York-Humber Bridge, Saturday, 13th July, 2019

[ColinJ]

Not long now!

Rider list (from York):

• ColinJ
• @colly
• @Pale Rider
• @Moodyman

Mid-ride companions:

• @Soltydog?
• @EasyPeez?

Will at least one of you doing the full ride from York have the route on a GPS device? I did a long ride with @Littgull yesterday and for only about the second or third time in 13 years, my Etrex GPS got its eKnickers in a twist - even after 15 minutes it had not locked on to any satellites. Fortunately, Brian had the route on his GPS because I didn't know the second half of the route at all. We set off late, with him as navigator.

I wouldn't have a chance of navigating this route from memory. I could write myself an audax-style route sheet, but I switched to GPS in 2006 because I didn't like audax-style route sheets!

I eventually got my Etrex to work 2/3 of the way through yesterday's ride and it worked flawlessy from then on. I have tried it a couple of times today too and all is well. (I think the problem was caused by switching it on indoors and when it told me that it couldn't find any satellites and asked me if I were indoors I may have inadvertently clicked 'no' instead of 'yes'?) Still, it made me realise that I need some navigational redundancy on these rides, just-in-case!



CALL FOR RIDERS!
We usually get more riders than this... Don't be shy - come and join us!

 

[colly]

I have a Garmin but use it only for recording. (it's the same as yours I believe). Maybe that can give directions? I wouldn't know tbh. I'll have a look later and see.

 

[Pale Rider]

The route is on my Garmin, which as they nearly all do, has been acting up.

I've lost communication with the laptop, but as this route is already loaded, it may work.

I could do the first bit towards the solar system path from memory.

Taking the correct turning off the path will be the first challenge.

Time to dig out a paper map or two.

 

[ColinJ]

I have a Garmin but use it only for recording. (it's the same as yours I believe). Maybe that can give directions? I wouldn't know tbh. I'll have a look later and see.

That is the Garmin Edge 500, isn't it? Mine is also only used as a glorified bike computer because it seems to be impossible to get that model to navigate reliably. The web is littered with people complaining about it and suggesting fixes that didn't work for me. The one thing that would probably make it more reliable would be to split a long route such as this one into multiple short consecutive route segments. (The device seems especially to choke on longer files.) It would be a right pain to have to stop every 5-10 miles to switch to a new short file though.

If yours is an Edge 200 then you should be okay. I know a few people who have no problem navigating with that model.

I use the bigger, older Garmin Etrex for navigation and it has been extremely reliable for 13 years, so it caught me out yesterday when it threw a wobbly. We were a bit tight for time on our ride so the 20-odd minutes spent fiddling with the GPS almost led to us missing our train home. (We got to the station with only 7 or 8 minutes to spare!)

We definitely won't get completely lost on the ride because I'll have the route on my phone, but I don't have a bike mount for that so I would have to keep stopping to check what was coming up next ... I just did a search for phone bike mounts and found one that looked promising. I read the reviews and one user said it was great being able to watch Netflix on the move... It may just have been a joke, but if a serious comment then WTF!!!!

 

[ColinJ]

I forgot to say that another reason that I would always like a backup navigator for my rides is in case I can't make it for some reason on the day.

It is highly unlikely, but the unexpected can happen... For example, Littgull and I were coming back from Manchester after a recent ride and all trains onward through Todmorden to Leeds were suddenly cancelled due to a blockage on the track! In such a situation a rail replacement bus wouldn't help, because I wouldn't be able to take my bike on it.

The Saturday Northern rail strikes last year were showstoppers for me, but at least we knew about those in advance.

I'm having another go at fixing the navigation on my Edge 500. It was almost reliable last time I tried, but not quite reliable enough for me to trust it. It wasn't that it was getting me lost, it was just that the screen would randomly go blank, and the GPS would announce that I was off course even when I wasn't, only to reactivate itself after a delay. Long routes would make it choke completely.

I am going to experiment with shortish ride segments. I'll split 50-mile rides into 2, 100 km rides into 3, 100 mile rides into 4, and 200 km rides into 5. It wouldn't be too much hassle to stop for less than a minute to load another file every couple of hours or so. Those changeovers could be done at pee stops, snack stops, or cafe stops when I wouldn't be riding for a few minutes anyway.

The other thing that I haven't tried is switching the GPS off and back on again at the stops. It used to be pretty good at the start of navigation so it could be that the software has some kind of 'memory leak' which builds up with time and would probably be fixed by a reboot. A reboot would only take about another 30 seconds.

I think 3 x (1 or 2) minutes faffing about in a 100 mile ride wouldn't be a huge deal.

I'll go out for a 50 km ride later today and see if I can navigate that reliably with a single GPX file.

 

[ColinJ]

Ha - my Edge 500 navigation test went wrong within 2 minutes! I switched it on outside my front door, at the start of my ride. I needed to go in the opposite direction to post 4 letters, but would then head back to pick up the route. The device started off with a promising "Off Course" message, confirming that I was, er, off course! The problem is that when I came back on course it refused to accept the fact. I got a few more off course prompts, and then it just shut up and didn't give me a clue whether I was on course or not, and there was no course line on the navigation page to let me see for myself... I'll try to work out what the problem was and have another go. (Meanwhile, the old GPS is working perfectly.)

I just got an email from my friend Carrie. She would like to join us and will do so if she can arrange dog-sitting for Saturday.

 

[ColinJ]

I'll try to work out what the problem was and have another go. (Meanwhile, the old GPS is working perfectly.)

It was a faulty tcx file! I created a new one on the GPSies site and that looks good. (I could see the correct-shaped breadcrumb trail and elevation profile on the Edge 500.) I'll try to get out tomorrow to test it.

 

[Soltydog]

I've got the day off work, so I'll be joining you guys sometime in the morning & then probably riding most of the way back to York, but want to turn round & head home for 9pm, so maybe leave you guys around 6pm depending where abouts we are

 

[EasyPeez]

Looking unlikely I'll be able to get out at all I'm afraid but if that changes I'll ring Rob or Colin.

Have a good 'un if I don't see you.

 

[ColinJ]

That's a Like for the good wishes, not the failure to join us!

 

[Pale Rider]

Regrettably, it appears I am out.

My bike is at the dealer to have a cutting out fault fixed.

It might be done tomorrow, but I may struggle to collect it and look after the day job.

In any case, I would prefer to run it around locally for a few rides to establish reliability before taking on a 100 mile ride.

 

[ColinJ]

Regrettably, it appears I am out.

My bike is at the dealer to have a cutting out fault fixed.

Oh, that's a shame!

Did you sell your second bike?

 

[Pale Rider]

Oh, that's a shame!

Did you sell your second bike?

Currently in my caravan.

Bit of a run around to retrieve it, and it's not ideal for 100 miles.

 

[ColinJ]

Currently in my caravan.

Bit of a run around to retrieve it, and it's not ideal for 100 miles.

Fair enough - catch you on another ride some time soon!

I've just nipped out and picked up my rail tickets so I don't have to buy them at silly o'clock on Saturday morning.

 

[colly]

Ill be getting the train from Leeds on Sat morning. Northern Rail train.
Maybe ill see you on it @ColinJ .

Off hand l cant recall the time it's due out of Leeds. 8.20 ish ?