Planning routes for DIYs

Planning a route is easy. It consists of:

• a start control point
• a finish control point
• a number of intermediate control points.

The qualifying distance is then be calculated using the minimum on road distance from the start to the finish going via all the intermediate control points.

• Decide on the distance. We validate rides at 50km, 100km, 150km, 200km, then at 100km intervals up to 1000km.
• Design your route. Check carefully that the shortest distances between controls add up to at least the distance you nominated. It doesn't matter what route you actually ride, so long as it isn't possible to ride less than the nominated distance.

A good place to start is to place checkpoints at all the 'corners' of your route. This is simple if you use Google Maps set to 'walking', or Microsoft Autoroute with each section set to ‘shortest distance’.

REMEMBER! You don’t actually have to ride the shortest distance between your checkpoints. You can choose any route you like, as long as you pass through the checkpoints. However, the shortest distance must be used when declaring the distance of the ride.

It may be worth finding out what software your local organiser uses to check route distances. It’s up to you to make sure your route meets the minimum distance rule.