by Christian Bischof

Bikepacking means to me to travel with little baggage on almost all kinds of roads/trails and to spontaneously choose my route and the location to stay overnight. It is a wonderful way to travel and explore the nature and culture of a country, to meet interesting people, and to get to the borders of your comfort zone (i.e. getting to know yourself again and again…).

Bike and Baggage

Well, I used a Bombtrack Hook 1 bike which gave me a very robust CroMo steel frame, nice Clément cyclocross tires that run excellent on both tar and gravel roads, robust SRAM front (50/34) and rear (11-32) gearing, and a very comfortable but still race-like frame geometry. My goal was to find as many gravel roads as possible, but also use many tar roads for convenience and for making some more distance in shorter time.

In order to have an independent power supply I carried a solar panel. With it I charged a battery pack, which in turn I used to charge my Fairphone. I could adaptively attach it to the handle bar pack or to the saddle pack, depending on my orientation with respect to the sun. On the Fairphone I ran Locus Map, which was my only means of navigation.

The five Apidura bags and the one Rixen&Kaul stem bag held all my baggage so I didn't carry a backpack.  All my stuff is depicted here:

Weight of this set (excluding food and water) was about 11 kg, which was about the same as weight of the bike. As the bags were tied very close to the frame and carried relatively little weight, it resulted in very comfortable riding experience with great maneuverability and versatility (which is the main ingredient of bikepacking, really).

As it was my first bike trip at all. I bought the bike and all the bags only shortly before the trip, having been unsure about its interplay and comfort. At the end of the trip, I must say, all the decisions I had made worked out well. The bike ran so nicely, the geometry was very nice and the bags served me well and kept the stuff dry (the waterproof bags at least).

The Route taken

I've lived in Hannover (Germany) for the past five years and Marseille sounded like a great place to ride to with both the sea and warm temperatures waiting. The route therefore was relatively moderate regarding mountains and steep ascends as there are many big rivers along the route such as the Rhein, the Mosel or the Rhone. It gave me enough confidence to find a good route on the fly and plan the targets for the day on a day-to-day basis by consulting the offline “LoMaps” within the Locus Map app.

Choosing roads and trails

All the way long I used LoMaps which proved as excellent solution for my purpose:

• they contain very large amount of marked official bike tracks even with different categories (local, regional, national - see the map legend)
• very nice map look with clear and well-sized text and map signs
• map are displayed relatively fast when zooming despite their vector origin
• they contain enormous amount of details of the OpenStreetMaps project and are very useful (all sorts of trails/tracks/roads, type of forest/trees, power lines, all sorts of water types, building contours, and all the different POI’s)
• elevation contour lines make the map perfect for spontaneous route planning by estimating the steepness and thus the physical effort related to the route

Locus Map gave me the option to easily customize the panel on the map screen for fast access of the most used tools. I used ones shown in the screenshot of Locus Map above. I often shared my actual location with friends and family. I tagged all my overnight places along the route with some additional comments. As I wanted to save power when riding and thus not recording my tracks by GPS positions, I drawn the daily tracks manually on the train back to Hannover. A possibility to avoid power supply problems would be to install a hub dynamo USB charger.

Choosing overnight places

My goal was to sleep mainly in my hammock as it is flexible, maximally cheap and is the most legal way for free camping (see info in German >>). Some cities even have camp grounds close to the city where it is possible to stay overnight spontaneously and legally for little money. Mostly I was looking for some optimal forests in the area on Locus Map. This worked out very well.

Exploring nature and culture

On a bicycle one can reach places relatively fast but it still gives the possibility to feel the nature by smelling, stopping fast (grab some nice bread from a “boulangerie”), making flexible detours into the woods/grasslands or explore the small alleys within a city.

Meeting interesting people

Cyclists usually like to help other cyclists (especially in France). I got three free nights from randomly met cyclists that took me to their home and showed me their city and family. We also had very nice conversations about my or their cycling experiences, including the cyclist social platform warmshowers.

Borders of personal comfort zone

I once found a perfect forest for my hammock, but after looking around a little, I found some turned around boxed on the forest floor. I lifted the boxes and discovered little dead boars, which in turn let me rethink the perfectness of this forest and I decided I had better choose another one.

