Farthest Driven on a bycycle

[roadman65]

I am not sure if this belongs here or not, but if it doesn't then moderators please place this thread in what you feel it belongs.  To me this has to do with roads, as we bike on roads just as we would drive a car on, with certain exceptions.

What is the farthest anyone has driven a non motorized bike whether you were a teen, or an adult?

I know for me its when I was a teen, and I could not drive yet, I would bike around my area and clinch roads that my parents never drove on.  My farthest drive was from Clark, NJ to Grasselli, Linden, NJ which I calculate to be about 7 miles one way.  Then my second longest was to see what the unopened section of I-78 in Berkley Heights NJ looked like.  I drove my bike over First Watchung Mountain and entered the road from Drift Road in Watchung (I-78's terminus from 1971 to 1986) and then drove the paved but not yet used freeway on both sides.

I was wondering if anyone else has taken long drives, even far away where you went overnight and came back the following day.

[DaBigE]

Approximately 20 miles. It was back in college when I didn't have access to a car (and didn't feel like paying an arm and a leg to keep one on campus). The trek (one that I did several times while in school was a circuit around Lake Mendota, on a combination of trails, county and state highways, and city streets. A close second was taking the Capitol City Trail around the southern part of Madison, through Fitchburg, and back into campus, nearly all on trails. According to Google, that one was around 19 miles.

I also frequently rode a circuit around Lake Monona, which was about 16 miles roundtrip (including the trip from my dorm/apartment to the trail).

[1995hoo]

I did around 70 miles in a day once when I was in my teens as part of earning the Cycling merit badge as a Boy Scout. You had to do six 25-mile rides and a 50-mile ride, if memory serves. We wound up doing around 70 due to locations of parking areas.

I'd like to do what my brother and some of his colleagues did last October. They rode from Pittsburgh to DC via the Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O towpath over a period of six days. Unfortunately for them, it was the rainiest week of the year, but I'd still love to do that someday if I were in better shape and had a more suitable bike (I have a Dahon folding bike).

[hotdogPi]

For me, only about one mile. I don't do long bicycle trips, and my bicycle has been at my friend's house for years.

[pianocello]

My longest bike ride is a 20-mile loop in Clinton County, MI. At some point in my life, I'd like to do the RAGBRAI and bike across the state of Iowa in a week.

[NE2]

Probably 20-25 round trip.

[Zeffy]

1584 ft.

[Brandon]

14 miles one-way, on a few different occasions.  One was to/from McLain State Park from MTU.  I also took two trips from MTU along the south side of the Portage Waterway to the Houghton Breakers, a stamp sand beach.

[Pete from Boston]

35 miles to Concord, Mass., and back.  2/3 on bike paths so fairly easy overall.

[briantroutman]

When I lived in the Harrisburg area, I used to bike the Stony Valley Railroad Grade nearly every weekend during the warm months. It's about 36 miles roundtrip.

[Kniwt]

193 miles in one day, just once; west to east across Indiana from Terre Haute to Richmond, also just once; San Francisco to Los Angeles (seven days, ~545 miles) in seven out of the past eight years. Not that I'm into bicycling or anything, y'know.

[bobonabike]

^^^^^^^ Can't top this, but when I was attending U of I (and much younger), I rode my bike home one day from Champaign to Palatine, 165 miles.  Freaked my parents out.

[sdmichael]

200 miles in one ride - 620 miles in seven days touring with a maximum of 104 miles in one of those days.

[DaBigE]

What is a bycycle?

[Molandfreak]

I haven't gone more than about 100 miles in a single day, but I've had two multi-day trips.

• Dundas, MN-Two Harbors, MN (round trip 450 mi)
• Minneapolis, MN-Madison, WI (one way 285 mi)

[Alps]

I've put on about 40 miles in a day. Most of it was from Times Square up to the Yonkers line, and down to the bottom of Manhattan, and back to Times Square - and then I had biked about 12 miles to catch the train in the morning and 3-4 miles back.

[DandyDan]

In my last year in Minnesota, my friend and I rode our bikes from our home in Cottage Grove SE of St. Paul all the way to Bloomington, ultimately to the site of what became the Mall of America.  Not certain how long that is, but that trip cannot be recreated today because they eventually demolished the old Rock Island railroad bridge and I believe one of the bridges in Bloomington is now gone, too.

[froggie]

Minor nitpick:  we don't "drive" bicycles.  We RIDE them.

As for me, 106 miles in one day.  While on leave right after boot camp.  Hit 4 counties in 2 states.

Haven't done much recently...injured my ACL about 6 weeks ago in a fall.  Did have a 30 mile ride in Suffolk before that, and pulled an 18 mile ride yesterday here in Norfolk.

Not certain how long that is, but that trip cannot be recreated today because they eventually demolished the old Rock Island railroad bridge and I believe one of the bridges in Bloomington is now gone, too.

You could still recreate the trip...maybe not exactly but close enough, as the new Wakota Bridge does have a bike/ped lane.  Though if you used the Cedar Ave bridge over the Minnesota, yes that bridge is closed....not the river bridge proper but the old bridge over Long Meadow Lake.  But you could still get from Cottage Grove to the Mall of America via the Wakota Bridge and the I-494 Minnesota River bridge (which had a bike/ped lane built in from the get-go).

[ET21]

About 20 miles, round trip

[NE2]

Minor nitpick:  we don't "drive" bicycles.  We RIDE them.

Anal and wrong.

[AsphaltPlanet]

I did about 110km or so in Ottawa a few years ago, and another 100km or so through Midwestern Ontario earlier in the year.  I have also done the 50k version of the ride for heart on the DVP/Gardiner in Toronto.  Highly recommend that for other roadgeeks.

http://support.heartandstroke.ca/site/PageServer?pagename=rfh_home

[Duke87]

About a dozen miles round trip on a couple occasions.

Both of these were casual recreational rides which ended where the bike trail did. I've never really tested my limits when it comes to cycling. I don't own a bicycle, so I'm not on one very often.

I imagine I could probably do a lot on relatively flat terrain but would get knocked out fairly quickly by steep hills. That's how I am with walking.

[skluth]

I didn't own a car until I was well into my twenties. I've done 60-70 miles per day several times. Green Bay-Appleton. Madison-Blue Mounds. Madison-Belleville. Even in the Navy I once rode from Rota to Jerez to Puerto and back one day. I never gave it much thought at the time but it all was over 30 years ago.

[realjd]

My farthest was probably 20 miles round trips more typically, I'm riding the 4 miles to work or the 5 mile mountain bike trail near my house.

[formulanone]

A couple of 20-25 mile trips, before I had a car. My longest was 28 miles...basically to see where the road went, where it ended, or where there was new construction.