Where do you keep your phone?

doomanic

How will she update her FaceAche and Instagram status?

Angus Young

doomanic wrote:

How will she update her FaceAche and Instagram status?

Ha, ha! Luckily she's not totally addicted to all that guff, so she should get by for a week.

larkim

Angus Young wrote:

Briggo wrote:

Angus Young wrote:

No, of course not. But taking my chances is the price I pay for feeling the way I want to when I'm out there. Taking my chances is half the fun. And, besides, I'm definitely going to die one day, what difference does it make if it's tomorrow or the day after and it might as well be doing something I enjoy.

That's a more relevant answer, you choose to based on the risks. None of this "you should be able to cope in the wild without any aid" is a ridiculous statement, no one, not even members of the mountain rescue team can cope with every possible scenario and I'd be pretty sure they carry phones with them that they always recommend to carry.

No, I stand by the statement. When I go into the wild it's all about total self-reliance. Knowing that if it all goes horribly wrong I can't just pick up the phone and call someone to come and scoop me up is very liberating. Once or twice a year I take a bivi bag and head into the hills, alone and on foot, of either North Wales or Scotland. I plan on about a week or just over and plot a route where I'm unlikely to see another human being. Usually I don't for the whole week. I don't limit the risks I take and the route is always challenging. And part of the game is I don't take a phone. As soon as the weather clears in the spring I'll be taking my eleven year old daughter with me for her first adventure. We won't be taking a phone.

I can see the appeal, but as a dad I'd go into this sort of activity recognising that I have responsibilities which are ongoing after the week in the wild and take relevant, up to date precautions. I bet the bivvi bag is made from modern materials, your shoes / clothing will be modern, you'll have accurate maps and a compass etc. A mobile phone (even disassembled so you're not tempted to use it) is just a logical extension of those other things from a safety / security perspective. Assuming you're sufficiently disciplined not to use it to browse BikeRadar in the evenings, I don't see why you wouldn't take it when it *could* be a factor in saving your life and helping you to continue to discharge your duties to your family.

But each to their own, of course.

Angus Young

larkim wrote:

I can see the appeal, but as a dad I'd go into this sort of activity recognising that I have responsibilities which are ongoing after the week in the wild and take relevant, up to date precautions. I bet the bivvi bag is made from modern materials, your shoes / clothing will be modern, you'll have accurate maps and a compass etc. A mobile phone (even disassembled so you're not tempted to use it) is just a logical extension of those other things from a safety / security perspective. Assuming you're sufficiently disciplined not to use it to browse BikeRadar in the evenings, I don't see why you wouldn't take it when it *could* be a factor in saving your life and helping you to continue to discharge your duties to your family.

But each to their own, of course.

Can't argue with any of that. But it will be a hollow lesson if we have a phone 'just in case'.

From her point of view the skinning-the-rabbit bit is far more troublesome than not having a phone!

neilus

Angus Young wrote:

But it will be a hollow lesson if we have a phone 'just in case'

Aye, and it could be an even harsher lesson if, god forbid, you had any kind of emergency. I totally get your attitude but i would at least chuck a sim card in an old Nokia or something, check it has the important numbers and it works, throw it in my rucksac and forget about it, then get on with my tech-free trip.

Don B

OP asks, where do you keep your phone (not if he should take it with him), so; I keep mine in my side pocket in my shorts, within easy reach if it's needed in the event of an emergency.

I've been unfortunate enough to have had one of these situations and had it not been for the phone being within easy reach, I would have been in very big trouble.

Had the phone been in my backpack, it would have been out of reach too.

rockmonkeysc

I had a similar discussion with someone yesterday while I was out rock climbing in Cheddar Gorge.
Someone was asking me about how dangerous climbing is and asked whether I carry a phone for emergencies. I don't, mainly because there is no mobile signal in the gorge (or most big crags) and if it all goes wrong it won't be any use so we deal with emergencies ourselves.
He didn't seem to be able to understand that people would do something potentially life threatening in an area where there's no mobile reception.
People used to survive in the days before mobile phones just fine. If anything, because we weren't reliant on other people getting to us for rescue we would make sure we were prepared to deal with situations ourselves.

hsiaolc

I have my phone in my hydration bag when MTBing.

My phone is on my handle bar when I road biking.

With everything you've mentioned maybe you should get a drone to carry your phone?

UpTheWall

I keep mine at home.

Because I'm riding my bike.

mrbubbaman

In my shorts or camelback

Steve-XcT

Angus Young wrote:

Briggo wrote:

Angus Young wrote:

Briggo wrote:

Angus Young wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I leave mine at home. Riding is an escape from modern bullsh1t

^ This, this, this!

Until you break a leg in the middle of nowhere, then you'll be begging for that modern bullsh1t.

