The maps that illustrate each of the cycle rides I post on here show the actual route that I took, as measured by my GPS receiver. This just mounts on my handlebars, and takes a reading of my location every couple of seconds. The magic of GPSvisualizer.com then overlays this on Google Maps, or saves the datapoints into a file that Google Earth can read.

At the time of writing, basic GPS units (e.g. the Garmin eTrex — yellow version) can be bought on eBay for about £60. More useful though is a GPS unit with mapping capabilities — such as the eTrex Vista, shown left (currently approx £230 at Maplin, but it’s sometimes available for less on eBay). These can hold ridiculous amounts of information — mine holds address information (down to house number) for much of southern England, and can store tracks for cycle rides that are hours long.

It might not be entirely obvious why this is useful, but picture the scene: You’re out cycling in the open countryside, and come to a fork in the road. Which way do you turn? Certainly in fenland, it can often be the case that turning one way will take you on a 5 mile detour around a farm … then joining the other road just a few metres down, which you could have taken in the first place.

GPS mapping units can also be helpful when planning out a route to take. Although the unit itself doesn’t have the power to calculate a route on the fly, you can plot a detailed plan on your PC at home, and then upload the details of every turn to your handheld unit. Maplin also sell a handlebar mount for the Garmin eTrex series, and this sits comfortably next to a bracket for a front light or similar.

It’s a bit of a luxury, but in my case this is one of the best gadgety purchases I’ve bought in a while — it has all the standard functions of a normal cycle computer and means that I can take in the views rather than faffing around with paper maps every few minutes!

UPDATE:
Oh now this is just too smarmy. Garmin have now introduced a product called the Garmin Edge 205, specifically designed for cycling. They call it a cross between a personal trainer and a cycle computer: not only can you do nifty things such as view the number of calories that you’ve burnt off, but you can also setup training schedules and race against a virtual partner. How cool is that?!