My Valentine's Day gift to you...

[Lund]

Print this. Give it to your loved one and tell her (or him) you made it — an unselfish act of love...41 kilometres worth of adoration. And as the eyes twinkle and fill with tears of sentimental joy, say, ever so softly in her (or his) ear, "Hey, you know that new bike I was thinking of getting?"

The inevitable response — "Oh, honey — of course you should buy it!"...THAT is my Valentine's Day gift to you.

[katew]

Steve, these are wonderful and, I presume, a fine way to get your winter base miles in.

I have some questions about the details:

How do you plan them? Do you draw them out with mapmyride? Do you carry a cue sheet as you go?

K

[Lund]

Hey Kate,

I start by sketching them out on a map (in Photoshop — I have a detailed street map as my base layer and then paint the lines of my route in another layer). Then I type out the turn-by-turn directions and keep a hardcopy tucked inside my jersey for reference as I ride (a couple hardcopies if it's raining, as they get soggy and fall apart after a while).

It's great fun. And yes, a good way to tally up some base miles...though I do it more to recharge my creative batteries than anything else.