Cheeky Favour Request

[cycle2run]

Hi All

Been posting on here and using this forum for help and advice as next week i attempt to ride from Warwickshire to Paris in memory of my father and for charity thenrun paris marathon.

I have been let down from a sponsor and in need of a saviour. Would anyone be able to hire or lend a Garmin type cycling navigation unit. I cant afford to buy one and would happily leave a deposit or pay a fee and give all my personal and world address and contact details out.

If anyone could help, I will be grateful forever

Thanks

Thierry

 

[vickster]

Could your lbs help?

Good luck for the ride

 

[helston90]

I don't have one but whenever you sign up to Evan's cycle events there is the 'chance to try out all the latest tech on your ride' so perhaps a good PR gesture to lending you one for your ride could take place? worth a phone call.

 

[cycle2run]

Vickster thats who let me down

Helston90 ... great idea I will give them a shout thanks

 

[Globalti]

What about Google Maps on your phone? My cycling pal used it to ride from Lancashire to Cornwall and back for a wedding. In cycle mode it took him along some super routes. Just turn off the screen and plug in an earphone.

I've just asked mine for a route from my office here to the Arc de Triomphe and it calculated in a couple of seconds. Perfect.

 

[Tim Hall]

What about Google Maps on your phone? My cycling pal used it to ride from Lancashire to Cornwall and back for a wedding. In cycle mode it took him along some super routes. Just turn off the screen and plug in an earphone.

I've just asked mine for a route from my office here to the Arc de Triomphe and it calculated in a couple of seconds. Perfect.

Or osmand (if you've got an Android phone). Download the maps before you go, so you don't need a data connection.

 

[Globalti]

It only uses data when you ask it for the next day's route, I believe, so as long as you're in a wifi area you'll be fine.

 

[EasyPeez]

Just turn off the screen and plug in an earphone.

Google maps talks to you?!

I must say I thought it was rubbish for cycling routes but either it's got loads better in recent months/years or I've become less of an idiot at using it.

 

[Globalti]

Well, I was surprised as well so I started messing around and discovered that it's quite good. Not as clever as a full-blown twatnav but good enough. Just use the centring button to find your current location (or tell it where you want to start) then hit the blue arrow button and then the "start driving" choice from the menu.

My cycling pal says it only let him down a couple of times but it took him along some really nice routes.

 

[mjr]

I must say I thought it was rubbish for cycling routes but either it's got loads better in recent months/years or I've become less of an idiot at using it.

It's still not a patch on http://cycle.travel/map/ IMO

 

[EasyPeez]

Well, I was surprised as well so I started messing around and discovered that it's quite good. Not as clever as a full-blown twatnav but good enough.

My cycling pal says it only let him down a couple of times but it took him along some really nice routes.

How do you get it to talk to you? Doesn't it need constant wifi to track and update your route?

Sorry, I'm asking this on behalf of someone else who I know would want to use it. It's pointless for me as I have no smartphone or GPS

 

[EasyPeez]

It's still not a patch on http://cycle.travel/map/ IMO

Like the look of that. I'll have a play, thanks

 

[Globalti]

I'm also not too good on this kind of stuff, preferring to use a real map but when driving alone in unfamiliar places I've used it a couple of times, my son can even get it to Bluetooth through the car radio. My understanding is that it uses data to set up the route then just uses satnav to work out where you are, so not data. May be wrong though.

 

[jefmcg]

A vote for OSMand on android. Build your routes on any website you like (ridewithGPS for example), and then save them as GPX files. OSMand will show it on a clear map, and speak the instructions, though sometimes "she" confuses a left turn on a bend with going straight on (or vice versa) and a plotted route straight through a round about gives it as a series of left and right turns.

Topeak drybag to mount in on handle bars, and an external battery to make sure it last through the day. Though if it's a newish phone, and you put in on airplane mode, and turn the screen off when you don't need it, the battery should last.

 

[Globalti]

At least it won't do what my sister did once when map-reading for me, when she shouted "turn left one inch from here!"