GPX OR NOT GPX?

[citoyen]

You certainly don’t get this level of navel-gazing/existential angst on Facebook.

[rob]

I lasted a few weeks on the Audax Facebook group and then left.  There is a culture, not just in cycling circles, of asking a question on Facebook when you could just Google it.

In terms of forums I was never on C+, briefly on ACF and then on here.   There are a group us that knew each other through Audax before this place existed.  There may be in-jokes, so sorry about that.

I have met a lot of new friends through this platform, though.  It’s mostly been a positive experience for me.

[Von Broad]

I think yacf is brilliant, and I'm very thankful for it's existence.
I'm not a heavy user - some sections of the forum I frequent a lot and others barely at all.

But the facility and ease to go back and revisit a thread about a ride I may have done or a technical issue I might be interested in [or a thread about GPX ]  is so easy and practical to navigate, it's a joy. Easy to find - easy to catch up on.

facebook does my head in - the whole stream of consciousness thing.....I can do a few minutes then I've had enough.....I'm out of there.

long live yacf.

[Wobbly]

I think yacf is brilliant, and I'm very thankful for it's existence.
I'm not a heavy user - some sections of the forum I frequent a lot and others barely at all.

But the facility and ease to go back and revisit a thread about a ride I may have done or a technical issue I might be interested in [or a thread about GPX ]  is so easy and practical to navigate, it's a joy. Easy to find - easy to catch up on.

facebook does my head in - the whole stream of consciousness thing.....I can do a few minutes then I've had enough.....I'm out of there.

long live yacf.

+1 

[FifeingEejit]

I lasted a few weeks on the Audax Facebook group and then left.  There is a culture, not just in cycling circles, of asking a question on Facebook when you could just Google it.

That's why this exists
http://bfy.tw/NyLa

[Phil W]

What's does "Google it" mean?

[FifeingEejit]

What's does "Google it" mean?

Depends on whether you're part of Google's Trademark protection squad out to stop them becoming the next Hover or not (a futile job if ever there was one)

[marylogic]

I think that the audax uk facebook page is a bit of a victim of it's own success - there are so many members and so many posts that if you do find something that takes your interest, if it was posted more than an hour ago there are already 76 replies to wade through, and if you try to go back to a post you looked at before it has been completely swamped.

The smaller audax offshoots that I am a member of (northern;ecosse;borders) are small enough to be much more useful

[Exit Stage Left]

Heather's doing the Pennine Way with a group from Ipswich, and that's highly organised, with GPX's. I've been out a couple of times, dropping the bike at the start end point of a day, and leaving the car at the start point. I did a three day stint last week, starting in Middleton-in-Teesdale, then going via Langdon Beck, Dufton, and onto Alston. So I left the car at Langdon Beck, and the bike at Alston.

On Friday, rain was forecast from 3pm, which meant that it made sense to walk from Great Dun Fell to Langdon Beck to pick up the car, and avoid a ride over Yad Moss. If I followed the streams and rivers I knew I couldn't get lost if the mist came down. So I set off with no map, and no possibility of mobile reception. There were occasional signs outlining the access area, with 'You are here', usefully indicated. I missed a useful track shown on those, but I can read landscape and vegetation, so I wasn't much bothered about going 'off-piste'.

I'm not sure I would have done that bit of exploring if I hadn't encountered a Pennine Way walker with an earpiece, listening to some music, or perhaps a podcast, while following GPS instructions. Obviously we were undertaking the same physical activity, but I experienced a feeling of cultural dissonance, stemming from the pre-ordained nature of his task. I've got no aversion to sharing experiences, but there is something to be said for reinforcing your own knowledge of an area through 'doing', rather than following.

I did get some nice shots over the three days, which will chime with LEL riders.

[lmm]

It's the nature of following an existing route like the Pennine Way that your experience will be "pre-ordained". I don't see any substantive difference as to whether you follow it via signposts, maps, or GPS. Some people might enjoy looking out for signposts or for the particular kinds of features that get marked on maps (some may even enjoy the debates over which map feature they're seeing); others might prefer to devote their attention to different kinds of landscape features, or, yes, music or podcasts. I don't see either as inherently superior to the other.

There's certainly something to be said for "going off-piste", trying to find your own way through a landscape rather than following a given route. But that too is an activity that's been made much more accessible by having GPS available (even if only sealed away at the bottom of one's bag) so that one can have some confidence of being able to find a way back to civilisation in the worst case, even when one is less experienced in those particular skills of reading landscape and vegetation.

[Kim]

I'll add the simple pleasure of wandering aimlessly, with a GPS receiver recording where you've been so you can look it up on a map later.

[Ian H]

I have entered a Welsh 200 which doesn't have a gps file.  It took me just over half an hour to create one from the routesheet; a few deductions needed where instructions were vague but named places gave the necessary clue.  No fuss and hardly any bother.

