Originally Posted by
seboros
What a suitable theme for the Classic&Vintage sub-forum! The read was very engaging and I'm glad I found most of my feelings about technology today put into words. Thanks for sharing this!
+1, I was going to post the same thing, you beat me to it.
I did the
Velodirt North Trask ride a few weeks ago using the ridewithgps.com map, both print and online version. Since parts of the ride were in cellular dead zones, I downloaded the map sections to a smartphone-GPS still works as long as there is line-of-site to the satellites. I knew that GPS navigation really wears out the battery, so I kept it off as long as I knew where i was. The amazing thing is that the turn-by-turn directions were dead on, even on dirt and gravel forestry roads. The problem was the phone started to die near the end of the ride. Luckily I was near the end, and was comfortable with the paper maps from then on, so I turned the phone off.
Technology can make things easier, but a good ol' map and compass is still the go-to backup system.