همچنین بسته به متن،شاید منظور از ride, سفر باشه که در اون صورت میشه:یک سفر معرکه/عالی بود.
این توضیح هم،توسط یک انگلیسی زبان در یک فروم پیدا کردم.
The phrase "a hell of a time" contains two idioms. "A hell of" and "a time".
"a hell of" just emphasises the strength of something.
That man has a hell of a cheek
She has a hell of a talent
He has a hell of a big nose
... and so on.
"A time" often refers to a period that was interesting in some unspecified way, especially when preceded with a strengthening adjective.
He had quite a time during his illness
What a time we had on holiday!
Put them together, and you have:
We had a hell of a time.
There is nothing in the sentence to say whether they had a hell of a good time, a hell of an exciting time, a hell of a bad time, a hell of a dreary time. All of that is to be inferred from context.
And perhaps the speaker doesn't want you to know the truth.
Related: if you say "I had a hellish time", that's always bad.