How do you find *scenic* routes?

[Stephen Edmondson]

I'm looking for things like: tree cover, natural beauty, rolling hills, country roads and stops along the way for great snacks/coffee/adventures. 

RideWithGPS and Strava don't have a filter/metric for scenic. 

Heatmaps only tell you a route is trafficked, not the quality.
Local cycling clubs only publish group ride routes (not what I'm after).

What's worked for me so far is sticking to dedicated cycling paths, using google earth on RideWithGPS and my local knowledge of fun stops - but this seems hard to replicate outside of your own city.

I'd love to ride in an adjacent town or take a trip a few hours away for a fun ride, but I haven't found a resource that's big, searchable list of scenic rides across the US or globe.

RideWithGPS offers Ride Reports. This feels almost what I'm looking for except there's no way to filter by location, length or type of ride.

Has anyone found a better option?

- Stephen in Dallas

[Ben Miller]

I mean, with all the available Google Street view info and current AI technology being what it is, you could probably easily train a neural net (a GAN would be my guess?) to score bike routes based on different metrics, like what you describe. Hell, as I'm typing this out, I'm now thinking Strava probably already has  got a team working on this. If not them, someone will probably roll something like what I described out in 1-2 years.

But.... what's the fun in that? I definitely don't think I need computers controlling more aspects of my life. I think the beauty I find in a ride is the surprise of it all. The unexpected. The good and the bad. The adventure. Having some optimized metric for a bike ride would likely do 2 things: make an otherwise good ride feel worse if it falls short of it's score (sort of like a movie that's overhyped) and also might make you miss out on otherwise solid ride cause it scores lower than some threshold. 

I'm not saying it's a terrible idea, but as with any tech, there are benefits and drawbacks. I could definitely see myself using some that scored scenic bike routes if I was visiting a new place, had limited time, and no other information. But definitely would prefer a local or bike shop to offer up there favorite ride. To me, it'd be technology of last resort.

But, to answer your original question, what I currently do is basically what you are doing: Goggle Maps/Earth + Strava/RidewithGPS when I'm going to a new zone.

[Piaw Na]

In the old days you'd get a copy of the appropriate Michelin maps and there'd be highlights along the routes that indicate that the road is scenic (green highlight for Michelin maps, purple for Kummerly+Frey). There's also a very nice cheat code that I've used successfully in the past, which is to contact the local touring club in the area and ask (I know you mentioned local cycling clubs only publishing group ride routes --- but those are usually not touring clubs). They usually have lots of rides in their ride database or worse comes to worse you can find someone who's led rides who can share their GPS tracks with you.

For various places I've discovered that certain people (e.g., the late Jobst Brandt) write detailed trip reports that reward careful reading and hence allow me to find "new to me" scenic routes that have ideal conditions for riding (e.g., shade or tailwinds in the afternoon, amazing descents, great places to eat or stay). By and large though most people aren't very good at writing good trip reports. And I've discovered that on certain websites they will post pictures of their bicycle tour only to tell me when I ask about their routes that because they paid someone to design their route they couldn't share their routes, which flabbergasted me, coming from the old school "share and share alike" ethic towards touring knowledge and route sharing.

For foreign countries my favorite go-to are the Rough Stuff Fellowship and Cyclists Touring Club (CTC) in England. Those clubs have been all over the world and have very good routes and are very happy to share for the price of membership (which years ago was only about $30/year). The OCD cycle touring club also has excellent guides to the Alps whose suggestions are never wrong.

I'll plug my book: Independent Cycle Touring (https://amzn.to/46Bc1EC) which has an entire chapter devoted to route design and map reading for bicycle touring. In these days of GPS and Google Maps nobody's buying that book but you may find it helpful even though it's filled with maps of places you'll never go.

On Saturday, September 13, 2025 at 3:01:47 PM UTC-7 stephen....@gmail.com wrote:

[Ant Warland]

Hi Stephen,

I recently watched a talk by the creator of cycle.travel Richard Fairhurst where he explains at length how it works. It has a few different plotting modes but generally speaking It priorities quiet lanes with scenic views. He admits that sometimes this means you end up doing a little more climbing than you would otherwise but that is (at least in my experience) where the best views are!

https://youtu.be/MB-Rvt5qBFo?si=FcSZW0Q_FHD1_L1r

The whole video is worth watching but the bits about how the algorithm uses scenery data are at 18:00 and 52:45.

It also allows you to check the scenery using Google street view and a trail view feature I forget the name of.

Happy riding,

Ant

[Stephen Edmondson]

Thanks all. I'm more surprised that something like this doesn't already exist. Cycle.travel seems like they've got the right idea, but I'd much prefer human curation: An editorially curated list of scenic routes, submitted by cyclists that's easily searchable should be a thing? I think I'll send a suggestion to RideWithGPS.

Also surprised more route suggestions aren't shared on this list. Maybe I just need to start a thread specifically for that?

