Best way to navigate a 50 mile ride...?

[TomHenshore]

Hi all,

Next Saturday I've planned for a mate and I to ride a route I've planned that's just under 50 miles. I've had training in route planning in the past as I'm a qualified ride leader, but I've never actually planned a route where i'm unfamiliar with the roads before...

The roads are all decent b-roads, most of which happen to be on national cycle routes anyway, but my question is what would be the best way to navigate when on the bike...? Are there any decent Apps out there that can act as a cycling-sat-nav? Would just simple route cards hanging around my neck be enough...? What are your experiences?

I'm all up for an adventure and getting slightly lost, but I would also like to get home for dinner...

Thanks in advance :-)

 

[coffeejo]

I'll let others comment on digital navigation but before I got my Garmin, I used to use ordnance survey maps to plot the route and Google Street View to check out each junction and would write out a route card based on each turning. This would involve the usual "left, signposted x and y" but also stuff like "right at the pink house with the skylight" or "first left after the narrow bridge with the warning sign". I'd memorise as much of this as I could, and also take a copy with the relevant os map.

 

[Milkfloat]

I plan a route via Strava - then export the file to use either on a Garmin device or more commonly using the free version of OsmAnd and my phone

 

[gavroche]

What happened to old fashion signposts? Have they all been removed in the name of progress so that we all need gps wherever we go? All you need is the name of the places you will go through and anyway, you are only going 25 miles away from home, not hundreds. Enjoy your ride and don't worry .

 

[snorri]

Unless your route is in a heavily built up area throughout I would think you could memorise the route easily, perhaps with the help of some brief written notes

 

[TomHenshore]

Signposts...? What are these 'Signposts' you speak of...?

I'm taking a train to my mate's house and then it's 50 miles back to mine, so it's only the first 30 miles or so that are the problem. I'll giving writing my own route cards a go and spend some time with Google Street view, sounds wise. I'm sure there's not harm in using Apple maps if I get super lost

 

[drummerbod]

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/mytrails-gpsies.181113/

 

[MichaelW2]

A map holder really speeds up navigation.
On occasion i use a small button compass, usually in a forest road on a cloudy day.
Most riders have a slew of regular routed they use and remember. I like to make variations around my regular routes, so carry a 1: 50,000 OS map. In areas of dense country lane networks, you will find yourself slowing down a lot.

 

[mjr]

what would be the best way to navigate when on the bike...? Are there any decent Apps out there that can act as a cycling-sat-nav?

I'm another happy OsmAnd~ voice navigation user (earpiece needed in cities). I've had one wrong turn where the road markings and OsmAnd~ disagreed about what "straight on" was, but it's pretty consistently good.

What happened to old fashion signposts? Have they all been removed in the name of progress so that we all need gps wherever we go?

I think they've been removed in the name of making money from scrap metal (often "unofficially" IYSWIM), discouraging nobber motorists from using tiny country roads (the rise of the "By Road" finger sign) and the cutting of council tax so they can't replace them as fast as they're damaged by crashing motorists, incompetent hedge-flailing and so on.

Oh the time when I could navigate Milton Keynes by the redway signposts alone... actually, I stopped doing that when one had been nicked for use to prop up someone's washing line and I had no idea which route was which!

 

[gavroche]

Years ago, before the coming of gps, my brother found his way out of Paris by using only a compass. It worked then and would work now just the same. Incidentally, I always carry one in my car although my car has built in GPS. For some reason, I don't carry one on my bike but then, I tend to follow routes I know well.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Before I bought a GPS I'd write notes on a piece of paper, remember what I could and shove it in my pocket. I'd be navigating out of London using that. My notes would be total distance, split distance, Thing, instructions, how long to next thing. The bike had a computer on so I could count miles.

So something like -
23 4 Roundabout 3rd exit 2
25 2 Sherwood Rd left 0.5
25.5 etc etc.

I'd then have a flow through streetview and check the route, add in anything useful. So 'towards Ilford' perhaps as a final note. Worked very well, partly thanks to streetview, partly thanks to the repetition of creating the notes making it easier to remember.

I've successfully navigated from Greenwich to Chelmsford using that method. I was commuting in behind a guy once who had a similar set up hanging out of his back pocket, one page seemed to be sufficient to get him to Leicester, and I was following him in Swanley.

Now I use MapMyRide, send it to my Touring and follow it. I run the GPS (where there is a choice) North Up so it's obvious if the route is doing something odd and could do with checking.

 

[TomHenshore]

Well I've gone through the route and made notes for each of the turnings, most of it is straightforward and the not-so-straighfoward turns I'll try to memorise so I should be fine. If only Strava built in a turn by turn audio feature into their app.... Ah well, Guess I'll have to use my brain!

I'll look into OsmAnd...

 

[Markymark]

What happened to old fashion signposts? Have they all been removed in the name of progress so that we all need gps wherever we go? All you need is the name of the places you will go through and anyway, you are only going 25 miles away from home, not hundreds. Enjoy your ride and don't worry .

Troubke is sign posts are usually car focused and can take you on A roads you might preferred to have avoided.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Troubke is sign posts are usually car focused and can take you on A roads you might preferred to have avoided.

I tried following Sustran ones once, took me out on to the Thames marshes past a sewage works and all the tarmac disappeared. I was a less than happy pixie. Just pleased I wasn't on the Roadie, less happy about the 7 miles it added to my ride.

 

[mjr]

I tried following Sustran ones once, took me out on to the Thames marshes past a sewage works and all the tarmac disappeared. I was a less than happy pixie. Just pleased I wasn't on the Roadie, less happy about the 7 miles it added to my ride.

One of the best things about http://cycle.travel/map is that hard-top routes are solid lines and rough stuff is dashed and it weights them in a way that works for me. Some are wrong but it's fairly easy to edit openstreetmap.org to change them.

Unsurfaced junk and motorist-jammed booby traps are both excellent reasons for using a satnav. Avoiding long detours after you're tricked into a booby trap is another one.

I tend to follow routes I know well.

Sounds awfully dull if you never go exploring. I'm still discovering new wonderful sights within a few miles of home.