Messages

16

Gear Talk / Re: Chain repair

« on: September 07, 2012, 03:16:37 pm »

A piece of string works pretty well, although it may take 3 hands, one for each end of the string and one to squeeze.  This chain was clean, but in my experience it works well with old dirty chains as well.

17

GPS Discussion / Re: GPS Data Wish List

« on: August 23, 2012, 06:45:02 pm »

The folders exist only on her computer, not in the Zip file.

Fred, the directory structure, i.e. the path or folder information, is saved in the zip file.  Look at the Path column in your WinZip listing.   Usually this directory structure is recreated by default when the file is unzipped.  I can continue to work around it if necessary, it isn't a big deal.

18

GPS Discussion / Re: GPS Data Wish List

« on: August 23, 2012, 04:31:20 pm »

For practical production reasons, GPX and its Garmin extensions are likely to remain our mainstay.

GPX is great.

The distributed data contain no folders. A single Zip file contains all the data for one ACA route.

I was referring to the files and folders within the zipfile for each route.
Some examples of small inconsistencies are:
1) the sierra cascades gpx files are in the root directory of the zipfile, while those for all others are in a sub-directory,
2) the sub directories are usually named something like "UC01v004 Folder", but there are two cases where the directory name does not include " Folder", these are AM01v002/AM01v002.gpx and GM01v003/GM01v003.gpx
3) Sometimes Folder uses an upper case F and sometimes a lower case f.
4) usually the gpx files use a lower case v, but the following use an upper case V instead:
GD01v009 Folder/GD01V009.gpx   
GD02v009 Folder/GD02V009.gpx   
GD03v009 Folder/GD03V009.gpx   
GD04v009 Folder/GD04V009.gpx   
GD05v009 Folder/GD05V009.gpx   
GD06v009 Folder/GD06V009.gpx   
WE01v008 Folder/WE01V008.gpx
4) the pdf files mix the case of the v as well.
5) the great divide pdf file has an extra digit, GDAboutV0011.pdf
I will grant you that all of these issues are nearly insignificant, but consistency would make automated processing of the data easier.

19

GPS Discussion / Re: GPS Data Wish List

« on: August 23, 2012, 06:19:11 am »

Here are some nits I would wish for assuming that the data continues to be distributed in gpx format:

7. Add elevations (gpx ele elements) for all waypoints (gpx wpt elements) and routepoints (gpx rtept elements, but not necessarily gpx extensions rpt elements).  Today I toss all the ele elements and fetch them from http://gisdata.usgs.net or if that fails from http://ws.geonames.org and build a SQL database of elevations.  This gives me elevations for all points, but the validity is problematic on bridges and tunnels as they fetched points will be on the surface, which in these cases is not where the route is.  The elevation data is useful in displaying profiles, although because of the sparsity of the gpx rtepts they are rough.  If your software cannot fetch the elevation data I could help with software but in my experience this is non-trivial and requires some maintenance as the web servers and protocols change with time.
8. Delete all times, i.e. (gpx time elements).  I don't think these are meaningful for the ACA data and they can cause difficulties when viewing the routes in some tools, e.g. google earth.  I could provide software to this if you don't want to take care of it upstream of the gpx file creation.
9. Delete all gpx extension Depth elements.  There are only two in the entire set today, and they are used incorrectly.   I could provide software to this if you don't want to take care of it upstream of the gpx file creation.
10. Validate all distributed gpx files.  While I haven't found invalid gpx files from ACA, invalid files are a common cause of issues reported on the gpsbabel mailing list. I can supply software to do this.  Note that this step doesn't change anything, it just guarantees that the gpx files that are about to be distributed obey the rules for gpx files as defined in the appropriate XML schema documents (xsd files).
11.  Consistently organize and name the folders and files for each route, including case and blanks in directory and file names.  These makes automated processing easier.

And one that I consider more important:

12. Have contiguous route segments, gpx rte elements, share a route point (gpx rtept).  This make display of the overall route appear as one, instead of a bunch of separate and disconnected segments.  Accidental violations of this are the most common reason I write Jennifer.

And one major request:

13. Continue to provide public access to all the gpx data, including the points of interest and route data.  There was an article in one of last years magazines that stated that points of interest data would be restricted to members in the future.  To me it seems restricting access to the points of interest is in conflict with the ACAs mission "Adventure Cycling Association inspires and empowers people to travel by bicycle."  I am concerned that a revised policy on the waypoint data might prevent me from providing online viewing tools and google earth files to the public, and I certainly believe the maps at http://tsteven4.qwestoffice.net/ inspire and empower people to travel by bicycle. 

