Originally Posted by Bald Paul

Doesn't a century ride in little Rhody take you around the entire state? (Sorry, originally from Mass, so....)

Previewing a new route by car is something I will always do when possible. Sometimes you find out that your route takes you on roads that are in absolutely terrible condition - bad vehicle traffic with narrow (or no) shoulders, potholes galore, construction, or, as I found out, a bridge washed out by recent flooding that would require a long, even more difficult detour. I'll even pre-drive a familiar shorter route that I haven't ridden in a while. That recently saved me when one of the roads was closed due to construction.

I usually use RideWGPS to plan a route, but I've found (the hard way) that sometimes their elevation profile shows the route as fairly flat (around here, "fairly flat" means no climbs above 7%) but after completing the route and then comparing the 'route' to the 'ride' the profile is significantly different. What shows on the 'route' as 3% shows as 8% on the 'ride'.