What are your riding techniques?

[Stefan Mikes]

What’s that cycle route planner?

The best known example is the Ride with GPS app & site, I use Mapy.cz which is far simpler to use, good for the whole world, too, and works in your language, also offline.

I'm probably saying the obvious but a good cycle route planner allows:

Route Planning

• Plan your route from point A to B through C, D, E, F, G & H (unlimited number of waypoints)
• Select the best routes for Road Bike or MTB (these can be different)
• The routes should be "bike friendly", that is, avoid traffic and lead through bike trails if available
• Allow you modifying the route at any time, even if you already are on your trip
• Calculate distance and elevation gain for the trip (necessary for planning the battery range), and estimated net ride time
• Provide you with elevation profile map, possibly with incline grade so you're not trying to climb the hills you cannot conquer
• Provide the weather forecast with Temperature, Precipitation and Wind information for the time you would be on your trip, with graphical indication on the route map.
• Maintaining a database of routes created by you for future re-use
• The route planning should be possible on both the smartphone and the computer.

Bike GPS navigation

• Guide you on your ride by visual and audio assistance (you might keep your phone in the pocket and just listen to the directions)
• Re-calculate your route in case you went off-route for any reason (intentional or a mistake)
• Provide Lane Assistant for roads whenever applicable
• Give the remaining ride distance and ETA
• Display a GPS speedometer.

Trip Recording

• Anything you would expect from Strava (ride map & stats)

Of the apps I have tried, Ride with GPS is certainly the most advanced one, especially valuable because of calculating the route gradients, giving you your vertical speed per hour, etc. I dislike that app because it feels too complicated for me, hence my use of Mapy.cz. Many Forum members use Ride with GPS to their great satisfaction, though.

He is from Poland. Flat land.Does metric centuries.Daily.

Unluckily, not daily, and my typical preferred distance is 30-50 miles. It is true I have made several metric centuries, several 70-milers and two 75-milers but cannot do it every day because I need to work... I was also able to cover several long mountain rides during the warm season. Thank you for building my positive legend, Art, but I need to ride more!

Even more riding techniques

1. Before I make a planned stop (for example, riding up an intersection), I dramatically downshift. Some Shimano shifters allow downshifting by two or three gears with a single deep lever push. Being in low gear allows easy ride re-start without any throttle. When accelerating, I gradually upshift.
2. Downshifting while riding uphill is doable. Just stop pedalling for a very short time on shifting, or at least ease up pedalling.
3. Switch to the maximum PAS level just when you start riding uphill. It lets you maintain constant ride speed (combined with downshifting by one gear).
4. When you can see you are riding into gravel or (worse) dirt road from blacktop, downshift. At least one gear at tarmac -> gravel, and at least two gears tarmac -> dirt. It keeps your ride stable. If you see the sand on your way, downshift dramatically.

 

[Latitude]

Hard to equal Stefan’s excellent regime! My riding style is not very sophisticated... I cover the same general territory every day, usually 30 to 40 km, sometimes more. It’s a mix of paved and gravel smooth trails, grassy seldom used trails and country roads (some gravel, some paved). The provincial park next door to where I live probably has over 100 km of trails and I use all but the ones that prohibit bikes. I can enter it as near as 3 km from my home.
I like to go as fast as conditions allow. I have no throttle and generally stay at full assist using all of the gears to keep cadence and control up. Typically I will ride in 4th or 5th on grassy trails, and at or near high gear on roads to maintain a speed around 30 km. I plan to ride into the forest if there’s a headwind, and take advantage of tailwinds on open roads.
No route planner, but I use Cyclemeter to track my route. Here’s a typical map of a day’s ride:

 

[Stefan Mikes]

If anyone's interested with route planning and GPS navigation, here are some screenshots from my and brother's mountain ride in Polish-Czech borderland this Summer.

The 3-D route in https://en.mapy.cz gives you an overview of the route character and difficulty.

Route planning can be done either on the computer or on the mobile device. It is easier to just pick up the way-points at the map by pointing at desired locations with your finger when planning on the smartphone. You can also give location names, including street addresses or postal codes. If alternative routes can be found, the planner will show them along with the distance and estimated net ride time (it is practically the gross time if you ride an e-bike).

The weather forecast on the smartphone.

The elevation profile. You can see two serious downhill segment and only climbing past the 40th kilometre. The total elevation gain given together with the ride distance are vital for proper battery range planning. The wind information also helps.

Of course, the units of measure is your own selection (could be Imperial).

I use another app (Endomondo) for documenting my rides only because my whole ride history has been recorded in Endomondo since 2013.

 

[Sifu Ben]

I would be a spandex guy except I don’t have a road bike anymore. Anyway, when I ride by myself, I use PAS 1, relatively lower gears for a high cadence ride of about 85-90. I don’t do sprints anymore mainly because bike geometry and I don’t trust Altus stuff to not break. There are mild hills so no climbing by default (hated hilly rides anyway).

 

[Art Deco]

This thread came on on "similar threads" and covers riding an ebike with a heavy load. Not for me I hope, but worth a read.
@eBikeMom

 

[PaD]

The best known example is the Ride with GPS app & site, I use Mapy.cz which is far simpler to use, good for the whole world, too, and works in your language, also offline.

I'm probably saying the obvious but a good cycle route planner allows:

Route Planning

• Plan your route from point A to B through C, D, E, F, G & H (unlimited number of waypoints)

Can I do the planning on the phone screen with Ride with GPS?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Can I do the planning on the phone screen with Ride with GPS?

Yes you can.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@PaD: I have found you need to pay for the Ride with GPS to unlock several important features while Mapy.cz is free...