Map my Mind

my musty brain unrolled,
tanned and with a strange coffee stain.

Despite my best efforts to stay organized, take good notes, and streamline my OCD into functional productivity, I forgot.

While reading through the mass of mail, RSS feeds, tweets, and Facebook plugs, I came across a snippet for the following.  I just can't remember where.  Copy and paste into a note-App works great to save stuff for later use, but it really sucks when you want to reference something you forgot to copy... The source.  Eh, not really important in the overall scheme, just annoying.


Anyway...

Order Here

Hey guess what I ran across the other day in _____.  An interesting little book available to purchase for about 21 buckaroos.  It is an extensive (or so it claims, I dunno personally, no free swag for me) overview of trails, ride routes and paths over the Madison WI. and surrounding regions.  Actually from the preview pics at the site, it does seem rather well done, good maps, and lots of content just from the table of contents that is posted.  It is coil bound, or available in a special binding or "perfect" bound option.

look at the purty colors.

As you can see by the sample map, it is very pretty, but most of all it shows elevations.  For the beginner, or the lazy (like me) it helps to know how challenging a route is before you get surprised.  If you live or plan on visiting in the Madison area, you can buy this online at the link below the above pic or Order Here.  It is offered by Stanton Studios.  If I happen to obtain one I will be sure to go through it more thoroughly and offer a more detailed review.


Another such resource is a more standard tear resistant paper kind of map from Bike Everywhere.  For $11-14 you can get a specific region of the state (mostly the bottom half of WI.).  The price difference is the paper quality or lamination.  The irony in the name was not lost on me.  Bike Everywhere, so long as it is within an hour and a half drive from Madison.  Still handy maps to use if you are in that area, I just wish the would map everywhere their name claims to bike.





For the Tech loving crowd is an option for smart phones and GPS.  A site called Map My Ride offers apps, and interactive mapping through GPS, and uploading maps from your computer.  Use maps from other users, or create and log your own.  This is not a trail mapping service as yet, and not as thorough a resource for all paths, trails and bike lanes, but as people use it the service will cover more.  The only issue with this I can see is users uploading bad routes, unsafe, or illegal routes to the service.  It may be best to inspect the route prior to blindly trusting the route creators credibility.  Map My Ride has great potential, and its mapping sites have earned them a spot in the top 50 best websites of 2011 by Time (for their Map My Run site).  Time will tell.

There is always the option of picking up the WI. D.O.T. (Dept. Of Teleportation) freebie maps with a bunch of outdated routes, unfinished, or "planned" trails in it.  These also have a ton of trails you can go to but not take your bike because they are not allowed.  If you want quality, and something that reflects time efficiently used to create something of content, this isn't it.  Free in this case means only free to obtain the map, but it cost taxpayers a fortune for the committee, planners, and a slew of guys leaning on desk corners asking for TPS report covers to produce. It shows.  They do work well if you open them up, lay them on the ground to kneel on when doing road side repairs.  I recommend anything else for use as a map though, even napkins with random lines on them.   

Hope this helps you find your way,
Ant

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