As I am stepping up my riding I’ve found myself getting bored of the same old rides, so bought a Wahoo (thanks STW for the steer) and have been downloading some routes new to me (fab) and using the Komoot software (slightly less fab as it keeps putting footpaths in).

What is the preferred tool to plan a ride?

I am mostly picking destinations or planning loops that are new to me as I am riding outside of my normal reach as it were so an automatic route planner of some type.

Any ideas? Or experiences to share?

For example :

* Heard of ridewithgps but not tried that yet.

* I think all my OS Maps have a digital option, must investigate that

* Bought Komoot (see above)

* Manually planning with a map is ok, but takes so long when your talking 50+ miles of new trails

I don’t mind spending a little money on a tool that does good planning, the problem is what works? I hope you can help.

James

ridewithgps

basecamp free from garmin

Bike hike for me. You can plot the route on Google or openstreetmap but see it on an OS 1:50 map as you do so.

This is great https://www.cyclestreets.net

Set your start and end point and if you select quietest route it’ll pick up cycle paths, canals and bridleways. They may not always be traverseable though. Can dl the gpx. It’s great for long distance A to B

Currently using Garmin Basecamp on my PC and/or http://www.plotaroute.com/

Both have a relatively high investment in learning but are very powerful because of that.

Bikehike

Just bookmarking this.

Book mark sorry nothing add I’m a new wahoo user! 😂

I do like Cycle Streets, even though it did send me down here, after several miles of gravel, on my long distance “road” ride from Stroud, Glos. – Tor Cross, Devon……..

[url=https://flic.kr/p/26NGSbm]2018-07-28_09-41-28[/url] by martinddd, on Flickr

Pretty much the entire route was low traffic density back lanes.

i have started to use komoot. i find it good, but you need to practice by planning a route then ride it to get a feel for how it plots courses.

i am trying to understand to  glitches before using to guide me around slovenia!

Strava routing is pretty good. Uses popularity to plan course. Preferred it to ridewithgps. Save course to garmin, job done.

Viewranger

Viewranger (app) with appropriate 1:25000 OS tiles for me. Fine to plot/edit on a phone and ok offline (if you’re going to navigate using the same device) – handy if you’re travelling.

GPSies on the web

Wow thanks all.

Some options I didn’t know about but have spotted I didn’t mention it’s mountain  bike off road routes as opposed to roads.

James

I like bikehike for off-road because it uses a proper OS map.

Ridewithgps. That’s what I use with my Wahoo and it’s excellent.

Ridewithgps or mapmyride, both great for plotting routes etc

gpxeditor

Bookmarking for me too.

I use memory map

£45 for full uk OS 50000 download 5 devices(or it was last time I looked) so has all public row on it (and some cycle paths)

i Use routes and profiles (height) to plan but it has lots of other features – fly thru etc and download/upload to a old satmap 10

https://www.memory-map.co.uk/2018-memory-map-os-landranger-1-50-000-gb-download

Bikehike

Bikehike for Mtb and off road

not planned a road ride loop but would prob still use Bikehike for that too.

ridewithgps but make sure you know how to use autorouting on your gps as you sometimes come up against blocked stuff and have to change your route on the fly

I use Strava (the only reason I have an account on there) the routing is pretty good, but as above, it can send you down some interesting routes for a road bike. I tend to cross reference any roads that look suspect with google street view.

Viewranger is good. Automatic route generation between 2 points is a handy feature.

RideWithGPS

Having had a Garmin Edge Touring Plus and recent got a Wahoo ELEMNT – I can recommend Komoot for route planning both on and off road. Though I do confess that some bridleways seem to be missing from the Komoot mapping in the UK. They do use OpenMap so some community editing would pay off for many.

I have really tried to like BaseCamp from Garmin, for road, for touring, for MTB, for multi-day  vehicle drives. And in conclusion, I find it frustrating, slow, cumbersome and I try not to use it at all. I have also downloaded, converted and inserted into BaseCamp OpenMap based maps.

I have used cycle.travel website which has some great multi-day tours (eg Lon Llas, Coast to Coast).

I have also used TCX and GPX to transfer between different apps. I now take an approach of planning in Komoot and transferring to the ELEMNT is very easy but the Edge Touring Plus is more of a file copy.

Strava seems OK for road. RideWithGPS also Ok. The ELEMNT records and transfers into Strava, Komoot, RideWithGPS. Much more easily than my Garmin which is a USB connection and upload.

Most of these rely on OpenStreetMaps (OSM) and its variations, which covers both UK and overseas. Beyond that then each have their own strengths and weaknesses and it depends what you want to do.

bikemap

vsmith1
Having had a Garmin Edge Touring Plus and recent got a Wahoo ELEMNT – I can recommend Komoot for route planning both on and off road. Though I do confess that some bridleways seem to be missing from the Komoot mapping in the UK. They do use OpenMap so some community editing would pay off for many.</span>

How does the Wahoo compare? I’ve currently got a Touring Plus and was considering replacing it.

The Wahoo is great much faster than the Edge Touring Plus. Though the screen is mono I can see it far better than the colour on the Garmin. The ease of getting data to and from the Wahoo is just huge leap from the Garmin. Though on a tour I will use the Garmin as I may want the automatic re-routing in a place I won’t know at all. The Wahoo doesn’t do that, but you can pick up the phone and send to the Wahoo the results of a “I want to get to” and it will take you there. In comparison with the Garmin Edge Touring Plus, yes you can scan the map, make a waypoint and navigate to it. But its a pain using the touch screen.

If the Wahoo had better re-routing – other than stopping and using my phone to send it another route – then the Garmin would be on eBay.

http://cycle.travel/

Actively looks for quieter routes between your specified start and end points

Also a Komoot user here. I paid the thirty ero fee for world wide mapping which proved really useful on my last trip in Italy. Plotted me a really good route from San Gimignano to Sienna. You can add what type of riding you want road/touring/mtbing etc and how extreme you want it. I was riding on paths that didn’t show up on my Garmin .

Road – Bikehike with the ‘follow road’ option selected

MTB – Bikehike on the OS map, save the file, then stick it into Basecamp and tidy it up as zooming in affects the accuracy. Then save to device

Anyone know of a route planner where I could specify a number of hills (not necessarily the order) I want to climb on a ride and it will then suggest routes?

Bikehike. Google maps for the road bits, OS for the off.

I have a touring edge and SaxonRider has a Wahoo. The edge is frustrating and buggy but it does way more than the Wahoo in specific areas that may be useful. Apparently you cannot pan the map when following a route on the Wahoo..? This is a major issue for me as I don’t always stick to the route and like to see my options to change it.

On the Edge I can plan alternative routes mid ride, or if I haven’t got a computer. You can even dodstuff like POI or address search. This is brilliant for me. The touch screen also works perfectly in the rain. It is annoying as hell in many ways but not only does it do some very good stuff it’s also cheap.