Messages

31

Routes / ST - Arizona Renaissance Festival

« on: December 19, 2011, 12:45:46 pm »

I have seen a number of people planning to ride the ST during February and March 2012. Just a heads up on something that really jambs up the traffic on US 60 every year.
Outside of Apache Junction, on Saturdays and Sundays from February 11 to April 1, 2012 the Arizona Renaissance Festival is being held and there will be very heavy traffic that you may want to avoid if possible. http://royalfaires.com/arizona/

32

Gear Talk / Re: Bike Mirror

« on: December 15, 2011, 07:16:42 pm »

Chuck Harris bicycle mirror; models to mount on sunglasses or helmet.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/resources/201104_MirrorMan_Siple.pdf

+1 I have used a Chuck Harris mirror for several years that mounts on my glasses. It is very light and unobtrusive.
Used mainly when making lane changes and cross traffic turns and at a stoplights to check out the potential for a "right hook."
I like it better than bike mounted mirrors because I can easily scan with it.
Some eye glass mounted mirrors though are too heavy or block too much of my view. I have not tried a helmet mounted version and cannot comment on them.

33

Routes / Re: Wales July 2012

« on: November 29, 2011, 09:20:36 pm »

Layne http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/directory/?o=4&user=adventureteller&v=A toured there last year and was missionary earlier in his life in Wales. I'm sure he would with you whatever.

34

Gear Talk / Re: Preferred method of terminating handlebar tape ?

« on: November 16, 2011, 07:07:01 pm »

Normally I use Scotch 33 or 88 electrical tapes as they seem to hold better and don't get as gooey as other electrical tapes.

From an European tour long ago I picked up some Tesa tape which is a cloth like tape that is real strong and grips tight. The roll I have is blue and about the same width as the black electrical tape. But I cannot find a place to buy it in a single roll so I use it sparingly .

http://www.tesatape.com/industry/products/tesa_4651.html

35

General Discussion / Re: Camping Site Identifications for Maps (Continental Divide)

« on: October 27, 2011, 12:28:01 pm »

Have you checked out the GPS routes and waypoints?

In this regards this snip shows the information from the ACA Great Divide gpx file.

36

Gear Talk / Tri-pods

« on: October 05, 2011, 11:50:00 am »

Lite PODZ http://litepodz.com/Home_Page.php looks like an interesting tool if you need a tri-pod for a small camera or to hold a bike light while camping. I have known Tom, the inventor and owner, for several years as he is the REI bicycle shop manager in the Paradise Valley store here in the Phoenix metro area.

37

GPS & Digital Data Discussion / Re: empty files when I try to download GPS data

« on: October 05, 2011, 03:07:20 am »

Windows 7
  will show the zip files but they need to be extracted. But before doing that Right click on the zip file and click properties. Check if it is "blocked'. If it is, unblock it before extracting. Not sure where this blocking of downloaded zip file occurs but it can be frustrating trying to use them.

38

GPS & Digital Data Discussion / Re: Routing Software

« on: August 28, 2011, 04:44:44 pm »

Jennifer,

Thanks for looking. It has been a work in progress for sometime and Fred has provided some valuable feed back on earlier versions.

Again I developed it in mind for viewing and stitching together and customizing existing routes. In reading journals about touring the ACA routes I find almost everyone customizes to a certain extent. I know looking at the Northern Tier I have looked at using the Lake Erie, Northern Lakes, Lewis and Clark as well as Great Parks routes.

As a test I took the Rhine, Main, Tauber, Altmuhl, and Danube river bicycle paths and created a 800 mile loop out of Frankfurt am Main. With the editor I was able to cut and paste parts of six routes into a continuous loop. In some cases the travel direction and place marks had to be reversed from the originals.

Indian Bend Solutions is because I live not far from Indian Bend Road and these are my favorite public arts work.

39

International / European Bicycling Resource

« on: August 25, 2011, 11:41:52 am »

I have found a great resource for maps and information on cycling routes in Europe. Start here http://radreise-wiki.aighes.de/index.php?event=radfernweg click on the route and you will be presented with a page of info about the route. Of course it's in German so you will have to translate it to English if you are like me.

Each route appears to have a full gps track in a kmz format.

40

GPS & Digital Data Discussion / Re: Routing Software

« on: August 22, 2011, 07:51:25 pm »

I am not a RideWithGPS expert but I see it is using the Google V3 API which I am somewhat familiar with. The "control points" I believe are the way points (up to 21) given in the request to the Google Direction Service call that will be incorporated in the directions that are rendered.

What I don't see is any way to edit those results after getting them back from Google. Every time you change something it looks like it is sent back to Google for a new rendering of the total route. This is not unlike what you can get with Google Maps itself. I do like the new interface RideWithGps has though.

I have just put up my map editor which was soley intended to handle the Adventure Cycling routes as a planning tool. I believe it allows more flexibility than any of the other mapping facilities in terms of editing existing routes. You can take a look at it here http://hmoore71.com/map/index Recommend taking a moment and reading the write up first though. http://hmoore71.com//journals/journal/1173

41

Routes / Re: Southern Tier: Apache Trail vs. through Superior?

« on: June 29, 2011, 11:04:24 am »

...  Regarding traffic, I remember most of it being snowbirds so there could be a lot of it even midweek.
My journal from that trip:  http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/lazylewis1995

The route:  http://ridewithgps.com/routes/169095

Actually most of the traffic seems to be lake traffic with a lot of campers and boats. And good luck on that "hard pack" too unless we get some monsoon rains soon. Still it is a great route.

42

Routes / Re: Southern Tier: Apache Trail vs. through Superior?

« on: June 26, 2011, 02:23:15 pm »

It can be real dusty with traffic and some deep sandy places. I would plan on hitting it mid-week to try and miss the weekend traffic. Awesome views.

43

Routes / Re: Southern Tier: Apache Trail vs. through Superior?

« on: June 25, 2011, 06:09:13 pm »

try a search on crazyguyonabike and you'll pick up some hits. here is one http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1r4vFb6&page_id=180586&v=Lv#pic_876838

44

GPS & Digital Data Discussion / Re: Routing Software

« on: June 23, 2011, 05:42:54 pm »

I appreciate your frustrations as I too have not found a solution that I really like all that much. bikeroutetoasters, ridewithgps, bikely etc all do good jobs but they are somewhat dated when it comes to using the latest versions of the Google Maps API. And they are more ride rather than tour oriented.

http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/javascript/. Link here and see what can be done using this API and look at the code samples running as html browser views.
As a programmer you might want to see what you can do yourself. At least understanding what can be done may lead to understanding how to use some of the facilities like Google Maps on the Droid.

45

Routes / Re: Maps for Backpacking

« on: June 23, 2011, 10:52:20 am »

Try this link http://www.discoverytrail.org/