Has technology changed touring?

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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Cunobelin
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Has technology changed touring?

Post by Cunobelin »

There is a another thread about the "Winged Wheels" and how this is being set up as a touring competition

It struck me as an example of how technology has changed cycle touring

When I first started this would have been announced in an newsletter, or by the DA

You would then write to the CTC at Godalming with an SAE and a week later would get a list of the known sites

If you found a new one then you would again write to the CTC who would then update the lists and ad a slip of paper to following lists with the addition.

However unless the addition was announced in the magazine or you replaced your list then you would never ever know of the addition


Now I just whip out my smartphone.................... Not only to I have an up to date list immediately available, I can check the one I have just found, take a photo, send it in and the addition can be available to all within minutes

We focus a lot on the GPS technology, but this is just one example of how technology has made a change.

Has Technology changed the way you tour?
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Cunobelin
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by Cunobelin »

PS for the youngsters.....

An SAE was a Stamped Addressed Envelope

It was courtesy that when you requested a leaflet, information sheet or similar you provided a suitable sized envelop with your address and the correct postage stamps applied

It saved the organisation time and money
geofft44
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by geofft44 »

Technology has certainly changed things for many. However, I prefer to keep thing simple. I do carry a phone but its not smart and if it were I doubt I could be bothered to learn how to use it :?
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BeeKeeper
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by BeeKeeper »

Google maps are now pretty universal, although OSM is becoming more commonplace. Google Street view is brilliant for checking roads for traffic and narrowness. The combination of the two, maps and view I find invaluable for planning tours in Europe. And of course Google itself for finding out virtually anything.

Email and SMS mean you are rarely out of touch on tour and an Internet connection gives me the same connectivity as I get at home.
chocjohn9
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by chocjohn9 »

Yes, technology has made it much harder to "get away from it all".
Some technology has made life easier but most of us are total slaves to it and not better off for it, just different because of it. The demands that it puts on most of us are incredible.
I'm "early middle aged" and supposed to be "into" technology but I try to keep as far from it as I can. Am I any worse off? Well, of course, I don't think so.
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BeeKeeper
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by BeeKeeper »

I'm a bit past middle age. By a long way. Collect my state pension next year and I love technology - with the exception of Facebook and Twitter. The former I simply don't 'get' at all. Twitter much the same.
Tangled Metal
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by Tangled Metal »

Technology frees us and puts information at our fingertips. However it now means we've got to find an electric socket every other day! Unless you've got a large solar panel or perhaps a dynamo hub and usb charger. I only found out you can get a bit of kit to charge phones, etc while riding your bike recently when checking out a touring specialist LBS. Amazing really, I only thought you'd need a larger solar panel to keep phones charged.
simonhill
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by simonhill »

Has technology changed touring?

Very much so. But it has been doing so since time began. The big difference now is that it is developing so fast and is so powerful.

When I started a map and a good guidebook like Lonely Planet were my main tools. Many poo poo'd using a guidebook to lead you by the hand. Nowadays the LPs are virtually obsolete and don't cater for budget travellers anymore.

Modern technology is wonderful and you can use it up your desired level. For me it is the internet and email on hotel WiFi and Google maps for planning with the odd bit of GPS if I am lost or confused.

I dont have and dont want a cyclist's version of satnav sat on my handlebars. I also don't want or need to map my every ride and share it with everyone (or more likely no one). I don't mind stopping at junctions, reading road signs and maybe even getting lost sometimes.

When I sent my first email on the road, in India about 20 years ago, I remember being almost scared. I was very aware that my life had changed from the odd letter that took weeks to arrive to nearly instant communication. I have stuck to email only, as I can control it. No one knows if I am online. I cringe when I hear about tourists with constant monitoring apps so M&F can always know where they are.

The options are multitude, chose what you like.
tatanab
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by tatanab »

chocjohn9 wrote:Yes, technology has made it much harder to "get away from it all".
Not necessarily - on tour I am completely free of electronics. I agree that now much is charged by USB, but a few years ago I read somebody here grumbling about having to carry so many chargers. One for GPS, one for phone, one for MP3 player. I have none of these since I use paper maps, buy a phone card and don't crave noise in my ears.

I put my hands up and admit that I now use an ereader, so I lied when I said I was electronics free. It gives me reading material and I keep insurance documents etc on it. My justification is that it weighs the same as a mid sized paperback book but is smaller. -- so that's ok then :D

What I do find odd is that GPS seems to have bred a whole rash of enquiries about getting a route from A to B. I'd rather just go and make up my route as I go. I have this image of future tourists watching a heads up display as they ride and simply following purple arrows of predetermined route instead of looking around and deviating because something looks interesting. Equally, the need to Blog for the whole world to see seems odd to me. Perhaps all this kit explains why they need 4 panniers for a few days away. Bah humbug, miserable old so and so ----
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DaveP
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by DaveP »

tatanab wrote:What I do find odd is that GPS seems to have bred a whole rash of enquiries about getting a route from A to B. I'd rather just go and make up my route as I go.


