Real Naked Cycling (i.e. no phone or GPS)

[gbnz]

I am also a paper map person.

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

Me too. Pages from a £0.99 road atlas and a basic odometer is sufficient for me (NB. Though used to "need" an average and max speed version, when cycling for speed and fitness)

And I was wondering what quotation needed removed?

[Oldjohnw]

I am also a paper map person.

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

Me too. Pages from a £0.99 road atlas and a basic odometer is sufficient for me (NB. Though used to "need" an average and max speed version, when cycling for speed and fitness)

And I was wondering what quotation needed removed?

At the risk of erring again I believe I quoted the OP instead of merely replying.

[Jon Lucas]

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

Me too.

My paper maps are mostly about 40 years old, so can make for some interesting navigating at times...

[Mike Sales]

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

Me too.

My paper maps are mostly about 40 years old, so can make for some interesting navigating at times...

I enjoy using the old maps which don't show all these horrible new dual carriageways and motorways. Of course it can cause problems at times..

[PDQ Mobile]

At the risk of erring again I believe I quoted the OP instead of merely replying.

Aha, I see. You were first respondent.
I thought you had maybe come up with some delightful and politically incorrect quote!

Such as,
"Here I sit upon my ....
My map is torn
It ain't much fun
Lost within a sea of hate
So bought a Garmin
Sealed my fate!"


I'll get me coat.

[Oldjohnw]

At the risk of erring again I believe I quoted the OP instead of merely replying.

Aha, I see. You were first respondent.
I thought you had maybe come up with some delightful and politically incorrect quote!

Such as,
"Here I sit upon my ....
My map is torn
It ain't much fun
Lost within a sea of hate
So bought a Garmin
Sealed my fate!"


I'll get me coat.

Excellent!

[whoof]

If you want to be really 'naked' get a train to a place you are unfamiliar with and ride a loop back to the station and leave the map as well as the GPS at home. No map peaking before you go either.

[TrevA]

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

Me too.

My paper maps are mostly about 40 years old, so can make for some interesting navigating at times...

Reminds me of when I used to go touring with my mates in the 1980’s. instead of buying maps we would borrow them from a club mate, who had a full set but they were from the 1960’s. I remember in mid-Wales we were riding down a road to catch the ferry, we asked a local to confirm if it was the right road and they said the ferry stopped running 15 years ago!

I’ve still got a full set of Barts maps covering the Midlands from the 1970’s.

[ANTONISH]

I started cycling in the fifties so I grew up with paper maps - I lament the passing of the old Bartholomew 1/2" which gave a decent area with a pretty good scale.
I still use paper maps but in recent years I've used a Garmin etrex for audax and touring.
One advantage of the Garmin is that one can get down to a scale showing individual streets to a level of detail unobtainable on a paper map.
Also the "where to ? " function gives me a cycling route out of of a city to a place I want to reach or into a city to a particular location ( say a hotel).
Often enough in the past I've had to ask for directions in these circumstances.
Having acquired a "smartphone" I also have the back up of google maps (and voice directions should I want it ).
I still carry paper maps though - I don't entirely trust "Sat - Nav" it isn't always to be trusted.

[Tigerbiten]

I know most of the roads 3-4 hours from home so no sat nav needed.
I tend to have set routes if I want to go 3-4 days from home so a sat is only helpful.
But once I'm on tour 3-4 weeks from home then a sat nav is needed.
And it only gets more so once I'm 3-4 month away.

YMMV ...........

[rob_wales]

I don't think it's a good idea to go out without a phone. It doesn't have to be a smartphone - I have an old Nokia clamshell (remember those?) and I just shove it in my bag. If you are female you might run into trouble if you are alone and you might need to call someone. For both sexes you might need to call someone if you have a major breakdown or some other problem. A phone is a tool, it should never be seen as a threat that can take away our liberty and sense of freedom.

[mjr]

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?"

You maybe used one of those fragile things like Garmins or iPhones that seem to eat battery, don't charge easily and get grumpy if they go flat. My phone lasts all day tracking and mapping on a full charge (screen not on all the time, but I don't need it all the time) and recharges happily from a battery pack at lunchtime, or in the handlebar bag if I must.

I currently use my phone as a souped-up paper map with an automatic "you are here" marker circle. The intended route is there, but just as a pen line like it would be on a paper map. I have used the voice/screen prompts in the past, but don't at the moment. I've used old-fashioned written-in-advance cue cards on my last two tours - not because of any anti-technological bias, but because I find them a bit more reliable than the automatic directions from apps. Sometimes it has meant I've taken slightly simpler routes to reduce the number of turns I'm watching out for, but that tends to be quicker anyway.

It may depend why one cycles. I ride to see more normal life, not to get away from it. Why does that make my cycling less real than yours?

[pwa]

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?"

It may depend why one cycles. I ride to see more normal life, not to get away from it. Why does that make my cycling less real than yours?

It doesn't make your cycling less real. It just seems to me that for many people these days it is rare to be away from a screen and communication with the outside world, and an hour or two out in the sticks with no active "device" might actually be an interesting change.

[mjr]

It may depend why one cycles. I ride to see more normal life, not to get away from it. Why does that make my cycling less real than yours?

It doesn't make your cycling less real. It just seems to me that for many people these days it is rare to be away from a screen and communication with the outside world, and an hour or two out in the sticks with no active "device" might actually be an interesting change.

Why? What interest do you find in it? And if you don't think it's more "real" to be faux uncontactable, why put that in the title?

I'm old enough and fortunate enough to have travelled to places that had complete isolation, such as an unlit underground lake in Cuba. Even if you throw your phone away, you're never going to be that isolated when cycling in this country.

[pwa]

What interest do you find in it? And if you don't think it's more "real" to be faux uncontactable, why put that in the title?

I'm old enough and fortunate enough to have travelled to places that had complete isolation, such as an unlit underground lake in Cuba. Even if you throw your phone away, you're never going to be that isolated when cycling in this country.

[/quote]
It isn't practical to go to a cave in Cuba to experience isolation once or twice a week, but not very far from your home, or mine, you can switch your phone off and be truly alone for a while. If that doesn't appeal to you, that's fine, but I like it. The idea of being constantly contactable makes me feel uneasy. There is nothing faux about switching the phone off for a while. And these days that is an experience in itself.

I use the phrase "Real naked cycling" playfully, to imply (only semi-seriously) that going without tech stuff for a while is for some people making them feel more naked than going without clothes.