Working Out Ride Routes

maxcars1

Getting back on the bike. Got the bike and all my gear and was wondering about routes for rides. What do you guys do for routes to plan mileage - do you use OS maps if so which ones should I buy?

woodywmb

Get MemoryMap. A whole new world of riding opens up with it. Print off OS mapping on A4 sheets and take them with you on the bike. Enlarge intricate path lines so these are easy to follow. Draw out your route and give your mates copies. Know the elevation profiles before you go. Set up escape routes just in case. Great biking tool. You can even take the maps out on a GPS with you. Never get lost.

cjw

I use memory map and plot myslef routes or, for some ideas that others have ridden, tend to use this site in conjunction with a garmin 305 http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/network/digest/view.mb?sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fmotionbased.com&keywordSearch=essex&searchType=tn

dav1

I tend to just go exploring. Usually find a trail through local countryside and see if there is anything interesting to ride off of the main route.

dave_hill

maxcars1 wrote:

Getting back on the bike. Got the bike and all my gear and was wondering about routes for rides. What do you guys do for routes to plan mileage - do you use OS maps if so which ones should I buy?

Get the OS map for your area (or the area that you intend to ride in) - the Explorer series at 1:25000 scale are best because they show more detail and are slightly more up to date than the 1:50000 LandRanger series.

Start off by laying the thing open on the living room floor and get yourself a selection of highlighter pens. Go through the map square by square and highlight all the likely-looking bridleways, byways and tracks. Once you've done that, then you can try to link a reasonable looking route together. Then go exploring!

I'm afraid I'm a GPS luddite - I won't have one on principal. My memory's not so bad that I can't remember where I've been and having been trained how to navigate properly off a map longer ago than I care to remember, I don't see the need.

mhuk

Memory Map on a phone and bikely.com - no bits of paper to get lost