Via Michelin

[ludwig]

Ok so I'm a computer ignoramous but I'm not going to lose sleep over it but can anyone tell me where I'm going wrong with this as I'm trying out various diy options and it would be spiffing if I could just get it to work. I've set it to km and shortest (By bike has max of 200km i think). I get a map up and then right click for the start (so far so good) a little flag tell me it's done then I right click and choose stage and little flags appear along the route. Jolly good. So for instance I choose a route cardi-Aber-carmarthen-Saundersfoot-Laughne. - St davids-Fishguard-Cardigan (you'll probably see where I'm going with this) hit return and it gives me a lovely route Cardigan-Aber-Fishguard-Cardigan missing all my other stages. Is there a limit on stages or another way of planning a route or even some online help. Anyone know?

[Hot Flatus]

I use bikehike.co.uk to plot the route first and plan the controls, it is much much better.

I only use VM for DIY purposes to verify the distances.  I enter place names and cut and paste accordingly as I work through the stages, writing down the distances.  Slightly time consuming but accurate. 

[vorsprung]

I use bikely.com for the detail of the route.   Google maps is ok too.

viamitchelin is good for verifying the distance but also makes the occassional good "suggestion"

[ludwig]

Cheers guys but it's the distance i need for DIY. I already have the route. I guess I could do it like anthea suggests but its seems a faff and there must be an easier way.

[Greenbank]

Cheers guys but it's the distance i need for DIY. I already have the route. I guess I could do it like anthea suggests but its seems a faff and there must be an easier way.

I bought a copy of Autoroute 2001 from eBay for a couple of quid.

Works for me given the number of DIYs I end up doing.

[MSeries]

Cheers guys but it's the distance i need for DIY. I already have the route. I guess I could do it like anthea suggests but its seems a faff and there must be an easier way.

I bought a copy of Autoroute 2001 from eBay for a couple of quid.

Works for me given the number of DIYs I end up doing.

I have a second hand copy of Autoroute 2004 from eBay, the problem is though that the version used by my DIY organiser is different and it calculates different distances to mine and some fall below the entered distance

[Greenbank]

I bought the 2001 version as that's what my DIY organiser uses

[MSeries]

My DIY org used to use 2004, then the DIY org. changed and changed again.

[Stephen Kirkby]

viaMichelin allows only 4 waypoints ie Start, Finish and two in between.
I've never tried clicking directly on the map, I just enter the place names in the boxes.
Clearly, for a typical route you need more control points, so you have to continue the process starting from the previous Finish point, then adding up all the distances afterwards.
Julian

[Graeme Wyllie]

I use Google maps to plan a ride using "walking" - its much better for trial and error and rides with >4 checkpoints than viamichelin, then I use viamichelin when submitting to the DIY organiser.

Of course, a really annoying feature of viamichelin for me living in north west Edinburgh is that it doesnt recognise that the Forth Road Bridge can be cycled.  aaaaaargh!!

[Weirdy Biker]

As someone said, viamichelin is limited in that it restricts the number of "control points".  What you have to do is plot out a series of 4 point rides and add up the distances.

Painful, but does save you the dosh you'd be spending if you bought Autoroute.

As an aside, if you post your controls, someone might be nice enough to tell you what distance autoroute comes up with.  Alternatively, PM me and I'll run them through my copy this evening.

[DanialW]

I'd advise getting an old copy of autoroute.

I use autoroute 2007 to check entries, and find that the difference between that and old copies is usually only a few km at most. This is only really an issue if you're really on the wire with the distance.

Of course, if the diy by gpx trial is a success then this is likely to help enormously in crafting routes using controls you might not necessarily stop at.

[ludwig]

Thank you gentlemen. i've just entered a bid for autoroute 07 on ebay and in the meantime I'll persever with Via Michelin

[crwydryn]

You can have a 60 day free trial of Autoroute 2010.

AutoRoute Home Page

[Grandad]

Reading through this thread I get the feeling that the distance of an audax depends on which version of autoroute has been  used.

How can I find an under distance event that autoroute has approved???

[Martin]

viamichelin is a bit clumsy and requires complex routes to be split; however it is free and universally available and also allows postcodes so out of town shops cashpoints even houses etc can be used (with no worries about using the current version). It is what I use to validate calendar extensions and only ever deviates from AR by 1km maximum over the average sub 100km route. and "by bike" is usually shortest.

