Best practices for a trouble-free trip?

[Vincent Curren]

Friends,
I will be riding around the French Alps with a couple of friends during May. I am from the US, have not been to this part of France, and I don't speak French. So, I would prefer not to get lost!

We will ride to a different hotel every few days and ride loops from that while we are there. We ride from Nice to Moustier-Sainte-Marie on 5/11; then to Nyons on 5/14; Le Puy en Velay on 5/16; Villard-de-Lans on 5/19; Crots on 5/22; then back to Nice on 5/25. (Pro tip: don't book your last night in Nice at the same time as the Cannes Film Festival, duh!)

I'm completely stressed that I will get on the road and I will have problems operating MRA. I use MRA here in Maryland and it usually works well but once in a while I have a problem that could be really stressful abroad.

Here is the question -- What can I do to have the best chance of experiencing trouble-free routing? I plan use MRA on a Pixel 6 as my primary GPS device. Based on what I have seen in the Forum, this is what I've done to prepare:

• Planned the routes using HERE and carefully placed each waypoint.
• Downloaded each route to the phone using MRA.
• Will run MRA off-line most of the time and I will plan on starting the route each day from the download screen.
• Will have my Garmin 396LM along so, whatever happens, I should be able to get to our hotel. I have also exported gpx 1.1 files to the Garmin so maybe I can use that to follow planned routes if I have trouble with MRA. (I have a question about that that I will put in the Track/Route section.)

Any other suggestions?

BTW, the routes we have made in the route planner are all marked public and should be visible under my username if you want to check them out. If you will be around the area when we will, feel free to let me know - an adult beverage would be in order. And if you pass a guy on the side of the road in the mountains with his helmet off poking at his phone and mumbling to himself, that's probably me trying to figure out how I got lost and what to do about it!

Thanks for any additional suggestions!

Vinnie

[Tony 13]

I always put destinations into favourites as well. You can then always re-route direct.
If you have time reviewing some of the roads on Gooogle street view can help avoid surprises
It will be a great trip. Even if some of the roads would fit comfortably in a single lane on a highway

[Garry Davis]

@Vincent-Curren said in Best practices for a trouble-free trip?:

Friends,
I will be riding around the French Alps with a couple of friends during May. I am from the US, have not been to this part of France, and I don't speak French. So, I would prefer not to get lost!

We will ride to a different hotel every few days and ride loops from that while we are there. We ride from Nice to Moustier-Sainte-Marie on 5/11; then to Nyons on 5/14; Le Puy en Velay on 5/16; Villard-de-Lans on 5/19; Crots on 5/22; then back to Nice on 5/25. (Pro tip: don't book your last night in Nice at the same time as the Cannes Film Festival, duh!)

I'm completely stressed that I will get on the road and I will have problems operating MRA. I use MRA here in Maryland and it usually works well but once in a while I have a problem that could be really stressful abroad.

Here is the question -- What can I do to have the best chance of experiencing trouble-free routing? I plan use MRA on a Pixel 6 as my primary GPS device. Based on what I have seen in the Forum, this is what I've done to prepare:

• Planned the routes using HERE and carefully placed each waypoint.
• Downloaded each route to the phone using MRA.
• Will run MRA off-line most of the time and I will plan on starting the route each day from the download screen.
• Will have my Garmin 396LM along so, whatever happens, I should be able to get to our hotel. I have also exported gpx 1.1 files to the Garmin so maybe I can use that to follow planned routes if I have trouble with MRA. (I have a question about that that I will put in the Track/Route section.)

Any other suggestions?

BTW, the routes we have made in the route planner are all marked public and should be visible under my username if you want to check them out. If you will be around the area when we will, feel free to let me know - an adult beverage would be in order. And if you pass a guy on the side of the road in the mountains with his helmet off poking at his phone and mumbling to himself, that's probably me trying to figure out how I got lost and what to do about it!

Thanks for any additional suggestions!

Vinnie

You might find this helpful too.
https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/travel/how-to-ride-a-motorcycle-in-france

[Vincent Curren]

@Peter-Schiefer Peter, thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to write this extensive response!

I will have two mobile phones with me, one that I will purchase a local Sim for, and my primary phone, which has an account with Google that will provide seamless connectivity. I wanted to be prepared to operate offline because of what I expect will be flaky service in mountain passes, and experience I've had with MRA getting confused when mobile connectivity comes and goes.

Very helpful information about speed enforcement. I got caught in Barcelona a couple of years ago. We have that kind of enforcement here in the US, but mostly in urban areas and not nearly as widespread as you describe in France. So, we will watch our speed!

I have the paper Michelin maps you describe. That's very helpful information you have given me about signage, though. It will make it much easier to use the map!

And that is really an excellent suggestion to put our destination in Favorites! That hadn't occurred to me. I will put all of our hotel addresses in Favorites before we leave!

Thank you again!

Vinnie

[Vincent Curren]

@Tony-13 I love the suggestion to use Favorites that way!

Thanks!

Vinnie

[Vincent Curren]

@Peter-Schiefer That's great to know, Peter, thank you!

Vinnie