Your Cycling Highlights of 2009

By this I mean largely forum highlights ... but if you have other cycling highlights, of course include them. It may be slightly too early to start this thread given that there are still events to come, but here's my list--rambling and self-indulgent, but perhaps you felt the same about some of these:

1. 160-mile ride to Bletchley and then to Stonehenge with PinkGottiMobbs, Greasy Slag, 50/14, and shootthebreeze (and the leg to Bletchley with lots of others, great company). That was a ride to remember for a long time. I don't think we ever really got a grip on all the things that happened that day--eventful is about one quarter of the word you'd need to describe it.

2. Dunwich Dynamo there and part of the way back. I have to admit that this would have been number one if I hadn't broken a bl**dy spoke in Finchingfield and missed out on the last 42 miles while feeling great. Nonetheless, still rode 178 miles. Next year I'll complete the there-and-back for sure.

3. EHPBC. Loved it completely. Such amazing organisation and such great polo--and this is coming from someone who really wasn't that much into polo until seeing the semi-final between Malice and Toros. Fun, fun in the sun. From what more experienced polo people were saying, it was a real milestone in polo tournaments. If I wasn't so addicted to long-distance rides, this would be number one in my list with a bullet and then some.

4. The fourth Track Day, the first one I was able to make. Absolutely incredibly brilliant weather. I tried to get as many rides in as I possibly could and kept riding as many laps as I could in the Hare and Hounds race (which was more of a formality than a real challenge for the scary A cats) even when I was the only B still riding. And I won a race, heh. :) And Bright Times afterwards was brilliant.

5. Overnight to Brighton rides. I don't know which one to single out as the best, as the first three were all wonderful in their own ways. That was one amazing crew on the first one in freezing temperatures in February. Great to ride with Dropout and moth (and Gina and mmccarthy to Gatwick) on the second via Shoreham. Then the huge one in June, with 45 people. What an unforgettable sunrise at the top of Ditchling Beacon. Some Gatwick trouble foreshadowed. The last ride was good, too, except for that Gatwick nonsense, which made it my least favourite ride. But overall, I loved them. For next year, I wonder if I should recce a route to a different seaside town to do a couple of times, although Brighton is of course an obvious favourite. Great recces with balmain, too, although he never made it on the actual night rides!

6. Rollapaluza 'Muddy Hell'. An amazing event, right on the pulse. I enjoyed it hugely. Very impressed by the forumengers riding.

7. A couple of Essex/Suffolk 200s I did this year with a good non-forum friend of mine.

8. Tuesday Night Ride Club rides--I only made it to two, sadly, but both were excellent. Great company and great riding. I only wish Tuesday evening was more convenient for me. Greatest ride series on the forum.

9. Rollapaluza 'Brief Encounter'. Quality evening, excellent theme.

10. The last Bridges ride, the first one I was able to make. Huge numbers, nice breakaway group at the end.

11. The 'Round Chelmsford', Cycling Club Hackney's inaugural ride of the year in April. A superb out-and-back route slinging in Chelmsford. Lots of lovely forum people out and a brilliant group to ride with.

12. The Exmouth Exodus, another of my favourite overnighters. Torrential rain in the first section and very cold, relatively dry afterwards. I've only done this one in ... interesting weather. Relatively low down the list, although I loved the route, because I'd really love to do it in good weather for a change.

13. Meridian Ride--only 50 miles but somehow so hilly that it left me completely shattered. But amazing fun and to find out the truth about the railway station that claus had promised at the end ... still cracks me up a bit when I think about it. Hopefully, we'll do the full ride at some point!

And I bet I've forgotten something blindingly obvious.

Huge props to this lovely forum--the best rides are on here. So many strong riders and the company is just something else.

Here's to 2010.

The Tour of Ireland Cycle Challenge. Now that it is no longer being run, I am officially the last person ever to ride it as I crossed the line last.

Riding Calshot, Newport and Manchester. Rob and JC's traininig session at HH. The best endorphin rush ever.

...and for other reasons, more to do with the spirit that is this forum, The Memorial Ride last March.

Been dedicating more of my freetime to cycling in 2009, as it takes over somewhat from my running. plan to keep it up for 2010, by doing a bit more trail riding (cant cut down on the mountain running though, tis too much fun).

The highlight for me has to be the "Fjord til Fjell" ride which I decided to do fixed on the BJ. Did a fair amount of training but zero testing. I was way out on the gearing but got up the mountain anyway.

Being on local telly, passed out on the ground, just over the finish line, still holding the handle bars was less of a highlight though :S

Already signed up for next year, where I will by rocking 5 less gear inches.
41:26 FTW.

I'm pretty new to the forum still but for me it was the 50 Fixed Woman ride, Dunwich Dynamo and the 'James Martin - WAC' thread (there will be legends about this many years to come).

1. London/ Blechley/ Stonehenge was unbelevable. What a great ride. Glad to have been able to share that with you.

2. The ride to windsor with J, Noel and crew. Only 30-40 miles but it was such a fantastic day. Best weather of the year. We also saw horse polo.

3. Spins and I riding to Brighton while really drunk just to beat Your organized ride (and so I could clame my free breakfast from Owain.

