Cycling books or maps

Road, path or singletrack?
In Melbourne you could almost find your own magic rides just from a hint or two.

What kind of riding are you into?

1id10t said:

Hi

Just wondering whether anyone uses or can recommend books on where to ride. I usually just ride around randomly but was recently loaned a book by a neighbour and tried one of the rides. Although I didn't adhere strictly to the streets it recommended it did seem useful in giving me a direction of sorts. Also, while recently driving I saw two cyclists stopped by the side of the road with an open map. This just made me wonder whether people found 'ride guides' useful and whether there were any that could be recommended; particularly for Sydney and possibly Canberra and Melbourne. No offense to the other States but I don't visit them often enough.

I just pick a direction and ride (for on road rides that is).

When I'm searching for that elusive singletrack I tend to take heed of directions 🙂.

For sydney this might be helpful ...

http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/products/detailed.asp?bookid=0646433172&db=au

dont know if they have it for other states ....

1id10t said:

Hi

Just wondering whether anyone uses or can recommend books on where to ride. I usually just ride around randomly but was recently loaned a book by a neighbour and tried one of the rides. Although I didn't adhere strictly to the streets it recommended it did seem useful in giving me a direction of sorts. Also, while recently driving I saw two cyclists stopped by the side of the road with an open map. This just made me wonder whether people found 'ride guides' useful and whether there were any that could be recommended; particularly for Sydney and possibly Canberra and Melbourne. No offense to the other States but I don't visit them often enough.

The map ypu saw may have been on of the RTA Bike Maps.

For Sydney there are:
Sydney & Parramatta,
Parramatta & Liverpool,
and a
Western Sydney map

These are available from the RTA, and some Bicycle User Groups (BUG)

Try The RTA on 131782 or www.rta.nsw.gov.au

rta.nsw.gov.auindex.htmlOpen ↗

They appear to also have these maps on to download now at

rta.nsw.gov.aubicycbicycsydne dl2.htmlOpen ↗

There are also maps for other regional areas in NSW

Michael G

1id10t said:

Hi

Just wondering whether anyone uses or can recommend books on where to ride. I usually just ride around randomly but was recently loaned a book by a neighbour and tried one of the rides. Although I didn't adhere strictly to the streets it recommended it did seem useful in giving me a direction of sorts. Also, while recently driving I saw two cyclists stopped by the side of the road with an open map. This just made me wonder whether people found 'ride guides' useful and whether there were any that could be recommended; particularly for Sydney and possibly Canberra and Melbourne. No offense to the other States but I don't visit them often enough.

If you want maps of bike routes in Melbourne, go to www.vicroads.vic.gov.au and then type "bicycle maps" into the search tool. They have a series of 18 maps in .pdf format which covers the entire metropolitan area and show on & off road bike paths/lanes and roads with wide left lanes.

Thanks for the replies. I've downloaded some pdf's from the sites advised. I've also tried a couple of the rides from the book loaned to me by my neighbour. The book in particular is 'Bike Rides Around Sydney.' It's not a bad book if you wanted to some direction. I generally just ride with no particular direction in mind but this book, along with rides found online, have also shown me new places I probably would not have thought of cycling through. I think it's probably good to have these sources so when friends want to go cycling it doesn't seem aimless but i'll probably still like to discover other places on my own. Hope to get down to Melbourne later in the year to visit friends and put in a few k's on the bike as well. Thanks again for the feedback.