I question 5, the separation of the point of interest (wpt) and route (rtept and rpt) data.  I see this as a violation of 6, "keep open and accessible across multiple platforms".  I think the separation is convenient for some applications, e.g. mdxix seems to want this, but I am not convinced this is generally desirable.  I would prefer they remain together.

I am still unsure of what Jennifer meant by "Do you like/use the sample routes provided?".  Can you cite an example of a sample route?  In 3 Fred seems to imply a sample route just corresponds to the route as shown on a paper map panel.

Thanks for all your work and including us in the conversation.

20

GPS Discussion / Re: How do you use the Adventure Cycling GPS waypoints?

« on: August 14, 2012, 11:00:46 am »

And how do Jenn and the crew do this in a production environment? "With an xslt processor" will not cut it. They need a maintained, documented, supported program to perform the task every week

If this becomes desirable I can set the crew up with a maintained, documented and supported xslt processor, and the transform that does what they need.  There are many freely available, they may already have one installed and not know it, e.g. xsltproc is in included in mac os x snow leopard and many other linux distributions.  I would need to know what operating system(s) they use.

A disadvantage of including

3. Routepoints created by Garmin software when told to navigate following roads. Garmain calls these mapoints in their user interface, and rpt in the GPX file.

may be the gpx file size.

21

GPS Discussion / Re: How do you use the Adventure Cycling GPS waypoints?

« on: August 14, 2012, 06:07:40 am »

Fred,

Let's talk about an example from AC01v007.gpx.    We have wpt elements from the gpx schema.   We have rtept elements from the gpx schema.  The rtept elements may contain RoutePointExtension elements, defined in the GpxExtensions schema.  The RoutePointExtension elements may contain rpt elements from the GpxExtensions schema.  I believe by

additional intermediate routepoints

you mean the rpt elements from the GpxExtensions schema, show as gpxx:rpt below.

Code: [Select]

   
<rtept lat="44.4350200" lon="-68.9465600">
      <name>A012C0</name>
      <cmt>US 1 &amp; SR 3 bend</cmt>
      <desc>US 1 &amp; SR 3 bend</desc>
      <sym>Waypoint</sym>
      <extensions>
        <gpxx:RoutePointExtension xmlns:gpxx="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3 http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3/GpxExtensionsv3.xsd">
          <gpxx:Subclass>000000000000ffffffffffffffffffffffff</gpxx:Subclass>
          <gpxx:rpt lat="44.4350504" lon="-68.9464883">
            <gpxx:Subclass>0600c39c4000a56001002116000086040c00</gpxx:Subclass>
          </gpxx:rpt>
          <gpxx:rpt lat="44.4352770" lon="-68.9466763">
            <gpxx:Subclass>0200c39c4000be5301001f06010015f5b801</gpxx:Subclass>
          </gpxx:rpt>
          <gpxx:rpt lat="44.4349766" lon="-68.9485216"/>
          <gpxx:rpt lat="44.4349337" lon="-68.9489079"/>
          <gpxx:rpt lat="44.4345474" lon="-68.9515257"/>
          ...
As you indicated we also have wpt elements from the gpx schema that are used in two different ways.  A012E0 is used to mark a point of interest, while A012C0 is used to mark a turn on a route.  Note that the previous example had a rtept A012C0 corresponding to the wpt A012C0.

Code: [Select]

  <wpt lat="44.4350200" lon="-68.9465600">
    <name>A012C0</name>
    <cmt>US 1 &amp; SR 3 bend</cmt>
    <desc>US 1 &amp; SR 3 bend</desc>
    <sym>Waypoint</sym>
    <extensions>
      <gpxx:WaypointExtension xmlns:gpxx="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3 http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3/GpxExtensionsv3.xsd">
        <gpxx:DisplayMode>SymbolAndName</gpxx:DisplayMode>
      </gpxx:WaypointExtension>
    </extensions>
  </wpt>

  <wpt lat="44.4295910" lon="-68.9739490">
    <time>2011-03-28T17:28:58Z</time>
    <name>A012E0</name>
    <cmt>Moorings Oceanfront RV Resort CG</cmt>
    <desc>Moorings Oceanfront RV Resort CG</desc>
    <sym>Campground</sym>
    <extensions>
      <gpxx:WaypointExtension xmlns:gpxx="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3 http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3/GpxExtensionsv3.xsd">
        <gpxx:DisplayMode>SymbolAndName</gpxx:DisplayMode>
      </gpxx:WaypointExtension>
    </extensions>
  </wpt>
It would be easy to separate all the wpt elements from all the rtept elements.  gpsbabel can do this, or it could be done with a xslt processor.
It would be easy to delete the rpt elements with a xslt processor.
To separate the two usages of wpt elements, we would need to make some assumptions about how to distinguish them, e.g. the included sym element is either Waypoint or something else. Note the sym element is optional.  You indicated you have a way to do this, but I am not sure what you had in mind.

