So far, over-dependence on GPS devices has resulted in more inconvenience than actual danger, but things took a turn for the worse earlier this month when a U.K. driver sent their £96k Mercedes SL500 flying into a river, trusting the car's optimistic GPS guidance instead of the road signs warning of impending doom. Matters were made worse as the river was swollen from recent heavy rains, which caused the vehicle to be swept some 200 meters downstream before the driver was able to escape. While they emerged unscathed, the car unfortunately wasn't quite so lucky, remaining stuck in the river for a week after the incident and now believed to be a complete write-off.

Route Sheets &

Digital Route Sheet for Your Garmin or Smartphone

The Route Sheet

On the day of the ride we will give you a great route sheet. We do not release copies of the route sheet in advance, for four reasons:

1. Not everyone is as honest as you. When we release the route sheet in advance, we get a lot of people who do the ride without paying.


2. Believe it or not, the route sheet is usually not ready until just a day or two before the ride. Why? Because our excellent route-marking crew heads out right before the ride to check for any last-minute changes. It is VERY common for them to come across a road that we have used for years, only to discover that it is closed for construction. When they return from marking the route, the route-marking team is THE final word on where the route goes -- even I don’t know the route until I hear back from them.


3. If we distribute the route sheet before the ride, we get a LOT of email like this: "I see the route goes down Maple Street. You people are idiots. Everyone knows that Oak Street is much better than Maple Street. I will be riding on Oak Street instead. Will there be a rest stop for me on Oak Street?"


4. We ALSO get a lot of email like this: "I see from the route sheet that the ride will go right past my house. I will start pedaling from in front of my house, and then do the route in reverse order. Can I get a lift back to my house after the ride?" 


Hope you understand! When we’ve released the route sheet in advance bad things happen to us, and we hate when that happens!

Digital Route Files

Just before ride day we will send out an email to all registered rides all the information in excruciating detail on how to get the digital route files for your smartphone or bike-mounted GPS.  No action is required by you at this time.

Please be advised that these digital files will have the best information available prior to the start of the ride and that last minute changes to the route may not have been included. When in doubt, don't listen to your GPS or smartphone and ride into an open sewer excavation which was started the night before the ride where the route had been... follow the road markings!

For example:

FAITH IN GPS SENDS MERCEDES DOWNSTREAM