YES! Thank you! What a weird, unnecessary, and unhuman burden to fulfill. I just want to enjoy my ride. (Which also once included cycling through a live firing range 😳 this was before smart phones...)
👏 A few years back I wanted to apply to a Bikepacking (although it was for my touring) event to speak and show images. A requirement was .gpx points of your entire route. Ha! And you should have seen the shame that was put upon me for asking about this on an IG post. I second everything you’ve written and I have spent months and even years researching routes, terrain, borders with in person reconn. You’ve inspired me to start making my Strava rides private (minus the MTB trails that are accessible to everyone!)
Let’s all return to a world of little quiet and privacy. Happy to finally be here Emily! 💜
I love using Komoot in combination with maps and local knowledge to devise my own routes but I am not an influencer and I can't be bothered to write up everything in a sensible way to share. I quite like that every now and then you get a wild card which sends you down a a barely visible track. I like to see where roads and tracks go and have had some good adventures doing that just without any apps or GPS.
Also recommend Markus Stitz and his books, I did a route recently on the island of Jura, the wettest I have ever been on a bike; absolutely no views on that day and waterlogged my Garmin which had survived quite a few epics until then with a cracked screen....But great fun!
Similarly the Cycling UK long distance routes are great. There has to be a bit of jeopardy with the unexpected, so I don't want to be too well organised. As a woman though, I do lock down the privacy functions on my apps, a couple of uncomfortable encounters locally experienced by biking friends and creepy or just plain unpleasant men so care necessary, sadly.
With you 100% on this Emily, although I'm probably higher on the embarrassment scale than most. My 28mm tyres have explored (often by accident) miles and miles of (I'm being polite now) non-tarmac surfaces after my planning has taken me away from roads that don't have grass in the middle. I'm now so averse to riding on big roads that I'll try almost any alternative. But I'm the only person who knows where I've been and that's how it will always be.
Completely understand and agree with your views of privacy, Emily. Over the past 20 years, we’ve become too blasé about giving away personal data in exchange for free services. That’s before you even think of personal safety. On Komoot, I recently started trying it as a route planner, out of curiosity. I did find the spoken turn by turn directions useful. But it seems inflexible as a planning tool as far as I can tell.
Nothing insightful to add beyond that I’m enjoying the updates of your trip enormously and it’s motivated me to get my act together for a short trip of my own later in the year.
From a tourism planner's point of view, thank you for bringing this topic up! I'm 100% with you that quality goes over quantity. Most often, official routing is the result of a long negotiation process with the stakeholders. Considering the touristic capacity and ecological sensitivity of the area are further reasons to take the bulk of community-made routes with a grain of salt. Which doesn't mean we should confine ourselves to riding official routes only - exploring is part of cycling just as well. As always, a sensible approach helps a lot.
On another note; I just wanted to say how much I am enjoying listening to Where There’s a Way. I read the book when it was released but listening to it in your own voice adds a further dimension; hearing what you are going through. Since I read the book I have now also read Julianna’s and Jenny Graham’s books which adds that extra perspective. I am very much looking forward to listening to your first book which I read some time ago - I am going to wait until it’s all available though and take it on long bike rides with me!
Ah - thank you! I'm a week behind with the WGA audiobook currently - it's been too difficult to find time to edit the audio files when I'm on the road. Should be back on track by next week. And in a few months it will all be ready for you...
I agree. There are more good reasons to be selective about sharing the whereabouts (routes, coordinates, names of persons and names of places). One of them is to not kill the beauty of the process of discovery. Many places, stories and situations I write about as traveller happened, because I was not knowing what was behind the bend, and was not expecting anything.
If I went to a valley, it was not because had the biggest waterfall. Just the contrary: I went there because it was not mentioned in any guidebook. And the waterfall was a surprise. And I want to leave it as is. I want to leave this waterfall unnamed and without GPS coordinates, so you can discover it for yourself. It is the act of discovery which is beautiful and breath-taking. The act of following someone's route, and knowing in advance what to expect - has a very different value.
