Gmap-pedometer.com is a website that can be used to draw running or cycling routes on a map. The website will report the distance of the map. This can be used to make maps of your routes and can provide you with information that you need to make highly accurate cue sheets. Many of the cue sheets on the club website are done this way.
Start by downloading the Excel template for creating cue sheets. It is an Excel spreadsheet file. It has formulas to calculate the incremental distances, and the official club key to symbols. If you do not have Excel, you can use use other tools such as Google Docs or OpenOffice.org, which are both free. If you are uncomfortable using spreadsheets, use whatever means you like to record the mileage and street names, but you might have to do the arithmetic yourself.
Go to gmap-pedometer.com and enter a location near your ride start into the box labeled “Jump to”. I frequently use Thurmont, MD. It is a big enough town that it is in the site’s database and is relatively near to many of our ride starts. You can select the zoom level also. A zoom level of 15 is good for mapping routes. I did that and moved south to Utica Park, which is shown above.
You can move the map around by clinking on it and holding the mouse button down as you move the mouse. There is a slider circled in the upper left corner of the map, which you can use to zoom the map. Zoom in enough that the roads show some width and the names are visible on most of the roads.
On the left hand of the page there are options for how to draw the route. Choose “automatically for cyclists”. It will follow the roads for you, although it does not seem to work inside Utica Park. Click the “Start Recording” button.
Now double click at the ride start. Choose a spot further up the road of your chosen route, and double click there. The mileage in the total distance box should update. In the screen shot, the route has gone from Utica Park to Glade & Links Roads. The total distance is 5.1115 miles. Feel free to round to the tenth of the mile.
You will be recording that distance at turns and any other locations you want to cue. Continue to double click along the road. The red line produced by the program should follow the road, if you are doing it right. When you reach a turn you want to cue, double click in the intersection and record the mileage on the spreadsheet as well as the direction of the turn and the street you should turn on to. Repeat until you are at your destination. You can save the map. Click on “Save Route” and the program will display a URL in red. Copy the URL and save it somewhere like your browser bookmarks.