Plan your routes or go Ad Hoc ??

[Saluki]

I do a bit of both. Sometimes I get on the train and ride home again and have a vague idea of the way home, being a local girl and all. Now I have my Garmin I often just wing it and trust the tech to get me home again. I can read a map but having a bit of kit that does the work for me is rather nice.

 

[Coggy]

Since taking up cycling in the last couple of months, I seem to spend a lot of my day sat at my computer planning and investigating rides rather than actually doing some work.

 

[youngoldbloke]

I spend a lot of time just reading maps - like reading a book. Used to be OS maps, and I will still buy the appropriate sheets before visiting a new area, so that I can become familiar with the lie of the land, but now there are also amazing resources online. I use Bikehike a lot, and combined with Streetview you can 'ride' a route on line. I use this a lot to produce routesheets for club leisure rides - you can check out distance, signpost wording, junction layouts etc. etc. etc.

 

[yello]

So a lot the routes I plan to ride end up being Ad Hoc rides until I see a sign post for a town / village I know then I can work my way home from there.

That sounds like the way to ride to me. Rides of discovery.

I do plan rides occasionally, if I'm venturing further a field, but as I pretty much know all roads within 20 or 30 mile of here, ride planning isn't necessary. It's liberating and advantageous, I can ride for as long or as little as I'm feeling inclined to, making it up as I go.

Btw, I only got to know my local roads by riding in an adhoc fashion in the first place.

 

[matth411]

I spend my night shifts planning routes then when it comes to ride day, forget all about it and go and get lost. Getting lost is so much fun! If I feel too lost, just get phone out and check which way I need to go to get back to a place I know. If I only did my planned routes my mileage would be down.

 

[LSAF2011]

I spend my night shifts planning routes then when it comes to ride day, forget all about it and go and get lost. Getting lost is so much fun! If I feel too lost, just get phone out and check which way I need to go to get back to a place I know. If I only did my planned routes my mileage would be down.

Ad-hoc all the way for me, but it is handy to have an idea, being from Nottingham we've got some decent markers around.
North/South = M1/A60/A46
East/West = A52/A50/A453/
Landmarks = Sherwood Forest, M1, A52, East Midlands Airport, Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station

 

[The Mighty Boosh]

good thing about living at the centre of an Island is that I am never more than 20 miles from home in any direction, I generally ride into the wind at the start of my ride so as I get an easy ride home, not that it is ever the case