Yes. I have to agree with your sentiments. I find route planning is definitely part of the fun of doing your own thing.
From my point of view what you’ve done is shown me a part of the world that is definitely worth going cycling in, I don’t need to know the precise path you have followed to do this.
I found when using Komoot or a similar app that you should always be prepared to overrule its route, just like you would with a satnav.
Please don’t publish your routes - as a very armchair bike tourist it’s adding something to your writing that makes it part of the journey. Would also second your shout out for Skamper - feels like they’re trying something different
Really important stuff you're talking about here Emily thank you. And I share the same feelings about the komootification of everything adventure. I have lots of thoughts I won't burden you with but I was glad to read this! :) Happy cycling xx
I totally agree with your sentiments, Emily. Also, I find that one of the most enjoyable parts of any trip is the planning and anticipation. Doing the route planning oneself is fun and it means you get to know a bit about the places where you want to go.
Can I recommend one more route planning tool please. It’s cycle.travel which is both a website and an app. I find the web version works best for creating and storing routes. And the app is great to use out on the road when following your route. It also has plenty of pre made routes on it. The lovely thing is that cycle.travel is not a faceless corporation. It is the project of one man, Richard Fairhurst, a lifelong cyclist. This shows because just 5 minutes spent perusing the website brings delight in how good it is. It’s obvious it’s made by a cyclist, for cyclists. The only sad thing is that because he’s not a big company, it’s little known about.
You can support him through Patreon and this brings access to an OS map layer. I’ve used it for touring in Europe too and it was brilliant.
I’ve no involvement with cycle.Travel - I’m just a very happy user.
YES! Thank you! What a weird, unnecessary, and unhuman burden to fulfill. I just want to enjoy my ride. (Which also once included cycling through a live firing range 😳 this was before smart phones...)
👏 A few years back I wanted to apply to a Bikepacking (although it was for my touring) event to speak and show images. A requirement was .gpx points of your entire route. Ha! And you should have seen the shame that was put upon me for asking about this on an IG post. I second everything you’ve written and I have spent months and even years researching routes, terrain, borders with in person reconn. You’ve inspired me to start making my Strava rides private (minus the MTB trails that are accessible to everyone!)
Let’s all return to a world of little quiet and privacy. Happy to finally be here Emily! 💜
I love using Komoot in combination with maps and local knowledge to devise my own routes but I am not an influencer and I can't be bothered to write up everything in a sensible way to share. I quite like that every now and then you get a wild card which sends you down a a barely visible track. I like to see where roads and tracks go and have had some good adventures doing that just without any apps or GPS.
Also recommend Markus Stitz and his books, I did a route recently on the island of Jura, the wettest I have ever been on a bike; absolutely no views on that day and waterlogged my Garmin which had survived quite a few epics until then with a cracked screen....But great fun!
Similarly the Cycling UK long distance routes are great. There has to be a bit of jeopardy with the unexpected, so I don't want to be too well organised. As a woman though, I do lock down the privacy functions on my apps, a couple of uncomfortable encounters locally experienced by biking friends and creepy or just plain unpleasant men so care necessary, sadly.
With you 100% on this Emily, although I'm probably higher on the embarrassment scale than most. My 28mm tyres have explored (often by accident) miles and miles of (I'm being polite now) non-tarmac surfaces after my planning has taken me away from roads that don't have grass in the middle. I'm now so averse to riding on big roads that I'll try almost any alternative. But I'm the only person who knows where I've been and that's how it will always be.
Completely understand and agree with your views of privacy, Emily. Over the past 20 years, we’ve become too blasé about giving away personal data in exchange for free services. That’s before you even think of personal safety. On Komoot, I recently started trying it as a route planner, out of curiosity. I did find the spoken turn by turn directions useful. But it seems inflexible as a planning tool as far as I can tell.
Nothing insightful to add beyond that I’m enjoying the updates of your trip enormously and it’s motivated me to get my act together for a short trip of my own later in the year.
