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Best of 2017 - What was your best ride/experience/accomplishment of 2017?

What was your best ride/experience/accomplishment of 2017?

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Rode to Hammond for lunch with a former co-worker on a Saturday AM, then rode to Bohemian National Cemetary for a concert, then back home. A 67-miler! :)

Also rode from St. Louis to western MO--250 miles over 4.5 days. Almost all of this was on the Katy Trail, which I recommend--though it turns out biking eastbound is better because eastbound it's mostly downhill...

Katy Trail is great...I did eastbound (Sedalia to St Louis) back in 2014 in about 4-5 days as well.  Easy to get to from Chicago via Amtrak as well.  I didn't even know about the slight downhill coming east, but figured I wanted to end in STL to get a picture of me and my bike next to the Arch!

Most memorable part of that trip for me was when I arrived in Coopers Landing (?) after the one restaurant there was closed, and tried calling the local pizza place which was closed too.  But after offering a $20 tip on a $20 order they delivered to me at the trailhead! :) 

I believe it is nearly 100% downhill from Jefferson City to St. Louis--maybe even from Boonville/New Franklin to St. Louis, not sure about that though.

But the western portion is a little more up-and-down. I was surprised how noticeable the ups and downs were. I'd be biking at 9mph, thinking, "Man, I'm dragging," and then all of a sudden I'd be going 13mph with no change in effort.

What rme of year did you do that ride. Did you do out and bqck? If not how did you get back ro the starting point?

Mid/late September. Unfortunately it was still 95 degrees the entire week!

I Amtrak'ed to St. Louis, stayed at an Airbnb, and got up early to bike to the trailhead northwest of St. Louis. STL is a wonderful biking city, but the NW suburbs are less so. I took the sidewalk for a few stretches. Actually the Airbnb host rode with me for a bit of the way. :)

I spent four nights on the trail: Marthasville (night one), Jefferson City (night two), Boonville (night three), and Windsor (night four). On the fifth day I biked back east toward Sedalia, where I met up with Amtrak to head home.

For timing reasons I didn't quite make it to the Katy Trail's western terminus (Clinton). Also, at Windsor the Katy Trail intersects with the Rock Island trail, which you can take northwest toward Kansas City. The Rock Island trail apparently is in pretty rough shape. If they smooth it out and extend it it would be awesome to bike directly from STL to KC (or vice versa, which would give you more downhill time).

Highly recommend the Katy Trail! If you've biked west from Joliet on the I&M, or east from Pittsburgh on the GAP, it is a similar feel to that. Be mindful that west of Boonville it gets fairly desolate--not many opportunities to stop and get a Gatorade, etc.

The 83 Perimeter Rides of the city of Chicago. First PR of the year was on an overcast January 23rd with temps running between 39 and 43 degrees. The last PR was on a sunny December 20th with temps running from 46 up to 50 and dropping down to 42 by early evening.

Tried the Kickstand Classic bicycle "race" back in October. It was a hoot. I did the 19 miles at an average speed 16.26 mph. I handily beat my goal of 15 mph, and finished 236th out of 349 participants -- but 2nd out of 11 in my age group. Next year’s goal: finish in the top half.

Nice! Good luck!

Ride: Promintory Point. Experience: Watching the dogs have fun at the dog beach. Accomplishment: Not getting hurt and still riding at this advanced age.

"Never Stop Pedaling!" ". . ." My personal cycling inspiration motto passed on to me from a late cyclist.
Like Gene Tener, I am a mature rider and the next ride is usually the best ride. :-)

But my best ride/experience/accomplishment of 2017 was;

'The Midnight Bike Ride' with Professor Gilfoyle from L.U.

After a tough cycling season with health issues and disappointment from cancelled fun rides I happened on Professor Timothy's ride to join in from 10pm till 5am riding with the 'kids', alumni and friends. I ended up helping out with minor repairs from mechanical's and getting greased blackened hands from a lot of dropped chains but really enjoyed being with everyone on this ride. Hope all is good for the next ride! . . .

Passing 100,000 km (62K+ miles) since I started keeping track back in 2005

I had two.  For my birthday, a friend (OLB) and I rode from Oak Park to Genoa City, where I picked up a six pack of New Glarus Spotted Cow, and returned the same day.  The trip home from Elgin on after sunset on the Prairie Path was unique.

Earlier in the summer, I left work after a half day and camped outside Morris.  The next day, I made it close to Ottawa before the trail faded away, and returned to Oak Park the same day.  One hundred ten miles in a day on a Cross Check loaded with camping gear was pretty darn tough.

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