Tools to find flattest route between A and B

mba007

Hi folks,

I wonder if you could help me. Am planning a long route between A and B, where A and B can be anywhere in the UK. Whilst I am not averse to hills, I was wondering whether there are any cycling tools/software/websites that can find the flattest route between two points.

Thanks (in hope),

Martin

megilleland

What you need is a good old fashioned, coloured relief map with contours marked on it. It will be easy to see the lowest level routes

robthehungrymonkey

you can try the terrain feature on google maps, it shows the big hills which you might want to avoid on a long ride

hamstrich

I use bikehike a lot - it has a very handy OS map feature for assessing the lay of the land. You can also look at the evelation profile of the route once you've plotted it. Great site, though it tends to work a lot slower in internet explorer than firefox for some reason.

andymiller

+1 for bikehike.co.uk it uses Ordnace Survey mapping so you can politely cock a snook at fogies who say 'but it's not proper mapping'.

If for any reason that doesn't work (they have a daily limit on the amount of tiles they can download from the Ordnance Survey) try www.mapmyride.com - maps the ride in Google Maps and then gives you an elevation profile.

You could of course use MemoryMap/Tracklogs/Anquet/Quo. All have different pricing options. Download the software and have a play.

If you just want a quick impression of the lie of the land then try the Google Maps 'Terrain' view.

Multimap also offers the option of OS mapping but my first preference would be bikehike.

Gotte

I use Google Earth. I put a pushpin in A, and another in B, so I can see where I'm going and coming from, and then zoom in and angle the map so you can see the gradient. Then I just follow the road.

mba007

Thanks for the speedy responses chaps(chapesses?) I was hoping that someone somewhere would have automated 'flattest route' calculation given that all the mapping data is available for analysis.

I'll try the suggestions. I'm looking to head northwards from Maidenhead, through the Chilterns towards Northampton. The most direct route is hills and valleys, whereas flatter routes which follow river valleys (such as the Wye that goes through High Wycombe) add km's to the distance ... a much easier ride nevertheless. I reckon it is easier to travel further on the relative flat than to drain oneself up many hills.

mhuk

I use http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ which uses google maps.

andymiller

mba007 wrote:

Thanks for the speedy responses chaps(chapesses?) I was hoping that someone somewhere would have automated 'flattest route' calculation given that all the mapping data is available for analysis.

I'll try the suggestions. I'm looking to head northwards from Maidenhead, through the Chilterns towards Northampton. The most direct route is hills and valleys, whereas flatter routes which follow river valleys (such as the Wye that goes through High Wycombe) add km's to the distance ... a much easier ride nevertheless. I reckon it is easier to travel further on the relative flat than to drain oneself up many hills.

I forgot to mention ViaMichelin which has a route planning tool that has acycling option. But I'd doubt it avoids hills.

But, but, but why would you want to go from Maidenhead to Northampton and avoid the Chilterns surely they'd be the high point (literally and metaphorically)? A lot of cyclists (me included) positively seek out mountainous places to go cycling not because we particularly enjoy labouring up hills (although you do get the time to admire the view and listen to the birds singing which you don't when you're bombing down hill) but getting to the top and the ride down make it all worthwhile.

There's a reason why 'flat' is a a synonym for 'dull', 'uninteresting', and 'boring'.

{rant over}

But different strokes and all that... there's lots of good flat places to go to as well. Have fun.

mba007

Rant away

My main concern is taking it out of myself in the first ~30km only to have another 70km ahead of me, although this would be slightly flatter for most of the time.

I'm not 'race-fit' nor slim, but have set the goal of getting from home to my parents (and then back a few days later). I'm gradually building up my legs by going up hills but because I'm packing 35% extra weight I find it hard going.

I'm not expecting to achieve my goal in the next couple of months as I'm currently almost on my limit at 50km with hills. But with practice (and fig rolls and lots of juice with a dash of salt) I hope to increase all aspects (distance, hill climbing, stamina, less weight, etc...)

Have started to make a note of bike shops that are on the way just in case of something more catastrophic than my bag of bits can cope with.

Gotte

Only you will know if you;re up to hills, and I think if you're not race fit, then you might be wisest avoiding them. Some people find them easy, but for others, they can drain energy like blotting paper soaks ink. It's admirable that you're realistic, and there's no shame in knowing your limitations.
Good luck, and take it easy.