Not neccessarily using the gps for all routing.

[Andy W]

Many cyclists i know tend to follow 3or 4 familiar routes local to them. I do too. My Garmin 830 is used to record route speed, distance, heartrate and recently power and traffic approaching from behind when coupled with the Garmin Varia.
I tend only to preload audax routes on it but rarely routes by clubmates as i know the routes by heart and am not keen on slavishlt following a track on the gps. The reason i post this is because most of my cycling mates generally upload even local known routes to follow.
Even on a solo ride on roads im not familiar with id rather not follow a pre planned route but follow my nose.
I wonder what others do?

[robgul]

A mix :  Weds club runs (different every week, but published in advance) & "organised" rides and touring are loaded to the Garmin (Edge 1000) - solo/local/informal rides just use the Garmin to record distance (all the other stuff goes over my head!) as I'm either on a known/previous or ad hoc where I fancy riding route - either the Edge 1000 or an ancient Edge 200.

[tatanab]

Mine has not been used at all since 2019.  It is only used when on tour and even then it is either "find me a supermarket" or to confirm that I am not where I think I am.  I have no interest in recording statistics which is what many of my club mates use them for.

Many cyclists I know tend to follow 3or 4 familiar routes local to them.

I started club cycling over 50 years ago.  I recall that we reckoned that once a regular CTC type rider had been around about 4 years it was likely they would not need a map inside about a 50 mile radius.  We all had blind spots where we did not know the lanes well in a particular area, but that is what club mates are for.  Things are different these days I admit since major roads are so intrusive.  Rose tinted spectacles, I think on my part.

So I am with you Andy W, follow my nose not a line on a screen

[perpetual dan]

When I’m riding locally, exploring new routes is part of the joy of riding. However, there’s plenty of dead ends / links to an horrible road bits round here. So I tend not to just wing it, as I enjoy the flow of a route that goes somewhere. Besides, I quite like the time spent with a map to do the planning. So GPS for me for leisure rides.

The commute, I know my way.

A few years back my GPS died in heavy rain, and didn’t come back to life. I spent a year or two riding with a bit of map in the top of the bar bag. This gave a much better sense of where I was and what’s around me. I still do that to tour. Bits of map tend to get wet and need swapped too, so are a bit of a faff for more familiar areas.

[robgul]

A mix :  Weds club runs (different every week, but published in advance) & "organised" rides and touring are loaded to the Garmin (Edge 1000) - solo/local/informal rides just use the Garmin to record distance (all the other stuff goes over my head!) as I'm either on a known/previous or ad hoc where I fancy riding route - either the Edge 1000 or an ancient Edge 200.

. . .to add : for rides in new territory or touring I also have a printed map back up (I have "route books" for the 15 or so long tours I've done) - and have the 1-50,000 OS of the whole of the UK in my phone (Memory Map)

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's an attitude and purpose thing. If you're riding to get to a particular place or to follow a particular route (such as audax) you'll want some way of following the route. If you're riding to enjoy being on the bike on a beautiful summer day, then you might not care where you go.

[yoav]

I only load and ride a GPS route if I am going somewhere that I dont know the way. Otherwise, i use to to record the ride and as a rolling road map, which by itself is quite a nice thing to have.

[Kim]

I only load and ride a GPS route if I am going somewhere that I dont know the way. Otherwise, i use to to record the ride and as a rolling road map, which by itself is quite a nice thing to have.

^ This.

[Andy W]

I should add that occasionally i carry either a 1:25000 or 1: 50000 map to explore or find something specific like tumuli or a moat.