Annual Simplified Climbing Lunacy Challenge chatzone

[FrothNinja]

Following on from my post upthread … I’ve been trialling my new iGPS device with mixed results. I’m not sure if I’ve bought a cheap Chinese Garmin lookalike or whether I’m just being impatient and expecting it to do everything I expect from it, without giving it – and myself – sufficient time. The prices of some of the Garmins were eye-wateringly expensive (I could have bought a new bike for the price of some of them) which is why I opted for the iGPS DSC300T (roughly 140 euros plus a further 25 euros for handlebar mounts for two more bikes). The plan is to get handlebar mounts fitted on another three bikes before the end of August but trying to get anything done in France in August is really asking for the impossible (supply chains fractured because of holidays etc).

The damn thing stopped working for a week or so. It turns out that the System parameters had been changed to ‘GPS OFF’ and ‘Cycling Indoors’ … how that happened is a complete mystery as I hadn’t altered any parameters. If it happens again, I know how to fix it – but it might also mean returning to the supplier for checking and possible replacement … which would be a complete pain.

As far as distance (and time) are concerned, it looks fine. Tested on three bikes so far and it’s consistent. One bike (my gravel bike) is recording slightly less distance than the SIGMA odometer but I think that’s a SIGMA calibration problem and it will be looked at later in August.

Elevation (total ascent + total descent) … tested on all bikes and it comes back with consistent results (whether the results are right is unknown but I’m reassured by the consistency).

Navigation … I’m slowly working out how to use this. The size of the screen is roughly 50mm x 35mm – which is really small. I’ve felt on several occasions that I need to carry my reading glasses in order to be able to read the screen display (rather than taking my cycling glasses off and squinting at the screen). Are Garmin screens a lot bigger?

@Dogtrousers .. you wrote in another thread that you found your GPS device (presumably a Garmin) “indispensable”. Mine is at best (so far anyway) a “nice to have”. Could you please expand on why yours is so important to you? – perhaps I’m missing something (functionality that I’m unaware of, maybe).

I’d be grateful for any comments/thoughts.

Thanks

I don't use mine for navigation - too much lag and it sucks up the battery - I use Komoot for that, which also has the advantage of being easier to plot a route on.
My Edge 530 is fairly basic but is linked to a heart sensor and cadence sensor, and I do find these quite useful. If you link to things like Strava it will produce an estimate of your power - quite conservative ones as it tends to reduce your speed and ascent.
Like @Dogtrousers I get a bit stressy if I can't find it or it acts up - to the point that I have occasionally considered getting copy unit off something like Amazon.

 

[bluenotebob]

@Dogtrousers and @FrothNinja .. thanks for your replies.

Thanks too for your patience – it’s a bit of a technological vacuum out here in rural Brittany and it’s hard (if not impossible) to find anyone to talk to about computers, Smartphones and GPS devices. It does mean that sometimes I have to ask apparently dumb questions on this forum if I’m not to remain in total ignorance.

I missed out on Smartphones for many years – I couldn’t see why I’d need internet access when I was out in my van or walking or cycling. Had to get one in the end (last year) when our landline was cut by a tractor so no internet access in the village for a month.

I use the phone to make calls – perhaps once a month and maybe send two text messages a month. I’ve no idea how to use the camera/video – nor how to save the related images on my computer. Bluetooth? ... well, you might as well be talking Chinese.

I’ve heard of Komoot, @FrothNinja ... that’s a route planning app that you download to your phone? You use your phone mounted on your bike when you’re out cycling and that shows you your chosen route? How do you keep the phone dry?

Tony (at my LBS) has suggested to me that I could plan a route on my phone and then transfer the details across to the GPS device. That bewilders me .. how can you plan a route on your phone with a tiny screen and a poxy little keyboard?

It really doesn’t appeal to me. I prefer to use paper maps, log my route in detail in an MSW document (using distances taken from spreadsheets that I’ve developed over the years) and then try and remember those details when I’m out on the bike. Recommended practice for the over-70s … make your brain work.

I will keep persevering with my GPS device. I like the fact that it tells me where I am in terms of road numbers/names … I just wish it would also provide place-names.

I had an enjoyable ride out today and everything worked properly. Distance and time spot on across SIGMA and the iGPS device – and I checked the ‘current elevation’ figure when I reached Ménéac: 170m at the church which is exactly right.

I will add a couple of rides to the Challenge thread, even though the Total Ascent figures are quite low. What I’ve discovered so far is that most of my long rides don’t give much Ascent – local rides at half the distance are giving a much better return.

Once I’ve got the handlebar device mounts fitted on all bikes, I’ll take advantage of the Daily Ascent Total aspect of the Challenge and hopefully start posting some better numbers.

 

[Dogtrousers]

@bluenotebob I've tried route planning on phones and on GPS devices. It has never gone well for me, due - as you say - to the tiny screen.

My approach to route planning is to do it on a PC using one of the many route planning tools available (RideWithGPS is what I use, other people use Komoot, cycle.travel, Strava and many others). Then when I'm happy with it, send it to the GPS device. How easy that final sending step is depends on the GPS and the mapping tool. It can vary from "an absolute doddle" to "a real faff". Then I set off, choose the route, and the device beeps me before every turn. Often I spent so long planning the route that I already know most of the turns anyway.

But if that doesn't appeal to you, stick with what you enjoy.

I've just planned tomorrow's ride. I'm super familiar with about 80% of it, and could ride most of it from memory now I've planned it. But there are a couple of sections where I go along less familiar roads and will be relying on Mr Garmin to remind me when and where to turn.

 

[Sea of vapours]

how can you plan a route on your phone with a tiny screen and a poxy little keyboard?

'With great difficulty and frustration and it's a faff'. It's the sort of thing I'd never do through choice. And you absolutely don't need to.

As @Dogtrousers says, the best way by far in usability terms is to plan on a 'proper computer' on one of the many route planning tools. Personally, I think Komoot is the simplest, but you can try most for free. (I'm going to use 'Komoot' in the next few sentences to avoid saying 'whichever web-based route planning service you find easy to use'.) Once you've determined one which you find easy to use to plan a route, find out how to 'connect your bike computer to Komoot' and do so. Alternatively - perhaps a better idea as this is a step you only need to do once - get someone who understands these things to set it up for you. That might be Tony at your LBS, but not if Tony thinks that the only way to do this is using a phone, since it very much is not. Once it's setup, all you do is plan your routes on Komoot and they will appear on your cycle computer, ready to use. I'm very much a fan of paper maps, but for this purpose cycle computers really are very good indeed.

All that said, to reiterate @Dogtrousers 's comment, do what you enjoy and feel comfortable with. Then again, learning how to use the technology is itself very good brain exercise too!

 

[Dogtrousers]

Got another one in today. Just round familiar roads. Quite a hilly ride but with a big flat bit in the middle.

 

[Willd]

A trip round the South of Leicester, no major hills, just elevation by going 73 miles