The Fridays Tour de Normandie 2015

[dellzeqq]

Meanwhile....can anybody claim that they have used the Russian maps, prepared with invasion in mind? Just asking (where is @Andy in Sig when you need him?).

There will be bollards. These do not appear on any of the GPS maps. If someone removes their kneecaps because they were intent on their Garmins, sympathy is going to be in short supply.

 

[frank9755]

@User13710 , GPS stuff is very boring and tecchy. I've had my Garmin for about 5 years and I've still not worked out how to use it properly.
Definitely don't ruin a ride by allowing other people to talk to you about it while you are out. But what Olaf says about maps sounds right. This guy does the best, and clearest, instructions, with pictures, on how to get hold of them:
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/05/download-garmin-705800810.html

 

[StuAff]

Meanwhile....can anybody claim that they have used the Russian maps, prepared with invasion in mind? Just asking (where is @Andy in Sig when you need him?).

There will be bollards. These do not appear on any of the GPS maps. If someone removes their kneecaps because they were intent on their Garmins, sympathy is going to be in short supply.

Well, GPS maps don't usually include parked cars, 'traffic calming', roadworks…either. Always helps to look where you're going.

 

[StuAff]

@User13710 , GPS stuff is very boring and tecchy. I've had my Garmin for about 5 years and I've still not worked out how to use it properly.
Definitely don't ruin a ride by allowing other people to talk to you about it while you are out. But what Olaf says about maps sounds right. This guy does the best, and clearest, instructions, with pictures, on how to get hold of them:
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/05/download-garmin-705800810.html

Rule no.1 of using any GPS: if it says one way, and common sense/your knowledge says the other way, go the other way. I don't always remember this

 

[StuAff]

Gah, I'm sorry I mentioned the fecking thing now! Just to be clear - (1) I bought it so that, in the increasingly likely event these days that I find myself at the back of a ride, I won't need to feel that people are hanging back to help me find the way; (2) I won't be bringing it with me, or discussing it, in Normandy. And point (1) isn't up for any discussion either.

No need to be sorry about it. No two ways about it, these things have a lot of quirks and issues, most of them frankly caused by humans. Give it a go when you're good and ready and you'll be fine.

 

[StuAff]

On the subject of those paper map thingies, pristine copy of IGN 106 here if anyone would like to borrow it for the trip.

 

[mmmmartin]

.
the Pegasus bridge. A small lecturette would be appreciated.

There was a short chat for the Bordeaux trip last year prepared by me on the subject of the D Day landings, which I think only @User13710 has heard. Bur if there is a bit of time, the museum across the road nearby about the Pegasus landings is very good - I haven't been in as I was on bike watch duty but my chums on a camping trip across northern France in September did and said it was worth visiting. The "Pegasus Cafe" nearby is slow, bad, and expensive. The one on the other side of the road is better.

.
short talk on the subject of 18000 tonnes of high explosive would be nice.

My recollection from the Normandy trip of 2013 is that @Gordon P might be the expert there. (He'll be recovering from his sub-10 hour 200k ride yesterday*.)


*Yes, I know.

 

[User482]

There will be bollards. These do not appear on any of the GPS maps. If someone removes their kneecaps because they were intent on their Garmins, sympathy is going to be in short supply.

Though I've had one or two near misses before now, looking at the paper map on my bars...

 

[theclaud]

Though I've had one or two near misses before now, looking at the paper map on my bars...

I crashed into a hedge near Marcross when first recce-ing the Swansea ride. Paper maps are good but should not be used at the same time as mobile phones, especially when going downhill.

 

[dellzeqq]

Though I've had one or two near misses before now, looking at the paper map on my bars...

ahem. Yes. These days I have to balance my specs on top of my head when I peer at the map. Not clever.

 

[Flying Dodo]

I think the map my ride thing has 'corrected' the route south of Ouistreham to road rather than bike path. For Martin's benefit, we absolutely will be taking the bike path to the Pegasus bridge. A small lecturette would be appreciated.

Sorry - hadn't spotted that. It has a tendency to sometimes re-draw other things when you amend different sections. The original link now now been updated with that correction. If anyone had download the GPX files for Days 2 or 3 when I first posted the links last week, simply re-visit the page and download them again.

 

[mmmmartin]

These days I have to balance my specs on top of my head when I peer at the map.

After struggling with

• contact lenses and safety glasses with the "reading" insert (worked surprisingly well but keeping contact lenses in for an overnight ride hurts), then using
• cycling glasses with a clip-in insert behind them (again, worked well but a definite tendency to mist up at the first opportunity and difficult to clear as the mist is trapped between the insert and the lens) then trying
• variofocal lenses (paid for by work as they had an anti-glare coating and they were daft enough to think I might be appearing on the tele in the days when we had our own tv station) which were too small to keep the wind off,
• I went to Specsavers and bought some large glasses with black frames that are big enough to keep wind off the eyes and also had a bi-focal bit for map reading, and were reactive in sunlight. Work the best of the lot, I think. Also has the very great advantage that I channel my inner @redfalo - herewith the evidence of @ianmac62 and I having thoroughly enjoyable, lengthy lunch in Spain - with aperitif, beer, wine and the inevitable digestif. To our delight and great relief the ferry back to Dear Old Blighty was only a few hundred yards away .......

• 

 

[Andy in Sig]

Meanwhile....can anybody claim that they have used the Russian maps, prepared with invasion in mind? Just asking (where is @Andy in Sig when you need him?).

There will be bollards. These do not appear on any of the GPS maps. If someone removes their kneecaps because they were intent on their Garmins, sympathy is going to be in short supply.

The last ones I heard of were on the wall in an underground Soviet bunker near Zossen-Wuensdorf. Probably gently rotting in an archive in Moscow by now.

 

[mmmmartin]

Probably being updated by Putin ready for his invasion of another country now.

FTFY

 

[srw]

The last ones I heard of were on the wall in an underground Soviet bunker near Zossen-Wuensdorf. Probably gently rotting in an archive in Moscow by now.

Search for "Soviet Military Maps Free" on Google play.

I shall install the app.