How do you tend to find routes in areas/countries you have not been to before?

daniel_b · November 5

Morning all,

I'm just back from seeing my parents in their new home in South East Spain (They avoided the really bad flooding luckily) where I have a pair of road bikes for me and my partner.

I managed to find a route on a blog, and a few suggestions on Komoot, a couple of which I managed to try, and were good - I'm planning a return flight with a carry on bag only (Having left helmet, shoes, and kit there) in March & June to experience some warm(er) rides but am just wondering if there are any great sites, apps or other methods I am missing that would be a good way to find peoples routes they have made public?

All the ones I have found so far, I have re-mapped to factor in the start and finish points, but that is simple enough - I've just now stumbled on the ability to look up others peoples routes on the strava (I'm a subber) mobile app (Though frustratingly it doesn't seem to be an option on the web version which would be more useful imho) so will try that, I've also had a look on Komoot and found a few on there.

Additionally, friends of ours have moved back to near Lucca in Italy, though now due to leaving the EU they are not able to stay for longer than 90 days at a time, so as a result of this we are going to have some opportunities to go and house sit for them again.

We used to housesit for them from about 2008 - 2012, which is when they sold up and moved back over, but back then we had basic Garmins (Edge 205 with the tab that always snapped on the mount!), weren't as fit as we are now, and weren't very imaginative with our route planning, so this time I'd really like to maximise the beautiful scenery, incredible roads, and I'm sure some legendary climbs that are in the vicinity, so any methods you have utilised in the past would be much appreciated :-)

Thanks in advance.

pblakeney · November 5

I just use Garmin Connect.

Training & Planning/Courses/Create New/ Then in Options tick Custom, Road Cycling and Follow Popular routes. At the top of the map there is a "Loop to Start" option

Then select a starting point and add intended stops and destination. Has worked well for me in the past although I do double check for unintended gravel sections once complete since being caught out in the early days.

super_davo · November 5

I have always used Strava - ensure you select follow most popular on the routing preference and prefer paved surfaces and you usually get great road routes out. As you subscribe, you've already paid for it - and TBH routes are the main reason I pay for Strava!

daniel_b · November 5

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21104437#Comment_21104437

Never used that before (That I recall), thanks for that - will have a look, sounds promising.

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21104443#Comment_21104443

Ah ok, that is my current method, so in that respect you pretty much click and it will route along the most cycled roads on strava - yeh I guess that will work, just wondered if there was a way to find public routes people had saved, didn't that used to be a thing on strava or am I imagining it?

Maybe it was a data protection thing that meant they removed it.

EDIT: I've just found out you can search for public routes on the mobile strava app in a given area, but weirdly not it would seem, on the browser version.

There's not much around my folks place frustratingly, so I think I'm just going to have to go with the ones I have plotted, and my bro is trialling some currently as he is over there for a few more weeks.

Dorset_Boy · November 5

Find a segment on Strava, pick a few riders who have ridden it, and look at the routes they have ridden is one way.

That combined with the Strava heatmap.

vincesummerskRoxcBTr · November 5

I find Cycletravel website is good for doing cycle routes, it can export as gpx as well.

daniel_b · November 5

Thanks for those suggestions, I will take a look.

I suppose what I was hoping existed, was a map based system where you could put a reference point in, and then say for example with filters:

Show me routes that start within 30km of my reference point

Between 10 & 160km in length.

pblakeney · November 5

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21104463#Comment_21104463

Garmin Connect will do that. Just pay attention to the options. Last time I used it for those purposes I put in a desired distance from a starting point then went through the options of heading N,E,S,W and picked the one I preferred.

N0bodyOfTheGoat · November 5

In the past when I had a sub, I'd look for hills in the area on Strava maps and then look at the popular ways riders linked them up.

These days, I only ride in familar areas, but use Garmin Connect (even though I don't have a Garmin device) to get a rough plan of my route before I head off.

pangolin · November 5

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21104463#Comment_21104463

Komoot does this doesn't it?

e.g. https://www.komoot.com/discover/Selected_location_on_map/@50.6233165,3.0711399/tours?sport=racebike&map=true&min_length=35000&max_length=80000&surface=prefer_paved&pageNumber=1

monkimark · November 5

I used to use ridewithgps for offroad routes, it's been a while but it was pretty good when I first moved out of London, I could find other people's rides and either download the gpx or use them to plan a similar route.

I think you can specify length of ride, distance from your location etc.

I suspect that Strava has probably stolen a lot of their thunder now though.

daniel_b · November 5

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21104476#Comment_21104476

ah perhaps it does and I just don't know how to use it properly....

I'll have a look, or maybe it's for subscribers.

pangolin · November 5

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21104517#Comment_21104517

I'm not subscribed. Try that link and mess about with the filter button at the top

daniel_b · November 5

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21104519#Comment_21104519

This looks pretty good, thankyou - the results seem underwhelming to start with, until you realise there are multiple pages, and it only shows the routes on that given page - I think this will be rather useful, thankyou very much :-)

davidof · November 12

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21104456#Comment_21104456

I don't think my son knows what a map is, he pretty much navigates around with heatmaps on his phone, following the more popular routes from where he is.

carbonclem · November 12

I dont pay for Strava. Local bike shop websites and bike hire sites will often have a section of downloadable routes.

plymouthsteve · November 30

Perhaps tell us the area that you are riding from. Many of us here have ridden in Spain and may be able to make some recommendations?

daniel_b · November 30

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21106925#Comment_21106925

Thanks Steve, I suspect it's not a very well ridden area to be fair, though I (and latterly my bro) have found some reasonable routes, with some decent climbing.

The specific town is called Santiago de la Ribera.

veronese68 · December 1

I should probably take a look at some of these, I'm going from the same cycle commute every day to working for a company based in Witney, 75 miles away. Think I'll try finding a hotel within cycling distance for when I stay over. Any recommendations welcome

How do you tend to find routes in areas/countries you have not been to before?

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