# How many routes do you stick to?



## J9L (Sep 19, 2012)

Just curious how many regular routes you all ride? Also, what is your average ride distance during a normal day that u go out?


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## AlanE (Jan 22, 2002)

*Call Me Irregular*

I don't have any "regular" routes. In fact, just the opposite. This year I made a deliberate effort to do a different route every time I ride. I set a goal for myself to ride 1000 miles of unique (non-redundant) roads in 2013, and reached that goal a couple weeks ago. I'm now up to 1099 miles of unique roads out of 2314 miles total (see map below). I've pretty much exhausted all of the roads near home, and now, even with some planning, I might only pick up a few miles of unique roads on a 50 mile ride. But I have credited some miles toward the goal on every ride, so I can honestly say that I haven't ridden the same route twice. Yet.


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

I live in Eastern Ontario where I have the St Lawrence River on the south side, the 401 highway (major 4 lane highway going East-West equivalent to a major interstate) on the north side which has very few road crossings so I'm quite limited to having access to many secondary roads. I normally ride into and/or from work which is 40km.



AlanE said:


> I don't have any "regular" routes. In fact, just the opposite. This year I made a deliberate effort to do a different route every time I ride. I set a goal for myself to ride 1000 miles of unique (non-redundant) roads in 2013, and reached that goal a couple weeks ago. I'm now up to 1099 miles of unique roads out of 2314 miles total (see map below). I've pretty much exhausted all of the roads near home, and now, even with some planning, I might only pick up a few miles of unique roads on a 50 mile ride. But I have credited some miles toward the goal on every ride, so I can honestly say that I haven't ridden the same route twice. Yet.


Wow, are you ever lucky.


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## rm -rf (Feb 27, 2006)

Here's two years of local riding in SW Ohio, from my Garmin recordings. Many of these are group rides. A typical ride is 30 to 40 miles. I'll do shorter solo rides sometimes.

My Garmin with maps lets me ride in new areas without needing a cue sheet. The Garmin software can be buggy at times, but I'm still glad I got it.

I'll repeat routes I like, but typically, it's 6 or 8 weeks until I ride a route again.


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## AlanE (Jan 22, 2002)

love4himies said:


> Wow, are you ever lucky.


Well, New Jersey is the most densely populated state, so if there's one thing we have in abundance, it's roads.


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## NJBiker72 (Jul 9, 2011)

I have a few regular routes at certain distances. Weekday mornings in the summer, I do a couple laps around the Watchung Reservation before work. About 7.5 miles per loop but 15 miles is all the time I have after sunrise. 

Weekend rides I now tend to do more group rides but on my own I almost always start by heading west. Just better riding that way. From there I have a few turn offs that get me a desired mileage depending on my current goal. 

Planning to do the Ny Fondo so this Saturday will be a fairly long one.


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## Terex (Jan 3, 2005)

AlanE, whose real name is The Human GPS, aptly illustrates the dense network of rural, low traffic, amazingly rideable roads in NJ. I'm so internally focused when I ride by myself that I tend to ride a few regular routes. Also, I limit my solo rides to what I perceive as the safest, lowest traffic routes available.

Ride length? Shortest these days is 20 miles and longest is 30. When I was riding a lot more the average was probably about 45.


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## DaveG (Feb 4, 2004)

I have a number of regular routes that I use. On rides from home I am on boxed in by some busy roads and highways to the south and west, so most of my rides have to use a small number of roads to get out of the area. That restricts my choices quite a bit. I have 4 standard 25 mile routes I use after work 2-3 times a week., On the weekends I might try to drive somewhere and mix it up. I usually do one 50 miler on the weekend and the occasional century


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## dmaciel (Oct 10, 2012)

I have several 25 to 30 mile rides, that I do 5 days a week, weekends I will stretch it out a bit more since I have the time.


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## tlg (May 11, 2011)

My commute to work (34mi) is the only regular ride I do. Which is nice to have since it's a good measurement of my riding speed through the season since it's the same route and same hills.

