Cycle Travel Question

[Bmblbzzz]

Surely the canonical answer* would be that just as "there's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing" so there's no such thing as bad surfaces, only the wrong tyres. Or even the wrong bike.

*See also "Someone rode PBP on a Brompton" etc.

[Rob D]

Not sure how serious you are... Our bikes are what I'd call robust tourers, mine on 700 x 35s. It's coped with a lot over the years, but one issue is the bar box. I keep quite heavy things there to help keep weight forward, as we don't use front panniers. But it bounces worryingly on rough ground.

So yeah, my bike might be the wrong bike for some of the places it's been, but when you select 'paved', one hopes it'll be a reasonably smooth ride!

[Rob D]

So I'm wondering what others do?

I make a note and update OSM next time I get a chance - there are several apps for your mobile that make it easy to work out exactly which box you need to edit to update information.

Admittedly this doesn't help you at all, but it might help the next cyclist who comes along.

That's impressive, well done. I guess it's relatively straightforward once you've started, but I always seem to have too many others things to do...

I must try to look into it.

[Rob D]

Mrs HJ, happy to pass on whatever I can. But so far - and I've only been in Poland 3 days - I can say that the Poles are much less reserved than those from the Baltics. The roads are mostly extremely good, some absolutely wonderful. Most main roads and many others have good, smooth cycle paths beside them. The drivers are mostly good, the truckers extremely so.

I've not ridden on any dirt roads in Poland yet. I agree, if dry, they can make a pleasant change. But for some reason, I'm really having problems with the slightest bit of damp causing grit to stick to my rims. It's never been anything like this bad elsewhere.

[Rob D]

Richard F, thanks for that. The issue is, of course, worse in remote areas where alternatives are a long way away. It would be great if there was a way to improve things.

Another anomaly: heading east to Vilnius, I was keen to get there quickly rather than take quite large diversions on CT. But really oddly, CT just would not let me take this main road. I tried in many ways. So I ended up using GM, tho it was pretty straightforward. It wasn't a new road, nor was it especially busy. It was like it didn't exist.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Sometimes OSM rules for a particular country ostensibly say “bikes aren’t allowed on trunk roads” and c.t follows that… but in reality they are. If you can give me an exact example (i.e. “the road from Frogsville to Toadmanton”) I can take a look!

[Rob D]

Richard, thanks. It was the east/west road around Aukstadvaris, from a bit west of there, back towards Birstonas, going towards Trakai. The A16.
Not sure if that's sufficient detail?

[Bmblbzzz]

Not sure how serious you are... Our bikes are what I'd call robust tourers, mine on 700 x 35s. It's coped with a lot over the years, but one issue is the bar box. I keep quite heavy things there to help keep weight forward, as we don't use front panniers. But it bounces worryingly on rough ground.

So yeah, my bike might be the wrong bike for some of the places it's been, but when you select 'paved', one hopes it'll be a reasonably smooth ride!

If this is a response to my post:

Surely the canonical answer* would be that just as "there's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing" so there's no such thing as bad surfaces, only the wrong tyres. Or even the wrong bike.

*See also "Someone rode PBP on a Brompton" etc.

then the best answer is not very serious. That is, I might be serious about the "canonical answer", thinking of roughstuffers etc, but I'm not suggesting it as the correct answer (and it obviously doesn't address mapping issues).

Btw, possibly the reason so much grit is sticking to your rims in Poland is due to both the prevalent sandy soil and the widespread use of cinders on minor unpaved roads. Though if it's happening on main roads, I don't know.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Richard, thanks. It was the east/west road around Aukstadvaris, from a bit west of there, back towards Birstonas, going towards Trakai. The A16.
Not sure if that's sufficient detail?

Thank you. It looks like bikes might be allowed on Lithuanian roads marked as "trunk" in OSM, it's just not documented anywhere. I'll do a bit of digging and see what I can turn up.

[slowster]

Richard, thanks. It was the east/west road around Aukstadvaris, from a bit west of there, back towards Birstonas, going towards Trakai. The A16.
Not sure if that's sufficient detail?

Thank you. It looks like bikes might be allowed on Lithuanian roads marked as "trunk" in OSM, it's just not documented anywhere. I'll do a bit of digging and see what I can turn up.

If you try in Google Maps, you will similarly be prevented from routing on that road if you select bike as the mode of travel. The only difference is that it can be brute forced in Google Maps by inputting multiple waypoints on the road.

[Rob D]

Thanks both. It's weird, it was a busy-ish road but not awful. However, a barman warned me about a section, where there are no speed cameras and people drive badly. But it was ok, and CT has routed me on very much worse roads elsewhere, generally when there's no choice.

Been caught again today on a dirt road, but it wasn't far to return to tarmac.

As an aside, I've just endured about 10 k of appalling tarmac, patch upon patch. Horrid - but earlier, the roads were really good, even very quiet roads (roughly equivalent to our B roads) having well-surfaced cycle paths beside them.

[Rob D]

Blmbzzz, thanks. Yes, it's certainly very sandy pretty well everywhere I've been. Maybe a finer grain? But it seemed to take very little exposure to an off road stretch before that dreadful grinding noise commenced. Sometimes just a very short piece where I took my bike onto the hard shoulder was enough. My lovely Sputnik rims being worn away...

[Rob D]

Slowster, thanks. I remember now finding the same on that section with Google Maps.

I'd love to know more on how it works.

[mattheus]

Why are some town names in green? (appear to be small "touristique" places, but hard to tell what the entry requirements are)
p.s. I'm looking on a Windows PC.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Yep, picturesque small places. Where there's an official list (e.g. France and Switzerland) it uses that. In the UK there's no official list so it's just a hand-chosen list!