Best website for planning rides

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 Rog Wilko 14 Aug 2018

I want to be able to plan rides in areas where I don't have detailed topographical maps (specifically at the moment in France). As well as distance I need to have information on height gain so I don't find I've bitten off more than we can chew. I used Mapmyride a year or two back but finding it seems to have changed and I can't seem to get info like total height gain.

Is there anything better out there to be recommended?

Thanks.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I use Ride with GPS and have never had any issues.

Used in conjunction with Strava Global Heatmaps to see where others have ridden and Streetview to check it's a road and not a mountain bike route.

 Chris the Tall 14 Aug 2018
In reply to Rog Wilko:

I go for a combination of Strava and bike hike http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php

Strava (Dasboard... my routes..create new route) is better for plotting off-road sections, although occasionally you have to change into manual mode. If you change the settings to use the global heatmap you can see where others have ridden. Also relatively easy to edit routes

Bike hike is good in the UK as you can see both OSM Cycle maps and OS maps. However editing routes is much harder 

Rigid Raider 14 Aug 2018
In reply to Rog Wilko:

I use BikeHike a lot but usually after a ride to get an idea of height gained. Interestingly the distance always agrees to within a tenth or two of a mile with my Cateye computer. 

Where's The Path is a good one but mostly for walking or off-road cycling: https://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm

 

Any yes, Strava Global Heatmap is amazing, it shows you where in the world people have the time, energy and money to buy and ride expensive bikes or just run around for pleasure.

Post edited at 16:04
 GrahamD 14 Aug 2018
In reply to Rog Wilko:

Being a cheapskate and not subscribing to sites I end up using a load of different tools.  I generate the .gpx courses on bikehike (essentially Google), Google maps and streetview to check any areas I'm a bit unsure about.  Finally I'll check on profile using:

https://gb.mapometer.com/

(You'll need to generate a logon for this, but its free and does a nice print out of profile)

 Dark-Cloud 14 Aug 2018
In reply to yesbutnobutyesbut:

I second Ride with GPS, used it to plan all our holiday rides over the last few years in France and Switzerland etc.

OP Rog Wilko 14 Aug 2018
In reply to Rog Wilko:

Cheers guys. Plenty there to get me wasting more time in front of the computer screen!

 wilkie14c 14 Aug 2018
In reply to Rog Wilko:

Map my ride is ok, you can tell it to plot you a 30/50/70 or whatever distance you want and it’ll do it starting and finishing at you house

 Dave Cundy 14 Aug 2018
In reply to Rog Wilko:

I use Brouter to generate long distance routes.  Its advantage over Google Maps is that you can select different route profiles. So a fast road bike might give a different route to a touring bike (quiet paved roads) which would be different again to a mountain bike route.

I have the Locus Maps app on my phone, linked to Brouter.  The combination is generally excellent except that (a) Locus Maps loses GPS too easily and (b) LM over estimates height gain and loss.  I usually factor them by 0.7 and that then gives very similar results to Google Maps. Note that tunnels also cause issues for Locus Maps. Tunnels are not flagged in the Brouter gpx file, so LM assumes that the track follows the Earth's surface.  This is more of an issue in the Alps than the UK.

 Dave Cundy 14 Aug 2018
In reply to Rog Wilko:

Just remembered that the Brouter navigation engine is also available via a dedicated website:

Www.brouter.de

J1234 14 Aug 2018
In reply to Rog Wilko:

Hi Rog.
I am a novice to this but I have been using https://my.viewranger.com . Like all these things it can do lots of things. But you can plan a route from scratch and there is a setting for planning a bike route, that seems to select bike friendly roads between two points. 
You can then sync it with the app on your phone, and then use it to navigate. You can also see how much up and down there is. It is free.
I have a feeling you can do all this in Strava, but I have not gone there yet.
Worth a go.

 GrahamD 15 Aug 2018
In reply to yesbutnobutyesbut:

> I use Ride with GPS and have never had any issues.

Just had a look at the free version of this and I'm impressed, especially for France where the Cycle OSM map option is great.  The only thing it misses, which Bike Hike does, is OS maps in the UK which are great for planning off road itineraries.


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