Routing Question for the "Historic US 50 Coast to Coast" ride.
- Thread starter BruceHarrisJr
- Start date
Start by reading this thread - LINK
Most likely, you will need to build routes for various sections based upon your research of the route. I very much doubt one .gpx file exists for the entire ride. Changes, detours and just random things happen on the road. Research road construction by state for your planned route and projected riding dates to give you a heads up on what detours you know you'll need to take.
Most likely, you will need to build routes for various sections based upon your research of the route. I very much doubt one .gpx file exists for the entire ride. Changes, detours and just random things happen on the road. Research road construction by state for your planned route and projected riding dates to give you a heads up on what detours you know you'll need to take.
Not sure it's possible.
There are long stretches of US50 that are easy to follow and map. But there are chunks, generally in and around cities, that are difficult to deal with using digital navigation.
In my case I carefully followed the route using Google maps prior to the ride. I paid extra attention to confusing spots, made notes, studied, etc. With all that I still ended up backtracking a few times. The hardest part of this ride is making sure you hit all the pieces of US50 correctly. At one point I had to stop on the side of the road and break out my computer to figure out where US50 went. In the end it all worked out.
Also, be prepared to document detours. Have the camera ready and know how to drop pins for documentation...
Good Luck!
There are long stretches of US50 that are easy to follow and map. But there are chunks, generally in and around cities, that are difficult to deal with using digital navigation.
In my case I carefully followed the route using Google maps prior to the ride. I paid extra attention to confusing spots, made notes, studied, etc. With all that I still ended up backtracking a few times. The hardest part of this ride is making sure you hit all the pieces of US50 correctly. At one point I had to stop on the side of the road and break out my computer to figure out where US50 went. In the end it all worked out.
Also, be prepared to document detours. Have the camera ready and know how to drop pins for documentation...
Good Luck!
What you might consider is to only make BC routes up for going through areas/cities where US50 is confusing. As Nick said, there are long stretches where it's simple and obvious. No need for big long routes that encompass those stretches. Just give the shorter routes labels that make sense to you, either with sequence numbers or things like DC, Cincinnati, etc.
I highly recommend this ride. It was fun and had a great variety of roads and scenery.
What I did: I spent a fair amount of time on google maps in my easy chair on a laptop. Follow the route. 2 things helped: zooming in and out causes labels to show on the map. No logic to this but you can generally find US50 if you tinker with zoom levels when tracking through cities like D.C. The other thing is street views so you can actually look for signage. Grand Junction, CO was a problem as they seem to have removed signs for the route (when I was there). Also, US50 does not join I-70, rather it parallels it for a number of miles like a service road. If you fool around with those examples then you can get through the other cities along the route.
Keep in mind that the alignment of US50 is not set in stone. It might not change but it can change for many reasons. So stay alert for the actual signs, and if things get really confusing, make sure you take lots of pictures and drop lots of pins.
Cheers!
What I did: I spent a fair amount of time on google maps in my easy chair on a laptop. Follow the route. 2 things helped: zooming in and out causes labels to show on the map. No logic to this but you can generally find US50 if you tinker with zoom levels when tracking through cities like D.C. The other thing is street views so you can actually look for signage. Grand Junction, CO was a problem as they seem to have removed signs for the route (when I was there). Also, US50 does not join I-70, rather it parallels it for a number of miles like a service road. If you fool around with those examples then you can get through the other cities along the route.
Keep in mind that the alignment of US50 is not set in stone. It might not change but it can change for many reasons. So stay alert for the actual signs, and if things get really confusing, make sure you take lots of pictures and drop lots of pins.
Cheers!