Today I'm going to talk about how I plan our routes when we go in these fun adventures. First, if you're new to the channel and you like what you hear and or see, please consider subscribing as it would definitely help support the channel. If you are a subscriber, thank you so much for your support. So I don't think I've ever not planned a route when I first started riding. I think I was just afraid to get lost and especially when I was new to riding on the roads and I was sharing the roads with cars, trucks, buses and all sorts of other vehicles that could potentially crush you at any second. So the anxiety part of it was lessened when I mapped out my routes because that was one less thing to worry about when riding on the roads. Which brings me to why I made this video in the first place is to show you some of the features of two apps that I use to map out my routes to enhance safety and security. I primarily use Ryva GPS to map out my routes because it works really well with my Wahoo which gives me the turn-by-turn directions. There are a number of other route-planting software out there. Komoot is one of them which I've seen other people use. I've never actually used Komoot so I can't really say much about that particular software. Anyway, the feature I really like about Ryva GPS is the Street View icon at the bottom right-hand corner and what it does allows you to drag the Street View icon to anywhere on the road that turns blue and it pretty much shows you what the road looks like. This is particularly helpful in intersections when you want to make a left turn where you might have to cross oncoming traffic to do that. It could be a pretty high anxiety-ridden experience if you are a new cyclist. For example, when we did Jason's first century ride, one of the roads we rode on was a direct left-hand turn. However, as you ride up the road there's a yield sign that makes you yield to the traffic from the right and oncoming traffic from the left making a left-hand turn. So why is this a big deal? Well, the road is actually the start of a two-mile climb and the first part of that climb is pretty steep. So if you're riding up a steep climb you don't necessarily want to stop as it's getting steep otherwise it'll be really hard to get going again and you lose your momentum. So I thought maybe the best way to tackle that climb was to ride down a few feet. Make a left turn where the side of the road does not have a yield sign and I could just continue or we could just continue climbing and pedaling up that hill. Therefore if you find yourself riding on busy roads where there are lots of vehicles whizzing by it's a huge safety benefit to know where you're going. Another software I use to map out my routes is Strava. If you're a Strava subscriber you can use their route planning software which is pretty intuitive for cyclists. One of the features that I really like is the global heat map which shows you the roads are most frequented by cyclists. This is shown with the blue lines. The darker the line is the more frequent that road is written on. This is especially helpful if you are looking for new roads to explore. Strava however does not have that street view icon so there's no way of knowing what the roads look like when you're planning out your routes. Both Strava and Ride with GPS show you elevation, grade and distance. In Ride with GPS you can select the portion of that elevation map to determine the average grade and distance of that particular segment. Strava does not have this capability but if you are looking to PR or attempt a KOM or QOM on a segment then you can turn on the segment feature and it will show you the segments on that route. That's pretty much the only way to know the average grade and elevation and distance of that particular climb. So guys I hope you found this video helpful and putting your mind at ease before you go out to do your next epic adventure. Give yourself a break and plan out your routes first before going out there. It'll save you time, frustration and it may also save your life. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you again next week. Bye bye.