Author Topic: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.  (Read 6411 times)

It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« on: 02 July, 2021, 08:19:13 am »
Met a group at Crawford, asked one what way they were going? Reply was Edinburgh tonight , next question was, going up the side of the A9? . Reply was don't know just following the track on the Garmin. Have asked the same question on the Badger divide. Is it a case of done it but never had a clue of where I was each day for lots of cyclists. Before the age of the Garmin most cyclists in our club just followed the leader, they could not read a map when out of their local area.

mcshroom

  • Mushroom
Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #1 on: 02 July, 2021, 08:52:20 am »
If it's not on Strava it's not done they have no idea where they've been ;D
Climbs like a sprinter, sprints like a climber!

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #2 on: 02 July, 2021, 08:55:16 am »
This is what I mumble when a judgemental stranger is asking weird questions.

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #3 on: 02 July, 2021, 09:06:31 am »
Sheep need a shepherd. Not all cyclists are born leaders; some need help and directions to get through a ride.

I can and love reading maps but I cannot fix a bike mid-ride like others can. We each have the things we enjoy and/or have concentrated on getting better at. Together we make a great team.

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #4 on: 02 July, 2021, 09:20:50 am »
Sheep need a shepherd. Not all cyclists are born leaders; some need help and directions to get through a ride.

I can and love reading maps but I cannot fix a bike mid-ride like others can. We each have the things we enjoy and/or have concentrated on getting better at. Together we make a great team.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:



Met a group at Crawford, asked one what way they were going? Reply was Edinburgh tonight , next question was, going up the side of the A9? . Reply was don't know just following the track on the Garmin. Have asked the same question on the Badger divide. Is it a case of done it but never had a clue of where I was each day for lots of cyclists. Before the age of the Garmin most cyclists in our club just followed the leader, they could not read a map when out of their local area.
It's not just map reading/garmin/etc.  It's always been the case.  I recall going out for an organised walk, which was a 35 minute drive to the start.  I simply drove there, but we passed several cars from the group who were at the side of the road and were lost (the bypass was a "new road" not on their map).   It hadn't occurred to me to look at a map as I considered anything within that distance as "local" and so knew where to go; whereas I fear other people never venture more than a few miles from their house.

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #5 on: 02 July, 2021, 09:27:03 am »
I plot routes online, picking out roads and tracks I like the look of, places of interest, where I intend to stop, have lunch...I wouldn't necessarily know if I was going up the side of the Ax or any other road, or village. I don't think it would improve my experience by knowing.

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #6 on: 02 July, 2021, 09:50:24 am »
Probably mumbled in response to the appearance of a stalker looking type. Didn’t want to reveal their route to a stalker.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #7 on: 02 July, 2021, 09:55:48 am »
Back in the pre-GPS days, I used to ride regularly with a local club on Sunday mornings. We had several different routes, and chose which one to ride on the day - sometimes based on weather conditions (ie wind direction), sometimes based on whether we fancied something hillier or flatter, sometimes even based on which of our repertoire of café stops we wanted to visit.

For most of them, I had absolutely no idea where we were a lot of the time, beyond a vague idea of the area. I was just enjoying riding with the group and following the old hands who knew the way (until I got experienced enough to memorise the routes, in a turn-by-turn style). But it never really seemed important enough to worry about.

Riding solo is a different matter. I'll often take a road I've never ridden before just to see where it goes. Exploring in this way does help give you a much better feel for your local area, and how everything joins up. I remember when I was about 14 going out for a leisurely weekend bike ride with a friend, exploring the local countryside. I had only lived in the area a year or so, he had been there all his life, yet I was the one who knew where we were while he was completely lost.

Another time, a different friend and I decided to ride to Brighton one weekend, on a whim. We had no idea of the route, just a vague idea of the direction and distance, and just made it up as we went along. It was a great day out. We got to Brighton without mishap, and the next day we rode home again. I couldn't possibly tell you the route we used.

