Originally Posted by
staehpj1
Funny. I was just thinking how I wish the google maps bike directions gave you a check box to avoid going out of the way to use bike paths or maybe even one to avoid them. I do find them pleasant and useful in some places, but often prefer to ride regular roads. On the Trans America we tended to avoid them everywhere except in the Frisco-Breckenridge area in Colorado, where they had a wonderful trail system that happened to go exactly where we wanted to go. Again on a recent tour leaving Denver they happened to go where I wanted and were nice, but I think of those instances as exceptions.
Another good suggestion.
Garmin has an "avoid" feature. One useful option is avoid unpaved roads. If you don't have it turned in, it will take you down every goat path in the region.
But an "avoid bike paths" would be a nice feature on Google.
A "risk level" would be nice too. Garmin will try and be a bit of a nanny and have you avoid roads that it thinks are busy. I imagine Google bicycle feature works in such a fashion. I was on a ride. I knew I was only about 10 miles away but it was brutal hot and just wanted to know exactly how far. I called up the route on the GPS and it told me 35 miles! It was trying to route me around a mile of road that I Knew had very little traffic.
Google does have sort of an avoid feature. If it routes you down a bike path and you see a shorter distance, you can drag part of the route to something you like better. It works pretty well. I just use it picking a route for a friend to a nearby town and I knocked 10 miles off the suggested route.