Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Cycling Websites

Since I've started cycling to work I've been investigating websites with recommended cycle routes. Drawing on the experience of other cyclists is invaluable to work out how to avoid major roads and bastard hills. 

The two most common sites I've found are Bikely.com and MapMyRide.com. They both seem relatively similar in functionality - more of my friends use MapMyRide, but it's more agressive in trying to sign you up and the user view is cluttered with ads. Bikely seems more chilled to just let cyclists use and share. To really do a valid comparison I really need to sign up to MapMyRide as well and test out some of the more fancy printing options. 

In the meantime, here's the embedded version of my morning commute from Newtown to Rhodes. Clicking on the title takes you to the ride on Bikely.Com; hover your cusrsor over the map and little red pins appear; click on them to see my location specific notes. The usual google maps functionality also applies. All in all - pretty handy !



This ride takes about 50 minutes in the mornings. Use more or less the same route home with variations on where I turn south - sometimes Norton Street, sometimes Catherine St all the way through to Stanmore Station to avoid hils. 

Below is the route I took this morning, mapped on MapMyRide, which gives 3 embedding options - small, medium - this one, and large.



I'll plot the other alternatives soon, and report back on the extra functionality.