You could use them on Audax, Sportives, MTB Routes, Leisure Tours etc. Whatever makes the cycling route easier to follow, wherever you are.
There's also the bonus of having quite a small map holder.
Its pretty simple really. The dot is where you've come from and the arrow is where you are going. The number next to a junction is the distance from the last junction to that one. (The circled numbers are just so you can see which junction we are talking about below.)
To understand it fully, you'll need to use the link included to the Google map page we used and then use Google streetview (the little orange man) to see the junctions. (See lower down this page).
At the bottom of the page, you can also see our map holder attached to the bike.
So if you are shouting at other riders it will be "quarter mile, turn right at the T-junction".
At (1) the route meets a main road.
(2) turns off the main road left, after 200yds
(3) is a right turn at a T-junction, after 1/4 mile
Now an important and useful bit !
(4)(5)(6)(7) are junctions within the 2 mile leg, but no instruction is necessary, because on Google street view, you can see that all the roads we don't want to go down, have white lines across them. So we just label our route map 'Stay Main' for the whole of the 2 miles.
That makes everything much simpler and you don't have to think (much) for the 2 miles.
...and yes, the Royal Oak does a good pint !
Junction (8) on the other hand was a bit unclear on Google streetview, so we put a direction arrow in, just in case.
...and so on.
We used to put each route sheet into a poly-pocket and seal it, but now we are going to use almost indestructible fibre-based paper. You can write on it with a thin point permanent marker. You can buy reuseable cable ties as well as 'standard' ones.
Check these Amazon links for paper and ties. Don't 'borrow' the kitchen chopping board !
Fibre Paper