Cycling is more than scenery and fitness. There’s a genetic need to collect the rare and unusual ride.

It’s the time of year when the weather drives us inside, and rides are fewer than we would like.  So it’s time to reflect a bit and consider 12 months of memories collected on the trails, highways, and back roads.

When my sons were growing up, we collected Hot Wheels cars.  No trip to Walmart, or the grocery store was complete until we had perused the aisles and end caps. We were typically looking for the year’s latest releases, or as Hot Wheels called them, “First Editions.”  Every year Mattel released new models and our goal was to get them all.  It was fun.

And it became addictive. 

A bit of Googling suggested that there is such a thing as the “collector” gene.  Meaning there are those among us who are predisposed to collect stuff.

I fall headlong into that group.

And now it’s that way with bike rides.

A few decades ago the goal was to simply ride more miles than I had the year before.  Take that dedication and add 10 percent.  

You know, just try harder.  Be better. 

And for a few years, I did it.  I looped around my favorite courses and saw the same scenery over and over, while the miles ticked off on the bike computer. 

At the end of the year, I would add up all the miles I’d logged to see how much “better” I was than the year before.  

Usually, that worked.  Once I had those totals, I could enjoy several hours of immense satisfaction.

But you can only take it so far.

But, life being what it is, and time being finite, there had to be an end to my ever-accelerating ambition.     There are only so many hours in a day or a week or a month, and it’s hard to justify bike time when real life is calling.  So at some point, I reached terminal velocity.

Now that I’m older and wiser I look at the bike differently.  While I still want to ride as many miles as life allows, it’s more important to do it in different places. With Hot Wheels we were always looking for that rare car that slipped through the assembly line in the wrong color or with alternate wheel design. The rarer it was the more collectible and valuable.

So if you apply that to cycling, the question becomes, How many rare and unusual rides can I collect?

The 2022 Collection of bike rides

This year I can look back and remember riding my gravel bike on the network of dirt roads that George Washington traveled on horseback. 

I can also recall riding along the Pacific Ocean, and through the Redwood Forest in California. 

There was the gran fondo on the Islands in the middle of Lake Champlain between Vermont and New York, and yes numerous local rides like the Storming of Thunder Ridge with its epic 12-mile climb on the Blue Ridge Parkway, The VBR Gran Fondo, and several efforts on my new favorite gravel route from historic Fincastle, Va. 

Mary and I discovered a bit of gravel riding among the forever-paved and crowded bike paths at Hilton Head, S.C. We made it a quest to find and photograph the alligators.

And there was the feeling of discovery when we pulled off the interstate near quaint Bolivar, Ohio, and rode a section of the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath.

I’ve done countless mountain bike rides in Carvins Cove, and although I tend to ride the same familiar routes, the deer, turkeys, and changing leaves make every ride different. 

Last month, I did a short ride on the Greenway averaging less than 8 miles an hour.  It was my granddaughter Addison’s first ride in her bike seat as my son Ben and his wife Alyce took turns pedaling her.  It was Papa’s job to ride along beside and record video clips and photos.

And there was another short and slow ride where three-time Olympic gold medalist Kristen Armstrong shared memories and challenges from her career as we cruised along the Roanoke River and through Roanoke’s Old Southwest neighborhood. 

Collecting Rides is different

It’s not like I can put the pieces of my collection of rides on a shelf or in a labeled box or the familiar places one puts whatever it is our genes direct us to collect.  It’s not like I can go to a trade show and swap them.

On a rainy day, I can’t go to my beloved collection to dust and organize as one might Hot Wheels, baseball cards, old coins, or Beanie Babies.

But, I can scroll through my Strava feed and see a picture or two and a few words from each ride just to trigger my memory.

Oh sure, I may look at the data to see if my average speed indicated a strong effort or at least some positive momentum from all that riding. 

I’ll take a special moment to savor the few times I ticked the mileage over 61 miles for a metric century, or 62 to ride my age on my birthday.

But for the most part, it’s just a few digital images collected and stored in a logbook or an app – and in a very satisfied little corner of my mind.

Scroll down for some images of my 2022 Collection.

Want to read more about some of these rides?

Riding the Champlain Islands: Click Here.

The Loudoun County Gravel Grinder: Click here

Cycling near Bolivar Ohio on the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath: Click Here

Riding in Hilton Head: Click here

Riding with Kristen Armstrong: Click Here