Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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mattheus
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by mattheus »

nsew wrote: 16 Nov 2021, 2:57pm Towing sixteen climate unaware baby boomers on bicycles around a foreign land must be a special kind of hell.
You're making a hell of a lot of assumptions there - about people you don't know - just for the sake of a cheap self-righteous laugh.
rareposter
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by rareposter »

CJ wrote: 15 Nov 2021, 6:23pm And the smartphone is such a versatile tool, I wouldn't travel without one and view it as utterly indispensable for leading a tour.
Yeah, we have a couple of WhatsApp groups - one for Ride Leaders, one for general tour admin. They're absolutely essential although you do need strict rules about not cluttering them up with emojis and pictures and keeping it to purely business matters.

We've had stuff about incidents, road closures, weather, plus vital notifications about there being additional drinks for the ride leaders at [location]. Having the ability to see the location of Ride Leaders in real time via WhatsApp tracking is incredibly useful.

Even riding on my own, I'll often pop a tracker on if I'm going to meet people en route. Just saves texting to say you're running late or people wondering where you are.
mattheus
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by mattheus »

Thank the lord for smartphones - I wish we'd had group cycling holidays when I was younger!
nsew
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by nsew »

A responsible tour leader / organisation could start by offsetting the harmful emissions their business is responsible for.

https://sustainabletravel.org/our-work/carbon-offsets/

A typical European cycling holiday for a UK citizen would I estimate add about £10 in carbon offset fees.

https://sustainabletravel.org/our-work/ ... footprint/
thirdcrank
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by thirdcrank »

My main (only?) criticism of smartphones is that because they reduce the need for planning, then they seem to encourage a lack of planning.

The Sandy Shaw hit Girl don't come must be a mystery to anybody under the age of forty. And yet there's a generation who still moan about the days when there were round-the-clock postal collections and frequent deliveries.

It must be hard for anybody without grandchildren there to help. My 9 y-o granddaughter was explaining to me the benefits of the latest model and when I asked if there were any disadvantages, after a bit of thought she remarked that I might not be able to get a snap-case (her expression) to keep it in. She knows I'm cautious about protecting things.

horizon - I know you mourn the passing of the Morris Minor and perhaps the horse-drawn tram but smart phones are here to stay - for now, at least. Telepathy may be next and that could be the thing to worry about if mind-reading comes with it
slowster
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by slowster »

CJ wrote: 16 Nov 2021, 11:25am
Jdsk wrote: 15 Nov 2021, 6:25pmHow are you?
Jonathan
Not bad. The car pushed my foot into the bike, causing an open fracture of the end of my tibia, that the Portuguese surgeon fixed with a couple of screws. So now I'm hopping around on crutches waiting for permission to put weight on it and for the hole to heal, where I left a piece of me on the front of the car! I made a smooth landing on my right forearm and the road-rash is all healed up now.
Never mind that, the important question is whether your bike is OK.

Seriously, get well soon.
Psamathe
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by Psamathe »

thirdcrank wrote: 17 Nov 2021, 1:54pm My main (only?) criticism of smartphones is that because they reduce the need for planning, then they seem to encourage a lack of planning.
.....
For some that can be a major benefit - some like myself where I decide to go day before departing (or rather decide to go and book ferry/flight for departure as soon as possible) and I then make it up as I go along generally planning next day the evening before. And keep going until I feel it's time to go home and then head home. I am fortunate in that my circumstances allow me to travel like that.

Ian
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horizon
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by horizon »

Psamathe wrote: 17 Nov 2021, 2:22pm
thirdcrank wrote: 17 Nov 2021, 1:54pm My main (only?) criticism of smartphones is that because they reduce the need for planning, then they seem to encourage a lack of planning.
.....
For some that can be a major benefit - some like myself where I decide to go day before departing (or rather decide to go and book ferry/flight for departure as soon as possible) and I then make it up as I go along generally planning next day the evening before. And keep going until I feel it's time to go home and then head home. I am fortunate in that my circumstances allow me to travel like that.

Ian
That makes me recall the time that in my early twenties I was at a bit of a loose end one Friday evening so I decided to hitch-hike to Luxembourg for the weekend. Half an hour later I was on my way, passport and YHA card in hand. I spent the night on the Sealink ferry and had breakfast in Bruges. I passed a pleasant evening in Luxembourg at the YHA and hitch-hiked back to England on the Sunday for work on Monday morning, no smart phone to be seen. I'm not sure just how much of that would be possible today.
.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
thirdcrank
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by thirdcrank »

What I'm trying to say about planning seems to be illustrated by CJ's posts above (and best wishes for a speedy recovery) in that he's not allowed the smartphone technology to reduce his preparedness. For examples of the opposite, I think of people who go to remote areas without proper preparation and then assume that a quick phone call will make everything ok. There's plenty of failure to prepare on a less dramatic scale.
mattheus
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by mattheus »

thirdcrank wrote: 17 Nov 2021, 4:15pm What I'm trying to say about planning seems to be illustrated by CJ's posts above (and best wishes for a speedy recovery) in that he's not allowed the smartphone technology to reduce his preparedness. For examples of the opposite, I think of people who go to remote areas without proper preparation and then assume that a quick phone call will make everything ok. There's plenty of failure to prepare on a less dramatic scale.
Indeed.
I suspect the same people fail-to-prepare in any era.

