I did one little trip this spring, 4 nights, easy 300Km and some elevation I haven't calculated.
Then I changed things on my setup.
Now I just did 4 nights/5days, roughly 450km, following this route and ending up doing just half.https://gravgrav.cc/en/route/wossa-bikepacking-route
I took a lot of detours because:
– myGarmin etrex can use routes with more than 2000 points, therefore the interpretation of the track is …ehm…pretty free.
– I cannot pedal an asphalt cycle lane if on the other side of the river there is a dirt road.
– Uh, I wonder where this single track is leading…
– oh, shit, how did I end up almost 10km off route? Whatever, might as well go check that lake up there.
Things I'm happy with:
– front chest bag and all the things attached to fork and rack.
– water bladder for drinking while riding, put in on the top of the chest bag.
– top tube snack bag and full frame bag made custom by 7Roads bags, from Ukraine. The quality of those bags is proper. I really love it.
– weight distribution in general.
– sleeping in the hammock
Things to improve:
– rear bag. I like my really old austrian handmade backpack on a small basket/rack, but I have to find a way to fix it better.
– solar panel and power bank. Basically those two old things I have didn't work and I ran out of juice the last day.
– navigation: I need a proper working GPS device with map etc if I want to follow a track. Or not at all and just follow whatever direction I feel. The half way I had (some kinda indication on the Etrex, check the phone for details) just killed the flow. I hated having to stop to take out my phone to check the map.
I'm also thinking that doing big loops is maybe something not for me. When I pedal long distances I like the environment around me to change. The last two days of my 5day little adventure were basically on the same bavaryan/austrian panorama: fields, forest, creek, farms which is beautiful, but it also felt like pedaling without moving, without doing any distance, without going anywhere.
feel free to ask me questions 🙂
by ktnk-rddt
1 Comment
I don’t know if it helps but I just finished my first trip with a proper gps , the gamin 840 edge . I was using my phone before. When I got it and played with it at home I almost returned it because I found it hard to use By the end of the first day on the trip I was a fan. By the end of the trip I knew that single device was probably the thing that contributed the most for me to reach my destination adding some extra distance than I had planed in order to see more places. Now, I can’t even understand how people discuss phone vs dedicated gps/ bike computer. I know you are not navigating with a phone but I hope it illustrates a bit how a proper gps can have an impact. All the data it provided was helpful and battery life a dream.