Walter S

No worry here. Nobody's controlling my touring plans but me. Yes, I started this thread and have enjoyed the stories. I didn't start it so people could compete for who's "doing it right".

JoeyBike

As the saying goes..."You don't know what you don't know".

I have done it both ways - in touch and not in touch. I prefer not in touch. You will never know how that feels. Pity.

Walter S

Oh give me a break. You have no ****ing idea what having a cell phone means to me or how I use it.

Try touring with no judgmental attitude about other people about whome you know little about! Find peace inside your own head, with no need to artificially elevate yourself with a feeling of superiority. You will never know how that feels. Pity.

JoeyBike

Does not matter. If you have a phone with you your experience will be DIFFERENT than if you don't have one. If Mommy can contact you any time of the day or night then you are still attached to "Home" in some way. Without that attachment the feeling is all together different. I never said anything about what may be better for you, it just saddens me that the current generation of young people will never know what it feels like to snap the umbilical cord completely for even one minute of their lives.

If your phone is with you, and the batteries are charged, and you have a cell tower nearby, then you are "Using" the phone no matter if you ever turn it on or not. It's a security blanket. Sometimes I carry a firearm for similar reasons. Even though I have never fired it, never even LOOKED at it during a tour, it was always there and made me feel secure alone in my tent when that twig cracked at 2am. Not having the firearm elicits an entirely different feeling when uncertainty strikes.

Nobody cares if you haul your phone on a tour. I am just stating a fact that in the current world, some will never know what if feels like to be totally disconnected. It's a great feeling to be on your own completely. And it makes me sad that an entire generation won't get that.

Erick L

I've toured with and without a phone and it doesn't feel any different. You're not disconnected when next to a road.

staehpj1

This isn't just a cell phone vs no cell phone difference. Folks can obsessively call home multiple times a day from pay phones and folks can carry a cell phone and leave it turned off the whole trip.

I grew up and lived the majority of my life in the pre cell phone days, but these days I go an in between route to maintain peace and marital bliss at home. The phone gets turned on for a minute of two most evenings long enough to text or email home. Every few days daily I'll check in at home with a voice call or check emails. I have never kept the phone on to accept voice calls while on tour. If there was some specific pre arranged call coming in, like if I was riding with someone and we were separated, I might consider it but I don't recall ever actually doing that.

That said I do agree that many folks these days have never and probably will never experience being disconnected for any period of time. For me some level of "connectedness" is worth the difference between coming home to a happy wife and a pissed off one after a few months on tour. While I like being pretty disconnected, I have made the mistake of not emailing, texting, or calling home for weeks at a time and it wasn't worth it.

Walter S

Again, you don't know what you're talking about. I spend a lot of time with my phone turned off. I also spend a lot of time with the phone in Do Not Disturb mode so it blocks incoming calls.

You are simply factually incorrect about that. If my phone is really "turned off" or shut down, it does not communicate with cell towers or otherwise attempt to find service. There is zero drain on my battery (other than normal slow drain in all batteries).

bikemig 

I'm sorry that this thread has morphed into a disagreement over the use of cell phones for bike touring. Most of this thread was a lot of fun as people reminisced about touring back when cell phones were not around.

JoeyBike

The phone is virtually "instantly available" on or off is what I meant. If you decide to touch base with a friend or relative, you have the OPTION to do so within two minutes. Leaving the thing at home drastically limits the ability to make contact. If you get hopelessly lost you can boot it up and find out exactly where you are and how to proceed instead of pressing on to whatever adventure awaits or asking the next human you come across for directions (which may get you even more "lost" in my experience). But you can't be lost if you don't care where you are in the first place and have no way to find out.

No worries if you are always connected. If the phone is in your bag turned off with the battery in your pocket, you are still virtually connected any time you feel like it, even midnight in a farm field.

I am not saying either is good or bad, just different in how it affects your mental state on a bike tour.

Siu Blue Wind

I agree. Let's stop the arguing, name calling and cussing by going around the filter (that's against the forum guidelines, if you all recall) and debate in a mature manner. I'd sure hate to close this thread because of it turning into a fighting match.

Erick L

If you don't have a phone, you can't experience the adventure of a dead battery. You can't flag down someone to ask for Wifi access, or having people asking you for Wifi. You're less likely to stop at a nice café for Wifi.

wvridgerider

I love DeLorme Gazetteers

JoeyBike

+1! Super useful in route planning. Shows every surface from goat trails to Interstate highways. Before that I used USGS maps ordered from Denver, CO. DeLorme was almost a religious experience for me when they started coming out of press.

wahoonc

I still have quite a few of mine, complete with torn pages and notes in the margins. For the bargain price of $649 you too can own the complete set. I even had one of their early GPS units for laptops. Amazing they have manged to survive the onslaught of Google Maps.

Aaron

bikemig 

Santa left me the DeLorme gazetteer for Iowa; I'm excited to start exploring. Now if only that pesky zero degree weather would head back to Canada where it belongs . . .

JoeyBike

You can see three square feet of map at one time (vs. just a few inches on a smart phone) and no batteries/towers/satellites required. However, after dark you will need a flashlight to view it. And DeLorme paper maps won't tell you where the next salad bar or rib joint is up the road. I used to look in the ditches for hamburger wrappers and boxes to clue me as to what might be in the town ahead. Dairy Queen Blizzard cup...SCORE!

noglider 

Doug64

I know this does not relate directly to bike touring, but the phenomena is similar.

I've been a backcountry ski patroller since 1982, and have seen the evolution of technology, and the changes in behavior of folks skiing the backcountry.

