Originally Posted by jamesdenver

I've been playing with Google Maps Bike route in Denver - mapping my commute from downtown to Southeast Denver (and back)

My regular route of many years and most direct is all surface streets. I know all the corners and danger spots, and while there's traffic it's about half bike routed, some bike lanes, a mix of side streets and mostly calm for a big city commute.

Google bike routes adds about a mile extra via a MUP trail, then to a surface street that's a city bike route, and back to a trail. It's about a .8-1.5 miles extra.

I did the bike route for fun last week on a beautiful day, and spent most of it keeping myself over alert to bikers, dogs, strollers and others out enjoying the day. Plus bike paths have a lot of sharp twists, turns and bridges over the creeks and what not.

For practicality and speed I'll stick to the streets. While the MUP is prettier the cars are predictable, and most regular commuters know the trouble spots and where to most aware.

However if I were new to a city and wanted an nice ride I'd click the route via Google and adjust from there. I think it's a great option to have and certainly useful for someone not as experienced in VC as us.