At first I found myself nodding agreement with the first sentence - then the second thoughts started. Is it that much different from deciding to follow a way marked route? It might not be most convincing display of independence but doesn't seem to be controversial. I suspect in both cases the real object is not so much to "find a way" per se, but to find a route on which the traffic is tolerable or at least survivable. It wasn't something that mattered until comparatively recently, but now that it is, you aren't likely to make the best of plans without tapping into some form of local knowledge.
I usually tour with a small group of friends and family. Some refuse to camp so we're stuck with B&B's, which impose a fixed destination for each day. I do a lot of planning to ensure that each days mileage will be attainable and enjoyable. I find myself using Google Earth and Streetview extensively. The facilities are there, it seems illogical not to use them in the circumstances. I use a gps by choice. My paper map skills are not of the highest and are probably never going to improve much, but always finding myself on the edge of the sheet might have a lot to do with it too!

Unrealised ambition? To stick a few bits in a bag and head off down the road.
There's still time, but I'll probably take the gps - just to find the way back... :D
Trying to retain enough fitness to grow old disgracefully... That hasn't changed!
gbnz
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by gbnz »

I gave direction to two hi tech cyclists yesterday. Their gps thingies couldn't tell them where to go, as there's no "hi tech" signals of any kind in the area in question.

And while I've nothing against technology for those who want to use it, I found it amusing that all the "signals" that they'd been cycling in the wrong direction for 15 miles were fairly obvious (An east wind, sun passing over to the west, the fell sandstone hills run sw/ne, the massif is over towards the west :lol:
psmiffy
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by psmiffy »

Has Technology changed the way I tour? - No

It has just made it easier

Book flights etc without leaving home

SD cards instead of 10 rolls of film
phone home without having the hassle of phone boxes - right cards coins etc
ATM on the corner of every main street - no need to carry wads of cash and travellers checks
GPS to check location if I need it
Internet for checking contacts and whats up with the world - in extremis I can use it to find bike shops camping et.al

So the downside is there is more stuff I end up carrying

My main reservation with the technology thing is that it seems to have made people dumber (not myself you understand :) ) - "recommend me a route? does anyone have a gpx?" - have people become so lacking in imagination and geographical nous that they no longer have any idea what they themselves want to do
ANTONISH
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by ANTONISH »

[quote="tatanabWhat I do find odd is that GPS seems to have bred a whole rash of enquiries about getting a route from A to B. I'd rather just go and make up my route as I go. I have this image of future tourists watching a heads up display as they ride and simply following purple arrows of predetermined route instead of looking around and deviating because something looks interesting. Equally, the need to Blog for the whole world to see seems odd to me. Perhaps all this kit explains why they need 4 panniers for a few days away. Bah humbug, miserable old so and so ----

[/quote]I have to agree with a lot of that. I much prefer a paper map for touring - but google maps on the 'phone is very handy when the map scale in a built up area doesn't give sufficient detail of streets (or there is a particular location I'm looking for).
I use a Garmin for audax but following a line on a screen when I'm touring doesn't appeal to me.
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simonineaston
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by simonineaston »

Technology changed touring? Bien sur!!
My kit weighs half what it did when I started and the maps that I wanted to make with me, but couldn't afford or make room for, are all on a single tiny plastic card. What's not to like, as they say?!
Oh and my mini track pump performs the socks off the old frame fit Zefal I used to have. Don't need it as much either as tyres are soooh much tougher. :D
The game is totally transformed for me at least and in a better way.
PS I've struggled with how to use digital maps and to be perfectly frank with you all, it's taken me around a decade to settle down to the system I use now, which funnily enough isn't much different to the way I used to use paper maps, however, since this thread is not about How We All Use GPS-based Mapping, I'll shut up...
S
(on the look out for Armageddon, on board a Brompton nano & ever-changing Moultons)
simonhill
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Re: Has technology changed touring?

Post by simonhill »

OK she wasn't a cycle tourist, but could have been.

Just saw a Chinese tourist in a Thai restaurant. Menu in Thai and English, waiter spoke these.

Chinese woman used her smartphone to translate the menu and show the waiter what she wanted. There was some slight problem with drinks and and they 'talked' to each not her using their phones.

I haven't done this, but people in hotels have used translate to tell me something (eg you can't stay here the police won't allow it).

So, for those that worry about foreign language problems when touring, then YES, technology has made it a whole lot easier.
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