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Taking Notes While Riding?

DJ_MI

Voted Class Clown 1937
Joined
Feb 7, 2022
Member Number
63
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1,828
Location
SE MI
I like to have a place to make quick notes to help me keep track of things and have a quick reference to look at. I used continuous thermal labels looped around the handlebar pad and wrote on them with an extra fine sharpy I kept in my pocket. They worked surprisingly good and held up to rain and water and were easy to refer to on the fly.

Does anyone else take notes? If so, what's your solutions?

Here's how they looked on the bar:
2022-10-08 13.35.13copy.jpg

Here's what I wound up with. I don't remember what half of this stuff means but it seemed important at the time. :lol2
2022-11-04 17.35.11.jpg
2022-11-04 17.35.25.jpg
 
I like to have a place to make quick notes to help me keep track of things and have a quick reference to look at. I used continuous thermal labels looped around the handlebar pad and wrote on them with an extra fine sharpy I kept in my pocket. They worked surprisingly good and held up to rain and water and were easy to refer to on the fly.

Does anyone else take notes? If so, what's your solutions?

Here's how they looked on the bar:
2022-10-08 13.35.13copy.jpg

Here's what I wound up with. I don't remember what half of this stuff means but it seemed important at the time. :lol2
2022-11-04 17.35.11.jpg
2022-11-04 17.35.25.jpg
I do this rarely on old school electrical theory videos. Looks about the same. A bunch of crazy names and formulas... I have a odd memory and can recall almost anything with a keyword or a clue. The bike helps me to escape myself.
 
I sometimes write directions on a piece of paper before I go riding but I don't take notes while riding. I do sometimes take pics of roads signs so I can figure out where I was after the ride. Since I almost always do a ride report after any day ride or longer, that allows me to write down anything I want to remember in the future.
 
I write in my travel diary at the end of the day after a meal and shower…. That’s how I put RR’s together in the past… These days I don’t anymore as it takes too much time I’d rather spend doing other things..
 
What ever happened to e paper. I thought it would be the next best thing. Meanwhile I wonder why adv motos dont have a surface for dry erase memos.
 
I sometimes write directions on a piece of paper before I go riding but I don't take notes while riding. I do sometimes take pics of roads signs so I can figure out where I was after the ride. Since I almost always do a ride report after any day ride or longer, that allows me to write down anything I want to remember in the future.
For clarification, I didn't mean actually while riding. I know you like to take pictures while riding, but not me. I gotta keep my hands at 10 and 2 when I'm riding. :D

This particular trip was 8 days of trail riding from dawn till dusk. I was using these notes primarily as a riding and nav aid, not so much as a log. I had a GPS track that was split into 14 segments. I'd reset the tripmeter at the beginning of each segment and write the segment length on the label so I knew about how far I had left. I'd have to make note of the distances when I'd hop off the trail for gas/food/sleep/ nav errors and recalculate the remaining miles of the current leg. If that makes sense.

I did a recce ride of a portion of the trail a couple of months before to test out my gear and get a feel for what I could improve for the long ride. I realized then that having a place for notes was going to be important as I was trying to make mental notes of all the things that I thought of.
 
I write in my travel diary at the end of the day after a meal and shower…. That’s how I put RR’s together in the past… These days I don’t anymore as it takes too much time I’d rather spend doing other things..
That a great idea! I've been working on plans to reride this trip again this year. I'm adding the section I did the recce on which will add about 120 trail miles, 90 road transit miles and hopefully only one more day than last year. I made rules for myself last year (it's weird having so much time just to think); "you gotta stand in the sand"; "don't pass on gas"; "drink an uncomfortable amount at every stop"; "clean the rads out at every stop". And this year I'm adding "Write in my travel diary at the end of everyday"! :thumb
 
What ever happened to e paper. I thought it would be the next best thing. Meanwhile I wonder why adv motos dont have a surface for dry erase memos.
What's e paper?

I'd considered some type of dry erase surface but couldn't really figure out how or where to apply something like that.
 
Before I started using a gps on a bike, I would recon the route and make notes on a sticky. Then, that would get put in the tank bag map pocket or stuck and taped to the gas tank. There's always a pen in the tank bag though. Maybe I should see if it still works. :lol2
I spent a lot of hours working on the tracks that I loaded into my GPS. Basically what I wind up with is a purple line on the map that I follow. At intersections I can reference the map to show me which way to go. And while riding I glance down periodically to make sure I'm still on the purple line as a "confidence marker". However, I never could figure out how to convert the series of points (track) into a "route" that would show distance, progress or directions hence my need to make notes and do the calculations manually. It was tough when I would lose track and have no idea how much farther I had to go. Worse yet, when I'd miscalculate and I was expecting to be at the end of a sector only to realize I had to keep going when I was totally exhausted, starving and it was getting dark. One time I got it messed up and wound up setting up camp in the middle of nowhere when I realized how much farther I actually had to go. Another time I miscalculated a fuel stop and by the time I found a gas station I pumped 1.899 gallons into the 2 gallon tank.

