VELO CLUB de VIS - RIDES

Where have we been? See below. Where might we go? Watch this space ...

2016 - LE TOUR DE VIRTUAL

Can we collectively ride 1,000km in November and December?

We were on track on 20th November ...  490km completed

Less so on 20th December ...  710km completed

This week's rides are shown over on the right ->

Keep on the road ...

Rides in California, New England, virtual London, the snowy Austrian Alps, the dry plains of Alberta and the bumpy lumpy soggy hills of Rutland are getting us close to the 1,000km target.  

 

2016 - BALTIMORE

We rode 85km with almost 1,000m climbing into the rolling hills north of the City, as suggested by Brenton @ Race Pace Cycles ...

We  stopped at ...

 

8am at the inner harbour, up Calvert then out along the Falls Road and a climb to the Bonjour patisserie on Falls and West Lake for un grand petit dejeuner. Then pavement heaven along smooth slick rolling Hillside Road ...

 

Onwards and up into 'horse country', along beautiful Belmont Avenue and on to Veloccino Coffee at Butler, for repairs (thanks Marc), bike tests, electrolytes and a cold press ...

 

Along the corn-edged Cuba Road, up Ivy Hill then back down to Baltimore in autumn afternoon sunshine, with bike return to RacePace and a meal in cleats at Little Havana.

Warm sun and sweet and greasy plantain means memories of the freezing soaking in Chicago fade forever ... 

 

Le Prologue

Baltimore introduced it's bike scheme for us so a few of us warmed up on Friday night on electric bikes ...

 
 

Le Crazy Hallowe'en Fancy-Dress BaltimoreBikeParty

... and then, along with Super Mario & Luigi, Teenage Mutant Ninja Raphael, the Cookie Monster, Superman, Spiderman, Captain America, a very quick squirrel, several ghosts, bears, sharks and skeletons and a cable guy BMX genius called Jesus, headed to the wonderful Hallowe'en fancy dress BaltimoreBikeParty. BIKE PARTYYYY!

 
 

2015 - CHICAGO

Le Tour de VIS

Rain, wind, waves and an unexpected and prolonged interaction with the various saturated cows, zombies, superheroes and Scooby Doos participating in the Halloween Monster Dash half marathon made #LeTourDeVIS Chicago a bit of a challenge. But we braved the weather, found good coffee and managed not to skid into Lake Michigan. Just about.

 
 

 

Le Prologue

Miriah and Brian set things up on Friday - we all used Divvy bikes to head along the Lakeshore and up to the Hop Leaf bar in a loosely formed and easily distracted peloton. 

 
 

2014 - PARIS

In 2014, #LeTourDeVIS was introduced as a post-VIS bike ride open to all, with a peloton of 20 decked out in ColorBrewer  jerseys taking in Le Tour Eiffel, Le Chateau de Versailles and a well known laboratory in science park near Gif-sur-Yvette that does some pretty cool visualization. Wes and Lora figured out the route, the rest of us rolled along behind ... 

 
 

2013 - SEATTLE

Jo and Jason found helpful bike shops (Velo downtown and the Montlake Bicycle Shop) and a great route from the centre of Seattle round Lake Washington. Breakfast at a brewery, fantastic coffee and brunch back at Oddfellows listening to Elliott Smith

 
 

2013 - SANTA BARBARA

The Velo Club de VIS came about after an exhilarating ride in California. Ross, Miriah,  Jason & Kerry climbed the Gibraltar Road after a workshop at UCSB. The ascent was spectacular and involved climbing through and above the cloud, dodging vultures and descending rapidly through thick mist.

 
 

2012 - ATLANTA

Atlanta didn't seem to have a very vibrant roadie scene so Jason headed to Chattahoochee National Forest, found some grits for breakfast, got a lift in a pick-up to the top of a hill and pounded down and around on a Mountain Bike. He felt like he needed a bike club.

 
 

2010 - SALT LAKE CITY

Aidan, Jo, Jason and Yarden cycled up in the hills above Salt Lake just before VisWeek. This included a climb up the Snowbasin road under Mount Ogden. Yarden did a great job getting bikes set up.