Ok, so there are still a few weeks to go until the end of the year, but what, so far has been your benchmark ride?

Despite the weather, yesterday offered up an epic 29 miles starting in Llangollen and riding up and across the panorama and into Llandegla for a lap before stopping for lunch. Post lunch we then rode upto the mast towers before taking the superb Singletrack down to the road.

Highlights? Finding some natural rocky drop offs on the top of the panorama and clowning about there for a bit. The awesome, empty, rolling natural trails that are sat on our doorstep. Getting wet and muddy and tired but not caring as we were having so much fun.

What’s yours?

Had a great ride in the Surrey Hills in April ish, first really fast, warm, dry ride. Good company, 45 miles or so, I was riding like less of a mong than usual. Fun times.

Done a few that qualify..
The Wessex Ridgeway I did last week was Awesomnez, done on the CX’er with an overnight stay in a superb Farm.
And
Raphas “three days in Yorkshire”, done on the roadie. Starts in York, up into the North York Moors to Helmsley, Hemlsley to Masham over the top, Masham to Broughton Hall through Nidderdale/Grassington.
Bloody marvellous.

Back in August, one Saturday morning, I was out of the house by 6am to embark on a 36 mile loop taking in the Kent North Downs ridge from Vigo through to Detling. It had rained the night before, so was very slippery, but the sun was out and shining through the trees casting beams of light across the trail. Absolutely beautiful. Got back just before 10 am and spent the rest of the day doing family stuff.

It’s got to be toss up between Nan Bield and Ullock Pike.

More importantly I can’t remember a bad (or even meh) ride.

It would have to be part of my first ever trip to the Alps. Pila to Aosta following Stevo from the White Room. An insanely good run. Only about 16 mins but the highlight of my mtb year 🙂

Hardly ridden this year but a loop around Windermere in beautiful weather with my wife for company, stopping for posh lunch at Lakeside Hotel and finishing down Jenkins Cragg stands out.

The epic Torridon lollipop probably edges it.

Even though my shock was shagged I still managed to raise a smile at the end of the Achnashellach descent.

Used to do the OP’s route (minus the trail centre bit) and similar back in the mid 90s when I was at NEWI in Wrexham. Riding up there is awesome.

My ride of the year has to be the morning I spent with a bunch of crazy Germans in Molini, them all on Demo 8s, body armour, full face etc and me in borrowed kit on a borrowed Nukeproof. RivieraBike’s guide Rich got me to follow his lines and I had a whale of a scary, blurry fast morning hooning down mountainsides feeling like a riding God.

http://www.mapmyride.com/gb/musselburgh-sct/merse-and-moors-fae-musselburgh-route-173160252

Probably that but with 15 miles added to either end. It was just one of those perfect days spent in good company and just what I needed on that particular day.

erm, it’s not the end of the year (just) yet.

Endomondo says I’ve not ridden anywhere near as much as I should have.

So… the only no local rides I have, that could qualify as a “ride of the year” are…

Singltrek Pod Smrkem, which is mostly in Czech Republic, with a bit in Poland
or
Roadie loop that started in Austria, crossed in to Liechtenstein, then hopped over in to Switzerland for a bit. (was more of a walking in the mountain’s holiday tbh).

This one was up there. Usually, exploring in Donegal in September involves carrying the bike through a bog for 3 hours and getting hypothermia but everything clicked that day. Weather, scenery, trails…

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tizn7CkUQ9Y[/video]

It is a tough one. Had a good year on the bike. A fast 3 peaks ride, first 200mile road ride. A very hilly 160 miler taking in the mighty Dun fell, crossing Southern Italy in June, road racing, cx racing. But for me the one that stands out is my first full day in Majorca.

http://www.strava.com/activities/139934565

for being the start of a great holiday somewhere I’d wanted to ride for a number of years and the foundation for a great year of cycling.

Ooooh. Ben Avon down to the Falls of Avon in glorious sunshine. 😀 Coniston Old Man in the Spring was pretty damn fine too!

Probably the overnighter to Camban bothy & back. It was nice cos I organised the whole trip from Yorkshire for a bunch of inexperienced riders who’d never done anything like that before & got them there & back in one piece. Good weather helped too. Already planning another for next year cos it went that well!

I did what sounds to be exactly the same ride route as the OP, except that day, the weather was rather, er, Welsh, and we were absolutely soaked to the skin! But it was still a great ride (coming down the narrow, somewhat cheeky trail off the top, in what was more of a small river than an actual path was a lot of fun (we were so wet by that point, it didn’t matter!) and meant i could add “Hucked off a small waterfall” to my riding repertoire!

BUT: I think my ride of the year was probably the day we went up over Mt Jovet, Les Arcs, with The White Room in July.
It wasn’t, by far, our most technical day out (having done the (in)famous La Varda the day before!!) but i really enjoyed it. It was the last day of the week, the weather was amazing, and we just flowed down off the mountain effortlessly, with max gravity on our side! Terrific!

It took a bit of this:

But that lead to this:

And then some of this:

Of course some time for this:

Into a bit of this:

and that:

And a bit more of this:

Ending up here:

Tired, but with massive MTB smiles all round:

Roll on summer 2015!! 😉

Aston hill a few months back in the bone dry. I thought it would be too much for me, but it was most excellent.
Not sure I would like it in the wet though.

Road: Stage five of the Tour of Britain over Dartmoor and following into Exeter.
MTB: Afan with the kids, especially Teen2 who resolutely would not climb penhydd, but went around a second time – real guts.
Race: Finishing an E123 with average speed of 28.8 mph and middle tritile too 😀

Mine was BPW earlier in the year, didn’t get there as much as I planned this year, but when I do, it’s just superb.

