Simple to use route planner/mileage calculator?

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HeyWayne

New Member
Location
Bedfordshire
Planning to ride tonight with a pal - and hoping to get around 15 miles in (12 miles was easy enough the other morning). Usually when I'm on my own I just wing it - ride and see where I end up.

Is there a simple way to plan a route and calculate the distance without having an OS map and one of those wheel things?
 
google maps dude. ;)

stick you postcode in and then zoom out, look for a destination and route and then type the destination into into the get directions box. :smile:

gives you a route list and distance (total and legs)
 

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
You don't even need to type in the destination, you can just click on the map.
Then you can drag the line around until it matches the route you want to take. It's ace.

Hopefully soon they'll include proper cycling directions, but if you select walking it should take cut throughs where you couldn't drive into account.
 
OP
OP
HeyWayne

HeyWayne

New Member
Location
Bedfordshire
benb said:
You don't even need to type in the destination, you can just click on the map.
Then you can drag the line around until it matches the route you want to take. It's ace.

Hopefully soon they'll include proper cycling directions, but if you select walking it should take cut throughs where you couldn't drive into account.

Being terribly dense now - how do I get the line to show?
 

Rob3rt

Man or Moose!
Location
Manchester
Get your bike, point it in some direction and pedal. Then follow road signs or your intuition to get back home. 15 mile wont take you far from home so you wont be needing maps ;) These can be the best rides.
 
OP
OP
HeyWayne

HeyWayne

New Member
Location
Bedfordshire
Rob3rt said:
Get your bike, point it in some direction and pedal. Then follow road signs or your intuition to get back home. 15 mile wont take you far from home so you wont be needing maps ;) These can be the best rides.

That's what I usually do (see OP), but I'm thinking longer term - longer rides.
 

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
HeyWayne said:
Being terribly dense now - how do I get the line to show?

Click Get directions on the left.
Put in start and end points, either by typing in the box or by right clicking on the map.
The line will show up, and you can drag it around to adjust the specific route.
 

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
HeyWayne said:
I'm guessing I'll need to put in more than two places to give me a circular route...

Yeah, but you have to start with 1 start point and 1 end point before you can start dragging the line around.

Have a play and see.
 

PpPete

Legendary Member
Location
Chandler's Ford
bikehike for me too. just string yellow roads together (on the OS). if route turns out too long you can always save it for another time, and to another.
I got a whole library now
 

alasdairgf

New Member
Location
Liverpool
I've been using Ride with GPS for route planning. Nothing major, mainly just fiddling about and learning how it works. Seems to do everything I need, and if I ever get a GPS unit it'll swap waypoints etc with that. Mainly so far I've been using it to check how far I've ridden after the fact so that I can make myself feel good. I really like the interface of this tool - easy to use, you can make the whole thing full screen, etc etc.

Haven't tried CycleStreets properly yet, but it looks promising as it includes loads of UK-specific data like the cycle network routes etc. I think it might not be as easy to use as RideWithGPS, but can't back that up.

Had a look at BikeHike, but the guy who runs it has disabled the database function so you can't save trips which seems to pretty much cripple the whole thing.
 
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OP
HeyWayne

HeyWayne

New Member
Location
Bedfordshire
Just used the bikehike site and mapped out the route we took last night - I like the elevation illustrator.

Makes me feel a bit better when I see the hill like that.
 
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