TheNHBushman.com

Today I was planning on blogging about GPS and bike riding, but unfortunately, circumstances beyond my control stopped me from riding and taking photos today. However, today I will present some photographs I was planning on including in my new post anyway.

From 2004:

Here is a view of the cockpit of my Giant Yukon MTB I bought in 2004. I have since modified the bike and it looks a bit different now, but you get the basic idea: GPS on bike.

Not my favorite method of securing the GPS, this Garmin GPS 12 MAP was held on by hook and loop fasteners. Notice the lanyard that I have tied to the frame for security. Not once did the GPS ever fall off the bike. I lost this GPS in January 2005, in a taxi outside of Don Muang airport in Thailand.

Taiwan is such a great place to ride a bike, with neighborhood scenes like this everywhere. A few minutes after I snapped this picture, I rode past a house where a woman was scrubbing down her naked son in the front yard.

People who know me, know that Bushman loves to find old places and go exploring. A mountain bike is the only way to go man.

Nearly every little rice field and patch of farmland has these small footpaths that the farmers use. These are excellent bike paths.

I found the above places by going out and exploring while recording my track on the GPS. Later, I checked out the routes I’d taken on a computer map. I learned quite a bit about the surrounding communities from these exploratory rides. Also, having the GPS record your track takes the fear out of exploring new places, as you can reverse the track log in the GPS and it will guide you back the way you came. This is especially useful in a foreign country where you may not be able to read the signs or ask people for directions due to language barriers.

The other way to use GPS is to plan your ride route beforehand on the computer map, and then upload the route to the GPS and allow the GPS to guide you along the route. You never know what you are going to find and this is my favorite way to enjoy a leisurely bike ride.

More to come on this topic.