Prior to 1991, when I can remember the first suitcase sized cell phones, the backcountry skiers were pretty self reliant. They built up their experience and primarily depended on themselves to get out of a fix. Once cell phones became more popular, the amount of "find and fetch scenarios" began to increase, because it was easy to call in and ask for help. More inexperienced people would venture beyond their experience level because they felt that the cell phone offered a "security net", and could make up somewhat for lack of skills and experience. Concurrently, the development of compact and relatively inexpensive GPS receivers were developing, which did help folks "stay found".

I've skied solo around Crater Lake, where I patrolled for over 2 decades, several times, purposely without a radio because it was a totally different experience. Sure, people knew where I was and when I would be back, but if anything happened, I was on my own for 3 days. Not the smartest thing to do, but the difference in the experience was worth the risks.

I have often said that cell phones, GPS units, ACA maps, and the information available on the internet have taken much of the adventure out of bike touring. However, I have a smart phone, GPS receiver, and utilize the internet; but it just ain't the same!

Heck, in Oregon, if you are a AAA member, they will come to your rescue if you have bike problems. How's that for a safety net!

Shifty

Mapping apps seem to be getting better. Check out this TED talk on developing better map apps for finding nicer routes instead of most efficient routes.

Daniele Quercia: Happy maps | Talk Video | TED.com

fietsbob

For Japan that is reading a Book-Book Back to front .. Read more than 1 Japanese Comic Book Off the rack , in Stores in San Francisco's New Japan Town.
the Old One was, of course, gone, when the Residents were all shipped to Internment Camps In WW2.

Ron Harry

in the spirit of the thread...
I separated from the Air Force in Germany in 1975 and proceeded to 'bike tour' Europe through that summer into fall logging about 3500 miles in all. I find it amusing today to know how so 'ignorant' I was then. I started out on what was considered a race bike back then, a French Gitane. I don't think there was any other option other than steel back then. I'd never attempt to do what I did then knowing what I do today. And I wonder how I did it without the modern 'connectivity' of cell phones, the internet, or all we have now. Which seems odd in a way, having to much more NOW, but 'realizing' how dumb it was to do so many of the things I once did [that today, I'd never do them even with all the advantages we have NOW].

Ignorance can indeed be 'bliss'. But I wouldn't trade the summer for anything as it was 'high point' in my life and the memories I carry now often sustain me. Some of the 'worst' days of that trip [and some ways, my life] were on that trip. I remember having a crippled tire, having two flats and developing a 'bulge' in my tube early in the day many miles outside of Paris. It was only the second day in that country and I didn't speak French [of course, English could get you by most of the time...that and charades]. I somehow made it to the outskirts in darkness, and ended up just collapsing in the open air on my tent undertarp out in some field off the road. No one bothered me that night, but I awoke with ants crawling everywhere. I eventually made my way on into the city where I somehow 'found' a bike shop and got repairs. I have no idea how that tire and tube survived...but I still remember the sound of the 'lump bump' as it came around like a gimp leg on Marshal Dillon's deputy [for fans of Gunsmoke, ha] even after all these years.

Just one memory off the top of my head...probably minor to someone else, but I remember the 'experience' of being off into a 'galaxy far far away' in worlds I have little understanding of [tame worlds compared to where a lot of these 'tourists' now adventure to...all the way to the north pole and back etc]. I don't remember where I got my maps, but they were good ones for biking. I [and the few friends I hooked up with] never got lost, and always had our bearings on where we were going. In fact, the only time we got 'lost' was taking a train out of Lyon and ending up somewhere near the Pyrenees when we wanted to be in Marseilles.

I usually go on chaperoned trips now, cross state tours, that kind of thing...and the cell phone is vital [so it seems]. Although, just last October, I broke a chain while in the North Carolina mountains and there was no cell phone reception [to call the sag wagon for help]. A fellow cyclist on the trip came to rescue, who carried a 'spare link' [which I too carry now]. Point is, perhaps, even with all this technology, it remains our best resource is one another.

Couchsurfing, adventure cycling, and most of the 'organized' structured, and 'evolved' stuff [technology, bike specific designs etc, UL gear etc] we see today was either in embryonic stage back then, or not thought of yet. But...we...well, I...was ignorant; and that 'saved the day'.

staehpj1

I love the DeLorme Gazetteers, but personally don't like or use them for touring. They are great for finding put ins and take outs for whitewater rivers and trail heads for backpacking. They are also great for getting to hunting or fishing spots.

That said they are heavy and have way more detail in the form of dirt roads and cow paths than I want to see on a road tour. I can see where someone who wants to meander around way off the beaten path might use and love them for touring though.

MassiveD

You are kinda showing you don't get what he is talking about here. It is like setting out across a lake with a boat following you and setting out across a lake with nothing. There are people for whom the adventure of being in a baby carrier is so intense they probably wouldn't know the difference. There isn't a good or bad way to do it. You should suit yourself. Nothing really bad ever happened to me before cell coverage, except on plane crash. That must have been on the edge of the whole thing because phones were common place back then, but I don't remember anyone calling anyone. People say they wouldn't want to die alone, but I don't want to be calling my dearest at a time like that, unless there is something like info on where I hid the money.

MassiveD

What was so dumb? There were great touring bikes back then, but I couldn't afford on. In 75 a 10 speed was so much better we never really thought about the fact the ratios were so high. I'd trade my strength then for my gear today. I wouldn't want to give up my knowledge and a lot of that was hard won, but an equal amount has since come from the net.

My wife wants a call every day so she knows where I am. I don't really want to call, possibly because I know where I am, but obviously I want to keep her happy. So the cell phone has it's place in my gear. Also, at 55 with a heart condition, it would save everyone a lot of trouble if they had GPS coordinates of my stealth site should I die or something.

indyfabz

You should tell me in case something sudden and unexpected should happen to you. You wouldn't want it to go to waste, would you? Send me a PM.