Miles By Motorcycle
established 11 years ago
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    26 of 88
    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Dan Grove, where are you located?
    27 of 88
    Dan Grove
    10 years ago
    I'm out in Fairfax.
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    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Oh that's not far at all.  I'm up in College Park, Md. A bunch of guys in the forum live down your way and we're always heading out 66 to ride around some incredible roads we've found in the George Washington National Forest.
    29 of 88
    rshaug
    10 years ago
    Dan Grove as Yermo mentioned there are a number of us in NOVA. I'm in Fairfax County myself. We have some terrific rides mapped out in VA, and also some that touch VA as well as WV, MD, and PA.
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    Dan Grove
    10 years ago
    Good to know - I'm always looking for new routes.  Having to head west of 81 gets frustrating
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    Yermo
    10 years ago
    So it's exactly midnight, June 12th 2013 and I'm going to be uncharacteristically understated. I think rshaug and buffalo will understand.

    Here's that route I was mentioning above. It has the distinction of being the very first route ever described on Miles By Motorcycle using the still-very-incomplete-and-barely-functional social mapping system I've been building for so long. 

    Map #6757
    Yermo
    10 years ago

    Northern Virginia Fort Valley Road Loop

    This is one of our favorite routes through Northern Virginia. We typically start out at 55 where it meets 15 and take side roads down to 17 until it connects to 211.

    There's a wonderful section of tight technical but well graded switchbacks on 211 as you approach and cross Skyline Drive.

    We usually have lunch in Luray and from there head up to Route 675 which is a series of switchbacks the carves it's way up the side of the mountain. There are wonderful vistas as you go up. Very pretty.

    From there you catch Fort Valley Road which goes on seemingly forever as it winds it's way through this magical looking valley of pristine farms and old buildings. It eventually narrows to a tight state park road that follows a roaring creek bordered by steep canyon walls in a deep wood.

    We typically make our way to the Starbucks in Front Royal before taking the Superslab back home. Sometimes we'll take 55 for some local color as it winds it's way seemingly through towns that time forgot.

    The best sections are tagged in yellow.


    Click through to see an interactive version with a description.
    32 of 88
    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Say hello to randy.lindberg !

    What do you ride? How did you hear about the site?
    33 of 88
    Yermo
    10 years ago
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    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Say hello to Embedded Object Errorwho just joined. What do you ride, Tom?
    35 of 88
    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Say hello to Embedded Object Error.  

    Sorry the map broke on you. It's still a work in progress and will improve. If you have a chance let me know the steps you took so I can try to reproduce it over here. thanks!
    36 of 88
    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Say hello to lukejmorrison. Welcome to our little site! What do you ride and where? 
    37 of 88
    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Say hello to scotsman.  
    38 of 88
    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Say hello to Goat.
    39 of 88
    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Goat meet jpcfjr. Mike lives around Lake Anna.
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    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Welcome to cw36 What do you ride?
    41 of 88
    cw36
    10 years ago
    Hi Yermo, 
    I ride a '00 R1100S and am based out of Baltimore. 
    42 of 88
    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Very cool. You'll find that Yun Lung Yang's bike is virtually identical (and it's currently in my garage next to my Silver '99 'S guest-bike.

    I got a notification that you tried to share a map but it looks like it failed. Did it give you an error message or anything? (I've got a huge number of bugs to fix in that code ...)
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    Yermo
    10 years ago
    We're down in College Park, Md so not far away at all.
    44 of 88
    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Wow, dude. Is this who I think it is? Say hello to VifferSwiffer. Are you with RevZIlla? 

    Regardless, welcome to our little site!
    45 of 88
    VifferSwiffer
    10 years ago
    Yes, thats me "CK" from RevZilla, or Chris Kraus as it were!

    Loving what I'm seeing with the interactive maps idea. My curiosity persuaded me to join so I could dive into them a bit further. 

    Also, you guys aren't *too* far away from me in Philly!

    -CK
    46 of 88
    Yermo
    10 years ago
    wow, welcome!  

    The site is very much a work in progress. The maps code is very new and there are quite a few bugs I'm afraid.  But I'm working through them. I need to write up some instructions which I'll try to do later today.


    You can create a map and click on points then click Calculate Route to get MapQuest Open to calculate a route for you. You can drag the points around if the route they choose isnt' exactly what you want. You can right click on a numbered marker to insert a new one if you need to. 

    To find places on the map, you can click on the little red pin icon after you select NEW MAP from the Maps list.  It's not like Google. You have to enter place name spelled correctly, state name for it to work. (I wish I could use Google but their licensing terms prevent me from doing what I want.)

    If you want to route out multiple sections you can right click and select "start new route". 

    You can also upload a GPX track file from a Garmin GPS and it'll get laid out on the map. 

    On any route or track you've drawn on the map you can click on the line and it'll give you a menu of options. This allows you to take a segment of a track or route and "tag" it. You can tag an entire route, a section between numbered markers or you can select a start and end point by hand. (You can also delete sections of a track the same way).

    For instance, on my Blue RIdge trip I tagged sections of route 28 as especially good.

    You can also right click and insert "Points of Interest" to mark places that might be good to go. (Marking RevZilla on the map would be cool. )

    You can then save out the map. When you click SAVE it tries to generate a screenshot which takes a huge amount of time (same when you click save on a tagged road). I'm working on making that process quicker.

    I'll write up more a bit later today. I've been so focused on trying to squash all these bugs that I haven't taken the time to write instructions.

    The site is going to be about more than just maps or a greatmotorcycleroads competitor. I really want to turn this into a real interest based social network for motorcycle travelers the encompasses everything from beginning to end ... I'll write something up about that as well. 
    47 of 88
    VifferSwiffer
    10 years ago
    Awesome, thanks for the info. You guys seem like a tight knit group! Looking forward to learning from your collective knowledge and getting to know some of you better!
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    Yermo
    10 years ago
    We'll plan another ride up to Revzilla again before too terribly long.
    49 of 88
    rshaug
    10 years ago
    Yermo a ride up to Revzilla should def be put in the near term planning cycle. I want to look at gloves anyway
    50 of 88
    Yermo
    10 years ago
    Say hello to Mikele Rader, the Ducati Hypermoto rider we met today at Starbucks.