DIY route sharing thread

[telstarbox]

Would it be worth having a thread for people who are happy to offer their completed DIY routes to others?

This could be potentially useful for RRTY entrants if they can't find a suitable Calendar or Perm ride in a particular month, and thus avoid too much reinvention of wheels. Or anyone else who just fancies riding somewhere new.

The idea would be to post brief details of the route and/or a GPS file which could be downloaded and submitted for DIY by GPS. You could also state whether you completed it as Advisory or Mandatory, and any recommended cafes or pubs.

Others can then do their own DIY entry in the usual way with the info supplied.

I can offer one to kick off:

Route: London to Lynn (London Bridge to Kings Lynn or vice versa). 200km with train return, or 400km out and back.
Description: South half roughly follows the Dunwich Dynamo route so a few small hills; north half is very flat. Plenty of food options at Epping, Great Dunmow, Haverhill, Ely, Downham Market.
Format: Mandatory recommended as the north end is "indirect".
Route GPS: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1R9cvQYyD7-9B6CAOkhDujukMzsfKj4Fv
Routesheet: Also available on request.

[grapefruits]

Here's my favourite winter 200 DIY from SE London out to the flattest bits of Kent and back. Only ever submitted it as a mandatory DIY by GPS.

Route: SE London to Tenterden and back, https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26545327
Description: quite flat apart from getting over the ridge on the way out or back in. Normally stop at Teapot Island (56km) and Headcorn (130km) for proper meals. Intermediate stops could be made Biddenden (slight detour), Beneden, Bethersden, and then in Seal on the way back.

[Somnolent]

Alternatively, with a little more effort, turn it into a Perm ?

It really isn't that hard to do.   Mine (below) started out very much as

potentially useful for RRTY entrants if they can't find a suitable Calendar or Perm ride in a particular month, and thus avoid too much reinvention of wheels.

[telstarbox]

I did look into that for mine but it would require a lot of controls for traditional PoP validation, and it's not allowed (yet) to offer a Perm with only GPS validation.

[Martin]

I did look into that for mine but it would require a lot of controls for traditional PoP validation, and it's not allowed (yet) to offer a Perm with only GPS validation.

+1

for a personal perm ride (which you may like to share with others) DIY is the way to go. Setting up a traditional perm is very rewarding and as well as making the route instantly available to all gives you a "friend in the draw" that you can ride any time with no planning, but does require planning / route sheet / gpx / regular update of infos / stock of cards / Paypal account / admin on the AUK website in order to make it as accessible for everyone else

[vorsprung]

I came up with a nice route from Uffculme to Malborough (300) and I made it into an event recently.  This might run again for PBP year.  Or it might not.  I have another idea for a 300 that might be more fun

I frequently do Uffculme to Frome and back (200)

If you want these routes or anything else based from the Devon/Somerset border near J27 PM me

[bhoot]

We have a few DIYs which go out from London but return part way on the train. Some loop well back into London for a shorter and cheaper train journey, but others just keep on getting further away! The logic here is that it's OK to cycle out first thing in the morning but the traffic late afternoon/early evening is no fun at all.  Not being GPS-enabled means they are all good for traditional PoP, and work well for an 05.30 to 07.00 departure from London. Examples are London-Deal, London-Ipswich, London-Harlow (at least two variants including a 300), London-Shenfield, London-Norwich, London-Dunwich (not the DD route, does require extra cycle miles to Ipswich after the 200km).  Maybe it's time for a set of "escape the city" perms?
Happy to share details of any of these if you pm me.

[telstarbox]

Cheers bhoot I may well do that. I guess you're on the east side of the city then?

[bhoot]

Isle of Dogs... so Island Gardens station is a favourite start point for us (top up your Oyster card for PoP!) but I am sure some can be tweaked for alternative starts.

[citoyen]

I did look into that for mine but it would require a lot of controls for traditional PoP validation, and it's not allowed (yet) to offer a Perm with only GPS validation.

This. I wanted to make my 200 available as a perm but it's almost impossible without seriously hacking the route almost beyond recognition.

Another problem with perms is that they don't have a fixed start time, so what might be a good control for a ride starting at 8am won't necessarily be a good control for a ride starting at 2pm or 5am.

[citoyen]

Here's my favourite winter 200 DIY from SE London out to the flattest bits of Kent and back. Only ever submitted it as a mandatory DIY by GPS.

Route: SE London to Tenterden and back, https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26545327
Description: quite flat apart from getting over the ridge on the way out or back in. Normally stop at Teapot Island (56km) and Headcorn (130km) for proper meals. Intermediate stops could be made Biddenden (slight detour), Beneden, Bethersden, and then in Seal on the way back.

That's a really nice looking route - I know pretty much all those roads and like them.

