2012 Rides

A good one early in the spring is the CASA ride out of Shepardstown. Capital 2 Capital in Richmond/Williamsburg is also an easy early-season ride. Here are a few links from rides I did last year. Some of these links are for previous years, but you should be able to find the current versions using your Google Fu. Some like Mountains of Misery and Civil War Century will also sell out early. The (!!!) ones are mega-hilly.

Tour de Carrol metric: http://tourdecarroll.com/App_Content/home.aspx
Six Pillars, Cambridge: http://www.6pillarscentury.org/
Queen City, Staunton, VA: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=10566
Cap 2 Cap: http://www.virginiacapitaltrail.org/page/Cap2Cap2011.aspx
CVCC, Boonsboro MD: http://www.bikecvcc.com/cvcc_century.html
Reston Century: http://www.active.com/cycling/reston-va/28th-annual-reston-bike-club-century-2010
Bay Country, Owings MD: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=11148
Tour de Valley, Waynesboro: http://milepostzero.homestead.com/TDV.html
CASA, shepardstown: http://www.casarivercentury.org/
Mountains of Misery, Blacksburg(!!!!) http://www.cyclingdoubleheader.com/mountains-of-misery
Charity Ride, Cumberland (!!!): http://www.ctcbikes.com/charityride.html
Civil War Century: http://www.civilwarcentury.com/
Heart of Virginia, Richmond: http://www.heartofvabikefestival.org/
Mountain Mama(!!!), west of Staunton: http://bikemountainmama.homestead.com/

I’ve got more where those come from, but those should get you started

The VASA ride is accepting registrations: https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/451/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=64529

My favorites are the Ride to End Hunger in Calvert County in April, the Patuxent River Rural Legacy Ride in June and the Civil War Century in September.

The Ride to End Hunger is on April 28. The route takes you along the Chesapeake (on the western side) and also up to Deale. In the past there’s been good schwag — a nice totebag plus other odds and ends in addition to the t-shirt. And your registration fee goes toward feeding people.

This is the url for the Patuxent River Ride. They haven’t updated it yet for 2012 but the info rarely changes from year to year, other than the date. This year it’s June 16. http://www.ohbike.org/events/rural_legacy_eflyer.html

The Oxon Hil club also had the Soutern Maryland Fall Century on Sept 9. I’ll be volunteering at that one. http://ohbike.org/century/index.htm

I did the Reston Century (metric) last year for the first time in a while. I didn’t love it. Too much on the WOD, which is understandable given the lack of alternate routes in some areas, but still. Also I didn’t like the spacing of the reststops.

I did the Seagull in a nor’easter some years ago. Do not ever do a bike ride in a nor’easter. Seriously, no matter how much you prepaid for it. Just say no.

Also, it’s more than 3 hours away and there’s a $250 fundraising minimum, but one of the best rides I’ve ever done was the Livestrong ride outside of Philadelphia. It’s very hilly but the scenery is beautiful and the atmosphere among the riders can’t be beat.

@vvill 13701 wrote:

I’ve only done the Backroads Century (last year) and I thought it was mostly awesome (my first century). It does take awhile to get out there though.

Thanks for the chuckle. I only live 10 miles further west and come into DC. I (seriously) love catching references to how gawdawful far we are from civilization

@vvill 13701 wrote:

I’m considering the Air Force Cycling Challenge Crystal Ride (up to 100km) and the Reston Century this year amongst others but I really don’t want to pay for a group ride on the W&OD.

In defense of the Reston century, the full 100-mile route gets you more time on roads and off the trail, and I’ve heard it’s quite challenging. I’ve only done the metric, since I no longer have interest in full centuries.

And even the shorter route was worth doing once, since I plan to use parts of the cue sheet to add variety to my solo WOD rides.