map sites for bike routes

[Dilbert Firestorm]

hey all

is there a map site that lets you create your own routes that would tell
me how many miles a bike route would take up?

the map sites I've seen only provide the start & end points, not the
ones in between routes.

[C]

In article >,
Dilbert Firestorm > wrote:
>is there a map site that lets you create your own routes that would tell
>me how many miles a bike route would take up?

Are you asking about anywhere in the world?

[Dilbert Firestorm]

just general riding in the neighborhood. I'm trying to get back into
riding after several years.

I didn't want to waste gas & time driving around with the trip odometer
to figure out how many miles this route would take me.

I mean the map websites can do with points a & b for each segment of the
route,and you have add up the miles for each segment of the route. its
cumbersome.

If that is what I have to do, then so be it.

[Mike Vermeulen]

>is there a map site that lets you create your own routes that would tell
>me how many miles a bike route would take up?

What type of cycling, what country and what approximate distances are
you talking about?

When I ride a bicycle tour, I'll ride 60-100 miles a day for a week or
more. When looking at routes for that type of ride, I do the
following:

1) Use a PC mapping program. I'll tweak my preferences to say "avoid
interstates" and adjust the miles/hour on the roads to favor medium
sized US highways. This gives me an approximate route I can use to
get a size for the trip and something I can then adjust.

2) If there are tricky spots such as bridges crossing the Mississippi,
I'll look things up on the web and if necessary ask in a newsgroup.
Some states have cycling maps and information online.

3) I'll use state highway maps to pick rough routes. Intuitive things
like "roads following rivers and railroads are sometimes flatter than
ones that don't" or "US highways that go parallel to Interstates can
be good choices" help me adjust routes. These can fail (e.g. when the
interstate is under construction and all the truck traffic is detoured
onto the parallel road...) but are a good starting point.

4) I'll ask people along the way. Many of them are motorists only, so
I tend to:
(a) Ask the same question to multiple people. If I say, "how far to
the next landmark" and get answers of 2, 4 and 11 miles (it happens
:-)), then I'll assume it is somewhere in the middle.
(b) Ask relative questions. For example, "Is road X hillier than road
Y?" in cases I've just cycled X...will help me more than "Is road Y
hilly?" since I have no idea what they might consider hilly.

5) Make sure my route has enough alternatives so I can adjust
depending on weather, mechanical problems and road conditions. For
example, for a one-week motel trip, I will not have reservations
anywhere (unless in some peak season or there is only one motel in
town)...but instead look up in advance towns with motels and keep a
list of towns along the way. Web sites such as
http://www.motelguide.com list Mom-n-Pop motels and are otherwise
indicators of towns with motels.

Similarly, I tend to start bicycling early in the day and plan on
finishing approximately mid-afternoon. This is early enough motels
haven't filled up and if I need to ride an extra 45 miles I still have
enough daylight to do so...Same thing with camping, though in western
USA frequently have more alternatives there...

--mev, Mike Vermeulen

[GaryG]

"Dilbert Firestorm" > wrote in
message ...
> just general riding in the neighborhood. I'm trying to get back into
> riding after several years.
>
> I didn't want to waste gas & time driving around with the trip odometer
> to figure out how many miles this route would take me.
>
> I mean the map websites can do with points a & b for each segment of the
> route,and you have add up the miles for each segment of the route. its
> cumbersome.
>
> If that is what I have to do, then so be it.
>

Check with your local bike shop and/or local bike clubs. They have already
scoped out the best local routes...no need to do all that work on your own.

GG

[Dennis P. Harris]

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 18:05:19 -0500 in rec.bicycles.rides, Dilbert
Firestorm > wrote:

> is there a map site that lets you create your own routes that would tell
> me how many miles a bike route would take up?
>
> the map sites I've seen only provide the start & end points, not the
> ones in between routes.
>
for europe, michelin has a great web site. i used it in combo
with an old michelin road atlas to plan my TDF trip, and then
bought a michelin road atlas when i arrived in paris.

a lot of cyclists use the michelin road maps.

for the US, i suggest getting a PC mapping program that includes
USGS maps so you have contour info.

