Where the Roads Actually Take You
The original Fifty Places To Bike Before You Die started as a blog post around 2013 and snowballed into one of those lists everyone quotes without actually reading. The short version: it’s a curated set of bicycle routes worldwide, ranging from easy gravel loops to serious mountain passes, each described with distance, elevation, and a paragraph about why you should ride it. The full list lives on a few sites now, and you can find the main compilation by searching the exact phrase online. Most versions are free to read; a few spin-off guides charge for maps or GPX files. I’ve ridden about twenty of the routes on it over the last five years, and the first thing you need to understand is that the list is directional inspiration, not a plan. The descriptions are written to make you want to go, not to prepare you for what happens when you arrive. Here’s the practical method I use before committing to any ride on the list. First, check the current conditions for that specific section. Road maintenance changes fast. A climb described as "smooth gravel" in 2015 might be a wash of loose rock and mud after a winter of rain. Second, verify the distance with a recent GPS track. The original list rounded distances and sometimes missed significant connector roads. Third, look up food and water options along the route. Half the routes assume you can carry everything, and half the people who try them regret that assumption by mile forty.
I learned this the hard way on the route through the Apennines that the list calls a "gentle rolling day ride." The descent was closed for road work, the villages along the way had no cafes past noon, and the gravel sections were sharp limestone chips that shredded two tires in eighteen kilometers. My workaround was simple: I turned around at the first viable B&B, ate their pasta, and rode back on the main road the next morning. It wasn’t the route the list promised, but it was still a good day. The list itself has some real strengths. The elevation profiles are generally accurate, the scenery descriptions aren’t misleading, and the geographic spread means you can pick routes close to home instead of planning international trips for everything. The weak spots are predictable. The list barely covers Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and much of South America. Several routes require technical skills most weekend riders don’t have, and a few passages through private land aren’t actually legal to ride anymore. If you want to ride these routes seriously, download the GPX files where available and run them through a mapping tool like Ride With GPS or Komoot before you go. Compare the elevation profile against recent Strava segments. Look for recent photos on Instagram or local cycling forums. Check local government sites for road closures. This takes about twenty minutes per route and usually saves you from showing up to a locked gate or a flooded bridge.
Here are some of the routes that actually hold up, based on what I’ve experienced personally. The West Highland Way in Scotland is listed, and it earns the spot. It’s mostly path and quiet road, roughly fifty-five miles one way, and the views are real even in bad weather. Bring gaiters. The mud and midges are exactly as unpleasant as they sound, and the list doesn’t mention how cold it gets even in July if the wind is coming off the lochs. I found the best resupply points to be Glencoe and Fort William. Everything else is either a pub or a shop with limited hours. The route through the Dolomites near Cortina d’Ampezzo is brutally steep in parts and beautiful in every other part. The list makes it sound easier than it is. The key is to ride it north to south on a clear morning. The south face gets afternoon thunderstorms reliably, and being caught on exposed rock with a heavy bike is not a fun problem to solve. I once waited three hours in a cave off the route while rain turned the gravel into slipper ice. The cave had a local’s goat tethered to a rock. That’s how you know it’s a real cave.
Get the Full Details
The coastal ride along the Amalfi coast is gorgeous and traffic is an actual safety issue. Scooters come around blind corners fast. The list mentions the views and forgets to emphasize that you’re sharing narrow lanes with vehicles that have no interest in slowing down. Ride early, wear bright colors, and keep your bell close. I carry a small air horn and it has saved me more times than I want to admit. The New Zealand South Island routes are solid but expensive to access. The list doesn’t discuss the logistics much, which matters because getting a bike on the ferry or into remote trailheads takes planning and money. Book accommodation months ahead in peak season. The routes themselves are well-maintained by New Zealand standards, and the gravel sections are usually packed and rideable. One thing the list gets wrong more often than it should: difficulty ratings. It rates some very technical singletrack as moderate because the author probably doesn’t ride technical singletrack regularly. Check the surface type carefully. If the description mentions rocks, roots, or steep switchbacks without gravel, assume it’s advanced unless you’ve actually ridden similar terrain. A few routes on the list are basically mountain bike trails disguised as road suggestions, and showing up with a hybrid bike won’t work.
The best approach is to treat the list as a starting point, not a itinerary. Pick three or four routes that match your actual ability level and geography. Research them properly. Ride one on a weekend and see how it felt. Then pick the next one. The whole point of the list is to expose you to places you’d never find on your own, not to make you suffer through routes you aren’t prepared for. I keep a simple spreadsheet tracking which routes I’ve completed, the actual conditions, and what went wrong. It’s been useful for planning future trips and for helping friends avoid the same mistakes. The list doesn’t need another fan club. It needs riders who treat it like a resource and respect the terrain enough to prepare properly. If you want the full list, search for Fifty Places To Bike Before You Die and you’ll find the main versions. Read the comments. The community has corrected a lot of outdated information over the years. Then pick a route, check the conditions, and go ride something.