There's another possible café option slightly off-route at Woodchurch, if you continue along the B2067 another few hundred metres to the Rare Breeds Centre. It's nothing special but it's quite reasonable and has a courtyard where you can leave your bike safely (or even sit outside if weather allows).

[wilkyboy]

Another problem with perms is that they don't have a fixed start time, so what might be a good control for a ride starting at 8am won't necessarily be a good control for a ride starting at 2pm or 5am.

While that's true, it can be dealt with firstly in the controls notes and secondly by clearly advising riders when they enter.

And if you add the by-GPS option to it then the problem goes away (for those with GPS) — I've had quite a few riders undertake my perms, by GPS, overnight when the shops are shut for a bit of a challenge 

Note that perm-by-GPS is only available up to and including 200km at the moment.

And I should add, all my perms started out as DIYs.

[citoyen]

Just to up the ante a bit, here's the route for the DIY "Four Countries 600" I did last year with a couple of mates:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19604413

The idea behind it was to visit four different countries in one weekend. It starts in Dunkerque, France, then heads through Belgium, into the southeast corner of Netherlands and across the border into Aachen, Germany, before turning round and heading home again.

The original plan was to get the ferry over to Dunkerque and start from the port but that proved problematic so we ended up using the Eurotunnel. Public car parks in Dunkerque are free at the weekend so I left the car in the one near the station. There's a newsagent in the station that is open early and serves coffee and pastries, ideal for a light pre-ride breakfast, but we stopped in Bruges for a proper breakfast.

Much of the outward leg is along the canals and is therefore obviously very flat, but it starts to get a bit more choppy after 200km, and the bit between Aachen and Liege is actually rather lumpy.

Maastricht to Aachen is mostly along a main road but there's a decent cycle path.

After the turning point in Aachen, it heads back via the Drielaandepunt, the point where the borders of Belgium, Netherlands and Germany meet, and the highest point in the Netherlands. However, it was dark by the time we got there so we didn't see much of the view. There's about 2km of offroad trail up to the Drielaandepunt but nothing that isn't manageable on a road bike.

The route is designed to skirt around Liege but we took a slight detour for a sleep stop at the Formule 1 on the outskirts of town.

The return leg is again mostly flat and has lots of canalside cycle paths, but for those who like climbing, it goes through Geraardsbergen with the option to take in the 'iconic' Kaapelmuur. You could also take in some of the famous hellingen around Oudenaarde without going too far off route. And there's an obligatory section of pavé on the outskirts of Oudeanaarde as well.

Although the route was largely cobbled together from Google Maps, I was very pleased with how it turned out - except for several sections of cycle paths and roads that were being dug up, requiring detours. We seemed to have visited on Belgium's National Roadworks Weekend. Anyway, there were very few sections of road that I would choose to avoid if doing the route again - and I definitely do want to do it again some time.

[citoyen]

Note that perm-by-GPS is only available up to and including 200km at the moment.

Is it possible to offer Perms as GPS-only? Might need to investigate that possibility further...

[telstarbox]

When I asked John Ward (Perms Sec) about this he said to me:

DIY events are available for GPS only routes, but fixed route permanent events should be available to ride with conventional PoP (receipts etc) as well as with gpx validation.

We could propose a change to the rulebook though?

[citoyen]

Ta, I thought that was the case, and the reasons for not making Perms available as GPS-only have been much discussed elsewhere so I don't have much interest in upsetting the status quo on this one.

In any case, if we have a resource like this thread to share DIY routes with other riders, it becomes somewhat academic since the main benefit of Perms is having them listed (arguably, sharing GPS courses is more useful since you can actually see where the ride goes - some Perm listings are notably thin on the information front).

[grapefruits]

Just to up the ante a bit, here's the route for the DIY "Four Countries 600" I did last year with a couple of mates:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19604413

Would absolutely *love* to do this. Looks great.

[telstarbox]

Another Trans-Anglia 200km one, works in either direction.



Don't Look Back In Anglia
 Tilbury Ferry (lots of horses), Billericay, Tiptree (jam factory), Colchester, Dedham (AONB), Debenham, Eye (castle), Bungay (another castle), quiet route into Norwich city centre (pedestrianised ) The rest is mostly quiet lanes with a few B road sections, lots of picturesque villages and Constable Country.
Distance: 200km, not flat but not AAA either, I got 1400m of climbing. 
This probably needs to be submitted as a mandatory route.
GPX or basic paper routesheet on request.

[JonJo]

Heighington DIY

One kindly donated by Socks OTP. I've ridden this and it's pretty much pancake flat so would be OK on fixed. An early start is advised to miss the commuter traffic between Darlo and Northallerton though once you turn off the A167 you can look forward to an afternoon of quiet lanes.

There are plenty of shops, pubs and cafes on the route and it's easy to make very short diversions into Brafferton and Easingwold to add even more scoffing opportunities.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28307115