I never bothered looking at routes on maps until I started riding with GPS.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #8 on: 02 July, 2021, 11:03:39 am »
If I’m in a group ride or following someone else’s route I often don’t check where exactly it goes in the same way I’ll watch a movie without researching the ending.

Even in rides I’ve planned and have a clear mental picture of I might not be able to articulate a clear answer to where I am or where I’m going without more mental effort than a casual stranger warrants.

It’s probably *worse* on roads I know well as it’ll just be endless “y’know, *that* road” in my head.

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #9 on: 02 July, 2021, 12:50:53 pm »
Back in the pre gps days some bloke called sir Hugh Munro wrote one of the best known bucket lists.

People are still having miserable days out chasing that bucket list completion.



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citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #10 on: 02 July, 2021, 12:57:41 pm »
People are still having miserable days out chasing that bucket list completion.

And those who completed it pre-GPS now have to go back and do it all again so they can put it on Strava.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #11 on: 02 July, 2021, 01:01:10 pm »
Strava's piss poor support for anything that isn't running or cycling means generally it's not on strava anyway.

Maybe the hiking equivalent of a trace on Strava is a walk report on Walk Highlands?

"Ben Chonzie, glad to get this phony over, dull trudge through minging weather and midgies, visibility 5cm, can't pronounce the name and it isn't even Gaelic." tick.

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ravenbait

  • Someone's imaginary friend
  • Pudge controls the weather.
    • Someone's imaginary friend
Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #12 on: 02 July, 2021, 01:12:44 pm »
Strava's piss poor support for anything that isn't running or cycling means generally it's not on strava anyway.

I record all my walks and hikes on my Garmin watch, which auto-uploads to Strava. I had to laugh last week, though -- we did an impromptu climb of Mount Keen on a scorching hot day (we'd intended to walk to Queen's Well, but it took hardly any time and we'd started early, packed for a decent hike). It was nearly the end of us. But Strava reckoned that was about half as much effort as the easy 53km I did on the bike the week before.

I like to plan routes and generally know where I am. Always have done. I have a fine map collection, and I don't use GPS except to record, although recently I've been vaguely considering getting one for the bike.

Sam
https://ravenbait.com
"Created something? Hah! But that would be irresponsible! And unethical! I would never, ever make... more than one."

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #13 on: 02 July, 2021, 01:18:58 pm »
All mine go on strava as a run, because run has features, runnists reaction to this varies from amused to annoyed, particularly pre-2020/22 injuries when I could walk further and in some cases faster than they could run and so got on a few leaderboards

The advantage of doing that for me is being able to record which shoes I wore and thus when freaking out St how worn the soles of my boots are look at strava and see I've done a good 300km in them and no wonder they're gubbed.

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Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #14 on: 02 July, 2021, 01:34:14 pm »
Met a group at Crawford, asked one what way they were going? Reply was Edinburgh tonight , next question was, going up the side of the A9? . Reply was don't know just following the track on the Garmin.
When you ask such questions, do you, without hesitation or prompting say where you're
going to?* No? I didn't think you did. When I get asked where I'm going to, or where I'm
from, I always ask the individual to introduce themselves to me.  :demon: Cue them being all
sheepish, shy and wanting to get away sharpish to continue their journey to find the
next rider to interrogate. :P



*No offence intended.

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #15 on: 02 July, 2021, 02:05:39 pm »
Was just asking as one of them decided he needed to wear another pair of cycling shorts from the support van for more padding, must have been an awesome ride that morning 😀

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #16 on: 02 July, 2021, 06:26:50 pm »
The British are a strange lot, cycling in the UK is all about the bike you ride, it's the class or tribe you belong to. Europeans have a different attitude, riding a bike says you are a cyclist. A group of roadies talking to touring cyclists on MTBs set up for touring is just not done here in the UK 🤔.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #17 on: 03 July, 2021, 06:53:39 am »
Was just asking as one of them decided he needed to wear another pair of cycling shorts from the support van for more padding, must have been an awesome ride that morning

Good grief.

