Thanks for the feedback and the welcome! I've loved mapmyrun.com for a couple of years, so I've been having fun with mapmyride!

I live in Catonsville, just west of Baltimore, and commute to Columbia. There aren't a lot of route options at my end, and all but one of the options are busy since they all involve going around or through a state park. The least busy road has an 18% grade and lots of twists and turns and it scares the living bejeezus out of me even in a car. It also adds 2+ miles to the route. The busiest road I'm also not considering. I might if it were the most direct route, but it's out of the way, four to six lanes, lots of traffic, lots of businesses along the road. No fun for riding. So that leaves me with the most direct route that I described and the bike path (which really only runs for about a mile and a half of my total commute). I'm just going to have to give them both a try during actual rush hour. I rode the road one morning after 9:00 when it wasn't too busy, and I rode the path during ITS rush hour (Sunday afternoon) so it could be that on a weekday morning at 7:30 the path is faster and the road more hair-raising. On my drive in this morning I noticed the guy in front of me stray into the shoulder several times--not paying attention because he was on his cell phone.

Sarah