Given this example, can you reword your question to include the specific element types you would like to separate?

The Garmin mapping software and most GPS receivers--but not the Edge series--when told to navigate by following roads, will calculate additional intermediate routepoints to show the path along the roads. I do not know any way to separate these routepoints from the waypoints except the manual editing of the GPX file that you described earlier. If you know a program that can do this, please let us know too.

22

GPS Discussion / Re: How do you use the Adventure Cycling GPS waypoints?

« on: August 09, 2012, 12:17:38 pm »

I use the gps data, including the waypoints and routepoints, to create online maps and google earth files showing the ACA routes.  These are available at http://tsteven4.qwestoffice.net.  Personally I use these in the winter to get ideas about next summers ride.  Its nice to have the waypoint data so you can scan for campgrounds and imagine how the days might break up.  Once I have the ride selected then its off the the ACA store for good old paper.  No newfangled navigation for me on the bike!

My process for generating these files is up and running, so to make it easiest on me don't change too much!  Actually, if the waypoint + routepoint data is available I can probably adapt.

I don't care about the waypoint/routepoint names, rename them as you wish.  I don't rename them myself.

I certainly display the ACA routes using the routepoints supplied, but I am not sure if you mean something different by "sample routes".

Jennifer, enjoy your ride in Colorado.

23

General Discussion / Re: Cyclists Only Campground

« on: August 02, 2012, 06:40:57 am »

If you are on the trans am or lewis and clark don't miss the one in twin bridges, it is quite nice.

http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2009/11/twin-bridges-cyclists-only-campground.html

24

Routes / Re: Ideas from San Fran??? End of tour advice needed please.

« on: July 30, 2012, 04:15:08 pm »

After all those miles you are ready for sonora pass.  It is exceptionally beautiful.

http://www.chainreaction.com/sonora_pass.htm

Utah canyon country can be very hot this time of year.

25

Temporary ACA Route Road Closures / Re: HOSTEL CLOSURE: TransAm section 5 map 57

« on: July 24, 2012, 05:11:13 pm »

We stayed at the church the night of 7/18/2012.  Apparently they had multiple incidents that led to this decision.

This was posted:

DEAR CYCLISTS:

EFFECTIVE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2012, THIS CHURCH WILL NO LONGER BE HOSTING TRAVELING BICYCLE RIDERS.

WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE, BUT A FEW RIDERS HAVE SPOILED THE PRIVILEGE FOR THE MANY.

PLEASE HELP US IN SPREADING THE WORD.  THE ADVENTURE CYCLING ASSOCIATION HAS BEEN NOTIFIED OF OUR DECISION.

The rules were also posted.  Apparently some cyclists violated the rules or common courtesy.  If you feel you may have been responsible I urge you to contact Pastor Brent and apologize and make amends.

BICYCLISTS' RULES OF THE ROAD
Dear bicyclists,
First Baptist Church of Jeffrey City, Wyoming is pleased to have you stay with us!  Please keept the helpful information and rules on this page in mind.  Doing so will allow you, your fellow cyclists, and those who may come after you to continue to enjoy having a place of shelter while traveling this leg of the journey!  Thank you and enjoy your stay!

HELPFUL INFORMATION
1. While there are no showers available, hot and cold running water is available in the restrooms, and you may take a sponge bath should you so choose.  Please remember to turn off the water, and to clean up after yourself.
2. The kitchen is fully functional, with a refrigerator, stove, and microwave.  Please remember to clean up after yourself.  There is hot and cold water available in the kitchen sink.
3. Should you wish to check you email or post your travel pictures to the internet, wifi services are available.  The SSID for this service is XXXX, and the passphrase is XXXX. ... Please be considerate of others and remember that bandwidth is limited.  In light of this, please do not abuse this privilege by watching videos on Netflix, YouTube, etc.  Any use of wifi to view pornography, or to engage in any activity that you would imagine a Pastor or curch would frown upon, is prohibited.  While we have no way of monitoring your online activity, God can clearly see what you're up to.  You're on the honor system.

