Welsh Ride Thing 2012

[royAB]

On the whole 'built in mapping thing'; having now splashed out on an Etrex 20, just spent the best part of 2 days trying to get that facility working without having to double my investment buying the Garmin OS maps... and (I think) done it! :) Used the Open Source ones from places various and they 'seem' to have most of the stuff I'm likely to need.

That said, as I've only ever used paper maps before, I'd be interested to hear from anyone who does run 'genuine' OS maps on their GPS - in screen shots they do look a lot better, but are they more 'useful' than the freebie ones? Might little tracks & paths be better recorded on the 'genuine' ones?

[Dan_K]

I find OSM mapping (free) to be fine on the road and for some off road routes but for the WRT i'll have OS mapping on my phone as back up as a lot of the tracks just don't appear on OSM mapping.
In theory OSM mapping is brilliant but you have to rely on a large number of people riding/walking trails and then uploading the information so in somewhere that's highly populated like Surrey where I live, it is pretty accurate but in remote Wales, outside of popular tourist routes, it's more vague.

[griffdowg]

you have to rely on a large number of people riding/walking trails and then uploading the information so in somewhere that's highly populated like Surrey where I live, it is pretty accurate but in remote Wales, outside of popular tourist routes, it's more vague.

While this is true you also have to remember that GPS signal in forests etc could be way off. If someone on OSM has uploaded their track and its out by 20/30/40m you may never see it. Like Dan says, outside popular routes there may only be 1 or 2 people posting routes along the WRT which will leave the potential for a large margin of error.

I run OS mapping on the GPS and it makes things really quick and easy.

G

[royAB]

Cheers guys.

I'm building my route from scratch - bikehike/google/getamap (if I'm going to get 'lost' I'd rather it was 'me wot done it' )and current track is drawn to about 10m accuracy. Will do a road test with paper 25K in advance of WRT to see if that's good enough.. shouldn't think there are a lot of OSM contributors in Norfolk either!

[sillybigfella]

Phew! First draft done. 193km with 15 checkpoints.

Day 1 - 2, 4, 1, 18, 16, 15 = 57km
Day 2 - 14, 24, 20, 22, 9, 11, 25 = 83km
Day 3 - 26,10 = 32km

No doubt this will change between now and then and during the weekend depending on fatigue levels.

[Chew]

2 routes now planned, depending on the weather on how i feel at the time.

Plan A Anticlockwise taking in most of the GR's east of the A494 and the 800m sumit
Plan B Clockwise taking in most of the GR's south of the B4391

Also have the option of combining the two if the weather is dry and i want a challenge :D

[griffdowg]

there are some big routes coming through

Im sticking with my lame 110km.

Printed off 12 A4 colour sheets of 1:25 at work today (sneaky ) which covers my route. Will stick them in a map case and use as back-up to my MM Adventure 2800.

I picked up one of these: http://opteka.com/solarcharger.aspx from Maplins to which should recharge the GPS, phone and headtorch (if needed).

Schwalbe Smart Sams turned up (29x1.6) need to fit these soon and give them a whirl, like the tread pattern.

G

[restlessshawn]

Having bought a house that needs so much work we can't even move into it yet I have been so preoccupied I haven't even read the email with the GR's in!

Hardly ridden a bike for the last month

Not bought the maps

...it's not looking good is it :(

on the plus side my bike and gear are 100% ready, the Inbred even has bags strapped on in the hope of going for an overnight through the Borders this weekend

[Nick]

I'm sure the first year we did it (2010) there were some people with paper maps with the CPs marked on them, they had no preplanned route they just headed out to see how many they could get, like a big old trailquest.

[griffdowg]

Having bought a house that needs so much work we can't even move into it yet I have been so preoccupied I haven't even read the email with the GR's in!

Hardly ridden a bike for the last month

Not bought the maps

...it's not looking good is it :(

on the plus side my bike and gear are 100% ready, the Inbred even has bags strapped on in the hope of going for an overnight through the Borders this weekend

IF you get really stuck I can Email you the PDFs of my 110km loop set out on Memory map 1:25k OS maps. no planning, just turn up and ride!

G

[restlessshawn]

Aha glad you mentioned memory map as I just discovered I have the maps for that area in 1:50k

As a first stab (ignoring the rogue GR in the numberings)

4, 1, 18, 16, 15, 14, 13, 17, 6, 5, 7, 10

Comments welcome as I have never been there!

How fanatical does one have to be about not riding on footpaths? I live in Scotland and we don't have this concept

[Taylor]

Use the ignorant foreigner card.

[Ray Young]

How fanatical does one have to be about not riding on footpaths? I live in Scotland and we don't have this concept

I also live in Scotland now but used to live in northern England. My advice is don't give the anti mtb redsock brigade any ammunition whatsoever. Stick to legal paths.

[restlessshawn]

...... these are footpaths right?
------ and these are bridalways?

I was halfway through drawing a big track in memory map when this occured to me

[griffdowg]

4, 1, 18, 16, 15, 14, 13, 17, 6, 5, 7, 10

Comments welcome as I have never been there!

How fanatical does one have to be about not riding on footpaths? I live in Scotland and we don't have this concept

Similar route to mine, except im taking in 2 and leaving out 18 and 7. Are you going out and back on the road to 7? I couldn't see a straight forward way to include it.

If the footpath is short and remote and will save you a few Km detour, why not. Ramblers will hate you regardless of where you ride. You want to drive around the legal byways of the Peak District to understand the true depths of rambler hatred for other path users.

G

[griffdowg]

...... these are footpaths right?
------ and these are bridalways?

I was halfway through drawing a big track in memory map when this occured to me

Hmmm, depends. those dots could be on a UCS, which scale are you looking at as they do differ slightly.

(Editted to include the below)

1:50k http://www.centremapslive.co.uk/files/o ... legend.pdf

1:25k http://www.centremapslive.co.uk/files/o ... legend.pdf

G

[Bearbonesnorm]

...... these are footpaths right?
------ and these are bridalways?

Yes but also look out for black dashes, as they indicate that there's actually a track on the ground. A green dash alone does indicate a ROW but there might not be anything to follow

[griffdowg]

...... these are footpaths right?
------ and these are bridalways?

Yes but also look out for black dashes, as they indicate that there's actually a track on the ground. A green dash alone does indicate a ROW but there might not be anything to follow

Yes but dont get them confused with county boundaries

[restlessshawn]

funny you should say that griff I nearly made that mistake

will check what my plan was with 7 tonight

seemed like a nice not too crazy loop for a bikepacking virgin

[Nick]

I think we sneeked through someones back garden last year

I think the only unbreakable rule, is that if challenged you are a) lost, b) not on any kind of event of any description at all, no sireee.

[Dan_K]

I planned most of my route on what I hope is forest track/unmade road i.e a double dash (wasn't double dash a computer game in the 80's?)

[Ian]

Yes but also look out for black dashes, as they indicate that there's actually a track on the ground.

The definition of "track" is important. It implies, you'd think, that there is a track on the ground that is visible and/or rideable - preferably both. This isn't necessarily the case IME. Don't discount them, but do check them out on Google Earth.

[griffdowg]

(wasn't double dash a computer game in the 80's?)

I think that was boulder dash :?:

G

[restlessshawn]

do check them out on Google Earth.

I think I perfer the excitment of whether a track actually exists / is rideable / is now a road / is now a meteorite crator the size of Salisbury

[Nick]

I think I perfer the excitment of whether a track actually exists / is rideable / is now a road / is now a meteorite crator the size of Salisbury

Exciting you say, I know exactly what you mean!


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