I don't know of any way to input an arbitrary winding route into Google or Yahoo maps. You can let it pick a route between two points, then drag it around and stuff, but that doesn't always work real well, either. If I'm just looking at roads, then I do use Google. If I'm missing something, clue me in.

I'm not too impressed with mapmyride, either. It gets slower and slower as the route gets longer, for example, and it's about all you can do to put a 200 brevet into it. And they have irritating ads, but I'm not going to pay for a site that doesn't work any better than that. There's bikely.com and maybe one or two other sites, but I haven't used them myself.

My experience with the mapped routes in Dallas is that they're usable, but not fast (traffic lights + rough roads + numerous turns, etc.) If you want to ride fast and long, get out of town by the quickest way possible. If you want to meander around for an afternoon, or just go someplace you haven't been, or actually need to commute, then go to those bike routes.

To Zekni- one other thing I'll mention is that Richardson Bike Mart use to have Tuesday and Thursday group rides in the evenings, I think leaving from Poteet HS as well. They may be doing that after Daylight Savings Time starts up- but I used to see them ever once in a while. Also, I think a bike shop over in Rockwall may use that route some, too.