Please help a Road Rider who's been away for 10 years....

[DarenH]

Hi All - I'm new to this form, so a little intro.

10 years ago I loved cycling in London on my hybrid, I would regularly get up on a Sunday morning and cycle 20-30 miles round trip as well as commuting to work in the west end.

I've recently been looking for motivation to get fit again when a work email landed in my inbox inviting me to take part in a 120 mile charity bike ride from London to Somerset I jumped at the chance and have now committed myself.

I have purchased a 2013 Sectour sport road bike (white model) which I'm very excited about, I have to wait another week to collect but I'm doing my homework whilst I wait.

I have ten weeks to get fit enough, so I'm going to do a lot of treadmill and exercise bike work in-doors during the week for the first month plus 20-30mile rides at the weekend and then build on this.

With all this in mind plus the fact that I have all the gear, clothes, bag, lights and so on I thought I was all set, I was wrong.......

I have just realized that I need GPS, I'm going to need to read maps or I'll get lost. I'm going to be on my own and I don't know all the quiet country roads and these are the roads I want to be cycling on, so your advise on this or any comments on the above would be very much appreciated.

I found an iPhone app called BikeHub, would this be good enough used with an iPhone 5 bike mount? if so any recommendations on which app or iPhone holder.

Problem is I don't really want to spend another £430 right now on a Garmin 810 but it is vital for me that I'm able to follow routes until I get familiar with the roads and where I'm going....

Please help....
Thanks
Daren

 

[Hacienda71]

Battery life on phones is the biggest issue. You could pick up a new Garmin 705 with hrm, cadence and full European mapping for well under £200 if that was closer to your budget.

 

[DarenH]

Battery life on phones is the biggest issue. You could pick up a new Garmin 705 with hrm, cadence and full European mapping for well under £200 if that was closer to your budget.

Oh yes, I could stretch to 200, where should I look for one?

 

[jim55]

this^^ iphone battery will last about 3 hrs or less if used as sat nav,at a minimum you could prob get away with using a garmin 200(the battery charge on these lasts for ages- 90quid brand new or less)and paper printed out maps for certain parts,but the mapping on the lower end garmins are basic breadcrumb trails and following arrows,not turn by turn instructions

 

[jim55]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Garmin-Ed...ds_Activity_Monitoring_MJ&hash=item46119bf5c8

used obv

 

[DarenH]

Thanks guys - all I want is something that I can enter an end point then it would get me there on cycle friendly roads which I assume you can do on the edge 705 or 810? any other options?

 

[Andrew 14]

Buy a road atlas look at it and pick a route . Photo copy relevant page and highlight the route place in back pocket .if you are unsure witch way to go remove from pocket check route and ride on . Cost about 5 quid

 

[Gravity Aided]

Buy a road atlas look at it and pick a route . Photo copy relevant page and highlight the route place in back pocket .if you are unsure witch way to go remove from pocket check route and ride on . Cost about 5 quid

No batteries required. I know here in the States, at least in Illinois, maps are available online specifically related to cycling.
http://www.dot.il.gov/bikemap/pdf/McLean.pdf This is the County McLean, where I live. Roads color-coded by traffic density.

 

[lukesdad]

Map out your route on a online mapper bikehike ride with GPS etc and print it out. Make some route cards tape to bars or crossbar for directions at critical junctions, it's good enough for the pros

 

[vickster]

You can get back up batteries for mobiles - I have one that cost £30, enough juice for two iPhone charges. Would just need to plug in overnight (assuming not doing the trip without stopping!)

 

[Eribiste]

I did an Audax a few weeks ago, and unlike the charity rides where the route is often marked, the Audax route I went on was graced with a GPS file for those lucky enough to have one, or a comprehensive turn by turn route list in a pdf file for the likes of me. I found the route card to be about spot on, plus a bit of following other riders on the odd occasion where I wasn't too sure. I printed the route cards in 'bite size' chunks and put them on a little A5 clipboard ziptied to the handlebars. I did eventually get home......

 

[Nigelnaturist]

this^^ iphone battery will last about 3 hrs or less if used as sat nav,at a minimum you could prob get away with using a garmin 200(the battery charge on these lasts for ages- 90quid brand new or less)and paper printed out maps for certain parts,but the mapping on the lower end garmins are basic breadcrumb trails and following arrows,not turn by turn instructions

Wrong the 500 will give turn by turn instructions. Using the correct mapping software RWGPS for it will give you the breadcrumb which is ok when you get used to it and also a turn indicator and how far to the turn. RWGPS doesn't optimise the virtual partner so it over estimates time (there other ways around this)

Another Option is the Bryton Rider 50 which used to be seen for about £170 though i cant see one at that price just at the mo, has mapping and h.r. and cad (with sensors) I think you could get a bundle for about £220

Edit £230 from Halfords with HR and CAD
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_919197_langId_-1_categoryId_165741

 

[jim55]

Wrong the 500 will give turn by turn instructions. Using the correct mapping software RWGPS for it will give you the breadcrumb which is ok when you get used to it and also a turn indicator and how far to the turn. RWGPS doesn't optimise the virtual partner so it over estimates time (there other ways aro

this^^ iphone battery will last about 3 hrs or less if used as sat nav,at a minimum you could prob get away with using a garmin 200(the battery charge on these lasts for ages- 90quid brand new or less)and paper printed out maps for certain parts,but the mapping on the lower end garmins are basic breadcrumb trails and following arrows,not turn by turn instructions

er pay attention ,didnt i say lower end garmins ,sure , the other ones will do as u say but NOT the base models (200 edge for def as iv got one
you jumped in a bit quick there,read the whole msg in future

 

[Mile195]

Looks like you might have made your mind up on your purchase. However, just in case you're still interested in it, the bikehub app is pretty good.

HOWEVER...

Be aware that if you go off course it does not automatically recalculate the route. All it does is calculate the quickest way back to the point you left the route. You have to stop, cancel the journey, then recalculate it.

Battery life may be an issue. I use a Mophie external battery for the iphone. Turn off your wifi, turn off your bluetooth, turn your screen brightness down, and turn the whole thing off for any long sections of the route that you don't really need it for (for example where you're following the same road for 20 or 30 miles, or have stopped for lunch). It should see you through then.

Don't rely on anything electronic though. Always take paper maps. They're much easier to plot the journey on in the first instance anyway. I only use the GPS when I get lost, or when I end up on local roads that I can't see on the scale of a paper map.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Wrong the 500 will give turn by turn instructions. Using the correct mapping software RWGPS for it will give you the breadcrumb which is ok when you get used to it and also a turn indicator and how far to the turn. RWGPS doesn't optimise the virtual partner so it over estimates time (there other ways around this)

View attachment 27351

Another Option is the Bryton Rider 50 which used to be seen for about £170 though i cant see one at that price just at the mo, has mapping and h.r. and cad (with sensors) I think you could get a bundle for about £220

Edit £230 from Halfords with HR and CAD
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_919197_langId_-1_categoryId_165741

The 200 does courses (i.e. breadcrumb trial), I can't say further than that, have you tried loading a course tcx file created on rwgps or bike toaster.