Cycling UK Forum

Apart from the practical aspects of cycling, all the commuting and so forth, what do we cycle for? What do we get out of it? One thing I get out of it is escaping from the humdrum of normal life. And that includes screens. Looking at screens. My handlebars now have no cycle computer, no GPS, and no phone. For many that would feel like being naked, exposed, but it is such a release! Not being in contact or contactable. Just for an hour or two.

Okay, I know, taking a phone and a GPS have practical benefits. I do tend to pack a phone, switched off, in the bag just in case. GPS would be handy on unfamiliar roads, but does nobody fancy seeing if they could do without it? Back to paper maps and observational skills? I'm not saying it would make things easy, but it would make a screen-free experience you are not going to get elsewhere in your life these days. And for a short time you will be free of that nagging little thought, "How am I for charge?"

I always use paper maps and carry an ancient Nokia in my pocket. Never been lost.

What about naked cycling with no clothes? Not in summer, in the hot sun? Maybe in autumn? Do the police or law have opinions?

Cyril Haearn wrote:What about naked cycling with no clothes? Not in summer, in the hot sun? Maybe in autumn? Do the police or law have opinions?

With my pale skin I would need copious amounts of Factor 50 and that would turn me into sticky fly paper.

Cyril Haearn wrote:What about naked cycling with no clothes? Not in summer, in the hot sun? Maybe in autumn? Do the police or law have opinions?

It is not against the law to be naked in a public place in England - FACT
http://library.college.police.uk/docs/nudity.pdf

Mick F was only wearing his hat last year in his sloping back garden and he had a visit from.......

An angry wasp!!

I quite often don’t take my phone, but always take the Garmin as I no longer have a cycle computer. The GPS is just an enhanced cycle computer most of the time, as I know all of the rural roads within a 30 mile radius of home, so don’t need a plotted route. I usually make my route up as I go along. The only time I follow a pre-plotted route is when I’m riding an Audax or if I’m away from home.

Charge is not a problem, as long as I’ve remembered to charge it between rides. The Garmin will easily do 12 hours, which is longer than any normal ride I’m likely to do. If I’m doing a long Audax, then I’ll take a powerpack and charge as I go along.

philvantwo wrote:Mick F was only wearing his hat last year in his sloping back garden and he had a visit from.......
An angry wasp!!

Hornets.

At home, I rarely wear any more than a tee-shirt. I'd love to go out in public without clothes, but it's not acceptable locally. It may not be illegal, but I'm sure there would be complaints.

As for the OP, now we have GPS and mobile phones, it's difficult though not impossible to do do without them. We never used to have them, so they are expendable if you want to.

Personally, I'm a bit obsessive about logging my bike-riding, so a Garmin gets used every time. As for the mobile phone, I've forgotten it once or twice and lived to tell the tale.

pwa wrote:Apart from the practical aspects of cycling, all the commuting and so forth, what do we cycle for? What do we get out of it? One thing I get out of it is escaping from the humdrum of normal life. And that includes screens. Looking at screens. My handlebars now have no cycle computer, no GPS, and no phone. For many that would feel like being naked, exposed, but it is such a release! Not being in contact or contactable. Just for an hour or two.

Okay, I know, taking a phone and a GPS have practical benefits. I do tend to pack a phone, switched off, in the bag just in case. GPS would be handy on unfamiliar roads, but does nobody fancy seeing if they could do without it? Back to paper maps and observational skills? I'm not saying it would make things easy, but it would make a screen-free experience you are not going to get elsewhere in your life these days. And for a short time you will be free of that nagging little thought, "How am I for charge?"

Good post pwa and I'll do a reply later - it could be Next Big Thing (after bikepacking )

I bought a Specialised cycle computer for £30 (still working) in 1995 and that was the introduction of electronics into my cycling life. Since then I have bought a few more cycling computers for my other bikes, the last being one from Wilkos for £8.

I know nearly all the local roads so don't need a satnav. If I do find myself somewhere unfamiliar I rely on my memory and natural sense of direction to work out the best way to go and it isn't long before I get to somewhere i recognise - and it's rare that I chose the 'wrong' way. I think navigation is a important skill for cognative function so well worth practicing as ones age advances.

I've never used satnav on a bike, though I have used it with the car.

If I need to follow a route on the bike, I'll construct my own online and transfer it to my device and follow the pink line on the map.
Same idea as using a felt pen on a paper map.

peetee wrote:I know nearly all the local roads so don't need a satnav. If I do find myself somewhere unfamiliar I rely on my memory and natural sense of direction to work out the best way to go and it isn't long before I get to somewhere i recognise - and it's rare that I chose the 'wrong' way. I think navigation is a important skill for cognative function so well worth practicing as ones age advances.

Agreed - satnavs and similar make us stupid, as we never gain orienteering skills and are at the mercy of the gizmo - which is sometimes not merciful so leads the unwary cyclist on to motorway or perhaps to the cliff edge.

Watches, phones and other such gizmos also make us stupid. We fail to develop the skill to sense the time of day. We fail to be self-sufficient in our mechanical ability to fix the bike out on the road rather than phone for the taxi of shame. We become baby-men or women.

I haven't worn a watch for 16 years; never has a mobile phone and don't use the landline in the house for phoning either. (Answer machines are useful bulwarks agin' the unwanted comms). I do print a bit of OS Map now and then, as a failsafe in the jersey pocket should my memorising of the same map prove insufficient out on the new-to-me roads and junctions. I like pontificating foolishly on this forum via a geet big computer.

As to that Faecesbook and Twatter .... it is madness to be sucked in there!

Cugel Ludd.

Oldjohnw wrote:I always use paper maps and carry an ancient Nokia in my pocket. Never been lost.

I am also a paper map person.
There is something beautiful about them and the big overview of an evening looking at the next day's cycling is fascinating and often time well spent.

I am terribly curious about your " wasted quotation" though?!

I have a small garmin on my bars for speed and trip distance. I carry a phone for emergencies. One very minor one was when I was lost on some back roads on the Black Isle. I stopped to ask a delivery van driver parked at the roadside for directions.Turns out he was lost as well. My phone has Memory Map on it which helped both of us. I have at one time or another cycled on so many roads in Scotland that I get blasé as I hopefully remember the roads in many areas.