[Jon+1bike]

 Ian H

Quote

I have entered a Welsh 200 which doesn't have a gps file.  It took me just over half an hour to create one from the routesheet; a few deductions needed where instructions were vague but named places gave the necessary clue.  No fuss and hardly any bother.
..............
Thanks that's great... As my first post points out, It is a Big fuss and lots of bother, for me & I'm sure others!
So could you post a 'gpx file' on yacf, every time you enter a ride & or send to organiser, so they can put on Audax page?
I might not be doing that ride, but someone else will be, if other riders could do the same in each region, a data base could be available and updated. Possibly with support from yacf & Audax   'Maybe'?

[Kim]

I might not be doing that ride, but someone else will be, if other riders could do the same in each region, a data base could be available and updated.

I'm fairly sure that's called Strav/RideWithGPS/Etc.

Unless the organiser is involved, there's no way to determine that a given third-party GPX is 'official'.  If the organiser *is* willing to be involved, they can distribute a volunteer-contributed GPX via email and the AUK website in the usual way, no extra tech needed.

(I'm sure we've covered this upthread.)

[jiberjaber]

Ian H

Quote

I have entered a Welsh 200 which doesn't have a gps file.  It took me just over half an hour to create one from the routesheet; a few deductions needed where instructions were vague but named places gave the necessary clue.  No fuss and hardly any bother.
..............
Thanks that's great... As my first post points out, It is a Big fuss and lots of bother, for me & I'm sure others!
So could you post a 'gpx file' on yacf, every time you enter a ride & or send to organiser, so they can put on Audax page?
I might not be doing that ride, but someone else will be, if other riders could do the same in each region, a data base could be available and updated. Possibly with support from yacf & Audax   'Maybe'?

I've done a quick exercise, went on to the AUK calendar and filtered all 200km rides in Wales for the next 4 months, this gives 4 200km rides which do not have a GPX icon next to them.  I opened each one, selected the event name and then right clicked to "Search Google For..."  Each time the 2nd hit on Google was for a RideWithGPS route!

The first 3 actually do have a GPX on the ride details page but the last one "Barmouth Boulevard" does not, but again, 2nd hit on Google: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/5212762 and 4th result is a link to YACF discussion on the route...

Pistyll Packing Momma
Ferryside Fish Foray
Dr. Foster's Summer Saunter
Barmouth Boulevard

Seems there is already a nice database in existence: Google 

If all else fails, searching (or starting) a thread on here might provoke someone providing a GPX file where the org hasn't included on in the event entry page... (assuming they don't just email one out anyway)

[Nick Firth]

I've never had any cycling technology, the only thing on my handlebars is handlebar tape & a paper route sheet, I find using a route sheet fun & more informative, you get to remember street names & yes you sometimes take the wrong turn but so what, it may mean you only get 55 minutes in the café instead of an hour & a half. I rode a dozen or so Randonees in the mid 80's out of Doncaster with Sheila, Fliss Beard & Noel, I only did one season because I was racing in those days, I remember those rides with great affection & nostalgia has gotten the better of me, it was a golden period for me & I sort of want it back, I'm now back on a steel bike with a Turbo saddle but I do have Ergo's, I don't want Audax to be too easy.

[Wobbly]

 

[Ian H]

So could you post a 'gpx file' on yacf, every time you enter a ride & or send to organiser, so they can put on Audax page?

I have always checked routes on maps.  The only difference nowadays is the ability to draw a line as I go, so I can follow it later.

[citoyen]

Unless the organiser is involved, there's no way to determine that a given third-party GPX is 'official'.

Indeed. I would be wary of sharing an untested GPX track (ie before I'd actually ridden the route), and I'd be wary of accepting an untested track from anyone else - even someone I'd broadly trust, such as Ian H.

Even if you create a track based on a routesheet provided by the organiser, there's always the risk of transcription errors and software quirks.

[Kim]

I've never had any cycling technology

I expect you've had quite a lot of it.  What do you think that bicycle is?

[Nick Firth]

Oh, we have a wise guy, what I should have said was, cycling technology with ELECTRONICS.

[Kim]

Oh, we have a wise guy, what I should have said was, cycling technology with ELECTRONICS.

Well, if that's the case you're missing out.  It's brilliant being able to see where you're going in the dark, collect data about your ride, and yes, see where you are on a map that's waterproof, never has to be folded and lights up in the dark.  Shifting gears cleanly and precisely without any hand force is also pretty neat, and you can't argue with being able to ride a bike when you don't have the strength to ride a bike.  Not to mention being able to discuss cycling, exchange routes, obtain advice and buy equipment from knowledgeable people all over the world.  But if you don't want or need any of that, that's fine, it's all good.

TBH, my dig was mostly at the way people use "technology" to mean "technology that's been recently invented and I have no interest in", as if we weren't all standing on the shoulders of giants.

[citoyen]

what I should have said was, cycling technology with ELECTRONICS.

Not even lights?

(Any LED light counts as electronics, right?)

[Kim]

(Any LED light counts as electronics, right?)

Absolutely.  Quantum, innit.

[Exit Stage Left]

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

Given the defined nature of Audax, anything that makes it easier diminishes the achievement.
 

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

It's a personal decision as to how much you want magic to contribute to your ride. There was very little magic about when I rode my first PBP with incandescent bulbs, and a bottom-bracket dynamo.