Originally Posted by
Retro Grouch
Actually. Dan Henry himself wrote some quite detailed instructions.
He recommended marking the route by bicycle. He used a brush and kept the paint in a water bottle (I think) under the down tube. No stencil and he was quite specific that a simple circle with a line indicating the direction of travel was best. Keep in mind that these directions were written in the 60's so they're a half century old.
My only other advice is that, if you ask prior permission, some places are going to tell you "No."
I disagree with this. STP (Seattle to Portland) uses this method and I found myself having a bit of trouble determining the direction of the arrow when I rode over them at speed. These are particularly bad in low light conditions, which is what I was dealing with since we weren't actually riding STP, just using the route the day/night prior to the event on our way home from Seattle. I prefer a simple arrow with the tail long enough (about a foot) to see at speed. The Davis Double Century used to use very tiny arrows, less than six inches long, and the only thing that kept most folks on course was the presence of nearly 2000 riders who knew the course by heart.