RULES
1. No drugs, alcohol, or any related paraphenalia is allowed on church property.
2. The items that are being stored in the church basement are being stored here temporarily, and are the personal property of the Pastor and his family.  These items are NOT to be disturbed under any circumstances, or for any reason (including trying to "tidy up" to be helpful).  Please keep in mind this simple motto: "IF IT DOESN"T BELONG TO YOU, LEAVE IT ALONE."
3. Please turn off the lights when leaving a room.
4. Please turn off the water.
5. If you make a mess, please clean it up.  This is not a motel, and there is no housekeeping staff.
6. If you move it, please put it back.
7. If you open it, please close it.
8. If you turn it on, please turn if off.
9. If you break it, please fix it.  If you can't fix it, report it to someone who can.  If you do fix it, please report it anyway.
10. The main gym area of the basement is where bicyclist are to camp.  The other rooms (other than the bathrooms) contain nothing that would be of any interest to you during your stay with us, so we ask that your please leave them undisturbed.  The sanctuary upstairs is where we hold our church services, and is not provided as an area for sleeping or lodging.  Unless a guest is going upstairs to join us for services, there is no need to go upstairs.
11. Please do not litter.  Take only pictures and leave only footprints.
12. Please leave things in at least as good a condition as they were when you arrived.

Should you desire to leave a donation for the church, please drop it in one of the cup holders on the treadmill on the south wall of the basement gym area.

26

Routes / Re: Am I crazy? Jackson, WY to Los Angeles, CA via UT & NV in June - July

« on: June 10, 2012, 03:24:41 pm »

Its not suicide, but heat exhaustion and heat stroke are definite possibilities, especially if your are unlucky, unprepared, and ignorant of the desert.  We rode the western express in July once, temps up to 115.  Rode a lot at night.  many 85 miles stretches without any services or water.  We carried up to 2 gallons of water each.  You route would cross but wouldn't be on the western express, but I would expect plenty of heat and long stretches without services.  I really liked the WE but I don't think I would be at all tempted by the Jackson to LA route you mentioned.

Another idea is to get to the Oregon coast any way possible (ride,fly,bus,hitch ?) and ride the coast to LA.  Extremely beautiful.  State parks with hiker/biker sites abound.   Some wind like WY, but it should be blowing south! 

Or your original plan.

Best Wishes whatever you decide,
Steve

27

General Discussion / Re: My TA has begun

« on: May 04, 2012, 03:22:57 pm »

Tim,

Congratulations on reaching Colorado.  If you decide to head uphill from Cortez some of the most beautiful mountains in the state await you, lizard head on 145 or molas,  coal bank, red mountain on 550.  Best wishes whatever way you choose.

Steve

28

Routes / Re: Northern Tier: Change of route May 2012

« on: April 30, 2012, 10:46:28 am »

The revised GPS data for sections 3 and 4 are now included in the download at the web site.

You can look at on online map or download a google earth version of the revised northern tier at http://tsteven4.qwestoffice.net

29

Routes / Northern Tier is intact again

« on: April 20, 2012, 04:28:10 pm »

ACA has updated the northern tier route, and it is once again contiguous.  Thanks. Thanks. Thanks.

You can see the entire route including the changes in North Dakota here:

http://tsteven4.qwestoffice.net/maps/northern_tier_route.kmz
http://tsteven4.qwestoffice.net/maps/NorthernTierRoute.html

30

Gear Talk / Re: Need a large lightweight bag

« on: April 14, 2012, 01:31:45 pm »

You may want to consider checking your bike, with any bits that you can't carry on, e.g. a knife, and carrying on the rest.  we usually put one nearly empty front pannier in the box with the bike holding the restricted items.  be sure to tie the pannier to the bike in case the box gets ripped.  We usually put the tent poles and blue foam sleeping pad in the bike box also.  Don't overstuff the bike box, try to keep it as light as you can.  Then we carry on the other front pannier, and the two back panniers snapped together. we stuff our sleeping bags and tent into one of the panniers.   wear your helmet.  wear your bike shoes.  wear your coat.   you may be at the carry on limit, but we have never had a problem.   we evolved to this system after years of putting the panniers in their own box and checking them.  the only trick is finding a bike box for the return flight.