It sounds like these guys were on the kind of ride a friend of mine organises - he has a business running supported expeditions, usually to iconic locations like Ventoux etc. He supplies a gpx file of the route for the riders to put on their devices, so I can well believe that many of them just follow it blindly without having a clue where they are going. I guess for these people, route planning is not the part of the adventure they’re interested in.

He follows behind in the support van. I doubt that many of his customers are hardened audaxers.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #18 on: 03 July, 2021, 08:45:21 am »
......... whereas I fear other people never venture more than a few miles from their house.
Some are happiest developing a sound knowledge of a few miles from their house.
Alastair Humphreys, who has been exploring the world since his post university days, has hit middle age and toned down his exploring to suit. He is now visiting every square on his local OS map and blogging about the experiences.
Never knowingly under caffeinated

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #19 on: 03 July, 2021, 09:02:52 am »
He supplies a gpx file of the route for the riders to put on their devices, so I can well believe that many of them just follow it blindly without having a clue where they are going. I guess for these people, route planning is not the part of the adventure they’re interested in.
5 years ago I rode Channel to the Med and back.  To make sure that I went, I dipped my hand in my pocket and booked a southbound organised and supported trip.  At the southern end, other participants were packing up their bikes to fly home while I was loading mine with my camping kit.  One of the group asked about my plans and I said "none, except I want to be in St Malo on Bastille Day".  The reply was along the lines of "but you haven't got a route to follow, how on earth will you manage?"  This was from a chap in his 50s, not a modern rider brought up on GPS being necessary.

One of my favourite "where are you going" questions was when I had just come over the Pyrenees and was caught by a local clubrun.  One rider dropped back for a chat and asked the question, to which I replied "St Malo".

Me- I am not an Audax rider, just a plain old club riding tourist.

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #20 on: 03 July, 2021, 10:36:30 am »
Was just asking as one of them decided he needed to wear another pair of cycling shorts from the support van for more padding, must have been an awesome ride that morning 😀
Is there some scale where awesomeness is measured by underwear? Is there a Strava group for it? How many points for fifty miles in M&S Y-fronts?
The question I'm most likely to ask is if they're having a good day, they can decide for themselves how awesome it is.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #21 on: 03 July, 2021, 11:49:21 am »
The British are a strange lot, cycling in the UK is all about the bike you ride, it's the class or tribe you belong to. Europeans have a different attitude, riding a bike says you are a cyclist. A group of roadies talking to touring cyclists on MTBs set up for touring is just not done here in the UK 🤔.
This is true.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #22 on: 03 July, 2021, 12:22:08 pm »
The British are a strange lot, cycling in the UK is all about the bike you ride, it's the class or tribe you belong to. Europeans have a different attitude, riding a bike says you are a cyclist. A group of roadies talking to touring cyclists on MTBs set up for touring is just not done here in the UK 🤔.
This is true.
I find that Roadies in a group often find it amusing to shout Allez, Allez, in my ear as they flash past. One one occasion I came across such a group at the side of the road a few miles on with a broken bike and no tool to fix it. I was ever so pleased to be able to lend them something appropriate from my copious, but slow travelling, toolkit. :)
Having said that, solo older roadies are in another class altogether. I find them most generous with their spare bananas and boiled sweets.
Never knowingly under caffeinated

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #23 on: 03 July, 2021, 01:32:12 pm »
Locally I know the roads very well, many of them not signed. But even the lanes that are named I don’t pay attention to that, as it’s not necessary for navigation.  I just know where I’ll end up if I head down it and what the options lead to as I come to the junctions.   Mental navigation maps don’t need road names.

If you are following the GPS. Unless you are the one who plotted it, you won’t necessary know which roads it traverses.  Nor will you need to care.  Navigation by road number works well in France , not so well here.

You can also navigate village to village if that’s your way needing neither map , GPS or compass.

Re: It's got a name, let's put it on the bucket list.
« Reply #24 on: 03 July, 2021, 08:44:24 pm »
I could, of course, be wrong but maybe the OP confused the passing cyclist as Crawford is not on the A9, which in any case, doesn't go to Edinburgh. :-\
I am often asked, what does YOAV stand for? It stands for Yoav On A Velo