Nope. Golden rule: If you're not confident in your ability to get yourself out of the wilderness without expecting someone else to come to the rescue, don't go in there in the first place. Ask any mountain rescue how many people they have to pick off the mountain because they went somewhere beyond their ability because they though they could just pull out their phone if it all goes tits. One of them said to me "Damn things! And they don't even burn if you have to make a fire."

For me, half the point in being in the middle of nowhere is to get away from all that crap. And it's very rare that I carry a phone on any day, let alone when I'm out enjoying my bike.

So you can foresee every possible event while riding your bike and that nothing can occur outside of your control so you can guarantee no need ever for the emergency services? That's some going.

Either that or you're wrapped in a mile of bubble wrap while riding.

No, of course not. But taking my chances is the price I pay for feeling the way I want to when I'm out there. Taking my chances is half the fun. And, besides, I'm definitely going to die one day, what difference does it make if it's tomorrow or the day after and it might as well be doing something I enjoy.

It makes a big different to the rescue people....
If you have a broken leg and call in daylight and can tell them where you are or if you go missing and someone calls the police after you don't return home and they have to comb a huge area in the dark.

Steve-XcT

I've got an expensive quadlock....
Its really rugged and it's coped with quite a few stacks but I mostly use it when I'm using the phone as a GPS.
Otherwise I keep it inside my bag... (in the quadlock)

It just fits on my XC stem but has to go on the bars on my trail bike

jamski

Mines in wallet type case to completely covered. My shorts have a zipped up pocket just inside the left pocket, so it's zipped up in there. Means I can get to it easilly if needed on a ride and I'm hoping with the case and the position of it, it should be fairly safe in a crash.

Jonesinamilion

most are focussing on the phone as a burden of modern society (good point btw), others as an emergency signal device(another good reason)... for me, its mainly if anyone needs to contact me in an emergency, the kids primarily.

If a family member was taken ill, involved in an accident or needed your help and you were uncontactable, through choice, during your leisure time; how shit would you feel?

haywain

Jonesinamilion wrote:

most are focussing on the phone as a burden of modern society (good point btw), others as an emergency signal device(another good reason)... for me, its mainly if anyone needs to contact me in an emergency, the kids primarily.

If a family member was taken ill, involved in an accident or needed your help and you were uncontactable, through choice, during your leisure time; how shoot would you feel?

Essentially, that's just about luck because there are always going to be times when you can't be contacted. You wouldn't carry a phone if you were playing football, so not answering one while you're riding your bike is no different. I carry a phone (for Strava, and for dire emergency) but I don't answer it or refer to it for anything other than maps while I'm out on my bike. And keeping with the subject of the thread, I keep it in a zipped pocket in my shorts or jacket.

fat daddy

Jonesinamilion wrote:

most are focussing on the phone as a burden of modern society (good point btw),

I am not sure it is a good point.

the phone isn't a burden .. its just a bit of plastic and glass that has the capability to send and receive data packets and act upon them. It has no feelings, it doesn't care, its not protected by a national society for the prevention of harm to phones ... its an object.

any perceived burden or lack of freedom that people associate with the phone is not the phones fault, its purely an issue with the owner. Its possible to throw the phone in a bag and not be held captive by it .... if you take an energy bar you don't HAVE to eat it .... if you take a puncture repair kit you don't HAVE to stop and stick all the patches on. If you carry £10 emergency money, you don't have to go spend it every ride.

the problem is not with the phone ... its with the owner and what ever is goin on inside their head :?


Edit ... oh and when I go MTBing I carry it in my camel pack .. although I am thinking of loosing the pack because of the burden of having water, I don't want to drink 2.5l every time I go out on the bike !!!!! ...... I haven't done any road rides for fun as all my road riding is commuting, so my "phoneS" go in back packs or panniers

larkim

Jonesinamilion wrote:

If a family member was taken ill, involved in an accident or needed your help and you were uncontactable, through choice, during your leisure time; how shoot would you feel?

I wasn't in a dangerous place, just sat at my desk at work one day. My mobile received an email message from someone who just happened to know my email address saying "Call me urgently". Had I not been able to respond almost immediately, I might be without one very close family relative right now. Having been through that once, I'll not be leaving packing a phone out under any circumstance!

Ross Gardner

Near my balls, as they're pretty much fried from being a cyclist anyway, as well as not wanting kids.

Hinaultscrapcousin

Ziplock bag in my rucksack. If I'm on the road or doing a road/trail ride without a rucksack I have an old flip phone I shove in a jersey pocket.

zerolight

I either keep it in a zipped back jersey pocket, or in a spibelt strapped around my waste under jersey. So thin you can't see it unlike a horrendous bum bag.