WHAT: Casual-to-moderate paced rides with an incorporated brunch stop. The rides will either start/end at a brunch spot, with the brunch happening at ride's end. Or it will have a brunch at about the halfway point.
WHERE: Starting place will vary. See details and dates below.
WHEN: First and third Sundays of the month, starting in May 2026. Some rides may start on Saturday in order to patronize brunch spots that are closed on Sundays. Rides start at 10am unless otherwise noted.
WHO: All are welcome. Fairbanks Cycle Club membership is required. (Temporary memberships are available.)
ETHOS: These are no-drop rides. Slightly faster than party pace, but definitely not a hammer ride.
EQUIPMENT: HELMETS are mandatory. Bright or reflective clothing, highly encouraged.
RIDE LEADERS: Matt Layral (mlayral [at] gmail.com), Nita Desmond-Layral (nitadesmond [at] gmail.com), and Evee Rynish (evee.rynish58 [at] gmail.com)
RIDE REPORTS: For recent ride reports, see our News page.
UPCOMING RIDE:
08/30/2026
MEET PLACE: UAF Nenana Parking Lot (other side of the road from the Patty Center)
BRUNCH PLACE: Flossie and Mays (in Ester) - Google Maps link HERE
DESCRIPTION: What? you say! This is the fifth Sunday of the month. Sunday Brunch Rides only happen on the first and third Sundays! Ah, but the following Sunday is on Labor Day weekend. People tend to have other plans on Labor Day. Besides, Flossie and Mays has been on our radar but Sunday is its last day of the season!
STATS: No stats for this ride. Route to be determined by the group. Straight shot on the Parks Highway bike path is 7 miles one way, but there are a couple of other options. Another route is via Sheep Creek and St. Patrick, which is just over 11 miles one way. Another is to the top of Ester Dome, down the Alder Chute, a bushwhack over to the Tri-Con Mine Road, down to the Ready Bullion Creek Trail, through the swamp, and into the back door of Ester. (But rest assured that the group probably won't pick that one.)
PREVIOUS RIDES
08/16/2026
MEET PLACE: Ivory Jack's
BRUNCH PLACE: Ivory Jack's
DESCRIPTION: Goldstream West Loop. We'll be taking in Ballaine Road (and parts of the path), heading through UAF, taking the Sheep Creek Path, then Sheep Creek Road, and back on Goldstream to the finish. You'll need a gravel or mountain bike to do this ride exactly, but a road bike will work fine. You'll just have to divert off the exact route to a parallel paved section (and you'll probably have to wait for the gravel riders to catch up.)
STATS: 15.6 miles; mix of paved and gravel; check the Ride with GPS map HERE.
08/02/2026
MEET PLACE: University Park Elementary School
BRUNCH PLACE: Lulu's Bread and Bagels
DESCRIPTION: We will loop through UAF to Lulu’s for brunch and then do a loop south of Chena Pump Road before returning to University Park Elementary. Gravel capable bikes recommended. Kids in trailers and on bike seats encouraged!
STATS: 10-12 miles; mostly flat
RIDE LEADER: Travis Naibert: tnaibert (at) gmail.com
=====
7/19/26
MEET PLACE: We're back at Morris Thompson Visitor Center this Sunday at 10am.
BRUNCH PLACE: The Crepery
DESCRIPTION: Because the last brunch ride was a monster 40+ mile route for most of us, this week we're cutting it a little shorter and heading to The Crepery Downtown. We'll be riding Farmers Loop from East to West and returning along the 1st Ave bike path. Maybe we'll throw in a detour through UAF depending on how the group is feeling and our riding pace.
STATS: 16-ish miles with a couple small hills along Farmers Loop.
=====
7/12/2026
MEET PLACE: Two locations for this ride! 10am at the Morris Thompson Center downtown, or 10:15am at the Chena Valley Baptist Church on the corner of Nordale/Chena Hot Springs Rd.
BRUNCH PLACE: Crave.907 out in North Pole.
DESCRIPTION: This week's ride has two options, a longer round trip starting and finishing from downtown fairbanks (led by Matt and Nita), or a shorter round trip from the church at Nordale/Hotsprings Rd (led by Monica and Suzanne). Ideally we'd meet up somewhere along Badger Rd and re-group before continuing onto our brunch spot in North Pole.
