Where did you ride today?

Thanks to the open-source code of Google Maps, several sites have sprung up that feature route planning for cyclists and other athletes. One of the best is MapMyRide.com. Totally free to use, MapMyRide lets you enter your route by clicking on the map or find new routes in your area. It then shows you total mileage, calories expended and even elevation gain. (Not much use here in Florida) You can add notes to the route along the way, include waypoints for breaks, hills or dangerous intersections and email them to your friends.

MapMyRide also has features that require a free registration. There is a community forum, a training log where you can track your rides and listings of upcoming events in your area. When you register, you can create a profile and share your routes. I created this one of the popular St. Pete Bike Club morning ride from North Shore Pool:

Some of the other sites that feature map planning are Gmaps Pedometer, Bikely, RouteSlip and BikeJournal. Check them out and share some of your favorite rides with Spoke N Word!

Comments

[Born and Raised in St. Pete, Circa 1936]

This ride route SHOULD NOT be designated as the "St. Pete Bike Club Morning Route!" This bike route was not discovered nor adopted by the SPBC as a designated ride route. In the mid-1970's, a small group of riders (3 people on bikes) experimented with different routes throughout St. Pete. None of these riders were St. Pete bike club members. The original members of the St. Pete Bike Club were riding their bikes on sidewalks for fear of being arrested for riding on the city streets. Someone please tell me why is it that everyone in St. Pete just ASSUMES that all cyclists on fancy racing bikes are all St. Pete bike club members? Or that just because you ride a certain bike route every single morning that it automatically constitutes being a St. Pete Bike Club route? You're all just a bunch of arrogant jerks! Step outside the box, will ya?!!

[Born and raised in the BURG, circa 1964]

So then the Sunshine Skyway should still be called "The Bill Dean Bridge" mr 1936? And Tropicana Field is still the Thunderdome right?
Times and names change, and bike rides and routes change. The bike club rides that route daily, regardless of who started riding it on Penny Farthings way back when.
Mr 1936 seems bitter to me.

Seems 1936 is stuck inside the box.
Bitter old man.

[1936 Man]

Let me tell you ingrates something, I was one of the riders responsible for making it LEGAL for your sorry butts to ride on the streets instead of being reduced to riding on the sidewalks of St. Pete!!

So if I want to call Tropicana Field "Bum-F-Stank-Slovo-Vania" then that's what it's going to be called, dammit! Do I make myself perfectly clear? Or shall I beat it into your heads with my cane!

[Chip Haynes]

You know, I'll bet I use to ride with 1936 Man back when I rode with the SPBC! How ya doin', '36?

[Robb Hohmann]

I'd like to ride with Mr. 1936 any day! I hope to be half as tenacious when I'm 71 years old. Show some respect.

Here's the route we did last night on the 'Tuesday Tough Guy' fixed gear group ride:

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/fl/saint-petersburg/389840531

[1936 Man]

Can we do the "St. Pete Bike Club Morning Ride" route in the evening if we want to? I'd hate to do it during a non-morning hour and have someone put some sort of a whammy or a voodoo curse on me or anything like that.