Route planning.

kernowaj

OK. I want to go to Dartmoor for a 20mile ish ride, starting and finishing in the same place. How should I plan something like this. Is there sign posted routes ar do you need to look at a map and follow paths marked on the map?

Thanks.

robertpb

It's all down to your map reading skills.

AlasdairMc

Irrespective of whether there are waymarked routes, you should take a map anyway.

If you're doing a loop, count the number of contour lines your route crosses, then divide by two and you can work out your total ascent for the route. Similarly if you count the number of gridlines you cross in any direction and divide by two, you can get a reasonably accurate measurement of the number of miles of your total route.

kernowaj

OK thanks

stayhigh65

This is a free website that you can use to plan routes and print them out as an OS map. It also tells you the distance and you can upload frm your GPS onto it.

www.bikehike.co.uk

kernowaj

That Bikehike website looks good, but I couldnt get it to plan an off-road route! Probabl just me being computer illeterate.

dave_hill

1. Get the OS Explorer map for the area.

2. Get a highlighter pen.

3. Spread the map out on the living room floor/dining table.

4. Attack map with pen marking all legit trails (i.e. bridleways, byways, etc.)

5. Work out a loop using roads to link sections together where necessary.

6. Go ride.

stayhigh65

When your on bikehike if you have the large window with the google earth (or hybrid) map and the OS map in the small window. If you plot the route on the OS map it will come up on the google style map so you can plan off road routes.

wrx

dave_hill wrote:

1. Get the OS Explorer map for the area.

2. Get a highlighter pen.

3. Spread the map out on the living room floor/dining table.

4. Attack map with pen marking all legit trails (i.e. bridleways, byways, etc.)

5. Work out a loop using roads to link sections together where necessary.

6. Go ride.

Totally what I do. And its great to get a better knowledge of all the local tracks and bridleways.

This method ROCKS!

frogstomp

Where's the path? is similar to the BikeHike site.. I use it to plot a route then export it as a GPX file for use on my phone using ViewRanger.

If I was going somewhere more remote / unfamiliar though would take a map too..

stayhigh65

Have just had a quick look and a play, seems bit more detailed then bikehike and the route editing is alot easier too.

jweston

It's a really good idea to have a bike computer to measure how far you've gone. This helps you work out whether you've reached your turning point even if it's not clear on the ground. Also don't forget to 'tick' off the things you'll see along the way, work out what you'll see when you get there, and work out what you'll see if you've gone too far? If you do this for each leg of the route you'll hardly ever got lost.

Also, on Dartmoor there are lots of boundaries marked on the map. You should be careful with these as they're often drystone walls that are so tumbled down you can hardly see them.

Cheers