5 Websites for Finding and Mapping the Ideal Bike Route

With the Greenline putting Memphis cycling in the spotlight, people all over the city are wondering how they can map bike routes to work, school, or anywhere else in the city.  While we are waiting on bike lanes to populate the city, a safe street bike route is the best way to get from place to place in our fair city.  Here are just a few easy ways to find or chart a bike route:

1. MapMyRide.com:  This is by far the easiest to use interface for bike route mapping.  With this site, you can easily create bike routes and mark water stations, bathroom breaks, and first-aid stations.  If you are organizing a group ride, MapMyRide is a great way to create a route to send in email or print for distribution.  You can create an account to save your routes for future use and share them with other users.  Pretty nifty, huh?
2. Google Bike Routes:  We have been using Google Maps for years to figure out the perfect route for road trips.  This last year, Google introduced bike route functionality where you can put in your current location and destination, and it will show you the best bike path to take.  Google Bike Routes are in Beta, so be patient with it.  Google’s not finished tweaking it.
3. Bikely.com:  Bikely works similar to MapMyRide, where you can search the system for specific bike routes that have been contributed by other users.  Do you have a cool bike route that should be shared with the rest of the world?  Well, Bikely is the site for you.  You can find short distance routes to extended touring bike trips.
4. BikeMap.Net:  This is a site that is not yet utilized widely in our city, but it works just as well as all the other options.  You can easily create a route on the map and save it for others to use.  You can also share your route on Facebook (what can you not share on Facebook these days?).  Like Google Bike Routes, this site is in the Beta phase, but it works fine for simple route mapping and sharing.
5. AdventureCycling.org:  This is a wonderful resource for cyclist all across America.  Through this site you can find adventure routes, guided tours offered, complete maps of the U.S. Bicycle Route System, and much more.

Now that you can map your bike paths, where do you plan to ride?

24th Annual Outdoors Inc Cyclocross Championship

With Memphis cycling in the spotlight, how could you miss one of the premier bike events in our city?

When:  Sunday, November 14, 2010 – registrations at 8 am, Races begin at 9am
Where:  Greenbelt Park – Mud Island, Memphis, TN.
Who:  USCF licensed riders (day licenses available at race) and Kid/Juniors
What:  Cyclocross racing is 40 to 50 minutes of heart-pounding, adrenaline-fueled bike racing.  The course is approximately 1.5 miles long in length with barricades requiring dismount from the rider’s bike.

Grand Opening of the Shelby Farms Greenline = Success

This weekend we got the opportunity to be involved with the opening of the Shelby Farms Greenline, the first of it’s kind in Memphis.  People from all over town gathered along the Greenline to celebrate the trail connecting Binghampton to Shelby Farms.  This was a huge step  for Memphis, pushing us in a more bike-pedestrian friendly direction.  Everyone that we talked to glowed with the excitement of the Greenline.

If you stopped by the festivities, what was your favorite part?  The DJ bike sled? The community togetherness?

Shelby Farms Greenline Ribbon Cutting Ceremony – Rejoice!

And the bikers, runners, skaters, and walkers rejoiced.

This last Tuesday marked the official opening of the Shelby Farms Greenline starting at Tillman street stretching out to Shelby Farms Park.  Although it is no secret that the Greenline has been, well, crowded weeks before the official opening, it is only expected to get more populated over time.

The Greenline’s Grand Opening event Saturday is expected to pack the trail with skaters, bikers and pedestrians alike.  Be on the lookout for a bike sled, propelled by two bikes, and a bike powered generator.  You can’t miss it, because it will be carrying a DJ booth.  Yes, a DJ booth.

Come on out and enjoy Memphis’ first Greenline.  It’s something to celebrate!  We will be set up with a tent at the High Point Terrace area, so be sure to stop in and say hello!

 

Welcome to the Outdoors Inc Experience

The Outdoors Inc Experience is paddling. It’s cycling.  It’s climbing.  It’s backpacking and hiking.  We have been outfitting human-powered recreation since 1974.  We want to be your resource for gear knowledge, travel tips and tricks, and community recreation ideas.  Hopefully, this blog will give you some insight on what to buy, how to travel, where to go (in and out of town), and what we are doing as a company and as individuals.  We want to hear for you, too.  Let us know your experiences in and out of our stores.  Ask us questions.  That’s what we are here for.