Lukas Bike World Tour: Czech Republic

Since Lukas kicked off his journey around the world, I love reading his regular updates and I can’t wait to get the next one. I’m also happy to share them with you on the Ovi Blog, because I guess you are also anxious to know where he has been ...

Since Lukas kicked off his journey around the world, I love reading his regular updates and I can’t wait to get the next one. I’m also happy to share them with you on the Ovi Blog, because I guess you are also anxious to know where he has been and which experiences he has been going through.

Last time we saw him cycling around Switzerland, Germany and France, now we are getting some news from a very small but also interesting country: Czech Republic. Have you ever been there? Oh, so many beautiful towns, just like in a fairy tale… I’m really envying Lukas, if I could, I were just following him and blogging on site

But I guess his own words are much more powerful than mine to describe everything he’s going through… And this time he also has good suggestions to use Ovi Maps for your bike tours.

Biking in Czech Republic

Whereas Switzerland and Germany had separated bike routes, which are usually not included in mapping applications, bike paths in Czech Republic are mainly on normal roads for automobiles. This fact (typical  scene on my world tour) gave me a perfect chance to test Ovi navigation pour la bici. My 96km long route begun from central Bohemia and was supposed to end in Brno, the capital city of Moravia.

Firstly I learned, that it’s crucial to make correct set ups before inserting your route, because otherwise you may end up on a pay motorway going on a ferry port through a tunnel. Secondly, as I later on noticed, there is a slight difference between faster, shorter and optimized route. I chose shorter, though  perhaps much easier optimized one would’ve been only 4km longer.

Well, my trip started smoothly without any problems, the Nokia 97mini placed into my map pocket of the front bag, extra battery in alert just next to it. Navigation (offline) was precise as when driving a car, and most of the time only white arrows on a black background were necessary for navigation – also to save batteries on this 8-10 hour ride. Display visibility was good, though in the direct sunshine from above, hand made shades were helpful to recognize small digits down below..

After 35km of pedaling, I got a real Himalayas-test, when few hundred meters shorter route took me on a steepest, rudest and cruelest hill I’ve ever had to climb. Sure, it was shorter and it gave me  the 65km/h downhill record, but also a painful back and sensitive buttocks This hilly experience helped me with the decision to stay on main roads, which turned out to be a good move. Even though the navigator asked me sometimes to turn to peculiar paths, it took only few seconds to calculate a new route – probably more suitable for a trekking bicycle. In this way I continued all the way to Brno, where navigation was a true time saver (as I think in all big cities).

Battery had to be recharged after five hours of biking, but the second boost lasted until the end, especially when I remembered to switch off the screen on straight road parts.

So, if you decide to navigate with Ovi maps on a trekking bike, here is what I suggest:
1) Make proper settings
2) Check out few points on your route ,and add them as your destinations. If the distance is shorter than 50km, you can of course use walk mode as well
3) Fully charge your battery, and take a spare battery with you (or the Nokia bike charger)
4) Remember to Switch off the navigation (or at least the screen), if the route continues without any turns for more than 5km

-Lukas

Source : http://blog.ovi.com/2010/08/11/lukas-bike-world-to...