I started my trip with full joy, full motivation, and also full strength. These were the ingredients of fast riding, which I joyfully did for about four days, before I had to discover a slight and steadily growing pain in my knee. This was the point where I learned to pedal with a pace that suited better to my fitness and to listen to my body.

I discovered quite painfully on the 4th day of my trip that my Clément tires were no marvel either, as they slipped on wet ground with too much speed. Thereafter, I struggled  with myself to get optimal healing conditions to all my wounds and  also optimal riding condition.

Conclusion

This type of travel gave me really a lot of freedom. Of course, I had to obey the rules of my body, my bike, and the nature (and mostly of the law). But it gives you so much possibility to discover nice places, meet interesting people, and to just be with yourself and enjoy riding the bike. And Locus Map perfectly assisted me in all of my little adventures.

Článek Bikepacking with Locus on the road from Hannover to Marseille se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

There are a few ways how to use Locus for navigation on your bike. But which one is the best? Let's sum it up and have a talk then.

A to B calculated route with classic voice navigation

Let's assume you use your bike as a means of transport around your city (perhaps you're a bike messenger?). You just want to get from one point to another as fast as possible, no matter what places you see along the route, and you want the route to be planned quickly. Then this is the case - use the Navigate to feature, define your target, select bike as a means of transport and GO.

You might like some preliminary settings, for example selecting the routing engine - BRouter for offline routing, others (Yours, MapQuest) work online only - there's usually no problem with GSM data in cities and the router sucks just a few kilobytes per hour (see Menu > Settings > Navigation > Navigation data source).  Another thing is the navigation voice - either choose built-in TTS generated commands (not always the best solution) or some ready made voices (much better, downloadable e.g. here >>. See Menu > Settings > Navigation > Select voice). Lastly, select the way Locus re-calculates your route in case of a detour - select Point priority (see Menu > Settings > Navigation > Auto-recalculation)

Navigation along your own route

When you ride your bike for pleasure, to keep you fit or just for fun with your friends or family, you have probably your own favorite routes. You can make them up yourself  in Locus or on some web planning service, you can import them from numerous internet databases. When you set out on the trip, just select the route in your data manager or tap it directly on the map and select "Navigation". Locus starts navigating. You would need help of the router only in case of leaving your route (if you want it to recalculate your route - otherwise Locus switches itself to the guidance mode and shows you the way to the nearest point of your route. Don't forget to re-set the Auto-recalculation mode to the Route priority). As for the navigation commands, Locus places them automatically on places with the most remarkable direction changes. Which means that not all intersections may be commented.

Guidance

Guidance is a sort of simplified navigation - each route consists of routepoints and Locus guides you from one to another. At spots with remarkable direction changes Locus places simple commands that are just visual by default. If you want sound or TTS notifications you must turn them on in Menu > Settings > Guidance > Set notification of the next direction change - you can switch  a beeper on, select any sound from your phone memory, engage a TTS engine. TTS commands are just simple turn left/right - no roundabout exits or lane changes etc.

Must-have bike-specific settings

As usual, Locus offers much more to make the bike navigation rider-friendly. For example touch-free control:

• Display settings - full-time screen on drains your battery very quickly. Therefore, go to the Menu > Settings > Display. First thing - Disable screen lock (select which one you use - just simple or some more sophisticated), then go to Screen on/off control and enable it. Check Control by gesture - you don't have to grope for the phone switch to have a look at the map, just wave before its proximity sensor and the display turns on. Look at this  video how it works. Check also Turn on when notified on a track/during navigation. This feature turns the display on in safe distance before a commented direction change.
  
  
• Sound settings - voice navigation or TTS generated commands may not be audible on a bike - rattle of the equipment on rough surfaces, wind swishing around ears... And wearing earphones can be pretty dangerous. Beeping sounds are much better heard - either set the beeper on (1-10 beeps) or install Morse-beeping voice "Samuel" from Locus community (available here >>)
  
  

What about your own experience? Do you have any useful tips how to enhance your Locus bike navigation?

Článek The best setting of Locus bike navigation. Or not? se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

Check our brand new video promoting bike riding adventures with Locus Map. Do you like it? Get inspired and go for a tasty long ride in the woods. Don't forget to turn on track recording to share your trip with us when you get back.

