Tell us about your best ride of the year

[warneral]

As much as I love riding alone on my roadie, my favorite rides were with my family. One was the sparta elroy trail and we rode about 22 miles. My daughter rides a novara sideburner which is a tow-behind pedalling trailer. She is 6 and is a hard little worker! I call her my turbo. DH pulls our 8 year old boy. It was a great ride b/c we drove the 1.75hrs to get there, rode up and down a portion of the trail, and then stopped at our favorite-ever pizza place for dinner. It felt like vacation even though we accomplished it on one Saturday.

Likewise on labor day, we rode from Verona to Mount Horeb on the military ridge trail in the same fashion. We stopped at the grumpy troll (which is a fun micro-brewry pub) and ended up riding 30 miles. Not too shabby on heavy bikes pulling heavy kids

[buffybike]

As much as I love riding alone on my roadie, my favorite rides were with my family. One was the sparta elroy trail and we rode about 22 miles. My daughter rides a novara sideburner which is a tow-behind pedalling trailer. She is 6 and is a hard little worker! I call her my turbo. DH pulls our 8 year old boy. It was a great ride b/c we drove the 1.75hrs to get there, rode up and down a portion of the trail, and then stopped at our favorite-ever pizza place for dinner. It felt like vacation even though we accomplished it on one Saturday.

Likewise on labor day, we rode from Verona to Mount Horeb on the military ridge trail in the same fashion. We stopped at the grumpy troll (which is a fun micro-brewry pub) and ended up riding 30 miles. Not too shabby on heavy bikes pulling heavy kids

That sounds fun! I forgot how much I enjoy riding with my 6 year old pedalling her little WeeHoo. Maybe I'll take her out tomorrow for a ride and some pizza!

[sandra]

I rode this past weekend in the Ride for Wishes which is a part of the Make a Wish Foundation. The weather could not have been any more perfect nor could the scenery have been any more gorgeous!!! It was exhilarating! Just great!

The best bit of all was that I rode over this bridge (and believe me, it is worse than it looks. Where I live is pretty flat and this is probably the most incline I've done. Once I got to the other side and saw that I could do it, I turned around and came back. It was much harder the second time.

I know this is nothing for most of you but I was pumped and proud!

[Owlie]

36 miles on July 4th. My longest ride, in some very hot and humid weather. Just felt good to know I could do it.

[DebSP]

Today was perfect! The weather was perfect, sunny and about 18 degrees Celsius. The trees are turning so the scenery was perfect. I discovered that a road just up from my house has been entirely paved (it used to be partly paved and partly gravel) and the traffic is very low so the road was perfect. And to top it off, I have been in a slump for the past month and just to get out and ride feels like an enormous effort so to actually follow through was perfect. It was only a ten mile ride but it did so much to lift my spirits!

[Aggie_Ama]

Back in late summer I had an amazing mountain bike ride, everything clicked and I made progress on a lot of obstacles. It was a big boost in my confidence and made me really proud.

[featuretile]

Today was a great ride. The sun was out (after a summer of fog), the temp was about 65. I rode with a friend who is about the same speed as me, instead of trying to keep up with the faster riders. Instead of burning out after 30 miles, I felt great after 47 miles!

We rode along the Pacific Coast from Marina, through Monterey, to Pebble Beach Golf Course on the 17 Mile Dr. (famous place). They pay about $400 to look at the same views and golf there. I get to go for free. It is about a 45 minute drive from my house and well worth it. Today it felt like they turned the color on - the ocean was turquoise, the breeze felt like an air conditioner, the ice plant on the dunes was red and green. It was just gorgeous. Most of the ride is bike path or the road has a shoulder. I feel so lucky to live here.

[Bike Chick]

I don't think I've ridden it yet I've been training for triathlons all year and now that the season is over, I'm looking forward to some casual charity rides in the coming weeks. Haven't done one all year.

[Jaclyn]

this past Sunday (10-10-10). We were married outside along the river, and then invited our family and friends to bicycle with us on our first ride as husband and wife.

We'd put bicycle bells in the favor bags, and five guests had screwdrivers to help install them while the photographer finished our photo's. Then we rode a short, slow ride to the sounds of "Daisy Bell" on a vintage Schwinn Twin tandem we'd restored.

The ride route was just off familiar territory to most of us, so our guests were surprised by the old mill with paddle wheel, the winding lake, and the peaceful setting. Oh, and may I mention that it was the warmest October day in memory (85 degrees in northwest Ohio)?

Every ride for me is memorable and beautiful in its own way ... but I was thrilled to have so many people join us on this special day. There was some concern about hairdo's under helmets, what to wear, etc ... but in the end, I think everyone had a wonderful time.

And our young grandson was so proud that he was first back, beating the Ironman and Cat I racers who were among our guests!

[sandra]

awwwww, I'd love to see pictures! Congratulations and may you have many happy years of married life ....riding together along the way.

[inkspot]

Then we rode a short, slow ride to the sounds of "Daisy Bell" on a vintage Schwinn Twin tandem we'd restored.

Sounds like a perfectly wonderful day! I would love to see photos!

[Jaclyn]

I don't have photo's from the wedding yet, but a friend shot some pictures of the restored tandem a few weeks earlier. I'll post a photo or two of the entire wedding party on bikes when I get them. There were 50+ who joined us with the remaining 30 or so enjoying the fall trees along the river.

[sandra]

Oh that's gorgeous! I can't wait to see the other pictures!

[Jaclyn]

My husband and I met at a charity bicycle ride - and our first date was on our bikes. So when we started to plan our DIY wedding, we knew it would have a bicycle theme.

So here's a few shots of my best ride of the year - my wedding day. Most of our 85 guests rode with us on our "first ride as husband and wife." We'd restored the vintage Schwinn Twin tandem.

Favor bags for our guests included red bicycle bells, the lyrics to "Daisy Bell," his (Cliff) and her (Luna) bars, bicycle wine charms, packets of daisy seeds and much more all in hand stamped bags with his, her or tandem bikes based on the guest. And we raided our house and garden to decorate the stone hall with bicycle accessories. My best friend commissioned an artist to hand blow the red bicycle glass wine goblets (I'm a amateur glass blower).

The photographer, who was awesome and rode as stoker with a friend (her first ride on a tandem) to capture the ride photo's, has more pix at http://marywyar.com/blog/2010/10/jacqueline-mike.html

[sandra]

OH! I just looked at the photographer's pics and they are just gorgeous! What a wonderful and special day. You both look so happy. I love it all, especially your dress and red shoes. You look beautiful!

Oh, and I gotta know...what is the little charm on your pearl necklace?