BigAura

I rarely ever carry a paper map nowadays. When I'm at visitor center and see a map that's interesting or helpful I'll just take a photo of it for reference.

The most useful maps, like topo-maps, tend to very detailed and are quickly out range and then useless. Tossing these out is a waste, carrying them makes no sense, mailing them home is inconvenient.

BTW: I have a large file-drawer FULL of old maps from trips over the years. I always think that I might use them someday, and I have referenced a couple, once or twice. But the reality is they'll end up being thrown away in the future.

jefnvk

Again, not from bike touring specifically, but I am the same. Whole suitcase full of them actually.

That is cool.

I did a trip through Belgium and the Netherlands, on signed routes. I was really glad to have a phone that I could pull out and look at a map, when the signs were hidden, missing, or someone stuck a new "knoppunt" in the middle of the sequence I had based off an old map, and had no clue which one was the new intermediary step. Trying to follow signs alone, while it sounds like a good idea, can get you lost in a hurry.

antokelly

did anyone watch part 1 and 2 of the video i posted ,in all the vids i watched over the years it's still my favorite no gps in those day's i don't think he would even bother with gadgets if there were around at the time .
mind u i'm a sucker for tech stuff even tho i haven't a clue how to use them if it hasn't a handle on it i'm lost.
anyway enjoy your tours and cycling stay safe.

https://vimeo.com/56736424

Bacciagalupe

Been there, done that. Got lost a bunch of times, got stuck in the middle of nowhere without water, got in late to hotels. Hard pass.

jrbz

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

jefnvk

Yeah, if you actually adventure around for a bit, you realize that there are plenty of places you neither intended to go nor should be, that you need to get out of as quick as possible.

And no I am not talking about seeing a bit more of poverty than you are used to (some of those are the most wonderful places I have been), I am talking about places that are downright not intelligent to be. Say, an otherwise normal looking pub in industrial Budapest where the waitresses were running every transaction through burly guys near the exits and taking patrons into back rooms, or the road I inadvertently walked down in Bangalore where touts were somewhat forcefully promising me girls for incredibly cheap prices.

I love adventure, but I've got a few more stories like that that that make me wonder how I haven't made a more tragic choice in my adventuring. I'm cool with taking the safe options.

antokelly

oh man that sounds scary
beam me up scottie Quick.

saddlesores

umm, did you hear a "click"?.....

fietsbob

yes a field of uncleared land mines will add to the "adventure"..

saddlesores

....and then you find yourself tripping all over the
kids toys they leave lying all over the place.......

jefnvk

Yeah, those are a bit more extreme examples of my point...

antokelly

fair play to ya sure you got there in the end.

djb

I still enjoy having a paper map with me, but have learned to like the advantages of gps and or internet info for travelling.
A mix of both is the best bet in my opinion.

one thing Ive talked about with family and friends is how when traveling on your own, developing a good instinct for who to ask, and who to believe, and situational awareness for dodgey stuff, is still the most important skill to have when traveling. The flip side is also having wonderful interactions with regular folks, which to me still makes for some of the best memories of traveling by bike.

I dunno, the internet is totally cool as a tool, but you still have to have good basic, common sense people skills and instincts for stuff, no matter what the interweb tells you. Dealing with things as they come and improvising/finding solutions is in my view still the most important skill to have as a traveler.

KD5NRH

This...when they work. OTOH, when I rode to Dinosaur Valley, I ended up using celestial navigation for the last bit since somehow the map file got corrupted. Fortunately, the phone still had the coordinates of the park gate, and could tell me where I was, and thus which way to go, but not which direction I was facing. (The compass in it is unreliable under most circumstances, IME, and since I didn't have my handlebar mount on, riding far enough for it to go by direction of travel while looking at the display in the dark wasn't a very good option.)

I find that overplanning the route can result in problems; you can't always tell beforehand how suitable a road is, and taking any detour, for example to patch a tire at a gas station with an air compressor rather than your mini pump, can render your cue sheet useless until you're back on the planned route and adjust elapsed distance to compensate. GPS negates that problem pretty effectively when it's working right, allowing for on-the-fly rerouting.

boomhauer

A planned route only results in disappointment while an unplanned route results in surprises.

mev

A paper map isn't always up to date or complete. For example I had maps of western Kansas that gave two different descriptions of what was paved or not. Turns out neither was correct.

