Do you carry maps on a Sportiff?

[HLaB]

Well signposted until someone thinks it's a lark to remove the signs or turn them round

And plenty of other riders who equally don't know where they're going

Like the others, I think it's worth at least a rough map so you can find your way back to the start.

That's half the fun IMO, sometimes a conversation starter . I think there has been a rough map given out on any sportive I've done, I've never needed to refer to it but I suppose it is there.

 

[chrisb7]

I'm new to cycling and when looking for new loops near home I've been using google street view at the junctions to see where I'll be going and what street signs there are before I get there!

 

[lukesdad]

I'm new to cycling and when looking for new loops near home I've been using google street view at the junctions to see where I'll be going and what street signs there are before I get there!

No good in Wales unless you live in swansea or Cardiff. Google street view has passed us by

 

[Tim Bennet.]

No good in Wales unless you live in swansea or Cardiff. Google street view has passed us by

No it hasn't. Most roads in Wales are covered. No different to England.

 

[zacklaws]

I'm new to cycling and when looking for new loops near home I've been using google street view at the junctions to see where I'll be going and what street signs there are before I get there!

Good Lord! by the time I'd have recced an 80+ mile route on streetview for example at the speed it updates, I could have rode the route, got lost several times and still be home in the time it would have taken me to have followed it on Streetview.

It is a good idea though for possibly some dodgy areas and I have used in the past just Google Earth and drifted along slowly just above the route with a bit of an angle on it, and oddly enough it is surprising how much of the terrain does stick in your mind and you actually feel as if you have been there before when you do ride or drive the route.

 

[ColinJ]

It is a good idea though for possibly some dodgy areas and I have used in the past just Google Earth and drifted along slowly just above the route with a bit of an angle on it, and oddly enough it is surprising how much of the terrain does stick in your mind and you actually feel as if you have been there before when you do ride or drive the route.

I've started doing that after nearly getting myself killed crossing the A45 between Coventry and Birmingham. On my 1:50,000 OS map it looked perfectly doable but in reality when I got there I could see that the crossing point on the dual carriageway had been closed off with an Armco barrier. I could see why - it must have been lethally dangerous with large volumes of high speed traffic from both directions. I got there in the rush hour and it took me about 15 minutes to run across with my bike.

(The satellite picture I linked to must have been taken at a quieter time of day. When I was there, the traffic flow was relentless.)

 

[RedBike]

I've started doing that after nearly getting myself killed crossing the A45 between Coventry and Birmingham. On my 1:50,000 OS map it looked perfectly doable but in reality when I got there I could see that the crossing point on the dual carriageway had been closed off with an Armco barrier. I could see why - it must have been lethally dangerous with large volumes of high speed traffic from both directions. I got there in the rush hour and it took me about 15 minutes to run across with my bike.

(The satellite picture I linked to must have been taken at a quieter time of day. When I was there, the traffic flow was relentless.)

I've stopped plotting route using mapmyride / bike toaster etc because I ended up going down to many 'roads' that are infact unsuitable for a bike. Duel caridgeways or rough bridleways.

 

[jimboalee]

I've started doing that after nearly getting myself killed crossing the A45 between Coventry and Birmingham. On my 1:50,000 OS map it looked perfectly doable but in reality when I got there I could see that the crossing point on the dual carriageway had been closed off with an Armco barrier. I could see why - it must have been lethally dangerous with large volumes of high speed traffic from both directions. I got there in the rush hour and it took me about 15 minutes to run across with my bike.

(The satellite picture I linked to must have been taken at a quieter time of day. When I was there, the traffic flow was relentless.)

That's Oak Lane. It was on my Home to Jaguar Browns Lane commute route.
What's the problem?

 

[ColinJ]

That's Oak Lane. It was on my Home to Jaguar Browns Lane commute route.
What's the problem?

The problem was that when I got there the traffic was so heavy that it took me 7 or 8 minutes to pluck up the courage to run across to the central reservation with my bike and then another 7 or 8 minutes to get across the other carriageway!

(The satellite picture I linked to must have been taken at a quieter time of day. When I was there, the traffic flow was relentless.)