4. The longest slowest ride to Brighton ever after pigfarmer took us on the motorway!

FOr me:

1. Dunwich - riding with Jaygee, VeeVee, Radius, Fiddy, Spag and Wibble. Epic ride full of bright and dark times.
   
2. Memorial Ride.
   
3. 50 Fixed RIde - First forum ride i'd ever organised, but definitely not the last.
   
4. Ladies Track Sessions at HH - so much fun
   
5. EHCBPC - such hard work, but a lot of fun
   

Isle of Wight was an awesome ride back in the summer. Unfortunately we didn't meet up with the forum lot but it was great route, gread weather, and great food at the pub in Yarmouth at the end :)

the ride to southend. that was awesome. no mechanicals. no problems. fairly flat. and the longest "it's only 10 more miles" i've ever experienced.

this was the year i started riding further "just in london". it was eye opening.

nice to read ^ great thread. will have to sort some pics out, pics say a thousand words.

For me the highlight has been all of it. Until this year, my annual mileage on my bike (random mountain bike) was less than 50 miles. Now my weekly mileage is probably double that.

Having bought my plug in March just on a whim because I thought "ohh pretty bike" when I walked passed a bike shop, I had to come up with justification for the purchase.

So I started to ride to work on it. Then I stumbled across this forum. North Drinks followed, then the Vintage Jersey ride, and by July I was riding to Dunwich on my second new bike of 2009, a Coppi road bike I built (frame purchased on the forum no less).

All in all a great year.

I think the Death TT at Norths 1st birthday was a highlight for me, as there was no way I could sprint up Swains Lane on a bike without gears at the begining of 2009.

Great thread Oliver.

My highlights, in no particular order, are;

• the Tuesday Night Ride Club rides I did (the Surrey Hills one twice and the two Kent ones). A great group of people to ride with and riding out in the country in the dark is a hidden joy.

• the Eilidh memorial ride. That something so life affirming, poignant and genuinely moving could come out of something so utterly terrible shows this forum at it's best.

• track day 3. A perfect afternoon of racing, piss taking and laughs in the sun. Thanks Joe.

• the track league at HH. I had some great evenings of racing there with some great people off the forum.

• Muddy Hell. I have the zeal of the newly converted when it comes to cyclocross but racing around HH in the dark with a large crowd cheering you on was just fantastic fun.

• the Ride of the Falling Leaves. A great day out with some folk off here and having Claus driving the pace for most of the day meant we recorded a really fast time. Sitting in the sun drinking cider afterwards was almost as much fun.

• riding the Tour of Flanders randonnee. I've ridden in Flanders a lot before but had never done this. It was a great experience, bouncing over cobbles in large groups, avoiding falling Belgians as they came a cropper on wet cobbles, catching two of my mates in the closing kilometres and then attacking each other all the way to the finish despite agreeing a truce.

• the Etape. I've ridden a lot of European sportives but this is, rightly, the granddaddy of them all. It was a great experience, riding through beautiful countryside in the sun with Mont Ventoux looming large over you pretty much all day long before hitting those terrible slopes with 20 kms to go and suffering like a dog for the next hour or so. That I somehow recovered at Chalet Reynard to make the last 6 kms possible was the icing on the cake.

Haha. I forgot about North 1st Birthday (probably because I cant remember that much of it). That was so awsome to see so many people up the hill. It was also great to have a proper Death TT with prizes and all (cheers Alb).

I thought about including the Eilidh Memorial Ride, but for me that was in a completely different category of things ...

Also no particular order:

• TNRC (particularly 'Kent 2' climbs and undergeared Surrey descents on the Burls - I was flying)
  
• SMTNRC
  
• Wigmore HC
  
• Faith giving me some dead grandparents' cash to build up Burls Ti.
  
• Tynan mastering the balance bike.
  

Brighton night ride
Dunwich
Clacton

A+++ for them all.

I have captured my highlights here, here and here over the year. They pretty much all involve my friend falling off his bike. Oh, and here. The guy is a nightmare.

Oooh, ooh - and taking my old man to Brighton: http://zezaurian.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-bum-hurts.html

I have to echo the TNRC love - it sums up the forum for me in so many ways.

A personal highlight for me was riding 'Home to Home' from my house in London to where I grew up in Worcester. My brother and I did the ride in the most glorious weather imaginable. With a forum organized stopover in collegiate Oxford, it was damn near perfect. Next year I'll do it in a day, rather than leisurely in two.

Last night's London Lights ride was really nice - it felt a lot like when I first began night riding in London, discovering new views on old places and shooting the breeze with good folk.

Thinking about this list has made me realise that i didn't ride as much in 2009 as I did in 2008. Need to sort that out.

You still have 20 days left...

My own version of home to home, touring Scotland, SSUK and south downs bivi ride. All experiences I would like to repeat.

Year of ones for me:

1 TNRC ride - awesome
1 SMTNRC ride - fabulous
1 loproloco clown ride - I have no word for this one

The 'sex attack' in Evans.

You deserved it. The provocative way you were dressed was too much for anyone to resist.

I remember that.
I've still got the stitches in.
It all went a bit septic down there after they fished out the BMX grips from my colon.
Happy days.
Should this be in 'Bright Times'?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/bike_war_paint_g7EizkFEZktV3IlNUJosQM

cycle lane repainting ftw!