STATS: 40ish mostly flat miles from downtown to North Pole by way of the Matt Glover Bike Path and the Badger Rd bike path. 22ish mostly flat miles from Nordale/CHSR by way of Nordale Rd. and Badger Rd. bike path. Choose your adventure and distance for this ride!
======
6/21/2026
MEET PLACE: UAF Patty Center parking lot
BRUNCH PLACE: Flossie and Mays Coffee Shop (Main St. Ester across from the Malemute)
DESCRIPTION: We'll take the scenic (gravel) route out to downtown Ester by way of the Sheep Creek commuter path, St. Pats/Henderson roads, and a short section of Goldhill Rd. and the Parks Hwy bike path before stopping for brunch out at Flossie and Mays. After the brunch stop we have several options for the route back, so total distance may vary depending on how much adventure the group is up for.
STATS: 11mi from UAF to Ester with 700' of elevation by way of St Pats/Henderson. Total ride distance depends on the route back. Anywhere between 17.5mi and 27mi total based on route choice on the way back.
======
06/07/2026
MEET PLACE: Park across the lot from LuLu’s in front of Bankstown Bike and Ski
BRUNCH PLACE: Lulu's Bread and Bagels
DESCRIPTION: Evee will be leading this ride. We’ll head from LuLu’s out towards the Airport (exact route TBD depending on sidewalk and road conditions). We'll head out Dale Rd and around the end of the runway over to the East Ramp where we’ll turn onto the VanHorn extension and follow that over to Peger Rd before heading back up to Phillips Field Rd and back to LuLu’s on Geist. Brunch or coffee post ride.
Loop is roughly 15 miles, planning on a 12ish mph moderate pace, slightly faster than a party pace ride but definitely not a hammer fest. No drop ride, with plenty of bail options along the way.
======
5/17/26 -- “Gettin’ Gravelly and ACRC”
MEET PLACE:
West Valley High School Student Parking Lot. Start time 10am.
Google Maps link HERE.
BRUNCH PLACE:
Alaska Coffee Roasting Company
Google Maps link HERE.
DESCRIPTION:
We’ll explore some light gravel neighborhood roads and do a little climbing, but keep it reasonable enough for those who aren’t mountain goats to keep up easily.
WVHS to UAF, out to Farmer’s Loop and Auburn Drive, around to Goldfinch and Dalton Trail, down to Yankovich and Miller Hill, through UAF and across Geist/Loftus snaking through the Birch Lane neighborhood and over to Alaska Coffee Roasting Company for brunch.
Ride stats - 13.5mi and 850’ of climbing, about 1:30-2:00 ride time depending how fast we tackle the hills and how long we stop to re-group.
=====
05/02/2026 (Saturday)
MEET PLACE:
The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys parking lot next to the Pita Place. Google Maps link HERE.
BRUNCH PLACE:
Little Owl Cafe, 1755 Westwood Wy 2 Suite 2. Google Maps link HERE.
DESCRIPTION:
Because the annual FCC Bike Swap is on a Sunday this year and some of the group leaders are helping out with the swap, we moved to Saturday, May 2, for this weekend's ride. This week we're starting at the DGGS office parking lot next to Pita Place at 10AM and riding through UAF (exact route TBD depending on how much climbing and extra distance the group wants to do), and then doing Farmer's Loop from the Ballaine Rd. side before heading back along College Rd. Because we're riding on a Saturday, we can plan our brunch stop to be Little Owl Cafe before heading back to the parking lot. Distance from 13.5mi to 16mi and 1.5-2hr depending on route and group pace.
=====
04/19/2026 - CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER
START TIME: 10 am
MEET PLACE: Park across the lot from LuLu’s in front of Bankstown Bike and Ski
BRUNCH PLACE: Lulu's Bread and Bagels
DESCRIPTION: We’ll head from LuLu’s out towards the Airport (exact route TBD depending on sidewalk and road conditions). We'll head out Dale Rd and around the end of the runway over to the East Ramp where we’ll turn onto the VanHorn extension and follow that over to Peger Rd before heading back up to Phillips Field Rd and back to LuLu’s on Geist. Brunch or coffee post ride.
Loop is roughly 15 miles, planning on a 12ish mph moderate pace, slightly faster than a party pace ride but definitely not a hammer fest. No drop ride, with plenty of bail options along the way.
DATE
MEET PLACE:
BRUNCH PLACE:
DESCRIPTION:
STATS: