How to find new cycling routes?

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Location
España
I am part of the cycling club at uni, that's how I know the 45km loop route that I do every time, but all activity is suspended during lockdown. My cycling buddy went back home.

I have cycled back home without navigation by just following the A606 home. But could never just cycle on B roads without navigation. But I don't enjoy A roads.
Cycling Club activity may be suspended, but I'm sure people are still cycling! That was my point. Find out who and where and when and that's a big part of your solution.^_^
 

Alembicbassman

Confused.com
Getting lost is half the fun.

The good thing about roads is there's always a signpost.

As an ex hiker, my sense of direction is pretty good, unlike my brother who can't tell North from South on the M1 motorway.

If all else fails use a compass ^_^

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cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
second hand garmin edge 800
they have an option to set your home position, search points of interest
another option is a second hand edge touring plus that can create courses for you to POI , be aware though the two i have mentioned need a pc /laptop as they are old fashioned with no bluetooth .
The newer ones , i did have an edge 520 plus do have bluetooth ( i sold mine as mrs ck needed new glasses )
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
You can pick up used GPS devices on ebay for under £50 if you keep your eyes open. There are thousands of pre-planned routes available online which you could use on such a device.

As for not getting lost when randomly exploring... Most devices will let you record where you have been and then backtrack the way you came. The only time that would catch you out is if you went down any one-way streets on the outward leg, in which case you would have to find another way round that on the return leg (or walk the bike through it against the flow of traffic?).

I agree that paper maps can be a faff out on the road, especially if it is wet and windy, but there is no reason not to consult digital maps in comfort at home before you set off. I didn't know my way round Yorkshire and Lancashire when I first moved here. In those days paper maps were all that were available to me so I worked with them and learned my way around , but nowadays I use cycle.travel for ideas, Memory Map to finalise new routes, and Streetview to check for unexpected problems.
 

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
Out of curiosity I just used Strava explore from my home addres and the routes generated were all ok . However I live in a fairly rural area so not many major roads to avoid. I believe your city centre based so which ever way you go you've got 5 miles of city roads that said Nottingham does seem to have a decent cyclepath network . Give a route a go you can always retrace your way home if it's sends you down unsuitable roads
strava heat maps can also show you popular places people ride
 

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
You can pick up used GPS devices on ebay for under £50 if you keep your eyes open. There are thousands of pre-planned routes available online which you could use on such a device.

As for not getting lost when randomly exploring... Most devices will let you record where you have been and then backtrack the way you came. The only time that would catch you out is if you went down any one-way streets on the outward leg, in which case you would have to find another way round that on the return leg (or walk the bike through it against the flow of traffic?).

I agree that paper maps can be a faff out on the road, especially if it is wet and windy, but there is no reason not to consult digital maps in comfort at home before you set off. I didn't know my way round Yorkshire and Lancashire when I first moved here. In those days paper maps were all that were available to me so I worked with them and learned my way around , but nowadays I use cycle.travel for ideas, Memory Map to finalise new routes, and Streetview to check for unexpected problems.
i picked up my edge touring plus for that figure, after i worked out that it uses gpx rather than tcx files for creating routes its been faultless and the turn by turn is excellent .It did need a big map update as the base map was fairly rubbish but luckily it downloaded detailed maps .
 

JonBuoy

Veteran
I did but it says this on most of the routes: . Some portions of the Tour may be unpaved and difficult to ride.

I cannot be going down any unpaved gravel roads or I'll puncture my road bike tyres


I checked out the first route on the Komoot list - it goes out to Belvoir Castle. This has the warning you mentioned and there are indeed stairs and a bit of gravel but they are just before the end of the ride where it cuts a bit of a corner and they are easily avoided. Other than that the ride looks pleasant once you have escaped the city centre and the route out of the centre looks pretty decent too. It also has the advantage that the outbound and inbound legs run roughly parallel to one another so it is easy to cut the ride short if you are running out of time.
 
https://cycle.travel/map

give it a start point and an end point - select round trip - it has a great talent for finding quirky and surprisingly quiet routes even in this crowded isle. I've ridden for miles and seen hardly a thing.

you can also tell it to stick to paved routes.

as for getting lost, being slightly lost is interesting - you are hardly likely to get totally lost and not be able to find your way back as it seems you have a gps.

don't go through the back of the wardrobe though.
I second this. Cycletravel.com is a fantastic cycling route planner. I have had and continue to have fantastic rides of all lengths using cycletravel.
 
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oreo_muncher

Guest
I second this. Cycletravel.com is a fantastic cycling route planner. I have had and continue to have fantastic rides of all lengths using cycletravel.
I went on the website, I don't understand what makes it a better route planner than strava, ride with my GPS etc? The routes they have listed only one in the Midlands and it starts from around Derby and goes through Leicester towards Peterborough but it's quite far away from Notts. Didn't see any other routes they had listed. Maybe I'm missing the point of this website?
 
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oreo_muncher

Guest
I checked out the first route on the Komoot list - it goes out to Belvoir Castle. This has the warning you mentioned and there are indeed stairs and a bit of gravel but they are just before the end of the ride where it cuts a bit of a corner and they are easily avoided. Other than that the ride looks pleasant once you have escaped the city centre and the route out of the centre looks pretty decent too. It also has the advantage that the outbound and inbound legs run roughly parallel to one another so it is easy to cut the ride short if you are running out of time.
How do you find on these Kamoot rides where the unpaved region is in the route?
 
Location
España
I went on the website, I don't understand what makes it a better route planner than strava, ride with my GPS etc? The routes they have listed only one in the Midlands and it starts from around Derby and goes through Leicester towards Peterborough but it's quite far away from Notts. Didn't see any other routes they had listed. Maybe I'm missing the point of this website?
It's designed to be used to plan your own routes, not so much "premade" ones.
Put in a start point, an end point and it does the rest. Click on (most) points on the route and you can Google Streetview that point.
Alternatively, look for the option where you put in a start point and let it calculate a round trip. Handy tip for cities: use a start point outside the centre.
 
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oreo_muncher

Guest
It's designed to be used to plan your own routes, not so much "premade" ones.
Put in a start point, an end point and it does the rest. Click on (most) points on the route and you can Google Streetview that point.
Alternatively, look for the option where you put in a start point and let it calculate a round trip. Handy tip for cities: use a start point outside the centre.
You can do the same thing on strava but it's annoying it doesn't have the street view option.
 
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oreo_muncher

Guest
I just need to find where it is I actually want to cycle to. Southwell, Derby and Loughborough come to mind but nothing else does. I don't know where to find ideas. I was looking at Google maps and found a place called Quorn.
 
Location
España
I just need to find where it is I actually want to cycle to. Southwell, Derby and Loughborough come to mind but nothing else does. I don't know where to find ideas. I was looking at Google maps and found a place called Quorn.
Not all planners are the same. Different planners can give very different routes from A to B. Some prefer one, others another.

As for where to cycle? There's inspiration on these fora - bridges, churches, memorials. What ever tickles your fancy.
I came across a blog over the summer where a lady cycled a lejog - virtually. She had a planned route, cycled x distance every day, researched and wrote up her blog as if she was x miles further along her "LeJog". It made her usual routes less boring.
I thought it was a fantastic idea! If you pick somewhere abroad you can enhance the whole idea with exotic food, wine, music at home!^_^
 
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oreo_muncher

Guest
Not all planners are the same. Different planners can give very different routes from A to B. Some prefer one, others another.

As for where to cycle? There's inspiration on these fora - bridges, churches, memorials. What ever tickles your fancy.
I came across a blog over the summer where a lady cycled a lejog - virtually. She had a planned route, cycled x distance every day, researched and wrote up her blog as if she was x miles further along her "LeJog". It made her usual routes less boring.
I thought it was a fantastic idea! If you pick somewhere abroad you can enhance the whole idea with exotic food, wine, music at home!^_^
I'm very weary about using these pre made routes by route planners. I only use tested routes, from other riders who have done them and I use their GPSx file or I make the route myself using strava route planner.
 
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