It’s easy to fall into the habit of riding through the same route. What’s not to love? It’s safe, familiar, and convenient but it can become boring after a while. After all, what is the use of an electric bike if you cannot use it to explore other places?
In a world of smartphones and Google, finding bike routes has never been this easy. However, there are still ways to find new trails and routes that even the most tech savvy biker can’t find. We’ve come up with a list to help you find great new places to ride.
How to Find Bike Trails
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Take an unfamiliar side road. You’d think it’s an obvious thing to do but it wouldn’t normally cross your mind. Explore a side road that’s new to you. Don’t worry about getting lost, you can always find your way back. Take the risk and just enjoy the ride.
You can take a look at a map and study aerial photos online beforehand, but you can’t tell what it’s really like unless you’ve traveled on it on two wheels. Most GPS applications will get you there the most efficient way. Side roads can provide the most interesting scenery and usually have less traffic. -
Explore your local area using Google Street View. While nothing beats riding through the roads to check them out personally, you can utilize Google maps Street View to see the roads you plan to take on so you wouldn’t be caught on off guard.
Isn’t technology amazing? You can take a virtual tour of your intended route using the interactive arrows so you can see where you're going and plan your ride. - Use Strava.com to look at local riders’ routes. Strava is a ride logging and comparison website. You can see routes actual local riders are taking. You can find other regular riders in your neighborhood by looking at the leaderboards of local Strava segments. You can also see how they go to and from that segment.
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Join a cycling club. If you don’t know any local riders, you can look for a cycling club in your area. Most clubs ride weekly with riders of varying ability and a variety of routes to take on.
Aside from the new places to ride, you get to be with like-minded people who enjoy riding like you. It’s always great to ride along with a group and explore new places together. You can join our Facebook group to meet other riders and find a new friend to ride with. -
Go old school with an OS map. Digital mapping is great, it has satellite photos and street view which can give you a virtual tour of the layout of the land. But there’s still something oddly satisfying about going old school and spreading out a paper map to take it in and look at what’s around.
You can easily carry the map in your back pocket if you need it during your trips, especially if you’re on a road that doesn’t have a mobile signal which prevents you from using your digital map. - Check out your local, county, town, state and national parks. Sometimes the park maps will include routes that are cycle friendly that don’t show up on google searches. Call them on the phone and ask for a common place where people take their bikes. Your civic servants will be glad to help you get the most out of your area.
- Stay tuned to our blogs. We are planning articles about great places to ride in many of the areas that have high cruiser bike density. Check back often and see what you might learn.
Find Great Places to Ride
These are just some ways you can find places where to go biking. Don’t be afraid to explore and just enjoy the experience. Have regular ebike care and maintenance to keep your ebike in top shape for your new route.