- Stephen in Dallas

[Ant Warland]

Not sure where you're based but https://cycle.travel/routes is a great place to start for curated routes if you live in Europe. There's also 5 listed in the US.

https://bikepacking.com/bikepacking-routes/ is also a good bet if you're into rough stuff with quality photography and route gradings.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/SAyy7vVbcLM/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/6c53a085-5ccb-4b53-8a78-13b95fdc4a30n%40googlegroups.com.

[Ted Durant]

On Saturday, September 13, 2025 at 5:01:47 PM UTC-5 stephen....@gmail.com wrote:

I'm looking for things like: tree cover, natural beauty, rolling hills, country roads and stops along the way for great snacks/coffee/adventures. 

This doesn't get you all the way there, but I have made use of the global heat maps in Strava and RideWithGPS to identify routes that are popular. Then, as others have mentioned, I'll use Street View where possible to check further. And, of course, I'm always looking for curvy roads in lightly populated areas that go near water features.

Ted Durant

Milwaukee, WI USA 

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

Stephen, I have shared your plight. Now, no one would think to go to the local bike club for help, but that’s where I have gotten a lot of it. When I’m riding all these miles with people you tend to talk bikes. And a lot of the Michiganders do “bike trips.” So, they share their routes with me and tell me all the hot spots. 

The other place worth looking is https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/adventure-cycling-route-network/

You can purchase their routes online or have a physical copy sent. They show different areas of the country and give you a description of what you’ll be seeing. 

Once you understand Ride with GPS, it is helpful. Our very own Pam Murray will FaceTime you for a tutorial if you need help getting started (I did!). 

Leah

[P W]

Follow other people on Strava, people you don’t know, in other places, who post photos of their rides.

Save their routes.

P. W.

~

(917) 514-2207

~

On Sep 14, 2025, at 6:49 PM, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! <jonasa...@gmail.com> wrote:

Stephen, I have shared your plight. Now, no one would think to go to the local bike club for help, but that’s where I have gotten a lot of it. When I’m riding all these miles with people you tend to talk bikes. And a lot of the Michiganders do “bike trips.” So, they share their routes with me and tell me all the hot spots. 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/97eff094-24e6-46da-8bf3-4ba87b6c1c86n%40googlegroups.com.

[Peter Oberbreckling]

Stephen:

I've had good luck using a combination of the following:

1. State maps (folding ones, that you pick up at the welcome center on the interstate).  Free and usually have scenic routes marked.  I always ask if there are any cycling specific literature when I stop at these as well.

2.  Local and state advocacy groups.  Example Wisconsin Bike Fed has an outstanding set of cycling maps 

3.  State DOT.  These are often free and online.  As examples: Kansas, Texas, and Michigan.  A simple <insert state name here> bicycling routes generally turns up something.  Wisconsin has a "Rustic Road Designation", these can be good road for cycling

4.  Google "scenic drives in <state>".  These are often targeted at automobiles or motorcycles,  but no reason why they would not be scenic for cyclists as well.

5.  I've seen good cycling routes in some tourism sites as well.  In our state, see this TX Highways article

6.  Look up the outfits that do guided and supported cycling tours (Adventure Cycling, Trek Travel, Butterfield & Robinson).  See where they do their tours.  Often times they will have daily itineraries and you can connect the dots.  If someone is charging top dollar for a tour, you can be pretty sure that it is scenic and a nice place to ride.  I think I did this while planning a multi-day ride in the TX hill country.

7.  Books.  Invariably there is a book with routes.  In TX, I've seen "The best bike rides in Texas", and "Cycling Texas".  These are usually quite old, but scenery does not change much and the books can be had used fairly cheaply.

8.  Delorme Gazetteer.  The smaller and more squiggly the road, the better. 

Like you, I also live in Dallas.  We could use more scenic routes.

[Joe Bunik]

https://www.dangerousroads.org/find-your-road.html

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/d8a8cecd-00f6-4dc9-a7c8-81a31bb8ce8en%40googlegroups.com.

[Garth]

The Rand McNally road atlas, the big paper ones, those have scenic roads marked. I'm looking at mine right now from '04, the scenic roads are marked with green dots. I have to say, digital maps are a fail in so many ways, mostly because of all the details that are left off compared to a good paper map. The only thing digital really has of portability in a compact size, but even that is limiting your view is limited to a tiny little screen. 

Google street view is the only thing digital that really offers something of value to me. Even then, road inclines don't really translate well to a camera. It is what is, a snapshot of the moment it was taken. Like a postcard. When you get there it's never really like the photo ;-)  So you go anyways !

Then of course, how does one define "scenic" anyways ? I mean I live in far eastern Ohio near the Ohio River. Beauty exists everywhere, but when how it defined is limited to a certain set of parameters, it's self limiting. Like wearing sunglesses at might and wondering why the stars look so dull. It ignores all the beauty that's always there regardless of the filter. It's not just the terrain, often it's the sky and the quality of the light itself. It's in the air, we brerathe it, we live it, we are "IT".