The dream of a great set of bike routes starts early. Sometimes years in advance the Bike Virginia team has their eyes on a location that has all the things we like and need for a great tour, good roads, beautiful scenery, history, and recreation plus hotels!
Carefully planned routes culminate in route signage at the event.
As much as 16 months in advance the route concepts begin to take shape.
One of the first factors is determining where we will be able to have our Headquarters base. They are harder to find than you can imagine. Safe access, the right amount of space, water, parking for over 1,000 cars, all these things must fall into place. Once we have our options identified we begin looking for ways to get riders to the “good stuff”, the riding they crave.
Shane and Cynthia scouting a potential headquarters location.
Shane Cusick, our lead route developer, is a certified Landscape Architect. Maps and design are his business. His routes get rave reviews.
Once Shane knows the host towns, he begins a combination of digital searches for regionally favorite bike rides. He cross references those with potential headquarters locations. Simultaneously he begins pen-and-map exercises, marking the roads that look ideal to him to create a first draft.
Shane also uses local knowledge garnered by emails, phone calls, and personal visits to citizens, police, and local officials, who help us ferret out any problem spots that might make the ride less than safe or pleasant and to learn about regional highlights.
More to come on Route Planning in Part 2. Stay tuned!
Early draft pen and ink route markings.