Riding with or without technology

[Gravity Aided]

Speaking of Ordnance survey, they have a Christmas Shop now, as well as a drawing to win a drone all your own! I find that truly interesting. Makes me sort of wish the US Geological Survey had something like that.

 

[ColinJ]

However I find the Garmin 810 somewhat unreliable with a tendency to freeze especially when recalculating to get back on route.

Why are you off route in the first place when you have the GPS to guide you?

I am still using a very old Garmin and it is fine for navigation. It doesn't have maps, or calculate routes, it just confirms that I am going where I told it I wanted to go.

I will probably buy a more modern GPS one day but I don't want the thing to try and second guess me ...

 

[PaulSB]

Why are you off route in the first place when you have the GPS to guide you?
...

You're not the first to ask that!!

Usually too much chat miss a turn and half a mile later discover you're off course.

Then there are the times when you stop after missing a turn to turn round and your "mate" confidently states carry on, next left, next right and you're on track - DON'T BELIEVE HIM/HER!!!

 

[ColinJ]

Usually too much chat miss a turn and half a mile later discover you're off course.

Actually, I am guilty of doing that too! My old Garmin does not have an audible warning of turns so if I forget to look at the GPS screen, I can ride past turns without noticing. It has happened on a few forum rides. As soon as I do look at the screen I realise what I have done. Usually it is no big deal to go back a hundred metres or so. It is rare for me to go much further down the wrong road. It rarely happens on solo rides because I am not being distracted by chat.

 

[willem]

On foreign trips I tend to buy route guides with maps for long distance routes (northern Italy to Holland in 2014 and Prague to Holland in 2015). The beauty of these guides is that you ride far more scenic trails and minor roads than you could ever hope to find yourself. Until recently I only used the paper maps in these guide books, but I have now changed to using a Garmin in addition (Etrex 30, for being quite cheap, light, small and with the best battery life). Before I leave I download the tracks that come with these routes. My experience has been very favourable and I don't think I will ever go back. The biggest advantage is that you have more time to enjoy the cycling and the scenery. If you use high quality rechargeable batteries you can ride 4-5 days on one set, so for shorter tours you do not even have to carry a charger, let alone charge from your hub generator etc. Battery life is one of the big advantages of the Etrex 30 (apart from weight and price), as with other more expensive models with bigger brighter touchscreens your batteries will only last for two days, if that. For the same reason I do not use my smartphone to navigate (I keep it switched off for all but 10 minutes each day, so it also lasts for ages on one charge). For trips in Holland I use the Dutch routeplanner for cycletouring, and download the track from there: http://routeplanner.fietsersbond.nl/
I do not take an ipad, an mp3 player, or a kindle, and the phone is only to send a text message to reassure the family that all is well.

 

[MissTillyFlop]

Paper maps are great... if you can read them.

I can't: I have dyspraxia and the little wiggles and lines on a paper map mean diddly squat to me in relation to what is going on in the outside world. I also have to have the sound turned down on any sat nav, as I have no idea which left or right is most of the time, so I need to see which way I am turning.

TBH, I prefer the garmin to my phone, as it's a lot simpler to read for me and the battery lasts for a long old time.

And my mother can't call me on it.

 

[Drago]

Garmin on the bars, dumbphone in me pocket. Never needed more than a glance at a decent map to get me where I'm going (or Quo, which I have on the pooter at home for SAR work, the entire country in OS 1:25,000). I have a twat nav in the car, but tend only to use it to home in on the last few hundred yards, and use my vast and awesome memory to get me there having read a map beforehand.

A fiends lad is autistic, and only needs to glance for a second at a map and can navigate anywhere from memory. Even things like London Underground maps. I'm not quite in that league, but I'm good enough to be a bit 'gifted' in that department, for want of a better term.

 

[ColinJ]

Paper maps are great... if you can read them.

