Perhaps I have been living under a rock and everyone else knows about this website but it looks to me that it has some great application for scouting out riding routes along with many other applications for people that like to buzz around on motorcycles, cages or other contraptions.
http://www.vpike.com/ (http://www.vpike.com/)
Go to the FAQ and look at the "Driving Simulator"
It even had street level views of my place back in the boonies. Interesting!
Nice find. It beats going through streetview one click at a time.