Find a Route or Trail

Today's trail and route mapping opportunities are wide open.  To those wanting to plan routes, available details are astonishing.  Within a few clicks, planners can put together a cadre of comprehensive information including distance (in miles or kilometers), elevation gain and loss (both in percentages and numerical comparisons), routes detailed on a map or cue sheet,  routes offered in its entirety or broken into whatever type of segment imaginable.

Whew!

It's all good.  After all, the idea is not to get lost.  GPS positioning systems do just that - tell you where you at all times.  But what if your battery goes dead, you lose your satellite signal, or you're just plain curious about where you are?  It's best to have some basic positioning skills and those come from understanding some basic map reading concepts.

So below we're providing a list of electronic applications to help you plan bike routes.  At the same time, we offer additional information on how to read maps and keep track of where you are by understanding distance, direction, and scale.

Understanding Directions

Study.com - - Deciphering maps

You Tube - - How to read a map

How stuff works - - How maps work

Find a Cycling Route

Yelp - - Bike Trail

Traillink - - Mountain Bike trails

Trails.com - - Find your trail

Bicycling.com - - Best Rides

Active.com - -   Trails or events

Google Maps - - Find a Bike Trail Near Me

Google search - - Bike Path Maps

Strava Heat Map - - Popular routes

Ride the City - - City by city directory

Map My Ride  - - Create your own map

Bike map - - Route Collections

National Parks - - The Best routes in the US national park system

Maps / GPS - - App Directory



Find a Mountain Bike Trail

To find good mountain bike trails, often route planning software doesn't work.  Either the trails are recognizable to it, or the mileage and elevations aren't available.  So its best to start the links provided below and go exploring.

Along the way, keep a journal if needed.  Make notes on things you've seen or landmarks.  Remember, offroad trails, unlike road routes are marked by natural elements that could change in size, shape, and color over time.  The more detail you can keep the better.

When looking for the best dirt, remember the best trails need to be maintained, and that means national or state parks.   So a great place to start are the state park listings for your neck of the woods.

Here are some other great resources

Singletracks - - Find the best trail 

Trails.com - - Mountain Bike trails 

TrailLink - - Mountain Bike Activities

Tips for finding great trails - - Helpful tips 

STRAVA

Strava is always finding new ways to provide great maps based on user data, and this is no exception:
Experiment with Strava heat map to find favorite mountain bike trails. Strava heatmaps show  'heat' made by aggregated, public activities over the last two years.

Strava sign up