Favorite organized rides in your area?

[MomOnBike]

RAGBRAI.

Last week of July. Iowa. 10,000 of your closest drinken friends on bicycles. Heat. Humidity. Hills.

I've never ridden in a large organized ride before, preferring my rides to be small and disorganized, but the rolling party known as RAGRAI has been on my Life List since I first heard of it. DH & I are riding this year.

[Fredwina]

I'm also putting a plug for my club's , the tour de foothills (www.tourdefoothills.com), you do some climbing (1/4 way up Mt. Baldy), plus lot of riding thourgh SoCal Surburbia. The route may change this year now that GMR will be open to cars.....)
Other clubs, I like two centurys the Orange County Wheelmen (www.ocw.org) put on.
The Amtrak century goes from Irvine to Sand Diego, the Last half of the ride is along the coast. Once you get to San Diego, you board a commuter train and ride back to Irvine
Ride around the Bear goes from Redlands to Big Bear Lake and back. it has 9,000+ feet of climbing. It tookme about 10 hours, but it was worth it.

[Aint Doody]

Here's my plug the CROC--Century Ride of the Centuries--in beautiful eastern Oregon over Memorial Day Week-end. It's cheapo--$110, fully supported, lotsa food, night at a Dude Ranch, themed SAG stops, great scenery (only time Eastern Oregon is green), limited to 250, so much more.

www.cyclependleton.com

Xrayted--take a look!

[KayTee]

The Peanut rides, each year outside Emporia, VA, on the weekend after Labor Day - http://www.greatpeanuttour.com/. You see everything from families with little kiddies on pink bikes w/streamers to fatfree racer types on carbon flyweights. There are beautifully marked routes and distances for everyone (13-100+ miles), and terrain is fairly flat except for the more rolling Lake Gaston routes on Friday. The big draw, however, is the FOOD. You gain weight riding from food to food, especially on Saturday and Sunday. Rest stops all feature different offerings - you might expect a Peanut Stop, a Cookie Stop and a Cake Stop at an organized ride, but how about a Cucumber Stop, Gazpacho Stop, Homemade Ice Cream Stop, Watermelon Pickle Stop, Popsicle Stop...on and on. My favorite is the Tomato Sandwich Stop. The website says they don't offer lunch - what a laugh! Registration is limited to about 1200, so the roads are never too crowded. It's a party. Come on out!

[SandyLS]

The primere ride in Michigan is a 4 or five day camping tour of the state called the DALMAC. It is held just before Labor Day weekend each year.It starts in East Lansing and ends at Mackinaw City. Riders choose from several routes some of which include riding across the Mighty Mac bridge that connects the upper and lower penisulas of the state. There are 500 riders on each route and all routes fill up just days after registration starts in early Feb. This will be my second year to do this ride. Three grandkids, a daughter and S-I-L, are riding with me along with my DH, our faithfull support driver.

[AuntieK]

Gotta put a vote in for Little Red Riding Hood:
http://www.bbtc.net/Calendar/annual/lrrhinfo07.htm

[roguedog]

awww..shoot. i better start racking up frequent flyer miles.. these look fun and interesting...

[missymaya]

The HotternHell ride looks fun. Would give me a good reason to go out west
We have the Horrible Hundred held in November and includes all of central Florida's "mountains" like Sugarloaf and Citrus Towers. A lot of cyclists show up for this one,but not as many as 10,000! http://www.horriblehundred.com/

[PinkBike]

el Tour de Tucson. definitely.

[texascyclist]

I have to second The Hotter 'n Hell 100 in Wichita Falls, TX. Although I have not ridden it yet either, which I will this year, my DH has. I went with him last year and actually there were close to 12,000 participants. It was an amazing site. Taken from the local newspaper......[The 25th anniversary cycling event on Aug. 26, 2006, The Hotter 'n Hell Hundred, is one of the oldest and largest events in the United States and this year attracted 11,806 bicycle riders and racers.]

The Hotter n Hell is extremely well organized and the rest stops are out of this world, with each having their own theme, doctors and repair area. It's a whole weekend of fun.

I copied this from the website......Several things happen during the Hotter'N Hell weekend. The activities that comprise the HHH are: Registration, Consumer Show, Spaghetti Dinner, USCF Criterium Race, USCF Road Race, the Hotter'N Hell Hundred Endurance Ride , an Off-Road bicycle race, off road trail run along with entertainment food and fellowship at the Finish line Village. In other words HHH is not just one day it is at least 3 days of challenging and inspiring activities.

Endurance cyclists will face wind and heat with the help of 4000 event volunteers on routes up to 100 miles. The Hotter'N Hell Hundred route is rolling with some long inclines accentuated by incessant wind. With the huge consumer products show, off road mountain biking and USCF Races over the weekend, the Hotter'N Hell offers an awesome start and the greatest weekend on two wheels. If you are going to ride 100 miles, the best place to do it is at the Hotter'N Hell Hundred!

It was the fear from the amount of participants that kept me from actually riding in it myself. But after going with my DH and experiencing all the excitement and fun first-hand.....and meeting so many people who love to ride, I will definetly not miss out this year.

[IntenseRide]

RAGBRAI.

Last week of July. Iowa. 10,000 of your closest drinken friends on bicycles. Heat. Humidity. Hills.

I've never ridden in a large organized ride before, preferring my rides to be small and disorganized, but the rolling party known as RAGRAI has been on my Life List since I first heard of it. DH & I are riding this year.

As a former Iowan, you will love it!

[roadie gal]

"America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride". It goes around Lake Tahoe. Going around the lake itself is 72 miles. They add an extra out and back to Truckee to get you to a century if you want.

Also, in this area is the Tahoe Sierra Century. It goes from Squaw Valley up over Donner Summit and winds through Truckee. A TON of climbing. This ride is run by a friend of mine and the money goes to a great cause: music programs in our middle and high schools. http://www.tahoesierracentury.com/


Another challenging, but very pretty century is the Sierra Century in the Gold Country area. You wind through small towns and vineyards. I did it about 6 years ago. It was one of the best supported rides I've ever done. It looks like they've changed the route for this year, but I'd bet it's still a great ride.
http://www.sacwheelmen.org/sc2007/07home.html