Routes

Mike,
Thanks for the info. I didn't see the area for cue sheets in the Library because I was just browsing without logging on.

Rita,
I may take you up on your offer, but I will be going SLOW up the hills. I'm trying to work my schedule so I can get back with the Sat AM group ride.

Howard, I'm familiar with the roads around Herb Parson. They are good ones to start training on and I plan to start riding out there on weekends pretty soon. Let me know if you want some company.
Email: imahightailer@yahoo.com

Can't believe you survived riding down Walnut Grove. All of the roads out there are two lane with no shoulder but traffic is not too bad except for on Macon.

Importing from Bikely into Topo USA: First, find your route in Bikely. Then click on ".GPX" and save the file on your computer. Bikely saves the file as an .XML file which Topo doesn't recognize, but all you have to do is find the file on your computer and change the extension from .XML to .GPX. You don't have to do any conversion or anything, just change the extension (i.e. click on the filename and retype the extension). Then go into Topo USA and click on the "Route" tab, then click "New/edit", and then click "File" and "Import". That seems to work pretty well. If you have any problem, let me know.

Thanks for the hill info. One question about the area around Herbs -- some of the roads seem like they would be dangerous (high speed traffic, two lane, curvy, no shoulder) -- are there any specific roads or routes you like? I am a little traffic-shy. Early last Saturday I rode out Walnut Grove to Houson Levee, and felt like i was going to be killed!

If you are looking for some good hills to tackle around East Memphis/Gtown/Collierville, not going to find very many. If you go out just past Collierville out to Fisherville and Herb Parsons, you can find some of the best long climbs in the area. Out in Arlington you will find some more good hills on Long Road and Osborntown and Macedonia roads.
And of course if you head out to Shelby Forest, take the MRT from the Shelby forest state park visitor center and head all the way to Turnage Grocery (the store with the cool old GULF sign) on Hwy 59 and make it an out and back, you will get all the climbing you want for 50 miles.

Howard, can you tell me how you can upload a Bikely.com route into the Topo software?

Hello Howard.

Thanks for your comments on the Routes. We have a location in the library for Cue Sheets and Routes. If you have a PDF or DOC format of a favorite route send it to Roy or myself and we can upload them. We have a legal issue with posting them on the Home page, but they can be available for members anytime.

Once we start the weekly rides we will post those routes here also.

Some like Cue Sheets, some like maps.


Thanks
Mike

For an add on to the Kimbrough /Dogwood loop you can also do the Fox Hill Circle loop. The actual loop is only 2.5 miles but, it makes for a good figure eight. There are three ways to get into it. The easiest way is off of Johnston Rd. There is a Fox Hill Cir. Rd. about the middle of Johnston Rd.

Yep, I'm using Topo USA 6.0, and I see what you mean about 2nd street. I wonder why that doesn't show up. I updated the map files, but still no bridge. I do think the software is pretty cool. I was trying to find some hilly routes in East Memphis/G'town/Collierville area. So far, the best I've found is on Dogwood near Kimbrough: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Germantown-climb . Riding this as an out and back, it's about 285 ft climbing over 3.6 miles. Not exactly a mountain, but it beats riding Farm Road through the Agricenter. I saw your hilly route in Shelby forest. Any other hilly rides you know of around here?

Howard,
Do you use Delorme Topo 6.0? I just purchased that software and am getting used to it now. I found a problem though when trying to map out our Century route. The software has the bridge out on 2nd Avenue over the Wolf River. Have you noticed this?

Bob,

Thanks for the route. I agree it would be nice to post a list of favorite routes. I know this site (MHBC) has some routes already made up. It would be nice if we had one place to list local routes. Maybe our excellent Webmaster, Mike Lewis, would even set us up a new heading for routes in the main menu, or as a subheading in the library? One problem is that there are a number of different sites that can be used for mapping routes. I have seen bike routes in our area listed on Gmaps pedometer, Routeslip, Sanoodi and Bikely, as well as simple maps. I would be interested to get other opinions, and see if we might agree on one site to use. I like Bikely ( http://www.bikely.com ) best, and noticed that Roy Swearingen has started using it. Bikely allows you to download the route in formats that work in mapping programs like TOPO USA. I'm kind of a map geek, and would be glad to help organize the routes and convert into Bikely format if ths would be useful.

I have posted a copy of a favorite De Soto Conty ride here:
http://www.sanoodi.com/route/bpeden/unnamed/2007-01-27/22-58-00/

Sanoodi.com is a neat spot to post rides and share them. Please post your favorites.

Thanks, Bob

"To do less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." - Pre