Now that we are retired, we determine the route and then calculate how many days to allow between our outbound and return flights.  It's a little different than when we were working and had to work our a route that would fit into our allotted vacation time, often relying on a train to close the loop.

It seems to me that everyone here in BC is experiencing cabin fever to some degree and I suspect we aren't the only ones.  Since Al and I are not planning to camp on this trip, we decided that prebooking as much of our accommodation as possible would be best, as long as we could do that with free cancellation and no deposits.  And to book accommodation, we need to know where we will be.  Result:  a fully developed route. 

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Steve Miller/GrampiesYou never forget how to ride a bike, but you can forget how to plan and map routes! After two years of no touring, things are getting fuzzy for me. Your detailed lines suggest you have a .gpx behind each. And the coloured segments - I seem to recall that Google Mymaps can do that, also a program I also seem to recall: 'GPS Track Editor". Anyway, how did you do these maps?
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3 years ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Steve Miller/GrampiesHi Steve

I use RideWithGPS to create routes on my laptop at home. I have a premium subscription which allows me to do advanced editing, see a heatmap, and create routes on a mobile device. The free version allows you to create routes and transfer them to a gps device and there's a "basic" subscription in between.

I've learned and finessed my route mapping over the years, learning from past trips. My current method is to create a route for each day's ride and, if I book accommodation, edit it to start/finish at said accommodation.

I like RWGPS because it offers various map views--the basic "map" so I can see something I can relate to and find on my paper map, OSM cycle so I can see if there are official cycling routes in the region, and, best of all, street view, so I can see if the software is trying to send me down (or up) a goat track. I edit my route to avoid such things, to stay on a main road where the algorithm is trying to take me off for a short distance just because it can, etc. You can do all this on the free version, I think.

The premium version lets me create an"event" or group of routes which is what the screenshots are. Each individual route in the "event" shows up a different colour.

I then sync these routes to my Garmin Edge 810. I can then load one as a "course" so I have a line to follow on the map view with no cues. I hate turn-by-turn directions but I was riding with friends last week who had loaded the route I'd created on their (newer) Garmins that beeped at them whenever I, leading, decided to go a slightly different way. I distinctly heard someone's phone telling them that a turn was coming up--I suspect that belonged to the IT guy in the group.
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3 years ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Jacquie GaudetAh, RWGPS. I think it must be a little like the Apple computer with a one button only mouse. If you think, you can do everything, but it may not be obvious. What am I blithering about? Every other route planner I know provides space for the names of the "from" and "to" locations, and the intermediate stops. Start typing something, and suggestions pop up, indicating that the software knows what (where) you are talking about. But RWGPS laconically just says "Enter a location" and "GO". Type "Duncan", and there is no hint if it thinks you are an idiot for mentioning Duncan, or if it is right with you and just waiting for you to actually ask for something.

I feel like the idea of RWGPS route planning is that you should be clicking on the map. So if you are starting at Mill Bay and want to end at Duncan, you should really know where Duncan approximately is. Reasonable? Maybe. But what if you want to go to a specific address or a specific Motel in Duncan, but can not spot it on a map without help?

Am I revealing some kind of massive ignorance or blind spot here?
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3 years ago

Jacquie GaudetIt’s actually pretty good in that it’s connected to the OSM database. I just enter the name of the hotel or B&B I booked, hit go, and it drops a pin there with a “start route here” or “route to here” option depending whether I’ve got a route already on the map. If it’s a town or village, just the name will work.

Unlike the other cycling mapping websites I’ve tried, rwgps has actual tutorials available and fantastic customer service — in English and in our time zone.
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3 years ago

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