[Terry Morse]

Dilbert Firestorm wrote:

> is there a map site that lets you create your own routes that would tell
> me how many miles a bike route would take up?

I haven't found a web site that does cycling routes very well. When
I'm scoping out a new ride, I use TopoUSA, which includes elevation:

http://www.delorme.com/topousa/default.asp

The road database is pretty good. It's very accurate on distance,
but it tends to overestimate total vertical.

--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://bike.terrymorse.com/

[Mike Vermeulen]

>just general riding in the neighborhood. I'm trying to get back into
>riding after several years.

Depending on where that neighboorhood is, you can try...
(1) PC mapping programs. They are reasonable at getting distances of
a cycle route.
(2) Local bike shops/clubs may have posted rides and routes.
(3) In some parts of the country, you'll find books of the sort "25
rides in Massachusetts" or "50 rides in the San Francisco Bay Area".

--mev, Mike Vermeulen

[Dilbert Firestorm]

Terry Morse wrote:

>Dilbert Firestorm wrote:
>
>
>
>>is there a map site that lets you create your own routes that would tell
>>me how many miles a bike route would take up?
>>
>>
>
>I haven't found a web site that does cycling routes very well. When
>I'm scoping out a new ride, I use TopoUSA, which includes elevation:
>
>http://www.delorme.com/topousa/default.asp
>
>The road database is pretty good. It's very accurate on distance,
>but it tends to overestimate total vertical.
>
>--
>terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://bike.terrymorse.com/
>

would street atlas do the trick?

does topousa include street atlas or this like a seperate thing?

[Bob Osgood]

if your lucky enough to live in California, here is an excellent site
http://www.bikemetro.com/home/home.asp




"Dilbert Firestorm" > wrote in
message ...
> hey all
>
> is there a map site that lets you create your own routes that would tell
> me how many miles a bike route would take up?
>
> the map sites I've seen only provide the start & end points, not the
> ones in between routes.
>
>
>
>

[C]

In article >,
Mike Rice > wrote:
>A great resource is the Delorme Gazetteer for your state of choice.

These books are just reprints of USGS topo maps. Some of the maps are
decades out-of-date. While the mountains have not changed, the road
and trail data is unreliable.

[Ron Wallenfang]

Out of date maps are an endemic problem. I've had them with the Universal
state maps I get from Amoco Motor Club, and with Michelin's maps of Europe,
among others. On my long ride last spring, I climbed a 500 foot hill in NY
state, and on flagging down an auto, found I should have turned in the town
I had just left - The map hadn't been updated! In Pawtucket, RI, US 1 just
plain disappeared. On an earlier trip, we had to hitch a ride over the
bridge from Windsor to Detroit, having been falsely advised by the map that
bikes could use the bridge. And of course the maps don't show detours for
construction or other activity.


"C" > wrote in message ...
> In article >,
> Mike Rice > wrote:
>>A great resource is the Delorme Gazetteer for your state of choice.
>
> These books are just reprints of USGS topo maps. Some of the maps are
> decades out-of-date. While the mountains have not changed, the road
> and trail data is unreliable.

[Veloise]

Ron Wallenfang wrote:
> Out of date maps are an endemic problem. I've had them with the
Universal
> state maps I get from Amoco Motor Club, and with Michelin's maps of
Europe,
> among others....On an earlier trip, we had to hitch a ride over the
> bridge from Windsor to Detroit, having been falsely advised by the
map that
> bikes could use the bridge. And of course the maps don't show
detours for
> construction or other activity.

Ambassador Bridge sidewalk has been closed to non-motorized use for
probably 15 years. I recall my brother rode across it on a Wolverine
ride, but that was in the early 70's.

Asking in a NG is a good thing. Someone will know...

--Karen M.
who's bike-hitched across Chesapeake Bay and the Mackinac bridges