Seattle Forrest

I'm with Issac, but kind of in the opposite way. I've lived in Seattle for almost ten years now. I didn't grow up here, but I've come to know my way around very well. I'm seeing a girl who just moved here, and she's having trouble finding her way around ... we have a dozen streets named 15th Ave, so you can't really blame her, and it reminds me how confusing this place is. Normally when they design a city, at least one person in the room is sober, but that didn't happen here. Anyway, I've come to the point where I can ride all the miles I can do, around town and the neighboring towns, without needing a GPS or a map or anything.

But I've also been here long enough that riding around town got boring. I still do it to get to and from work, and for some other errands, and even for some after work exercise and time outdoors. But on weekends, if I don't go hiking, I want to take my bike out, somewhere new, and explore. That means planning, at least a little bit. It's a giant state, there's a hell of a lot of ground to explore, and some of it is much better or worse than other parts.

I could ride here



or I could ride here



but my time is limited, and I can't do both. It's not unheard of for me to drive three hours to ride in a new place, and planning means figuring out where the best places to ride are.

SeanBlader

I'll second exploring, but for me it's more about my confidence on surface streets and so I try to stick to the bike paths, fortunately there's a lot of them around here. At the same time though, if I have a place I want to get on the bike, I'll put it in Google maps first and occasionally drop down into street view so I know what I'm looking for on the ride.

Black wallnut 

I agree with planing rides out in advance. I usually do so however last weekend I did not. I normally do not have any problems finding my way around the Puget Sound region having driven over there for years with a variety of vehicles and combinations of vehicles. That changed last weekend when I tried to ride through an unfamiliar area on memory and had to stop and wait for maps on my smart phone to locate me and then decipher where I was and where I wanted to go. I sure wish I would have taped a turn by turn to my top tube.

Cychologist

I like cycling where I am unfamiliar with the roads, so I plan my rides before I embark. While I have used several of the computer programs to plan rides I have found BIKE ROUTE TOASTER to be the most user friendly.

With Bike Route Toaster plotting the route is a breeze. I can then look at the elevation profile, etc. as well as print out a cue sheet. I can also download the file directly on my Garmin 800 and enjoy the ride.

I find MapMyRide less user friendly, but since it is more widely used, it is helpful to look at routes others have taken. I then edit their route files in Bike Route Toaster to meet my needs. (I use Bikely the same way.)

rm -rf

I posted in another thread how I use ridewithgps.com to plan routes, using Terrain View, Street View, Undo-Redo, and checking grades on hills. Here's the post.

(I found bike route toaster to be buggy, often getting stuck part way through making a route. I haven't used it for a couple of years, and it looks better now--the Undo actually works. But it still doesn't keep a list of named routes like ridewithgps.)

I mostly ride on roads. But a good way to find bike trails is to go to Google Maps, and select Bicycling on the map pulldown list. They show in dark green. When you zoom in closely, the trail name is repeated along the trail. For example: SW Ohio trails

2manybikes

Not trying to be a wise guy, but, I don't plan them. I get on my bike go 50 plus miles, then ride home. Now I've done it so much that I can connect routes on the fly and make a loop or a shortcut just by knowing what general direction to go in. I like wandering around more than planning. But what I have done is I started marking rides I discovered, on a Rubels bike map. I can repeat a ride I have already done that way. I sort of ride first, then map it out. It's a good way to see something I like again, and now I can take friends on rides that match their ability. I've been doing it more than ten years. Now I just go ride.
I also live in the area I grew up in, so I know the area just from living here.

steve0257

Actually, that's how I've found a few of my favorite rides when I moved here. I'll be riding along and, "Hey, where does that road go?" Found some horrible rides and also found some great ones.

2manybikes

I enjoy riding to a place I have never been before. It's only failure if you convince yourself it's a failure. I've been doing it for over a decade. If you get to a place you don't like just go another way. If you bring the correct gear, tools, parts, cash, a cell phone, and a good light there is not much that can be a big problem. I've done many centuries coming home at 1:00 am after riding in large uninhabited wooded areas. Getting lost is only a problem if you consider it a problem. I don't. Even in the most remote areas I have ridden on the pavement, eventually a car will come by, or one can walk to a house for help. If you ride straight out and back, one has less trouble finding the way home as you were already there once. Even with nothing around only a serious crash would bother me.

Cychologist

You can name and save your rides with bike route toaster.

I have also tried ridewithgps, but find bike route toaster more friendly. Haven't had the problem of getting stuck part way through making a route.