Google bike maps can put the thrill of the unexpected into touring. It tends to be pretty good in larger towns and cities with established bike lanes and routes. In small towns and places without a bicycle culture the algorithm seems to find routes that have low traffic streets and this can have you riding three blocks to the left or right for one or two blocks in the direction you trying to make good on to get out of town.

When I have toured on or paralleling freeways and other major highways Google is pretty good at showing frontage roads that many paper maps ignore.

I’ve followed Google for several miles to find the bridge crossing the Sacramento River was removed ten years earlier. It rerouted me through olive groves where I was serenaded by Tejano music blasting out of pickup truck stereos and the staccato sound of olive filling plastic tubs, a very enjoyable and unexpected turn near the end of that tour. The pavement can end without a Google warning. Riding out of Butte, Montana Google I was lead on a good chip and seal road that deteriorated to broken pavement and finally had me riding on loose dirt and rocks under I-5 in what amounted to a corrugated drain pipe. Local farmers assured me it was the correct way to go.