I love finding new roads. Discovering where they lead. Finding my next favourite riding road. I’m not content with riding the same roads over and over. I want to explore new places. Sometimes there’s dirt that you need to traverse that reveals a gem. When I’m organising a ride I tell people that: a – I don’t generally ride the main roads; b – there may be dirt occasionally; and c – I like to find new and interesting roads.
I also love maps.
For many years I resisted getting a GPS as I’m a map guy. But what I’ve discover is that the GPS has really opened up my exploration even more as it’s much easier to find and navigate these obscure out-of-the-road roads.
So a couple of years ago out of interest I started plotting all the roads I ridden over the years with a highlighter and it turns out that I have ridden a lot of roads. But it also shows that there are many, many roads that I have yet to ride. That is something I’d like to remedy.
I thought I could modernise it a bit by using mapping software. The following is a screen shot of my rides mapped in BaseCamp (Garmin’s mapping software used in conjunction with their GPS’s).
Base Camp – roads I’ve ridden in Australia
If anyone uses other mapping applications that are better and allow embedding or linking rather than just a snapshot – I’d be really interested to hear what you use.
Why new roads… other than just for the sake of exploration. Sometimes you find yourself at the end of the tar enjoying a beer with mates in a small country pub with lots of interesting history overlooking the mountains, with your bike covered in mud.
That’s why.
Zed14 
Love finding new roads and new places myself. great riding
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I’m always amazed at people who just ride the same roads every weekend. I don’t get it.
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I too love finding new roads. Now that I have downsized to a smaller bike, navigating them will be much easier, especially if they end up being a horse trail!
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I’d love to have a smaller (650) bike that is more dirt orientated to explore some of the place that even I’m not game to put the zed.
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It is great to use a GPS but being old school, I still prefer to layout my travels and adventures on a good old fashion map to give me an overview of the area.
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Don’t get me wrong. I still love my paper maps, spreading them out and pouring over them to find that perfect route. The GPS is only the tool to help me find those unmarked roads and turns when out on the ride.
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Exactly
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You have a massive country to explore Glen! Love your pics. 🙂
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There is no doubt that Australia is a big place and I still have so many places to explore. The novel thing when riding in Spain was crossing country borders … certainly not something that I am used to.
Thanks about the photos – I find the blog is a great place to tell the story behind the photos.
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We enjoy seeing bits of Australia! 😀
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