Gravel & Bikepacking Rota Vicentina "Off The Beaten Path"

rotavicentina.com/en/gravel-bikepacking/

Thinking of those who want to travel by bike with their luggage, in a mix of adventure and freedom, the Rota Vicentina offers a journey through Southwest Portugal, on a route carefully chosen to reveal some of the most unknown trails in this region. Between the mountains and the sea, this pedal-powered encounter with the rural culture of the interior and the beautiful, well-preserved Alentejo and Vicentina Coast, follows the goal of reaching the extreme south-western tip of the European continent: Cape Saint Vincent. Divided into 4 stages, with around 55 kilometers each, this route stands out for its possible connections through the region’s railway stations (Grândola, Funcheira, Santa Clara-Sabóia and Lagos), bike friendly accommodation and also the routes and bike stations of the Cyclin’ Portugal Centre in Odemira

Amoreiras-Gare to Santa Clara-a-Velha Grv

rotavicentina.com/en/long-distance-mtb-trail/

The main objective of this Long Distance MTB Trail is to connect all the Odemira MTB trailheads, departing from a train station and ending at or near another station.

It is a relatively long course but of a low technical level and so is also accessible to Gravel bikes.

Although it often runs alongside sections of other MTB routes, it is designed to avoid the most technical sections, therefore it has a higher percentage of asphalt, but always with little traffic.

You can start at Amoreiras-Gare Station (where there is 1 train a day), or at Funcheira (with 3 daily trains) or go to Santa Clara, passing 8 km before at Savoie Station (where 3 trains stop daily).

Despite passing through small villages, the route takes place mainly in remote areas of the municipality of Odemira, where you can breathe the peace of the tranquility of Alentejo!

You can reduce the route to 123 km by starting at Funcheira Station and finishing at Santa Clara/Sabóia.

Another possibility is to divide the route into stages.

5 stages / days

• 27 km - From Amoreiras-Gare to Colos

• 25 km - From Colos to São Luís

• 28 km - From São Luís to Odemira

• 22 km - From Odemira to São Teotónio

• 41 km - From São Teotónio to Santa Clara-a-Velha

OSM tagging gravel / dirt roads

Using gravel routing in the Algarve recently, I discovered many delightful roads by trusting the c.t routing algorithm. The only hiccup was due to missing OSM tags on a truly impassable section. But of course there was a lot of variability in the quality of the passable dirt/gravel roads.

I added smoothness tags to a lot of rideable, but variable quality, dirt/gravel roads while touring. Later, I noticed that c.t does not use the smoothness tag (under the hood):

We use the surface= tag to determine how suitable a path is for cycling. We look for the values asphalt, paved, concrete, tarmac, paving_stones, compacted, gravel, ground, earth, cobblestone, grass, unpaved, dirt, and sand in roughly that order (the ones at the start are better). You can use the tracktype tag as an alternative.

Should I have used MTB:scale tags? I assume anything gravel-rideable is a 0 or 1 (maybe 2 in a pinch). 

I think surface / tracktype tags do not give much information about actual gravel-rideability -- any of the surfaces listed above could be suitable for a gravel bike.

Is the smoothness tag useful?

Thanks.

app feedback

Richard, I used the iOS app for the first time in about a year and some of the changes you've made are terrific. 

• 10 meters from next turn sound is distinctive and works perfectly
• dim between turns seems a lot more reliable on iOS 18 (but not 100%) -- though I suspect the issues were always iOS's fault 
• map lock addresses my pain point of inadvertently editing routes when trying to pan/zoom  

A few suggestions/wishes:

• if I'm zoomed out on the map, navigating through a traffic circle requires that I hear which "exit" I need to take; there is not really an on-screen indication. Sometimes I miss it due to wind noise. Maybe there is a way the "exit number" can be shown on screen -- like the distance to next turn is shown. 
• A nitpick 😉 : the traffic circle icon always shows clockwise (UK) travel
• I wish the app would show which direction I'm facing even if I'm not moving. Komoot, RWGPS, Strava, Apple and Google do this and it's helpful when I'm befuddled at a complex intersection (or befuddled at a simple one)
• "round trip" editing the app's active route on the website involves a lot of steps. Suggestion: if the app's active route is modified on the website, the app could be notified by your server and ask the user whether to load the new version. 

Also: on the website, moving between the two folder views (list/edit view and map view) is clunky.  I often want to view the folder map, rename/move/delete routes, then go back to the folder map. Maybe there could be toggle for the folder view. 

The recent Komoot acquisition (and staff firing) reminds us of the rarity of your approach to the product and business. I can tell it's a labor of love for you -- and I hope the finances work too (!)

Traka 360k gravel

thetraka.com