Sadly for me, my riding mates these days are not really compatible with my riding, one only wants road, the other is having a bit of a riding time off mostly, the last only does racing.

Me, I want the long epic days in the saddle out in the hills enjoying the sun.

Probably a solo road 100 miler round Snowdonia/Anglesey on a lovely day in July. Sun, stops for cake and ice cream, some great roads, and a couple of beers in the evening.

Also a couple of late summer evening Cannock trips with the sun coming through the trees.

Haven’t been out much this year 🙁

Where you based Weeksy?

Singltrek Pod Smrkem, which is mostly in Czech Republic, with a bit in Poland

That was going to be mine. Did a bit of a European road trip in the summer and spent a while in Czech.

Went to Gieskopf bikepark in Germany, where their Flow trail is just insanely fun. Top to bottom swoops and jumps and berms and floaty rises..Just amazing.

But I think my favorite hasI to be my first run down the Hackleberg trail in Saalbach, Austria. I always tend to love my first runs the best. Not knowing what’s coming, but knowing the grade of the trail is such that there are unlikely to be any nasty surprises.
Brilliant trail, nice and long, stunning scenery, read and run amazingness 🙂

Got to be Hell of The North Hertfordshire – March I think. 115m in total starting from South London – riding to the start point somewhere in North London then God knows how many offroad paths around Hertfordshire (on the winter road bike) and ending up back in Brixton for tea, medals and beer. Epic, scenic and a lot of fun

28 miles round the Long Mynd in July. Absolutely perfect day for it and I rode some new stuff I hadn’t yet tried plus the awesome Minton Batch and Little Stretton descents. Love the mynd, shame it’s a bit far away to ride as regularly as I’d like

I have enjoyed the last two Mayhem’s, but my ride of the year has got to be the Isle of Mull Cyclosportive that I did in June.

Superb organisation, weather, route, and scenery.

Mind you, knowing the island as well as I do, if it had been wet and raining (as so easily it could), then it would have been a tough old ride.

Had a dusty Cut Gate ride one Sumner evening, great riding and great company. Also enjoyed exploring some new bridleways on my tourer, Eastern Moors, just outside Sheffield.

28 miles round the Long Mynd in July. Absolutely perfect day for it and I rode some new stuff I hadn’t yet tried plus the awesome Minton Batch and Little Stretton descents. Love the mynd, shame it’s a bit far away to ride as regularly as I’d like

Weirdly, same place, same month. One of the most fun rides I’ve had for a long time, despite a comedy OTB into a ditch and a slight run in with a rude lady cyclist.

Done some fab stuff around Morzine etc, but if im quite honest it was a recent ride around the Black mountains. We did the killer loop ( Crickhowell-hermitage- y das- Gwyn Fawr) which was just sublime and a real change from our usual 50k fod stuff. Great autumn weather and unusual trail conditions helped.

So many good rides this year but two in particular stand out.

1. EWS at Tweedlove. Cracking event with great riding, craic and weather.

2. Torridon loop while on holiday in the Highlands. Again cracking weather. This time a solo ride with the Coire Lair descent really standing out.

Here’s to 2015 being an even better year!

I suppose the Buzzard 600km should be, as that earned me my Super Randoneur.

But my day in Belgium with locals and riding Muur, Koppenberg, Kwaremont, Paterberg and the rest was a classic.

Not reaching the summit of Superbagneres was the low light…..don’t ask.

A weekend at Grizedale with friends, might be the last of our annual Easter trips for a while due to some more of us having family commitments. The descent off Parkamoor was a highlight but there was half a dozen great descents over the three rides. And all rides started at the campsite and finished at the pub.

Had a dusty Cut Gate ride one Sumner evening, great riding and great company.

Cut Gate was on my shortlist, bone dry in July and strangely reminded me of Torridon.

I’ve managed a lot of riding this year, Alps and a few trips to BPW but I have to admit I’ve enjoyed riding the ‘community built’ stuff at Castle Coch (north Cardiff) mid-week after-work, but it’s rubbish in winter, can’t wait for BST to roll back around!

Far too many candidates this year but the headline ones would be…

Road. Visiting the girlfriend midweek down in Braunton in April, she had to attend a training course that she was unaware of giving me an unexpected pass to go and play on an empty and very sunny Exmoor. 😀

Mountain bike. Last week in the peaks with 7 mates. Not done nearly enough mtb this year and that was the most fun I have had on two wheels for some time.

Has to be Antur Stiniog earlier in the summer! Totally different type of riding to what I’m used too. Fantastic day!

the Fred Whitton
riding a bike hard against the clock against my favourite landscapes in the world

Thursday 22nd May, the ‘Descent to Olette’ with Altitude Adventure.

This one. Wilds of Kintail with a 7km singletrack descent dropping 550m to sea level.

Either the 300km/4800m ascent Dragon Devil, or the ride from Lienz to GrossGlockner Hochtor. Started at 25C, finished in snow, 4C. Ran out of energy, short finger gloves, light gilet and armwarmers. Brrrr.

Strudel at the top was awesome.

Toss up between BPW & chasing 5 fast Frenchmen from the top of Le Semnoz to Lake Annecey via their locals trails. In fact Le Semnoz wins because I had to step a country mile out of my comfort zone to keep up. I’m still amazed at what my bike can do when I relax and go for it 🙂