I do 90% of my riding on one route which has 3 elements I can mix and match: 2 10 mile loops and a 4.2 mile loop. Probably 40% of my yearly miles are done doing rides that consist of just multiple laps on the 4.2 mile loop.
I ride this way for safety reasons but I have to confess I do feel more comfortable intimately knowing the roads I ride and not being too far from home in case of an emergency or equipment failure.
How many of you cover the same ground over and over?
That would drive me nuts. I have some routes of different lengths. But I love to stick a county map in my jersey pocket and just ride. Sometimes I get lost and I often have to back track but everything east of me is rural road so I’m pretty safe.
It would depend where you live. I live in a rural area with miles of low traffic roads nearby. In some urban centers traffic is so high that short safe loops may be the only option.
My favorite ride is from my home up to my cottage. IMHO nothing quite like riding ‘somehwere’ and get there.
My usual rides are one big loop.
I always pick my routes by the width of the paved shoulder. I like to run different routes but I feel safer on well traveled (by bikes) roads. The local police even frequent some of these roads on (extra on Sunday) a regular basis to keep the traffic speeds low.
Rick
That would drive me nuts.
Ditto. I’ve got to mix things up.
How about a little of both? Living in a rural area I have lots of different routes depending on winds, hills, distance etc. It is also fun periodically to just say, “where does this go?” and find out. Safety isn’t too much of an issue because the cell phone and a friend or two are usually avail. I would get too bored with the gerbil thing.
I think pretty much everybody has their routes that they train on. The 50mile loop, the 100mile flat, 100mile hilly, 25mile ez, etc. Don’t train everything on the same pavement. Where’s the fun? When I’m biking, I like to go see places. It’s nice to be able to ride to a place far away from home. As far as equipment failure goes, what do you have in mind? Flat tires you can fix. Broken spokes, you can make it home. Shifter/ shift cable snap, you can always ride home in an easy gear.
Where are you from? I’m sure you can find nice routes to ride.
go out there and have fun. good luck!
I have 30km to get out of the busy towns and then I just decided from there what I want to ride. There is a nice 90km loop that is flat with one small climb (like a tri). Everything else is just a matter of what climbs I want to do. Probably 30 for me to choose from and I mix them up.
Sometimes I go CRAZY and do some backwards (descend a section instead of climbing it).
4.2mi loop. That is a run loop, not a bike loop. That would be ~20laps for an 80mi ride. Crazy.
I have lots of pretty calm road out where I live. Mostly I stick to well paved wide lane roads. Not a lot of bike lanes around, but plenty of quiet hillbilly roads.