Getting a DIY Audax Brevet card proof.

[ColinJ]

my cheap Garmin Etrex was a big hit with me from the first ride.

Which one do you use now? - i'm thinking of getting one.

Mine is the oldest and cheapest of the Etrex range - the yellow one. The design was improved and renamed the Etrex 'H' about a year after I bought mine (it's pretty much the same except that it but uses a far more sensitive chipset which tracks the satellites better). The old models have a black globe printed on the front, at the top, the 'H' model does not.

This range is now being replaced by new models but you can still buy them if you shop around. The Etrex H is available for about £60. You'd also need the proprietary serial lead and a USB-to-RS232 converter if your computer doesn't have an RS232 (serial) port. Handlebar mounts cost about £12. I'd advise you to get a decent pair of NiMH AA batteries too, which last about 24 hours per charge. You can do your route plotting online or download other people's routes. Total cost, about £90.

You might prefer to go for the new Etrex '10' which does have mapping capability. Shop around and get one for about £90. You'd need to buy a bar mount and AA batteries for this one too, but a USB lead is supplied as standard. I think the standard map is pretty poor so if you want to use the onboard mapping, you might have to budget extra for a better map on a memory card. You'd probably be looking at £120 - £140 total.

Pretty much everybody I know who has a GPS on their bike gets on really well with it. I didn't see the need to spend hundreds of pounds when my cheap model does the trick, but the upmarket models like the Garmin Edge 800 are very good - lots of people on my forum rides have them.

 

[Banjo]

Ahhh!

My Apologies! .... .... ..... I now know what a DIY Audax is ..... I originally thought you were organising an informal Audax for a group of individual riders.

No worries I guessed that was the case. I did a bit of orienteering in my younger days and well remember the clippers tied to a tree or whatever.I think they could be used for a normal Audax in some circumstances but obviously not for a DIY.

 

[Ian H]

I may be qualified to answer this. Basically, if the rider has made the effort, found some kind of control, and everything else is in order, the ride is likely to be validated.

*Many years ago, before DIYs were invented, on the Tour of Kernow (an absolute bast*rd of a 400, not least because it's about 440km), We chased a milkman at dawn, to get him to sign our cards.

 

[Banjo]

I may be qualified to answer this. Basically, if the rider has made the effort, found some kind of control, and everything else is in order, the ride is likely to be validated.

*Many years ago, before DIYs were invented, on the Tour of Kernow (an absolute bast*rd of a 400, not least because it's about 440km), We chased a milkman at dawn, to get him to sign our cards.

I wonder what the milkman thought being chased by a pack of grim looking cyclists at dawn