I mean, with all the available Google Street view info and current AI technology being what it is, you could probably easily train a neural net (a GAN would be my guess?) to score bike routes based on different metrics, like what you describe. Hell, as I'm typing this out, I'm now thinking Strava probably already has got a team working on this. If not them, someone will probably roll something like what I described out in 1-2 years.
But.... what's the fun in that? I definitely don't think I need computers controlling more aspects of my life. I think the beauty I find in a ride is the surprise of it all. The unexpected. The good and the bad. The adventure. Having some optimized metric for a bike ride would likely do 2 things: make an otherwise good ride feel worse if it falls short of it's score (sort of like a movie that's overhyped) and also might make you miss out on otherwise solid ride cause it scores lower than some threshold. I'm not saying it's a terrible idea, but as with any tech, there are benefits and drawbacks. I could definitely see myself using some that scored scenic bike routes if I was visiting a new place, had limited time, and no other information. But definitely would prefer a local or bike shop to offer up there favorite ride. To me, it'd be technology of last resort. But, to answer your original question, what I currently do is basically what you are doing: Goggle Maps/Earth + Strava/RidewithGPS when I'm going to a new zone. On Saturday, September 13, 2025 at 3:01:47 PM UTC-7 [email protected] wrote: > I'm looking for things like: tree cover, natural beauty, rolling hills, > country roads and stops along the way for great snacks/coffee/adventures. > > RideWithGPS and Strava don't have a filter/metric for *scenic*. > Heatmaps only tell you a route is trafficked, not the *quality*. > Local cycling clubs only publish group ride routes (not what I'm after). > > What's worked for me so far is sticking to dedicated cycling paths, using > google earth on RideWithGPS and my local knowledge of fun stops - but this > seems hard to replicate outside of your own city. > > I'd love to ride in an adjacent town or take a trip a few hours away for a > fun ride, but I haven't found a resource that's big, searchable list of > *scenic* rides across the US or globe. > > RideWithGPS offers Ride Reports <https://ridewithgps.com/ride_reports>. > This feels *almost* what I'm looking for except there's no way to filter > by location, length or type of ride. > > Has anyone found a better option? > > - Stephen in Dallas > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/1e7c87b2-e0c1-4433-aa1b-e68baf5a8719n%40googlegroups.com.
