Navigating On Your Trip

Once you’ve planned out your cycle touring or bikepacking route, you should consider how you’ll navigate during the course of your trip. There are a few different tools that you can use, including maps and apps as well as smartphones with GPS devices. The right fit for you will depend on your preferences, comfort level, and connectivity en route.

Maps

The best place to start is with maps – no not Google Maps, but good old fashioned paper maps. They have the advantage of being larger and therefore providing greater context for planning your trip. You can often see the entire route of your trip on one map, which provides a much better visual of your cycleventure and enables you to better understand what may be lying ahead and around you when you’re riding. An app on your smartphone or a GPS device doesn’t provide you with the same sort of broad contextual bird’s eye view and may not show you all of the points of interest on your route or alternative routes. Your friends may tease you about not fully adapting to the digital age, but trust us, you’ll be happy to have a reliable analogue map if you find yourself without internet connectivity or your app fails or your batteries run out and your digital map vanishes. Perhaps not least importantly, maps are awesome – there’s something uniquely wonderful about being able to sit back and view your journey on a big old fold-out map. A map is the best way to tell the story of your cycleventure.

You can minimize stress and headaches on your trip by taking time before your departure to review your maps and get to know your route. Properly orientate yourself by finding your compas bearings and view the map accordingly. Take note of any special features, bike routes, interesting cultural and historical sites, possible side trips, places to get water refills such as gas stations and rest stops, and emergency medical facilities. Learn how to read topographical elements of your maps such as contour lines to get a sense of elevation and where you’re going to face difficult climbs.

The drawback of maps is that they’re generally designed for motorists and don’t always provide important granular details of roads and turns, especially smaller ones, that cyclists need to navigate. They don’t typically provide information regarding cycling routes either. Finally, given that as a cyclist you’ll need maps that provide more rather than less detail, your most useful maps will probably cover less area and may only show portions of your trip. If you’re intending to cover 60-100 km or more per day, depending on how long your route is, you may need to carry a number of paper maps with you, which will take up valuable space on your bike and add weight.

Apps

There are tons of awesome cycling apps out there to help you navigate on your trip. While you’re probably going to want to plan your trip using a website on the larger screen of your PC, once you hit the road on a cycle tour or tear off the road on a bikepacking trip, you’ll probably want to use a cycling app on your smartphone. When comparing cycling apps, the most important things to look for are the ease and organization of their user experience (UX) (i.e., whether they’re easy to understand and use), the quality and accuracy of the information they provide, including cycling-specific information such as route and topography info (especially elevation), whether they provide inputs from other users who may have ridden your route, and other capabilities, both online and offline (you’re going to want to minimize your battery and data usage on your trip).

Some cycling apps are free, some have a basic “freemium” subscription as well as full subscription plans with all the bells and whistles, some charge a flat fee, some have various pricing options depending on your needs. Some apps do not have maps or cover specific routes or geographical areas or even countries.

Smartphones And GPS Devices

A smartphone may be the best travel tool ever invented. It provides you with a handheld computer with more computing power than the Apollo 13, including sophisticated GPS and navigation capabilities. Using apps like Google Maps or Strava, you can navigate a wide range of complicated cycling routes around the world and get important information regarding accommodations, services, cultural and historic sites, and a ton of other information.

GPS devices are also pretty great. They can do a number of the things a smartphone can do and they’re specifically designed for cycling, so they’re more durable and weatherproof.

Bear in mind, however, that electronic devices need batteries and those batteries need regular charging. You should bring along a battery pack (or two) to keep these devices charged on your trip. Also, if you’re intending to use a smartphone, we suggest you use a handy and sturdy smartphone cover that attaches to your handlebar or better yet a sturdy mounting device, such as the ones that Quad Lock offers. And you’ll want to ensure that your smartphone is protected from the elements by a cover.

Our Recommendation

We recommend that you use a healthy combination of maps and apps on your cycleventure, relying on a savvy mix of both analogue and digital solutions. Carry your maps and your phone/GPS device on your bike and use them as and when you feel most comfortable. You should keep your map in your handlebar bag for easy accessibility when riding. We like the handlebar bags that feature a clear plastic sleeve on the top so you can tuck your folded map in it and view it while riding.

And don’t forget to ask for help from the locals and other cyclists you meet along the way. On a cycle touring or bikepacking trip, especially through foreign lands, the knowledge of the locals may often serve you best. They’re more likely to know if the road or trail ahead is washed out, the better cycling route to see the sites you want to see, the shortest way to the local pub, and other timely local details. You should always be prepared to navigate your own way through your cycleventure, but also accept the help of strangers.

Most importantly, enjoy the moments when you’re lost or you don’t know how you’re going to find your way. These are the best times, because, although we don’t know quite exactly how we’re going to find our way, we know that we will. Eventually. That’s one of the most exciting aspects of cycle touring and bikepacking. When in doubt, remember, it’s all part of the experience.