gthomson

Nice view and nice bike!!

Barrettscv 

I've used Map-my-Ride to help find routes is rural Italy, with excellent results;

: https://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/409214538

Machka 

Try riding in Tasmania! It's hard to avoid the steep hills here.

Machka 

Prior to moving to Tasmania, I used to just go!
Since moving to Tasmania, I check the routes because it is way too easy to end up on some immense climb and/or narrow gravel road.
Since Rowan's accident, we prefer quiet roads, relatively flat roads, and usually sealed or packed/smooth gravel.

diphthong

usually a little bit, yes, for the highlights and such, but prefer to keep a little mystery involved. often, more concerned with support than route climbing difficulties.

diphthong

always best if you have the time and ability. not always possible but totally agree about 100% unfamiliar routes.

big john

I'm sure there are steep hills there, but would a charity ride send riders up them on a 20 mile event? The people signing up for a 20 mile option aren't likely to be interested in steep climbs, that was my point.

Machka 

It would be hard to find a flat 20 miles here. I know because I'm trying to find flat 20 mile routes! I pour over maps. Rowan has difficulty climbing hills and we'd like to ride flat routes but ...

John E

I concur with the comments about choosing routes based on traffic safety and road design, including speed limits, bike lanes, and intersection hazards, such as right side merges and free right turns (in countries in which we drive on the right -- Machcka and Rowan need to reverse this for Tasmania ).

Hills are not a particular concern for me, because I lived in west Los Angeles when I took up serious cycling as a UCLA student, and most of my favorite rides were in the hills of Bel Air, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, and Malibu.

big john

A lot of my favorite rides are in the Santa Monica mountains. Last Saturday we rode Mulholland from Calabasas to Westlake and down into Westlake Village. The week before we climbed Piuma and descended Stunt road. Great roads.

billridesbikes

Just a question: The route was either a loop (most probably) or out-n-back. What stopped you from just flipping a U-ie when faced with wall of road and heading back the other way, was the grade at mile 18~19 somehow?

Bald Paul

Yes, it was a loop, and of course, the steepest climb was about 2 miles from the end.

John E

I remember Stunt Road and Mulholland Drive very well. I bought my 1971 Nishiki Competition at Rancho Park Cycles on a Friday night and broke it in the next day by making a loop up through Griffith Park, across Mulholland Dr., and back home to Rancho Park / Cheviot Hills. Before the ride I replaced the wretched OEM padded saddle with my trusty old Ideale tensioned saddle, which prompted my riding buddy to say, "Ah -- all the discomforts of home."

I am still royally pi$$ed that they destroyed the best hill climb of them all, Tuna Canyon, by making it one way downhill.

Other favorites of mine included the Hollywood hills, Franklin Canyon, Nichols Canyon.

big john

Franklin Canyon is one of my favorites in that area. Some steep climbs around there! I also like Sunset Plaza, another twisty climb on quiet roads.

indyfabz

I always map out my tours in unfamiliar areas on RWGPS and look at Google Street View when available.

epnnf

I believe you, but its hard to imagine 18%. Some of the roads around here are maybe 10%, for only a few hundred yards. And this is supposed to be a hilly part of the country.
I do not preview routes. I guess its all the same.

Biker395 

If I suspect the ride will be difficult for me, I'd scope it out first. If not, I would just do it (waiting for the cease and desist letter from Nike).

Inusuit

About 50% of my miles are on gravel country roads. I use Google Earth Pro to evaluate new routes as it gives an elevation profile. I have also driven unknown back roads and new routes. Most routes are relatively remote, so no cafe stops or Google street views.

In the first 17 miles of today's ride, I met no vehicles and was passed three times. Saw one other bicycle.

njkayaker

You said “most of which had climbing sections”. This suggest quite a few climbs. 10? 5? It’s not clear.

An 18% grade on any organized ride would be unusual.

An 18% grade on a organized 20 mile ride is borderline unbelievable. Such a short ride is targeting newer/novice riders.

What’s the website for the ride?

Bald Paul

(sigh)
That was precisely the point of my post. Here, let me recap for you - My friend, new to cycling, asked me to join him on the ride, thinking a 20 mile ride would be geared towards newer riders. Had the route been made available beforehand, we would not have participated. Is this such a difficult concept to read and comprehend?

p.s.: here's another example of a local ride elevation chart from RWGPS. No, I didn't sign up for this one.

njkayaker

You aren't providing enough information about the rather unusual situation for people here to evaluate it.

???

It doesn't look like a screen shot from RWGPS.

Was this one of the rides at the event?

These events are open to the public. How hard is it to provide a link to the webpage for the event?

Bald Paul

I'm going to humor you one more time before you go on my IGNORE list. (Feel free to do the same to me.)
Here's more information:
The route was a loop. There were left and right turns interspersed with straight sections of road. The surface was asphalt in reasonably good shape. I consumed approximately 21.3 oz of water during the ride. Tires were inflated to approximately 90 PSI. Now, punch all that into your supercomputer to determine if, IN GENERAL, you would prefer being able to preview the route before deciding to ride it.
Look at a route on RWGPS. Click the GRADE tab at the bottom. Expand the area you want to look at in detail. See? It really is a screenshot! No, the grade example posted was a local ride where the route WAS provided on RWGPS, and after looking at it, I decided NOT to attempt it.
It's extremely difficult to provide a link to the webpage for an event that occurred several years ago, and was advertised via a flyer posted in the LBS.

Now, I'm not answering any more questions until my lawyer arrives.

njkayaker

???

You are still bothered by this thing that happened years ago?

If you have access to the route, why wouldn't you look at it?

Do you really need to have people to tell you that?

Useless.

It might not be difficult at all. No event name? No organization name? No location?

??? How can I look at a route you haven't provided a link to?

It's obviously a screen shot of something.

What?? It's a screen of some completely different ride??

unterhausen

sometimes you can find a ride on Strava or RWGPS even though the organizers didn't post a map. Or ask the organizers if they have the route posted online.

To be perfectly honest, I don't trust organizers not to put me on a drag strip without shoulders, so I'm fairly careful about checking the route ahead of time.

superdex

I wouldn't sign up for an organized ride that didn't have the route published in some way such that it can be previewed. And yes, absolutely I preview. Strava/RideWGPS, etc. I actually tend to get a little ocd about trying to visualize the ride and its difficulty in the week(s) leading up to the event.