Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

We like small roads, natural scenic beauty, nice climbs, and big views. The focus is not on going fast but on seeing some cool places. We have ridden all these rides and try to provide you with a darn good idea of what to expect. When we work on a course, we always try and find a safe place to park a car. We try to keep rougher roads on the uphill. And if possible, include a water stop … which riding in the middle of nothing proves to be a huge challenge.

We also believe in respecting personal property. That means we have looked at the right of way for all the roads on our routes. If you are on an Indian Reservation, we are sure we have permission to be there. It also means we don’t climb over gates that say no trespassing, and we don’t route you on NO BIKE trails. If anyone tells you otherwise, please make sure you let us know.

Warning: we aren’t afraid of a few rough roads or a steep climb. Hey, we try and warn you. But we love a good adventure. That means you are responsible for yourself! You need to know navigation, you need to have a working bike, and you need to have a plan for when everything falls apart. There’s traffic, weather, and changing gravel/route conditions. We recommend that you carry backup navigation and more backup navigation. We also recommend carrying a device with satellite communications because a MAJORITY of our routes don’t have good cell coverage.

If you like a route, don’t be afraid to shout it out! You can post it on our Facebook page or tag us @dirtyfreehub in Instagram or just send us an email.

To use our rides, we strongly suggest that you have a GPS device. Yes, some of you old-school folks want those turn-by-turn directions and skip carrying a GPS device. That’s all fine if you do rides on major signed roads, but many of our routes are off the beaten path, and we have found most people get lost relying on a cue sheet. We still do post cue sheets, but we mostly do this so that the GPS devices provide accurate turn-by-turn directions. GPS devices we like are Garmin and Wahoo. GPS apps we like include RideWithGPS and Gaia.

To download our rides for FREE onto your device or phone using the RideWithGPS application, you need to join the Dirty Freehub Club. Click on this link to be automatically approved for Club access.

Directions on how to search, download, and use Club routes can be found here.

Don’t know how to use a GPS? Here are a couple of hints to get you started. We recommend you try mapping out a few routes close to home and trying them BEFORE you head out on one of ours. Duh! Yep, our routes have few cars; that means nobody is going to find you. And we often have ZIP, ZERO data or cell coverage.

To thoroughly map and document a ride takes us up to 20 hours. We are thrilled if you want to use them for group rides, tours, as a way to promote your town, etc. But, yes, we would like a little credit. Please read our “Sharing with Integrity” statement for more information.

We try really hard to ensure the ride you download is accurate. If you find a problem, just email us at info@DirtyFreehub.org.

We are open to suggestions on rides, but we won’t post anything as a 5-star route that we haven’t ridden. Yeah, yeah, too many times we have done a ride and felt it needed a few changes or just didn’t have the wow! factor. If you are interested in going the Dirty Freehub team as a route finder, send us an email: info@DirtyFreehub.org.

Ride with GPS is the mapping program we use to document our rides. For help with the features of Ride with GPS, see their Help Page.

You can contact us at: info@DirtyFreehub.org We love to get feedback on our rides. We also love photos and a good story. (Did you hear the one about the guy who got stuck in a fish trap? Or jumped a rattle snake? No fake news here!)