freetors

So this has been a topic I've been mulling over for a very long time. My background is in mountain biking and in the last year I've been doing a lot of gravel riding. I'm not a super competitive cyclist, I don't have a 300+ watt ftp, I don't do big pack rides. I'm not a roadie. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for all those guys who crush 5000 plus miles a year and pound out the watts, but I'm not one of them. My passion is more in exploration, getting away from cars and other people, and just getting out there.

Over the last few years I've been using strava a lot and seeing the kinds of routes that are popular with the local road scene. Last year I ended up getting a more personal look at quite a few of these roads when I did my first big organized century ride. Now I'm not afraid of road riding, but there were significant chunks of this ride where I just plain did not feel safe. For instance, there was fifteen mile stretch riding on a two lane 65mph highway with no shoulder. There was also a further 15-20 miles of highway riding, but at least we got some shoulder room buffer, I guess. And to be honest the route design just felt extremely lazy, there was no notable scenery, just a couple decent hills, and a lot of looong boring straight roads. The local road scene is just littered with lousy roads like this. It's even infiltrated the gravel scene. I tried out one of their popular weeknight gravel rides in my own time and it was honestly one of the most miserable gravel routes I've ever tried. It was super flat, almost all grid road, really fine gravel that got corrugation bumps easily, and also lackluster scenery. It really just seemed like a course for groadies to just pound out some watts without being distracted by anything even remotely interesting.

What I find most baffling about the popularity of all these particular roads is the large number of totally viable alternatives. Many of the alternatives aren't even far from the bad ones! I don't know if there's an objective to this thread. Maybe I'm just venting. But I would be interested to hear if other places have a similar thing going on.

indyfabz

CAT7RDR

I ride my rigid 29er more now with 2.2" urban treads and stopped caring about crappy roads so much.
It's liberating.

I checked out some local group rides where I ride. To be frank, they kind of suck.
I can do better.

How about you?
It might help if you were to give your location?

livedarklions

So, exactly what do you expect from routing for a big, organized century ride?

Some of us like to pound out miles or might be more concerned with the destination than scenery. Do you really need to start a thread to be told your preferences aren't universal?

I totally don't get your complaint here. If your goal is "getting away from other people," why would you want your routes to become more popular?

Wildwood 

So,....
the question is....?
you are looking for non-Strava routes that are better rides....?

....in my area, not yours???


yeah, sounds like a rant....

deep breath. again....

Better?

Clear your handlebar and your mind will follow

Rolla

Some of the most popular road routes around here are similarly awful -- lots of traffic, poor visibility, and featureless scenery. I gather that a lot of "serious" riders are just looking for uninterrupted miles, with few other considerations.

Unimaginative people settle for unimaginative routes. Ignore Strava and start making your own.

_ForceD_

Clearly he’s seeking routes that are more cycling-friendly. Safer, and more imaginative. I get that. I know lots of cyclists would rather ride on a low-traffic, winding country road than a straight-for-miles highway with traffic zooming past just inches away. And of course his preferences aren’t universal. Neither are yours, mine, or anyone else’s. He’s seeking information form others. That’s what makes for good discussion, and this is the place to have that discussion.


Dan

livedarklions

I don't think that's a fair characterization of the op. It's chock full of insults of other people's choices.

And no, he isn't asking about routes, he's complaining about people riding on routes he doesn't like.
Did you even read the headline?

rsbob 

Ignoring the appropriately self-titled dark-one; some dangerous stretches are necessary transition routes between the more desirable ones, when there is no safe way to connect point A to B. Personally I do my best to avoid shoulderless and high speed highways, however when necessary I will ride a 55 MPH stretch that has a shoulder to get between two desirable roads, but won’t do anything more than a mile or two for safety sake.

You being fairly new to road riding (welcome) it is understandable why you are baffled by people unnecessarily endangering their lives, especially if the roads are boring. Certainly baffles me and I have been a roadie since 1980 (did a 15 year hiatus doing single track, which was a kick but am getting too old for the beating.)

Strava is handy to find routes, as you found out, and if you follow other Stravaites in your area you can use their routes or better yet meet up for a ride.

tomato coupe

All the cool kids know the best routes, but we don't post them on Strava. (We want to keep them to ourselves.)

base2 

It would help to know the posters location. I can't imagine a more boring ride than grid roads in the flat lands. Go North 8 miles, go West 6 miles, go South, up & down a few rollers, go over the Interstate overpass, then make one last left turn & bring it on home...Just, yuck.

Honestly, hills & mountains, people!

Lazy route planning sucks. Lame roads suck. Flat roads suck. Straight roads suck. If there is a river or a lake, ride a road that goes to it. Follow the shoreline if possible. If there is a mountain or hill, at every turn choose only the direction that goes up.

