So at some point you did a ride that was tougher, more sentimental, or just better than your others. It might have been recently or it might have been a few years ago. For The English Cyclist it was conquering the famous Land’s End to John of Groats loop solo, without any real preparation.
According to The English Cyclist, “an alcohol fueled New Years conversation turned into a challenge… I’m still pretty proud of the fact I did it.. Well I didn’t find a good enough excuse not to do it! The highlight of my ride was riding 100 miles without any food (just breakfast) and 2 bottles of water. I left my wallet in the B&B in Bath and didn’t figure it out until lunch time. Fun times.”
To memorialize such a feat, The English Cyclist developed the Cycling Map Print Tool, which allows cyclists to create a print similar to his LeJog based on ride data.
You are going to need some form or ride data. Either a GPX or a Strava account with some physical rides (Zwift ones don’t work). Below, there are some notes/helpers for both options.
Strava
If the ride is from a while ago, or you do a lot of riding, you might struggle to find it on Strava as they limit the amount of rides we can pull from their system (about 150 I think). If your ride doesn’t come up then download the GPX file and upload it to our tool that way instead.
GPX
If you are trying to make a map for a friend, or the download GPX button isn’t showing for you, try using this Google Chrome extension: Strava GPX Downloader. Install it and grab that GPX from Strava.
If you already have a GPX (or many) then simply click the GPX button and upload. You can upload single files or multiple for multi-leg rides.
If you don’t have Strava data or a GPX…
If you are without data… The next best thing to do is recreate the ride in a tool like plotaroute and download the GPX from there.
Go to the map maker and connect to Strava or upload your GPX file(s). The system works with multiple files if you have done something like LeJog.
For Strava rides authorize the connection, wait a few moments while we grab your data, run a search for your rides and keep clicking the + button until you are done.
If you upload multiple rides check and adjust the order when they are uploaded (drag and drop). You want day 1 at the top. This is important if you want to show the profiles in the correct order for each day.
Have a play around in the design editor. It’s best on a laptop/computer as you can see a bit more detail but works perfectly fine on mobile too.
Note: The English Cyclist can pull as much data from the ride as possible, but time data from GPXs can’t be pulled, so you will have to write that in yourself. If you are adding together multi-leg rides I suggest using an online time calculator to help.
Complete the order and The English Cyclist will email you a larger preview via email within 1-2 working days (usually same day).
“I do this manually as I like to check each one before sending them out. Once we have your thumbs up we print them out on our photo quality Canon Pro-1000 and ship them out to you 1st class,” explains The English Cyclist.
If you need any help, or just have questions, you can drop The English Cyclist an email.
The English Cyclist
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