The Chainlink

What Does Your Epic Bike Year Look Like?

If you could make a year include all the awesome you want to do (or one or two REALLY BIG rides), what would it look like? MTB? Ride across the U.S.? Race? 

I've been thinking about this a lot lately - asking myself what my "epic" year would look like. I am hoping/planning/training for 2017 to be my precursor to that year and I'm really excited. I don't know what I'll do in 2018 but I do plan on it being epic (at least for me! ;-). 

So share what your epic year would look like - your dream ride(s), plan, goals. Do you have a plan to put it in motion or is it still in the dreaming/thinking phase?

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Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on November 21, 2016 at 10:51am

My idea of an epic bike year isn't really too epic, but here are a few things I want to accomplish in the upcoming year:

     1.  Find my first mountain bike ever.

     2.  Hang around Big Marsh a bit with that bike and avoid serious injury.

     3.  Ride from home near 40th and Western to my friend's place in Bridgman, Michigan.  Planning has already started, thanks to help from Chainlink members.  So has "conditioning" -- meaning that all the Halloween candy is gone now.

     4.  Learn something about bikepacking and perhaps spend a night at Indiana Dunes on my way to Bridgman.  Maybe go to Starved Rock for a weekend.

     5.  Finally get my lazy butt to the Major Taylor Trail, and perhaps a few others.  Do the Botanic Garden ride again.      

     6.  Try out those nice studded snow tires I bought off Craigslist and put on wheels two years ago.

     7.  Work on doing better on hills, now that I know that the bridge at Archer and Ashland does not actually count as a hill.     

     8.  Do a century when I'm not hungover.     

     9.  Learn how to turn spoke nipples in the right direction on the first, second, or at least third try.

     10.  Did I mention avoiding serious injury?

Permalink Reply by Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin on November 21, 2016 at 11:34am

Here's the plan, though I don't know how I'll make it work with my job (whatever, details):

Start the year off with Barry Roubaix in late March, and then jump into April with the Rough Road 100. From there, chill until May before suffering through the Badlands Gravel Battle. I'd love to do the Dirty Kanza 200 as follow-up, but it overlaps with the start of the Trans Am Bike Race, which I'm doing instead because more miles is better miles. I'd really like to head straight back to the west coast afterward and do the Steens-Mazama 1000, but I can't take off that much time unless I quit my job (tempting) and my legs will probably be dead anyway so I basically plan on sleeping until cyclocross season starts up, and then doing that.

Maybe I'll try out Mountain biking too.

Should be a good year.

Permalink Reply by Tiberculosis on November 21, 2016 at 12:41pm

West Coast ride, Vancouver to San Diego is on top of my list. Aids Life cycle also up there, basically things I didn't do while I lived out there. Something like RAGBRAI or other multi-day ride in the near future is probably a more obtainable goal. Time (and planning) are probably my major hurdles. There are plenty of endurance MTB races as well that are well regarded. Bailey's story of the Tour Divide was pretty inspiring. Pushing the threshold is always appealing.

Permalink Reply by Fran Kondorf on November 22, 2016 at 12:42pm

I still need to do a trip to at least the dunes or Zion. I've been all packed up then thwarted by weather in the past.

But I'll be happy just surviving da' mean streets of the city for another year!

Permalink Reply by Jasmin on November 22, 2016 at 5:39pm

I would just like to have a week of riding through epic scenery. Italy, New Zealand, the continental divide...anywhere that's interesting really.

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on November 28, 2016 at 10:12am

I'd love to ride in New Zealand - MTB and road. I dream of going to Italy and riding through Tuscany. So many amazing places. :-)

Permalink Reply by JJ Kim on November 22, 2016 at 10:36pm

Barry Roubaix again for sure. I did only once two years, short 25 miler and I was DEAD!

Arlington 500 and Ramble again this year.

Wanna try out Vernon Hills  (where I live) to WI boarder via Des Plaines River trail all the way.

A Century would be nice which I have never done.

Hope I can get 3K miles next year. So far my best was 2300 (out of my 3 short years of riding) last year.

I think it will be close to similar miles this year, maybe a little less...

But my really EPIC EPIC ride would be somewhere in west coast... somewhere I have never rode before.

Permalink Reply by Frank Brichetto on November 23, 2016 at 10:28pm

1) Ride over 400 miles in 24 hours @ N24HC, Middleville MI, Father's Day weekend.

2) Raise somewhere around $3,000 for the Bike MS Ride, DeKalb, June 10 I think is the date this year.

3) Log somewhere north of 5,000 miles for the year

4) Help get my girlfriend and another friend to and through their first century rides

5) Ride 40k in somewhere near an hour

6) Take an actual vacation and spend lots of the time riding.

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