# Mounting a GPS and a route card holder



## AlanW (26 Apr 2016)

So for many years I had used a varying design of route card holders, ranging from homemade bits of plastic and plywood to proper manufactured ones such as the Polaris Maptrap and the Rixen and Kaul map holder. But as old age started to take effect and my eyesight started to worsen, reading route cards without my glasses was near enough impossible.

So a few years ago now, I entered the world of Garmin GPS devices, and turn by turn notifications, what a God send and IMHO it makes a day’s riding so much more enjoyable. And slowly more and more I have become 100% solely reliant on the GPS to navigate me around audax routes. Although, its usual that I will have a copy of the route card in my back pocket just in case, but if I have forgotten to pack my reading glasses then I cannot see it anyway!!

Over time the battery on the Garmin has started to deteriorate and now it isn’t capable of lasting more than about 6 hours now. So with this in mind, I have a small external battery pack that I use to recharge the Garmin when at the controls/cafe stops etc, so all bases covered you would think.


However, I rode a 214km audax on Saturday and 6 hours in the low battery warning message popped up on the Garmin. Safe in the knowledge that I had my external battery pack, I carried on to the next control. It was then that I discovered to my utter horror and disbelief that while I had the external battery pack, Mr Numpty here had forgotten to put the connecting lead in with it…..doh!! 

So plan B then, revert back to the trusty old route card option, the good news glasses packed, the bad news……..no route card….double doh!! But in a vain effort to extend the remaining duration of the battery, I turned off any notifications, turned the screen resolution to minimum and anything else that may give me a bit more life. But sadly at around 100 miles it finally gave in and died a death living me in no man’s land as I was on my own at the time. Consequently I had no choice but to wait for other riders at the next control and ride with them till the end. 

Which has made me think about how best I can avoid the same happening again, and if I were a PC then I could just buy some more memory but sadly this isn’t an option…. yet? The easy answer of course is to pack it all the night before, which is what I did believe it or not!!

But unless I follow a route card as I travel along, I find it extremely difficult to figure out where I am on the sheet if I have to retrieve it from my pocket, which it why I like the option of having it visible all of the time. Plus, it makes it easier to read the further it is from my eyes, so out in front of the bars is good. But the same rule also applies to the Garmin, the further way its mounted the better it is to see. Which if its mounted onto the top of the stem is less than ideal, but I cannot mount everything forward of the bars so that I can see it as the bike will probably tip over!

I also need to look at ways to mount the external battery pack, so that it’s just a simple case of just plugging it into the Garmin as and when its required. As opposed to carrying it and the lead around in my back pocket till its required.


----------



## DCLane (26 Apr 2016)

I have both;

- The battery pack is in a top tube tri-bag; a Topeak Fuel Tank with cable hole for the charging lead
- That's coupled with an A6 clipboard tie-strapped to the stem that has my route card cut out in A6 size, laminated and held together with a key-ring so I can just flip them over.


----------



## Dogtrousers (26 Apr 2016)

My solution: Garmin mounted on the stem. Route sheet in holder cobbled together from a clear plastic folder and duct tape on top of small handlebar bag. (And my Garmin takes AA batteries, so I have a plentiful supply of these with me)


----------



## jefmcg (26 Apr 2016)

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-accessories/bike-bags/topeak-all-weather-tri-bag

Battery inside, laminated a6 (1/4 a4) route sheet bulldog clipped to the lid.

I usually carry two batteries and 2 cables if I expect I'll need them. Have had a lot of cable failures, and the occasional mysteriously discharged battery.


----------



## ACS (26 Apr 2016)

For longer distance rides I use a Garmin Touring mounted on an extendable mount with a battery housed in a top tube tube bag. Second battery in the saddle bag for keeping the phone topped up.

Route sheet divided into manageable sections, laminated, and kept in the back pocket as backup.


----------



## Yellow Saddle (26 Apr 2016)

Maybe not the answer you were looking for but how about cycling glasses that allow you to read up close and look ahead e.g. bifocals. Those changed my life. I can now even see my little bike computer and read its little figures.


----------



## AlanW (26 Apr 2016)

Yellow Saddle said:


> Maybe not the answer you were looking for but how about cycling glasses that allow you to read up close and look ahead e.g. bifocals. Those changed my life. I can now even see my little bike computer and read its little figures.



I did actually try some bifocals, although to be fair not cycling specific type glasses. It was a very expensive exercise and one that I couldn't get to grips with to be honest. The problem being is that my focal band is really close, if that's the right way to describe it?? I can see perfectly well from about 18" away, so I don't need glasses to view a PC or laptop for example. But reduce that down to around 12" and things start to go blurry, and at 6" to 8" away...ha, not a hope in hell!!


----------



## Yellow Saddle (26 Apr 2016)

AlanW said:


> I did actually try some bifocals, although to be fair not cycling specific type glasses. It was a very expensive exercise and one that I couldn't get to grips with to be honest. The problem being is that my focal band is really close, if that's the right way to describe it?? I can see perfectly well from about 18" away, so I don't need glasses to view a PC or laptop for example. But reduce that down to around 12" and things start to go blurry, and at 6" to 8" away...ha, not a hope in hell!!


I see. Of all the things I miss about youth I think I miss my eyesight the most. Or perhaps my sex appeal. Wait, let me flip a coin.


----------



## AlanW (26 Apr 2016)

Oh and just to add to the mix, I also like two GPS devices running.  

One is a Edge 500 that I have heart rate and gradient displayed at all times, but I can select other page options, with the usual data as and when required, plus the battery life is good for at least 15 hours. The other one is the Edge Touring that will have the route displayed at all times with turn by turn notifications.


----------



## AlanW (26 Apr 2016)

Yellow Saddle said:


> Of all the things I miss about youth I think I miss my eyesight the most.



I certainly agree with that, it is a constant source of frustration and irritation when I can no longer see clearly enough to carry out what I consider to be minor mundane tasks......


----------