Here's a super secret tip: Almost all arterials have a lesser used secondary road running near by. Ride that one instead.

Study the Strava Global heatmap. Segment search. Look for the top riders on an interesting segment. Odds are one of the top 10 or someone they rode with is public enough you can download the .gpx & trace their route in Ride With GPS...sharing this information for the good of all is why it exists. Use it.

Kedosto

I suspect you’re witnessing the same thing that happens when people decide to try commuting by bicycle; they head out on the shortest, most direct route to their destination. Not surprisingly, it’s often a terrible choice. Scouting out better routes takes forethought and effort, and sometimes the willingness to take longer or steeper routes.

It seems in our auto-centric society, people want to ride on the routes they know. Are they unaware, unwilling, or unmotivated to make better riding choices? I dunno. And only you can answer, but are your choices really better? If you could poll all those other riders, would they agree?

70sSanO

Organized routes do need to keep the riders moving and spread out. The worst routes would be those with a lot of lights and traffic.

I’ve ridden a few that took me onto a major 65mph highway. There were shoulders and the distance was not close to 15 miles. The alternative would have been a route with a lot of lights.

John

Kapusta

I have also noticed that many of the more popular routes among the local Roadies are ones I find pretty terrible. High traffic, high speed limit main roads.

Pretty sure the reason is that they tend to be better maintained, and also are usually the less hilly options to get through an area.

Lightly trafficked back roads tend to be less maintained (or unpaved) and steeper grades, two things that many riders want to avoid.

livedarklions

Seriously, though, I do have some winding uncrowded country roads I ride, and it would be terrible if they became popular and crowded with group rides. Solos and couples, no problem, but groups would just clog them up. That's why I don't like this thread, it's more like "why aren't more people sitting at my cool kids table?"

​​​​​

livedarklions

Right, it's no big mystery. Some people are just piling on fast miles, others are just looking for the easiest route for point a to point b. Also, where I live, I have the choice of driving or riding to the interesting places to ride. I'd rather do the 60 miles of highway riding to get to the 40 miles I'm excited about than drive those 60.

indyfabz

The things some people mull over for a very long time.

livedarklions

Does a bear Strava in the woods?

indyfabz

Don't go somewhere like central IN and parts of IL. Encountered a good deal of that crossing the country. Some of the ACA map panels show nothing but straight lines. Parts of ND are good for that as well. Did a century there one day. Including the two turns to do the out and back leg to get you to 100 miles, there were maybe 5 turns until we reached the outskirts of Bismarck, which is where we would spend the night. earlier in the trip, which was a supported tour, we did this:

Bike Route Planner - Ride with GPS

Straight out of camp then 4 turns to get tot he entrance of our overnight. We had to ride ion I-94 because there no other paved options. It was early in the AM. Think I got passed by maybe 3 cars. Don't let the profile fool you. Those grades are not steep. What was killer was the wind. Napoleon, where we stopped for lunch, to the next turn is 18 miles of nothing, but pretty in its own way. There was a woman with her daughter by the side of the road with water and Gator-Ade for rider. We stopped and asked her how far to the turn, where there was full rest stop. She said "Nine miles." I couldn't believe it. I said "I feel like we've been riding for an hour since we left Napoleon." My friend looked at her watch as said "We have." One hour to go 9 miles over easy terrain. Going down the rollers in a tuck I would reach 12-14 mph. While at the next stop the SGA bus pulled up. It was full.

GhostRider62

Move to a better locale.

Not a single bad route in my neck of the woods

unterhausen

Have you looked at some of the NJ permanents? Some people definitely ride on some roads in NJ that I find terrifying. And even go so far as designing permanents in Central Pennsylvania that route along some terrifying roads as well.

downhillmaster

So you are really just asking why other cyclists don’t ride for the same reasons that you ride.
Interesting. Not.
Why will I not be surprised if the OP does not wade back into the cesspool he created?

pdlamb

Not enough information in the OP to really respond to. Where are these roads? There's a fair few places where there isn't a parallel route that's not far displaced from the original route, or even more impractical to cycle (unless you're looking for "I climbed XXX road!" bragging rights, or the river's low so you can wade across, etc.). And no shoulders and high speeds doesn't tell you anything without traffic levels. Anyone remember the Adventure Cyclist article a few years back when a group of TransAm riders decided to see if they could ride naked for one mile without anyone seeing them? Boring, flat, straight in that instance meant drivers could see the cyclists for a couple miles (and in that instance, they did!).

downhillmaster

Maybe. But I live in a heavily populated area of North Jersey and I have several options for safe routes right from my doorstep.

Rolla

Wondering out loud why people flock to crappy roads and routes when better ones are available seems like a perfectly legitimate subject of discussion. The "cesspool" is of your (and your ilk's) own creation, with your insipid critiques of any topic you deem unworthy.

Don't like the thread? Ignore it.