Data Logging GPS with Arduino
I've been looking at the same problem, and there is a lot of new stuff now that may still count as a DIY project, but cut out a lot of the leg-work. 

On kickstarter there are a lot of new boards that can make it easy:
Here is a ready to go GPS tracking band:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blipperbands/blipper-bands-safety-wherever-you-go?ref=nav_search

Spark-IO has a board that gives you 20,000 messages per month, so you could use it instead of a cellphone to send out the data. 
https://store.particle.io/?product=particle-electron

U-Blox makes gps higher-end consumer GPS units that are used in autonomous drones.
There are also a lot of instructables that show how to do the GPS datalogging with while building a drone. These would be small enough and light enough to use while cycling.