Best of 2017 - What was your best ride/experience/accomplishment of 2017?

What was your best ride/experience/accomplishment of 2017?

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Permalink Reply by Alex Z on December 28, 2017 at 4:23am

Rode to Hammond for lunch with a former co-worker on a Saturday AM, then rode to Bohemian National Cemetary for a concert, then back home. A 67-miler! :)

Also rode from St. Louis to western MO--250 miles over 4.5 days. Almost all of this was on the Katy Trail, which I recommend--though it turns out biking eastbound is better because eastbound it's mostly downhill...

Permalink Reply by LJS on December 28, 2017 at 5:11am

Katy Trail is great...I did eastbound (Sedalia to St Louis) back in 2014 in about 4-5 days as well.  Easy to get to from Chicago via Amtrak as well.  I didn't even know about the slight downhill coming east, but figured I wanted to end in STL to get a picture of me and my bike next to the Arch!

Most memorable part of that trip for me was when I arrived in Coopers Landing (?) after the one restaurant there was closed, and tried calling the local pizza place which was closed too.  But after offering a $20 tip on a $20 order they delivered to me at the trailhead! :) 

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on December 28, 2017 at 6:43am

I believe it is nearly 100% downhill from Jefferson City to St. Louis--maybe even from Boonville/New Franklin to St. Louis, not sure about that though.

But the western portion is a little more up-and-down. I was surprised how noticeable the ups and downs were. I'd be biking at 9mph, thinking, "Man, I'm dragging," and then all of a sudden I'd be going 13mph with no change in effort.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on January 24, 2018 at 11:47am

What rme of year did you do that ride. Did you do out and bqck? If not how did you get back ro the starting point?

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on January 25, 2018 at 3:51am

Mid/late September. Unfortunately it was still 95 degrees the entire week!

I Amtrak'ed to St. Louis, stayed at an Airbnb, and got up early to bike to the trailhead northwest of St. Louis. STL is a wonderful biking city, but the NW suburbs are less so. I took the sidewalk for a few stretches. Actually the Airbnb host rode with me for a bit of the way. :)

I spent four nights on the trail: Marthasville (night one), Jefferson City (night two), Boonville (night three), and Windsor (night four). On the fifth day I biked back east toward Sedalia, where I met up with Amtrak to head home.

For timing reasons I didn't quite make it to the Katy Trail's western terminus (Clinton). Also, at Windsor the Katy Trail intersects with the Rock Island trail, which you can take northwest toward Kansas City. The Rock Island trail apparently is in pretty rough shape. If they smooth it out and extend it it would be awesome to bike directly from STL to KC (or vice versa, which would give you more downhill time).

Highly recommend the Katy Trail! If you've biked west from Joliet on the I&M, or east from Pittsburgh on the GAP, it is a similar feel to that. Be mindful that west of Boonville it gets fairly desolate--not many opportunities to stop and get a Gatorade, etc.

Permalink Reply by curt(is) locke on January 17, 2018 at 7:39am

The 83 Perimeter Rides of the city of Chicago. First PR of the year was on an overcast January 23rd with temps running between 39 and 43 degrees. The last PR was on a sunny December 20th with temps running from 46 up to 50 and dropping down to 42 by early evening.

Permalink Reply by Dave Jacque on January 17, 2018 at 8:28am

Tried the Kickstand Classic bicycle "race" back in October. It was a hoot. I did the 19 miles at an average speed 16.26 mph. I handily beat my goal of 15 mph, and finished 236th out of 349 participants -- but 2nd out of 11 in my age group. Next year’s goal: finish in the top half.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on January 17, 2018 at 8:55am

Nice! Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on January 17, 2018 at 10:55am

Ride: Promintory Point. Experience: Watching the dogs have fun at the dog beach. Accomplishment: Not getting hurt and still riding at this advanced age.

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on January 17, 2018 at 3:02pm

"Never Stop Pedaling!" ". . ." My personal cycling inspiration motto passed on to me from a late cyclist.
Like Gene Tener, I am a mature rider and the next ride is usually the best ride. :-)

But my best ride/experience/accomplishment of 2017 was;

'The Midnight Bike Ride' with Professor Gilfoyle from L.U.

After a tough cycling season with health issues and disappointment from cancelled fun rides I happened on Professor Timothy's ride to join in from 10pm till 5am riding with the 'kids', alumni and friends. I ended up helping out with minor repairs from mechanical's and getting greased blackened hands from a lot of dropped chains but really enjoyed being with everyone on this ride. Hope all is good for the next ride! . . .

Permalink Reply by JeffB on January 19, 2018 at 10:52am

Passing 100,000 km (62K+ miles) since I started keeping track back in 2005

Permalink Reply by Tim Heckman on January 22, 2018 at 6:41pm

I had two.  For my birthday, a friend (OLB) and I rode from Oak Park to Genoa City, where I picked up a six pack of New Glarus Spotted Cow, and returned the same day.  The trip home from Elgin on after sunset on the Prairie Path was unique.

Earlier in the summer, I left work after a half day and camped outside Morris.  The next day, I made it close to Ottawa before the trail faded away, and returned to Oak Park the same day.  One hundred ten miles in a day on a Cross Check loaded with camping gear was pretty darn tough.

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