Ooh, good luck with your trip! Where will you be going?
Thank you! Current plan is Normandy in August… hopefully!
From a tourism planner's point of view, thank you for bringing this topic up! I'm 100% with you that quality goes over quantity. Most often, official routing is the result of a long negotiation process with the stakeholders. Considering the touristic capacity and ecological sensitivity of the area are further reasons to take the bulk of community-made routes with a grain of salt. Which doesn't mean we should confine ourselves to riding official routes only - exploring is part of cycling just as well. As always, a sensible approach helps a lot.
On another note; I just wanted to say how much I am enjoying listening to Where There’s a Way. I read the book when it was released but listening to it in your own voice adds a further dimension; hearing what you are going through. Since I read the book I have now also read Julianna’s and Jenny Graham’s books which adds that extra perspective. I am very much looking forward to listening to your first book which I read some time ago - I am going to wait until it’s all available though and take it on long bike rides with me!
Ah - thank you! I'm a week behind with the WGA audiobook currently - it's been too difficult to find time to edit the audio files when I'm on the road. Should be back on track by next week. And in a few months it will all be ready for you...
I agree. There are more good reasons to be selective about sharing the whereabouts (routes, coordinates, names of persons and names of places). One of them is to not kill the beauty of the process of discovery. Many places, stories and situations I write about as traveller happened, because I was not knowing what was behind the bend, and was not expecting anything.
If I went to a valley, it was not because had the biggest waterfall. Just the contrary: I went there because it was not mentioned in any guidebook. And the waterfall was a surprise. And I want to leave it as is. I want to leave this waterfall unnamed and without GPS coordinates, so you can discover it for yourself. It is the act of discovery which is beautiful and breath-taking. The act of following someone's route, and knowing in advance what to expect - has a very different value.
I wanted to say a quick thank you for recommending Skamper, I hadn't heard of that app before and it looks really good.
Yes. I have to agree with your sentiments. I find route planning is definitely part of the fun of doing your own thing.
From my point of view what you’ve done is shown me a part of the world that is definitely worth going cycling in, I don’t need to know the precise path you have followed to do this.
I found when using Komoot or a similar app that you should always be prepared to overrule its route, just like you would with a satnav.
Please don’t publish your routes - as a very armchair bike tourist it’s adding something to your writing that makes it part of the journey. Would also second your shout out for Skamper - feels like they’re trying something different
Thank you so much. I am a kind of Komoot and googleMaps addict to plan my routes but I got your point, this is very interesting.
Really interesting thank you! A lot of my own thoughts in there so great reading your perspective.
Really important stuff you're talking about here Emily thank you. And I share the same feelings about the komootification of everything adventure. I have lots of thoughts I won't burden you with but I was glad to read this! :) Happy cycling xx
I would be very happy to be burdened with your thoughts. Please don’t hold back!
I totally agree with your sentiments, Emily. Also, I find that one of the most enjoyable parts of any trip is the planning and anticipation. Doing the route planning oneself is fun and it means you get to know a bit about the places where you want to go.
Can I recommend one more route planning tool please. It’s cycle.travel which is both a website and an app. I find the web version works best for creating and storing routes. And the app is great to use out on the road when following your route. It also has plenty of pre made routes on it. The lovely thing is that cycle.travel is not a faceless corporation. It is the project of one man, Richard Fairhurst, a lifelong cyclist. This shows because just 5 minutes spent perusing the website brings delight in how good it is. It’s obvious it’s made by a cyclist, for cyclists. The only sad thing is that because he’s not a big company, it’s little known about.
You can support him through Patreon and this brings access to an OS map layer. I’ve used it for touring in Europe too and it was brilliant.
I’ve no involvement with cycle.Travel - I’m just a very happy user.
Happy route planning everyone. 😀
Oh and just to add, you have the choice in cycle.travel as to whether to keep your route private or public
Ah - this sounds really good, and I hadn't heard of it. Thanks for the recommendation! I'll definitely use it to help me plan future trips.