The Sydney cycle trail map (<<click to open) has been built using Google MyMaps and appears as an overlay to Google Maps. It has been viewed 450,000 times. It comes with a legend of 8 different types of bike tracks and related places of interest. You can turn these on and off in the map. They are from worst to best (as they appear in the legend)
- Stations and Wharfs
- Trail tips, sights, pools and parking
- Addon Trails (extra good trails that can be added to the good trails) (purple)
- Tricky Paths – Busy roads or steep or both (black)
- Commuter Trails and Road Centric Paths (green)
- More Good Casual Rides (purple)
- Trails for thin tires (purple and green)
- Top Rides Around Sydney (purple)
If you are happy to travel anywhere in Sydney and want to ride the top rides, turn off everything in the Legend and leave the Top Rides visible. These are your top 10 sydney rides. And they are all coloured purple. But why ?
Purple Trails
These are the goodies, the trails you would take your kids on or your partner if they said, I would never ride on a road. They are generally shared paths completely off road. They will have occasional road crossings and being Sydney, these will mostly not be ideal. If you want to explore Sydney these are the rides you should look for. They appear in three of the different categories in the menu, Top trails, Trails for Thin Tires and Addon Trails. Trails for Thin Tires are good for road cyclists but less exciting for the casual cyclist. If they are purple, they are off road.
Green Trails
These are the trails that are not really for your kids or cyclists that lack in confidence on the quieter roads. And that is what they are, quieter roads. Most of these are in the inner city where there are a lot more cyclists and the driving public will hopefully be a lot more used to cyclists. They are generally marked as council cycling roads. They are fine. Attend a City of Sydney or local council cycling awareness course if you can before riding them.
Black and Grey Trails
The final segment is the black trails, think black trails at skiing. These are the best of a bad bunch, if you need to get somewhere and can’t find a green and purple trail, these are what is left. They can even be appalling off road cycle paths like Victoria Rd in Rozelle which have so many road and driveway crossings they need to ridden with great care. Remove these from the legend when looking for a place to enjoy riding.
So Why These Colours
The Sydney map is displayed on a Terrain Map background. This allows you to see all those hilly Sydney areas around the waterways. The three colours selected worked best with this map and the other features on the map
