant day, great weather and company…
The measure of any ride I always think is if you would do it again…and I would in a heartbeat…Hardknott is/was insane but looking back it was soooo rewarding to ge tho the top…after only 1 stop for a 4X4 coming down!!!!

bobmcstuff

Mountain biking Porcupine Rim in Moab, Utah was pretty damn good.

On the road, Edinburgh-Aberdeen cycle I organised last year with work for charity was very good. There were 15-20 of us and it was great fun.

Done a few fantastic rides in the Cairngorms as well.

cougie

I've had some brilliant days out climbing in the Alps.

Or the first decent ride I had after building my first custom 531 bike up. Descending a hill and passing an open top Ferrari. LIke the Magnum one.

(Ok he was stuck behind a caravan, but it still counts)

ai_1

Hard to say "most fun" but descending mount Teide in Tenerife has to be on my shortlist.
After a few hours of hard slog to get from the beach at El Medano to the ridge at something over 2100m you have both the satisfaction of completing a very tough climb and the anticipation of 35km of continuous descent. After the descent, throw on the swimming gear and wade into the sea at El Medano to cool down and relax the legs. Great way to spend a morning!

CiB wrote:

....Dropping down from the top of the Wicklow Mtns nr Dublin...

There's some nice stretches in the Wicklow Mountains. The descent from the Wicklow Gap to Laragh is one enjoyable example.

mr_goo

All the best cycling days I've had are pottering about on mountain bikes with my son either in the New Forest or cycling the cliff top path from Barton on Sea to Milford on Sea/Keyhaven. Just fun, with none of this nonsense that we get worked up into about beating PBs on Strava. We did one ride in the New Forest a few years ago on a wonderful sunny summers day, Burley to the Canadian War Monument through the enclosures and came across a small group of people just looking out across an open stretch of forest. Under a tree sheltering from the sun was the below animal (not actual one). It was a couple hundred meters away. Quite amazing to see close up.

Anonymous

The White Buck! haha. Isn't that usually around Burley village somewhere?

chris_bass

Not sure if it was the most fun but definitely the most interesting was a few years back when i cycled to paris, on the final day i fell off, had a trip to the hospital, was told to keep my arm in a sling for 2 weeks and given some very potent pain killers, I didn;t know what they were or what they did as it was all in French. so had the next day off and decided to do the route I should have done if i hadn't fallen off the opposite direction so I kind of completed the journey. Just over 100 miles, with a very painful shoulder meaning I could really signal right (luckily not such a problem in France) but pretty much off my face on pain killers!! good times!