I've little doubt that CJ was well prepared when he toured *before* smartphones.
Meanwhile, just as many people are being swept up by Mountain Rescue as there were back-in-the-day.
Ayseven
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by Ayseven »

As a TOOL, it is invaluable, especially as a safety gadget, and EXPECTED, in our modern society. Nobody forces anyone to check their messages every time they get to an intersection.
Pinkie
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by Pinkie »

horizon wrote: 17 Nov 2021, 4:06pm
Psamathe wrote: 17 Nov 2021, 2:22pm
thirdcrank wrote: 17 Nov 2021, 1:54pm My main (only?) criticism of smartphones is that because they reduce the need for planning, then they seem to encourage a lack of planning.
.....
For some that can be a major benefit - some like myself where I decide to go day before departing (or rather decide to go and book ferry/flight for departure as soon as possible) and I then make it up as I go along generally planning next day the evening before. And keep going until I feel it's time to go home and then head home. I am fortunate in that my circumstances allow me to travel like that.

Ian
That makes me recall the time that in my early twenties I was at a bit of a loose end one Friday evening so I decided to hitch-hike to Luxembourg for the weekend. Half an hour later I was on my way, passport and YHA card in hand. I spent the night on the Sealink ferry and had breakfast in Bruges. I passed a pleasant evening in Luxembourg at the YHA and hitch-hiked back to England on the Sunday for work on Monday morning, no smart phone to be seen. I'm not sure just how much of that would be possible today.
.
More than possible if you have a spirit of adventure and an optimistic outlook, mobile phones generaly are addictive, there is a panic about being cut off and vulnerable,

My family/ friends are at varius times somewhere between indignant and very cross as I wont make their life easy by carrying a phone, that is I have one but only take it when I want to, which is seldom.


Could you get to luxemburge with out a phone ? Pack your bags and go and find out, you wont because your not 20 any more and not having a clue what's going to happen next is really scary .

And that's the issue rather than the phone being a necessity

A planned cycling tour with a friend foundered on the premise that I wanted to point the bike soulth and see where we ended up and he didnt, something about needing a safe place to sleep booked in advance, there was no room for compromise, I wanted an adventure he wanted a package holiday, I went on my own, no phone
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freiston
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by freiston »

I find my smartphone very useful - as others have said, it is a tool. I don't consider myself addicted to it and I don't use it for social media but I do use whatsapp as a messaging service with people that I know (the only groups on it are small family and friend groups) and I do use the whatsapp "share live location" function so that my other half can see where I am.

I find it more comprehensive and reliable than I ever did the CTC yearly handbook (that's not a criticism of the handbook but in praise of the local information available on the phone). I find it easier to use to check my route than I do a paper map - no wrestling with large sheets in the wind and rain, and no working out my position. I usually have my route plotted on Osmand but I have taken to keeping the phone in my pocket or barbag and rather than constantly following it, I like to "memorise" the next few turns and then stop to check I'm still on route and memorise the following few turns - I'm flexible with the route too. I used to take paper maps when cycling but I tend not to now - the phone has never let me down yet and even if it did, I only cycle in the UK on roads and paths so I'm not going to get catastrophically lost (I always have a paper map and a compass when walking in the hills).

It is more convenient than local libraries and tourist information centres (but I can still use them if I want). It is much more convenient than a working public phone box. I can also read the news on it when in the pub or my tent.

I can turn airplane mode on to help the battery last longer. With airplane mode off, I can turn off the sound so that I don't get disturbed by calls and messages.

The last time I took the tent out, I decided to leave my camera at home and use the one on the phone, just to take the obligatory picture of bike and tent at the campsite (being "into" photography most of my life, I now sometimes like to leave the camera behind and enjoy not taking photographs).

I have an FM radio and about 3 weeks worth of music on my phone - but I also have the same on an old Sansa Clip +, which I tend to use because of its good battery life.
Disclaimer: Treat what I say with caution and if possible, wait for someone with more knowledge and experience to contribute. ;)
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Sweep
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by Sweep »

Definitely useful for weather forecasts - for apart from mobiletech, weather forecasts have got massively better since I was a kid.

On a recent trip I'd had a long day ride, light was failing and I had been riding through rain for a few hours with things looking worse on that front. Apart from discomfort, which I can cope with, I don't like extended rides in dark wet conditions for safety reasons - your concentration can slip. I checked the forecast on the smartphone with my minimal data allowance and sure enough, torrential rain on the way. Although less than 3 hours away from the planned destination I retreated to a wood with the tent and sure enough it chucked it down overnight but, as promised, all was sweetness and light by 7 in the morning.

Definitely the right decision.

I wouldn't dream of cruising social media over a mobile link though - most of the time the smartphone is effectively off. I use an old dumbphone for potential emergency calls/texts etc.
Sweep
jacobean
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Re: Cycle touring: time to ditch the smart phone?

Post by jacobean »

For me the smartphone revolutionised cycle touring.

I remember the agony of opening up big yellow Michelin maps in the wind trying guesstimate my location.
I remember the frustrations of trying to find a payphone that actually worked.
I remember bringing weighty guidebooks with me just to know whether the next town had a campsite or hotel.
I remember spending an hour sometimes just looking for an internet cafe to check email.
I remember having to study the map the night before just to find a router out of a big city.
I remember having to use those Garmin GPS devices which gave you about 2.5 hours of battery life and then died.

Now on a tour I have all information at my fingertips with just one device. A brilliant innovation which greatly adds to the enjoyment of a cycle tour.
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