[MSeries]

Reading through this thread I get the feeling that the distance of an audax depends on which version of autoroute has been  used.

How can I find an under distance event that autoroute has approved???

Autoroute doesn't approve routes, DIY organisers do. They don't approve under distance ones or at least they shouldn't. I could give you a list of controls that were OK in my version but not approved by one DIY organiser.

In reality the distance is constant, there is only one road used by the rider,  but different versions may (probably) use different algorithms or have different data for certain roads so can calculate 'quickest' differently.

[frankly frankie]

I'm sure if someone can come up with a better, easily-accessible way of defining the shortest, cycleable, sensible route between two places, we'd all like to know about it.

[ludwig]

DIY's are typically a bit over distance as a function of finding controls that are not under distance. I find that that often means using bigger roads than you would choose on a calander event where you can put in an info in the middle of nowhere. Still that's the nature of the beast and doesn't undermine the advantage of starting from home when it's convenient. Anyway I've downloaded the free version of autoroute as suggested and it's a damn site easier to use than via michelin.

[mattc]

Reading through this thread I get the feeling that the distance of an audax depends on which version of autoroute has been  used.

How can I find an under distance event that autoroute has approved???

I'd go for something with an off-road section - apply local knowledge.(I assume auto-route doesn't know every tarmacced bike-lane or navigable bridle-way.)

[Greenbank]

Reading through this thread I get the feeling that the distance of an audax depends on which version of autoroute has been  used.

How can I find an under distance event that autoroute has approved???

My DIY 200 up to Cambridge and back is teetering on the edge, just using "Putney" and "Cambridge" wasn't good enough. I had to nominate specific controls at the South end of Putney and in the North-East of Cambridge to get it up to distance according to Autoroute.

Autoroute doesn't help itself by picking odd locations for towns. If you add "Broxbourne" as a control town it looks ok, but if you zoom in you see that you make a 400m detour down some sideroads to the exact spot Autoroute classes as "Broxbourne" then 400m back again to the road I was on to continue the journey, you only see this if you zoom in enough.

I also shave off a bit off the journey by using a cyclepath across some fields from Shelford into the back of Addenbrookes hospital that isn't routable on Autoroute. Even with this I've never done the one-way journey is less than 106km though because of my choice of route (avoiding the A10).

Going from Haslingfield to Cambridge, for example, will take you either via Barton or Harston. The quickest route, with local knowledge, is up Cantelupe Road, through Pemberton's Farm, over the M11 and into the back of Grantchester. That saves at least a mile on a short journey.

[Hot Flatus]

I'm sure if someone can come up with a better, easily-accessible way of defining the shortest, cycleable, sensible route between two places, we'd all like to know about it.

But surely that would go against everything that audax uk stands for?

[iakobski]

Reading through this thread I get the feeling that the distance of an audax depends on which version of autoroute has been  used.

How can I find an under distance event that autoroute has approved???

I'd go for something with an off-road section - apply local knowledge.(I assume auto-route doesn't know every tarmacced bike-lane or navigable bridle-way.)

Bridges are the best bet. Obv not the Severn bridge as everyone knows there's a cycle lane. Eg, if you control at the cafe in a country park on the Nene, then cross the river by the ped/cycle bridge & head due north, save about 20 km on the road route.

[Gareth Rees]

Going from Haslingfield to Cambridge, for example, will take you either via Barton or Harston. The quickest route, with local knowledge, is up Cantelupe Road, through Pemberton's Farm, over the M11 and into the back of Grantchester. That saves at least a mile on a short journey.

This involves a trespass across Cantelupe Farm, unfortunately.

[Greenbank]

Going from Haslingfield to Cambridge, for example, will take you either via Barton or Harston. The quickest route, with local knowledge, is up Cantelupe Road, through Pemberton's Farm, over the M11 and into the back of Grantchester. That saves at least a mile on a short journey.

This involves a trespass across Cantelupe Farm, unfortunately.

Pemberton doesn't mind cyclists (or didn't mind when I used this road day in day out for years), as long as they use the track to the North of the road through the farm, rather than through the farm itself. Motor vehicles are a no though.

Going straight on instead of taking the track is a bridleway but not always cycleable. The relevant OS map has more detail.