An electronic map isn't always correct either. For example, I am in Argentina now and a section of Ruta 40 in open street map south of Mendoza just doesn't exist. There is a reconstruction project underway and eventually there will be a new road but not where the old one was before. Also not much info on which roads are paved or conditions of those roads etc.

A GPS can pinpoint your location, but with noise in the system in form of incorrect and incomplete info one still needs skills to evaluate info whether it comes from paper maps, electronic maps or villagers along the way.

So I come more from school where some technical assistance is helpful (without it my riding partner and I got separated from each other for ten days in the Ural mountains when crossing Russia - an SMS message on a basic phone would have fixed that). While helpful, I think it would be foolish to ride much of the world relying on an expectation this information is correct and complete.

str

love it when a online map shows me new gravel roads on my phone...

staehpj1

There always have been and still are folks who head out with zero planning, folks that plan in intricate detail, and everything in between. Some use the technology to allow for more planning and some less.

There are folks who rely heavily on the new technology, folks who don't, and again everything in between.

Also folks may take one approach for one trip (or portion of a trip) and another for a different one.

Personally I don't plan any detail of things like overnight stopping points and prefer to choose where to stop on the spur of the moment. Some times I follow a predetermined route and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I avoid planning by using planning someone else already did (AC maps, etc) and some times by choosing the route on a whim as I go.

For me there is usually some of both staying with a plan and winging it on various sections of any longish tour.

antokelly

like the sound of stopping where ever your fancy.

Happy Feet

Well.. that's not true at all. Everyone could tour back in the day too. In fact, that was the appeal.

Having actually toured I can say most of the people I meet along the way seem to be pretty happy doing what they are doing. You can do a fully loaded tour and only travel a few miles each day (which is pretty easy) or do a credit card style tour and cover more than 100 miles every day (which is quite hard) and everything in between.

The only real tough thing about touring in the past for me was the weight of my gear and the fact that I had a 2x5 gaspipe mtb. I don't miss that so much.

There are two ways that I seek and gain a feeling of accomplishment from a tour. One is to have an element of "I'm not sure I can do this" involved, which has little to do with modern or old school, and the other is to have an element of social interaction such as a vacation with friends or doing a ride to support a cause.

checoles

Gotta admit, the best trips are when you go out somewhere, see a road you've been down and suddenly you're 50 miles away from where you were destined to go. I've rode the Trans Pennine Trail through the UK, but ended up adding over 150 miles due to not sticking to the path, wondering off to various villages/towns I never knew existed before coming back on it again.


Technology stops you getting lost. Curiosity gives you an adventure.

Tourist in MSN

I see two questions: (1) Do you skip the planning and hit the road and (2) skip the gadget stuff (electronic aides).

When I went to Iceland in summer 2016, I wanted to see the interior. I did some additional planning and internet research (where the grocery stores are, etc.) but I had no route planned until after I got there. Upon arriving there, loaded up the bike with two weeks of groceries and hit the road.

But, I brought a cell phone (was unable to buy a SIM card, so it was only a wifi device) and a vintage GPS (so old that the display is black and white).

Thus, I skipped the planning, but I brought the gadget stuff.

That was my only solo biketrip. When traveling with others, I think it important to have plans and destinations planned out. Thus, all my other trips had a route planned.

When I went on a solo kayak trip a couple months ago on Lake Superior, I also had no route planned. But when you can't see where you are going in the fog (see photo) you better bring a GPS along with you if you ever want to see land again. Thus, once again I skipped the planning but brought the gadget stuff.

antokelly

wow i wouldn't chance that trip if you paid me.
into the unknown scary stuff i'm in my old age a complete wuss.

Leebo

I like paper maps, topo stuff is great for things like streams and rr tracks. Really helpful when bikepacking. My favorite? The street sign, the paper map and the ride with gps maps all say different street.? Hmmm, what next? Rivers, streams and rr tracks usually don't change. Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Followed some of the XVT bikepacking route this summer, somewhat rough. Enter a forest service road gate, follow up hill for 6 miles, 10 total. 2 VAST signs( Vermont area snowmobile trail) total. Went from over grown single track, double track, atv track, dirt bike track and back to dirt road. And back again. A plan B and a plan C are always good for wayfinding, even if not used. When you stop to take a breather on an uphill and see a giant pile of poo, do you stop to figure out if it is bear or moose? Nope, full speed ahead.

mev

Probably shouldn't respond to a troll...but...

I call BS.

Old style touring was an accomplishment and now it is not? BS.

Not everyone could tour before but now they can? BS.