Mountain Bike Rides Around Hampshire

What's here:

• Hampshire ride files
• Portable GPS units: why bother?
• So what do you need?
• Hold on though, can't a smartphone do all that?
• GPS on the cheap
• GPS mapping software

This page hosts a collection of GPX tracklogs from my off-road mountain bike rides. Most are in Hampshire - mainly in the south. The range is widening as I run out of bridleways near home, so some rides stray into West Sussex and Dorset. I compiled this page so that I could record my rides and re-visit good ones from time to time. I would welcome any feedback from passers-by, particularly if you have suggestions for routes in this area.

All the rides are legitimate, that's to say they all use public rights of way or permissive trails where bikes are allowed, including bridleways, BOATs/Restricted Byways—and as little road as possible. They are all circular and the start point is generally a free car park or lay-by unless stated otherwise. On a couple of rides, a very short stretch of public footpath may have been used to complete a loop. Riding bikes is not allowed on public footpaths in England and Wales, but you can always push your bike for those very few short stretches if need be.

Hampshire Ride Files

You can:

• View the rides on Ordnance Survey maps down to 1:25k scale
• Toggle the map between OS and Google Maps (good for viewing satellite images)
• Save the GPX files for your own use

Maps not working? Please see the Release Notes. It could even be that my map limits have been exceeded.

Portable GPS units: why bother?

Having spent some time evaluating and using a GPS with a mountain bike, I thought I would summarise my findings to date for anyone interested. First of all then, why bother at all with a GPS when you've been getting around fine for years with an OS map? Here's some reasons:

• No more map-reading stops—well, hardly any! Provided you have previously created and uploaded the planned route to your GPS, the machine will clearly signal where to go for each leg of the ride.
• Free your mind! No more worrying about which turn to take next. You can literally follow the machine around the whole ride. Once you learn to trust the GPS, you find you almost don't care where you are, because you know the machine will guide you. This is very liberating.
• Have you ever inadvertently taken a wrong turn and found yourself a long way off track? The GPS will give you early warning of such deviations.
• On better models, you can see exactly where you are on built-in maps.
• The machine will record your journey as a tracklog. On your return home, you can download the tracklog, load it into your mapping software (or use this site) and see exactly where you went.
• You can pull off accurate speed & distance stats.
• You can download and use other people's rides.
• No more annoying flapping map pouch on the handlebars or fiddling around with a stupid rear map pocket which is inaccessibly covered by your bag.

So what do you need?

• A weatherproof sturdy GPS unit.
• A handle bar mount for the unit, often available as an extra.
• Software to create a route as a GPX file (more on this below).
• A means to upload the GPX route to the GPS (e.g. via simple file transfer using a USB cable).

Hold on though, can't a smartphone do all that?

Yes, if you're so rich that an expensive phone leaping out of its mount and smashing to pieces doesn't bother you. The main problems with using bar-mounted phones are:

• Add-on waterproof cases are mostly hard to see the screen through and are prone to steaming up and being totally unreadable in bad weather.
• Phone batteries will soon die on a long ride if you have the screen on all the time. And if you allow the screen to turn itself off, then you have to stop and fiddle for navigation checks just like the bad old days of using paper maps.
• Phones are not rugged! A small tumble will likely knock it out of its mount and smash it to pieces—or at least smash the screen.

For me, the fear factor of smashing a phone up or losing it actually impinges on the enjoyment of the ride. I much prefer the peace of mind afforded by a rugged GPS unit on the bars with an additional safety loop strap round the bar for when—not if—it gets knocked or jarred out of its mount.

GPS on the cheap

I bought my first GPS—a Garmin Etrex—second-hand off Ebay and used it for several years before I upgraded. It was an old model, but still accurate enough. It had a large arrow which pointed where you need to go - simple but effective. Modern units have built-in maps—even OS maps on the more expensive ones. I bounced my Etrex over rocks and lumps big enough to loosen dental fillings, and it took it all in its stride. My current model is a Garmin GPSMAP 64 which I bought for the mapping feature and increased storage for longer rides. I'm not bothered about heart rate monitors and other gadgets on more expensive models, so the GPSMAP 64 still does me fine.

Which maps to load into your GPS unit? For Garmins with .IMG format maps, I can personally recommend the-thorns.org.uk. His maps provide full detailed UK coverage at a very reasonable price. They are almost as good as OS maps but at a fraction of the price. For UK, Spain and France maps I can also personally recommend Talkytoaster. Garmin IMG files from these two sources have kept me on track for many years now.

GPS mapping software

Software maps makes the whole operation a no-brainer. You simply click out the waypoints of your planned ride on your phone, tablet or computer, then save it as a GPX file. Then upload the GPX file to the GPS. Job done. There is a wide range of software out there which supports this kind of thing. Which one is best for you will depend on the depth of your pocket and your specific needs. Here's some of the various packages I've played with:

A final word of warning

My advice (having learned the hard way) is not to rely on just one GPS unit. I also have tucked away in my backpack a GPS app on my phone with my current route loaded up which will work where there is no internet. I'm mostly exploring new areas so I'm usually not familiar with the area I'm riding in. So I also have a pocket compass with me and often carry a paper map too, especially when abroad. GPS is not infallible! I have had problems with:

• Missing signals caused by dense foliage.
• Batteries running out—I always carry spares now.
• Idiot user problems due to cold winter fingers—I once accidentally deleted the entire route while fiddling.
• Confusing, hidden, incorrectly marked or even blocked rights of way forcing a re-think of the route.

The bottom line is this: do not rely on a single bar-mounted GPS unit to get you around your planned route. Carry a map or a phone with a GPS, anything so long as you don't rely on just one electronic means of navigation.