I try to ride different routes as much as possible. If I'm riding alone I'll usually go on RideWithGps and plan out routes that are different. 

There is no average day. During the week I'll commute once or twice. And/or I'll do evening group rides (25-35mi depending on the season). 
On weekends I'll do 1-2 group rides of 40-60 mi. 
The group rides are almost always different routes.

I'm in PA, and lucky in my area. From my house I can go in different directions and ride hills, flats, rural, or more populated. Most of my riding is in rural wooded, fields, and farmland roads.


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## J9L (Sep 19, 2012)

I'm definitely a creature of habit...when I find good scenic routes with a nice distance, I tend to stick with them and deviate off on a few roads from those routes sometimes. This weekend I tried different routes and wow, I was challenged....didn't think I'd make it home because they were like 75% uphill:what: I guess that is good and bad. I was riding at a crawling speed bc I was so fatigued


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## NJBiker72 (Jul 9, 2011)

J9L said:


> I'm definitely a creature of habit...when I find good scenic routes with a nice distance, I tend to stick with them and deviate off on a few roads from those routes sometimes. This weekend I tried different routes and wow, I was challenged....didn't think I'd make it home because they were like 75% uphill:what: I guess that is good and bad. I was riding at a crawling speed bc I was so fatigued


One good thing about being a creature of habit is not making a dumb move. Once when trying a new route and being a newbie I missed a turn and tried to make it. Did not end well. 

But use something like ridewithgps and you can plan some pretty cool routes and either print up a cue sheet or use the cue sheet app on a smart phone. 

Also group rides and events are great ways to learn new routes. This weekend I went out solo but did two climbs from last years Gran Fondo and one from the Tour de Cure. Along with a rest stop at a cafe I found with an Lbs.


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## J9L (Sep 19, 2012)

Very true! I have a mount for my cell phone on my bike so I use map my ride and can quickly stop to look at the map...thank goodness!


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## J9L (Sep 19, 2012)

Oh what climbs did u do? Im curious what routes the grand fondo are...it sounds challenging.


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## NJBiker72 (Jul 9, 2011)

J9L said:


> Oh what climbs did u do? Im curious what routes the grand fondo are...it sounds challenging.


I did (1) Black River Road (GF), (2) Frog Hollow (GF) and (3) Liberty Corner Road (ADA).

A few others in there that are just along the way. I almost always end up climbing Glenside Road in New Prov. and then back through the Watchung Reservation. WR Tracy Drive is one of my favorite roads.


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## J9L (Sep 19, 2012)

Awesome. I'll be checking out these new routes soon enough.


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## Squidly (May 17, 2011)

I'm usually time-crunched, so I have 4 "go-to" routes. 10, 15, 25, and 55 milers. I've got another couple 50 milers that I'll hit maybe once a year. Other than that, I rely on Sunday club rides and events to get me to visit other areas of the state (NJ).


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## rlb81 (Feb 2, 2010)

NJBiker72 said:


> I do a couple laps around the Watchung Reservation before work. About 7.5 miles per loop but 15 miles is all the time I have after sunrise.
> 
> Weekend rides I now tend to do more group rides but on my own I almost always start by heading west. Just better riding that way.


I have the same deal, minus group rides anyway




DaveG said:


> I have a number of regular routes that I use. On rides from home I am on boxed in by some busy roads and highways to the south and west, so most of my rides have to use a small number of roads to get out of the area. That restricts my choices quite a bit.


This is an issue where I live too, I have a few mixed routes to get out of my area and to the nice roads. When all is said and done ~25 miles of my riding is spent getting to/from nicer roads.



J9L said:


> I'm definitely a creature of habit...when I find good scenic routes with a nice distance, I tend to stick with them and deviate off on a few roads from those routes sometimes.


I fall into this as well, even though I always want to try new roads. I need to make the effort to go outside of the familiar and check out some new stuff. But then again I can't just turn off my mind and explore roads, I need to have a plan.


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