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Biking and GPS


DrPossum

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We go caching on our bikes whenever the weather is good enough. I have a mount on the bike for my Oregon600 but don't use sounds. A quick glance at the screen every now and then is enough to know where to turn and when to slow down when approaching a cache or waypoint.

We have done a few caches that where made as a bike tour the last few weeks (60, 45, 35, 40 Km...)

 

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2 hours ago, DrPossum said:

I have a question. Is there a way to bike and look at your GPS at the same time without crashing or sustaining any injuries? I don't have a phone holder but is it possible to geocache and bike at the same time?

 

I'm guessing that you have cellular service, and you're using a Geocaching App where you can get driving directions (such as the official App, which then brings up Google Maps).  Turn on voice directions, and you hear announcements as you approach a selected cache.  This gets you to a point on the road closest to the cache, and after that, you may hike to the cache, using the compass.  Or without driving directions, there's a distance and direction (compass) display the whole time, although as mentioned, you must glance at that to see the display.

 

Edited by kunarion
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We use a separate bike computer. If we have to go 2.35 km to the next cache, I make note of about how far that is on my trip odometer, put the phone back in my pocket, and bike to about that spot. Then we stop and take out the phones again to fine tune our distance.

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2 hours ago, DrPossum said:

Yeah, I use a smartphone. But how do you bike and use it?

 

 

It depends on a lot of things, such as whether or not there are there enough caches right next to the road to require a whole new plan, App settings and bike mounts. Do you intend to stop every tenth of a mile and hike off to hunt a cache? Or are you choosing just one cache out of many on the trip?

 

If you just want to ride and be notified of caches, there are some Apps that let you set up “proximity alerts”. Once you find a bunch of caches, that may or may not be useful. You don't often need “alerts” for caches you've found.

 

If you know your route, choose a cache that's generally along the route, and set up the App to navigate to it. Then street routing (Google Maps or whatever), will provide voice prompts to guide you. Or as TriciaG mentioned, set up that one cache in a trip computer, and then use the phone App upon arrival.

 

on4bam mentioned a Garmin Oregon, and that's got some cool features.  For one, select a cache, and the compass screen can have a pretty big readable "distance" indication.  And for another, the map continuously scrolls as you travel.  Sometimes on the road, I just look at the screen once in a while, and see if anything promising is coming up.  No particular planning necessary, just a decent PQ of caches along the road.

Edited by kunarion
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We use ram bar mounts on the  bikes, the other 2/3rds with an iphone mount, and mine for the ancient 60cxs.  The old, all-plastic OEM mount wouldn't fit my new bike or I'd still be using it.

Similar to Touchstone,  we'll glance for turns time-to-time, but usually just let the proximity alerts (app and handheld) tells us when close, and slow down when it chimes.  :)

No C&D/roadside things for us,  so our distances are great enough that we take the bikes with us in the truck and start from parking. 

 

 

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Also have a bike mount but prior did simply hold in hand to view the directional arrow and use a proximity alarm but there is an old saying, "When you trek in the woods don't just look at your GPSr, occasionally one must raise the head and look where going!" (no idea where got it but have several small scars on the farhead proving the intent should be respected)

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13 hours ago, TriciaG said:

@Michaelcycle might have some thoughts on this. :)

If I am on the road bike I will only be searching for a small number of caches (usually no more than 1 for every 10 miles pedaled) so I identify where the next one I want is on the map and stick my Garmin handheld in a jersey pocket until I get there.

On the mountain bike the Garmin rides in a holder on the right side of the handlebar (this mount would hold my iPhone if I used that to cache.) I choose the next cache I want and set the unit to show distance to the cache. I have the audible proximity alarm on and I slow down when I hear it, glancing at the reading on the GPSr as I approach.

 

Regardless of the bicycle, if I am (and I often am) in unfamiliar territory there will be times when I choose an intermediate point (say, after the first two turns)  to stop and check on upcoming turns. Trying to follow the small screen of a GPSr or a cellphone along complex route just isn't safe for me, especially on singletrack in rough terrain where slowing down to stop the bike from bouncing enough to see the screen may very well cause me to crash ("speed is your friend".)

 

Remember that the first thing to worry about when geocaching by bicycle is...bicycling. I decided long ago that the ride comes first. The geocaches are the icing on the cake.

Edited by Michaelcycle
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On ‎5‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 4:45 PM, Touchstone said:

I have a bike mount for my GPS, and I set the proximity alarm to notify me when I get within a certain distance.  That way I can concentrate on controlling my bike, and not getting distracted looking at the screen.

ROFL!  I completely forgot about this feature.  Just recently started caching by bike and even though I have a mount for the GPS, I still stop when I think I'm close to check.  Had turned off the audible notification after about cache #2 because it was annoying... 7500 later, looks like there really is a use for it.

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