2022-10-03 12.44.45-1.jpg

I'm so excited to do this again this year! :loco:lol2
 
What's e paper?

I'd considered some type of dry erase surface but couldn't really figure out how or where to apply something like that.
This is kinda easy and hard to explain. E ink or e paper is a type of display. The hobbyists like the displays for various reasons. And the technology is changing. The display is easier to see in certain lighting conditions.

I would like a dry erase the size of a phone. Preferably in black with copper colored markers. I cant find this color combo. Best would be black paper or chalk board paint and chalk.

Here is a video on e paper. You can also get any size displays for the arduino and pi devices to totally customize on open source code.
 
I spent a lot of hours working on the tracks that I loaded into my GPS. Basically what I wind up with is a purple line on the map that I follow. At intersections I can reference the map to show me which way to go. And while riding I glance down periodically to make sure I'm still on the purple line as a "confidence marker". However, I never could figure out how to convert the series of points (track) into a "route" that would show distance, progress or directions hence my need to make notes and do the calculations manually. It was tough when I would lose track and have no idea how much farther I had to go. Worse yet, when I'd miscalculate and I was expecting to be at the end of a sector only to realize I had to keep going when I was totally exhausted, starving and it was getting dark. One time I got it messed up and wound up setting up camp in the middle of nowhere when I realized how much farther I actually had to go. Another time I miscalculated a fuel stop and by the time I found a gas station I pumped 1.899 gallons into the 2 gallon tank.

2022-10-03 12.44.45-1.jpg

I'm so excited to do this again this year! :loco:lol2

Be aware that tracks and routes are different. A route will provide guidance and other info. A track is pretty much a line that follows a trail, road, or such and is good for awareness. Use them as you are now doing. A track can be planned or a track that has been ridden.
 
This is kinda easy and hard to explain. E ink or e paper is a type of display. The hobbyists like the displays for various reasons. And the technology is changing. The display is easier to see in certain lighting conditions.

I would like a dry erase the size of a phone. Preferably in black with copper colored markers. I cant find this color combo. Best would be black paper or chalk board paint and chalk.

Here is a video on e paper. You can also get any size displays for the arduino and pi devices to totally customize on open source code.

That is really cool. That would be a nice solution for taking notes with a small profile; flipping virtual pages and doing calculations. I suppose a phone could probably do a lot of that stuff but I’m apprehensive to mount my phone where it is exposed since it’s a crucial safety device.
 
Be aware that tracks and routes are different. A route will provide guidance and other info. A track is pretty much a line that follows a trail, road, or such and is good for awareness. Use them as you are now doing. A track can be planned or a track that has been ridden.
Thanks. I’m not sure if a track can even be made into a route but it seems like it would be a lot of work even if it could. I’ve done all my work in Basecamp. The tracks that I made (from data from the MI DNR website) and followed last year was 10,059 points. The breadcrumb track that was created was 86,242 points. I don’t think routes will allow that kind of precision.
 
I'm using a eTrex 32. I just checked and Garmin says the device is capable of: "Navigation Routes 200 routes, 250 points per route; 50 points auto routing".
 
That is really cool. That would be a nice solution for taking notes with a small profile; flipping virtual pages and doing calculations. I suppose a phone could probably do a lot of that stuff but I’m apprehensive to mount my phone where it is exposed since it’s a crucial safety device.
That is about the best reason ever to not mount a phone. I thought I was just stubborn in not mounting a phone. I researched some and haven't quite found the note device. Some possible products. I have also considered an enduro roll chart holder for directions. I kinda would like it all in one e paper display with other specs...coolant temp, outside temp..ect. I can wire these devices but get kinda lost in the code libraries and uploads. I might try to get something put together. Gps chips can be added. So basically everything from note taking, directions, hydration reminders, interesting sites. Whatever can be coded in. I still dont use gps on a bike hence the sticky notes and dry erase ideas. I used memory and maps so far.
 
That is about the best reason ever to not mount a phone. I thought I was just stubborn in not mounting a phone. I researched some and haven't quite found the note device. Some possible products. I have also considered an enduro roll chart holder for directions. I kinda would like it all in one e paper display with other specs...coolant temp, outside temp..ect. I can wire these devices but get kinda lost in the code libraries and uploads. I might try to get something put together. Gps chips can be added. So basically everything from note taking, directions, hydration reminders, interesting sites. Whatever can be coded in. I still dont use gps on a bike hence the sticky notes and dry erase ideas. I used memory and maps so far.
I'm kind of a data nerd so I hear ya about how awesome it'd be to have all of that data at your finger tips.
 
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