I can't: I have dyspraxia and the little wiggles and lines on a paper map mean diddly squat to me in relation to what is going on in the outside world. I also have to have the sound turned down on any sat nav, as I have no idea which left or right is most of the time, so I need to see which way I am turning.

That's an interesting point. My nephew suffers from dyspraxia, has just moved here and is starting to explore. I was going to buy him the laminated OS explorer map of this area but perhaps I should check to see if he could use it. I will show him my map and see if it makes sense to him. I'll also see if he has problems with left/right.

We are both hoping that he will get into cycling next year, but I am a bit concerned that he will struggle with his coordination on the bike and concentration in traffic.

 

[MissTillyFlop]

That's an interesting point. My nephew suffers from dyspraxia, has just moved here and is starting to explore. I was going to buy him the laminated OS explorer map of this area but perhaps I should check to see if he could use it. I will show him my map and see if it makes sense to him. I'll also see if he has problems with left/right.

We are both hoping that he will get into cycling next year, but I am a bit concerned that he will struggle with his coordination on the bike and concentration in traffic.

Depends on how severe it is. I am fine on a bicycle and on a motorbike because it has the same width as me whereas in a car, I veer off to the left, because I cannot deal with the fact that over 50% of the car is to my left. (I used my hands to work that one out!)

But also, I find that riding a bike helps with the dyspraxia, especially in terms of the memory, as I get more vitamin d from being outside and vitamin d deficiency can lead to memory loss (amongst other things).

 

[ColinJ]

I find that riding a bike helps with the dyspraxia, especially in terms of the memory, as I get more vitamin d from being outside and vitamin d deficiency can lead to memory loss (amongst other things).

Ah ah - he has just had a blood test which showed he is Vit D deficient and he is now taking D3 supplements.

I told him that sunshine makes Vit D in the sun but I think that most of us will be a bit short of that in the winter unless we are lucky enough to live nearer the equator.

 

[MissTillyFlop]

Doesn't matter really, 15 mins of unprotected sun exposure per day is enough (i.e. put on your spf just afore you go out, as it takes 15 mins to kick in.)

If you're anything like me in your colouring, you probably make a year's worth of vitamin d in 4 nanoseconds.

 

[jonny jeez]

On a tour...GPS ALWAYS...has never let me down and provides a sense of continuation that I don't get when I need to keep stopping to check the map.

It does however, remove the peripheral understanding that you can only get from reading a map (I love reading maps!). The facts of where you are in relation to other things, points of interest along (or just out of view) the route, that sort of thing.

for short rides, I just follow my nose

 

[willem]

The maps in the route guides give me quite a bit of that wider awareness that is indeed good to have. The guide book also has a lot of additional information about camp sites and hotels. The gps has supermarkets etc, and camp site info as well.

 

[psmiffy]

On a tour...GPS ALWAYS...has never let me down and provides a sense of continuation that I don't get when I need to keep stopping to check the map.

It does however, remove the peripheral understanding that you can only get from reading a map (I love reading maps!). The facts of where you are in relation to other things, points of interest along (or just out of view) the route, that sort of thing.

for short rides, I just follow my nose

on a tour in Europe - ALWAYS MAPS - by looking at the map the night before and at cafe stops it builds and reinforces the spatial map I carry in my brain - I can see where I am going and where I am wrt other places and my route without always looking at the map - journeys short or long I just for the most part to the map Ive built in my brain

Using GPS to navigate everywhere is just a short cut to performing a spatial lobotomy on oneself

 

[jonny jeez]

on a tour in Europe - ALWAYS MAPS - by looking at the map the night before and at cafe stops it builds and reinforces the spatial map I carry in my brain - I can see where I am going and where I am wrt other places and my route without always looking at the map - journeys short or long I just for the most part to the map Ive built in my brain

Using GPS to navigate everywhere is just a short cut to performing a spatial lobotomy on oneself

Did you read the second paragraph of my reply?