We all look for new rides, routes and paths. Changing the scenery up is something that helps a lot of us bikers stay in the saddle. There are lots of websites out there that help you do this, but perhaps none of them offer the diversity and adventure that A–B (A to B) is trying to bring to you.
The people over at A–B state:
A—B takes a more curated approach to cataloging cycle routes. We feature all kinds of routes, for all kinds of cyclists; Less focused on the aspirational and more interested in the accessible.
And this is something intriguing. All too often you come across a cycling website or app that offers to track a route that you’re taking or a track a favorite ride and then use that information as a challenge to either yourself or someone else. I suppose you could categorize these as fitness based apps, focused on getting you slimmer by pitting your stats against your historical rides or others.
A–B aims to be more of an adventure by offering you a route with some scenery and some viewpoints along the way. You can browse the routes offered on the website or browse through geographic regions. And this is where you first complaint will come of their website: there aren’t a lot of routes offered in different areas. A lot of the routes are in the UK, which is fine for those folks across the pond, but not for those of us in the States. You can contact A–B and send them your route information and they will review it to see if it is ‘worthy enough’ to be added to their site. I imagine that if your ride includes a couple of interesting views/stops/points of interest, you have a good shot of acceptance.
Routes listed on their site have a good amount of information regarding the ride. Overlaid on Google Maps, you can see exactly where you’re going and the points of interest along the way. Everything is tagged and route length, elevation and route type (on or off road) are stated (see below).
It’s an interesting concept for a cycling route website and I hope that they gain some interest in their service. I would love to see an upload form on the page to make adding routes more accessible. Of course, they could still be reviewed before being added to the directory, but I think that this small addition would make the website much better. Check it out here or follow them on Twitter to keep updated on their progress.
