Originally Posted by
Ty0604
Right. I didn't say smaller places have them. I said cities with populations of 5K+. That's big in comparison of most towns you'll run into while on tour. Those cities that aren't tourist spots often have their visitor centers at the CoC or town/city hall. Even towns with a few hundred people have CoCs and town/city halls.
They tell you which rodes bicycles are and aren't allowed on. Paved vs unpaved roads. Pass elevations. City populations +/-. Etc.
Enough for most touring cyclist
One can ride quite a ways without finding a town big enough to have useful maps of the area. For example, I was riding down the Pacific coast after not having been there in over a decade. I left on the trip on a whim and didn't bring any maps. That worked fine until just a bit south of the Lost Coast. I couldn't remember enough detail about my options in Sonoma County, where I would be turning inland. Worst case, I planned on just heading east at the Russian River, but I knew there were many alternatives that were more scenic, more challenging in terms of terrain and had less traffic. Unfortunately, there was not a single place to get a map that had any detail at all from Fort Bragg south. I did get one "wine country" map at an auto parts store, but it didn't have what I needed.