Článek Enjoy your bike rides with Locus Map as these guys do se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

Weekends in Rychlebske Mountains have become my "highlights" since I with my coleague were invited by Cerna Voda major Pavel Hornik to map local famous bike trails. A lot of things have changed since then - Rychlebske trails boomed into a MTB resort offering more than 60 km of trails of various difficulty, beginning with easily flowing paths ridable by kids ending up in the hills with rocky trails for hardcore riders. And Pavel is not major any longer, being fully concentrated on his dream project. And the result is apparent - the trails keep winning various visitor polls, the region revived with a wave of bikers not only from Czech rep but also from nearby Poland and Slovakia.

It's not about the trails only. Rychlebske Mountains overpower you with their simple and pure beauty, where you can spent your time many ways, no to just on a bike. Therefore I welcomed when we made a free weekend, threw stuff and kids in the car, the bikes on the roof rack and were looking forward to the arrival for the next 150 kms.

Day 1 - Locus Map on trail

Saturday we devoted to the main allure - ride along the Rychlebske trails. The family and bikes were ready right after the breakfest, the youngest one buckled up in the child seat and we merrily set off. That reminds me - the phone mounted on the steering bar and Locus transformed into a cyclecomputer (dashboard, guiding along the route rather because of my-geek-self as the trails are perfectly marked, and of course the track recording on). When you come with kids the Northern side of the resort is the primary choice - we start with the trail along the romantic valley of Cerny potok (Black brook). The trail is empty, just from time to time we let someone quicker pass by. Most bikers concentrate in the more demanding parts on the foot of Sokoli vrch.

We are having a break on the bridge across the Cerny potok. Boys are building a dam and throwing pebbles in the water, the rest of us is having a snack in the grass. The youngest kid peacefully sleeps buckled up in the seat. Overviewing Locus I found out we had ridden about a quarter of our trip so we slowly got up and moved. Waves and banks of the playful circular trail near Vidnava comes next. The recently built trail is really enjoyable both for us and the kids. One hill left and the long awaited refreshment in a Vidnava pub follows. We got pretty hungry!

On the way back we are enjoying the bucolic countryside along forest tracks and the trail of the Czech forestry.

It was beautiful and very intense, mainly for the kids - we rolled some 29 km in the wavy terrain. Being connected on wifi at our cabin I export the trip to my friends on Runkeeper. Now it's time to rest. Sitting at a camp fire with a view of sunlit Sokoli vrch we bid farewell to the first day.

Day 2 - geocaching with Locus

It's a long way home so we can't afford another whole day trip. I planned a decent circular walk across the hills nearby Zulova, accompanied by hunt for a couple of geocaches. I downloaded local treasures to my mobile via the Geocaching4Locus. Three will do for today - the hills where we are going to fetch them are pretty steep - Bozi hora and Borovy vrch are awaiting us. Both hills are of igneous origin and the material they are made of (granite) named the nearby town - Zulova. The baby in the backpack seat seems to weigh twice as much when we are struggling upwards the first hill. The geocache named "wedding" is hidden out of the path somewhere under the summit. Locus Map leads us without compromises. Its geocache alarm starts beeping in my pocket 100 meters from the cache and quickens meter by meter. "Daddy, you're like a ticking bomb", my sons announce. They're damn right when I completely exhausted and dripping sweat explode in a hilarious enthusiasm finding the cache. The same at another treasure that was hidden in a rock right next to the church of Our Lady of Sorrows. There are quite remarkable views of the town from there. My alarm starts beeping for the last time on the foot of the neighboring Borovy. Not this time was it hard to find the cache although there were loads of hiding places among the barren boulders. The GPS is relentless and is beeping "zero" perhaps a meter from the cache. I'm logging offline via the Fieldnotes addon while the kids are playing hide and seek among the rocks. Anyway I would seek the GSM signal in vain in this place. It's noon, our bellies are rumbling again so we head on downhill towards the civilization. Anyway, it's a granite stone's throw from Borovy and so our hunger can be saturated soon. Well, I'm looking forward to getting back here again, sometime in the middle of summer - we'll explore local flooded quarries offering cool swimming refreshment. And as I can see in the Locus Maps, there are many of them!

-ms-

Článek A Locus Family Weekend in Rychlebske Mountains se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

Článek Get Inspired: From Meshgin Shar to Qazvin se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.

Článek Get Inspired: Bike Wandering Around Iran and Turkey se nejdříve objevil na Locus Map - mobile outdoor navigation app.