We enjoyed it so much we stopped along the way for photos and doubled back a bit to ride some sections again.Ĭonsequently we ended up running a little behind our schedule return time. What a rollercoaster of a road it is with plenty of elevation, looping corners, esses and switchbacks. The road really does wriggle along and it seems it has only recently been paved along its entirety until it becomes Topps Rd and ends at the T junction with the Back Flagstone Creek Rd. It traverses several narrow ridges past Table Top Mountain, overlooking beautiful fertile farmland with jaw-dropping views on either side. Just as well as it is a real rider’s gem. We’ve ignored this road in the past … but not today. Silver Pinch Rd is a gemīut shortly after TomTom took us right on to Silver Pinch Rd which looks almost like someone’s driveway. It pointed left on to Blanchview Rd which we have done before and enjoyed, so we followed. We largely followed the directions, but also chose to ignore them a little and explore.īut we are glad we did not ignore its advice when we came down the Range on Flagstone Creek Rd. If you decide to bypass a waypoint, the unit will try to recalculate you back to it, so it’s a good idea to delete the waypoint by going to your list of stops and deleting it. Wriggly routeĪll it takes is a touch of a button on the screen. You can also add more waypoints, or change the winding road option from super wriggly to less wiggly or to the fastest or most direct route if you are getting tired and want to head home. In fact, it is the fastest of any unit Peter has used in his extensive mapping career. If you decide to go into town for a coffee or toilet stop, just head on in and the unit recalculates the route very quickly. The great thing about the TomTom Rider 550 is that you can change your mind along the way. In fact, you should even start your journey out of town or it may take you on a wild goose chase around the suburbs first. That will actually throw in a nice little deviation and avoid sending you down every suburban street. Following the routeĪlways select a waypoint on a road past the town. Peter says a good tip in selecting waypoints on this sort of route is to never select a town’s CBD or the name of a town. This led us the long way round to Esk before heading up the only sealed road to Hampton. When we headed off on the Brisbane Valley Highway TomTom almost immediately took us off the highway on to back roads. Each allows you to share with other TomTom users via Bluetooth, email or message. You can plan your route on the GPS unit, or on the TomTom MyDrive app on your phone or your computer. Sharing a route like this is great because it means you don’t have to bother about corner-man systems as riders can’t get lost. Route selected, we shared it among ourselves either with other TomTom GPS units or via their MyDrive app platform on their phones. You can also choose to avoid toll roads, highways and even roadworks in the settings menu. That increased an out-and-back journey on the highway from about 160km to about 250km.īecause we were riding cruisers, we chose the “avoid dirt roads” option. There are two levels of each and we chose the top levels. We then selected a return journey with maximum mountain and winding roads options. You can select the waypoints by typing in a place name or simply pressing a point on the screen to drop a waypoint “flag”. So we put that in as one waypoint, plus Hampton and Flagstone Creek. Since it was hot, we thought a ride up to Toowoomba at the top of the Great Dividing Range would give us a respite from the heat. This time we decided to put the TomTom unit to the test and let it decide a route for us. TomTom decides “Plan a thrill’ with TomTom Rider 550 I think I know every twisting, winding scenic roads in this region. It’s usually me and I’ve almost run out of routes in the South East Queensland area. Usually one of our riding group decides where to go and then leads the pack. Riding partner and map expert Peter “Worldmapman” Davis recently reviewed the TomTom Rider 550 ($599) for us and has been using it now for some time. If it wasn’t for the ride-sharing and mountain and wriggly route options on our TomTom Rider 550 GPS we might never have discovered a hidden gem of a mountain road.
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