Go Clipless

Beer XML

Seems like beer and mountain biking go hand-in-hand. Many of the mountain bikers I know tend to seek new micro-brews as passionately as they do epic singletrack. Some even brew their own in their quest beyond the ordinary.

Now there is Beer XML to help transfer recipes across the Internet faster than Dr. P supermans over the handlebars on a downhill run.

(via Fimoculous)

Measuring the hilliness of bike routes

When I first bought a GPS system it was all about not getting lost. I was riding some trails that were not well mapped and the GPS helped me get a birds eye view for where I was going. Once I became familiar with the trails and settled into a regular rotation, the GPS became overkill and I stopped carrying it.

Well, Dr. P (a regular riding buddy and one time GC contributor) received a new GPS system from his lovely wife this past weekend for his birthday. We took it out on a trail that we have ridden a hundred times. Now Dr. P is a data guy. Once he got that bad boy back home he instantly downloaded the data and began slicing and dicing it like crazy. He dumped it into Excel and began calculating the tangent of the cosign of the hypotenuse of the derivative of 2/3 of a rhombus to the 2nd power.

Whoa...whoa...whoa...Dr. my head is spinning...

There's got to be an easier way. Well the software didn't help much since it was largely built for GIS users or cartographers. So we turned to the 'net to find out the formulas for such common measurements as hill steepness or "grade."

Grade is the easy one. It's simply:

grade = vertical_climb / horizontal_distance

Grade is reported in the form of a percentage. But once you get the number, now what? I really like Bike Hudson Valley's explanation:

• 0% grade is exactly flat (and a negative grade, less then zero, is downhill). 

• 2% grade does not seem very steep, but it's enough to substantially reduce forward speed, and for most riders it will absorb more than half their power output. 

• 6% grade is enough to cut speed to well under half, and absorb more than 80% of a rider's power output (leaving less than 20% to fight air resistance and rolling friction).   

• 10% grade, and anyone who is not a fit and frequent rider is off their bike walking -- and anyone who is not a racer is reaching for all the extra power they've got.

Still, there are nuances. These numbers must be put into context and Bike Hudson Valley tries to do just that by explaining the tricks to computing total vertical climb and by proposing a total "hill index" for the entire route.

Once this data was surfaced it really gave me a new perspective on my "home" trail. For example (some of the locals may appreciate this one), I learned that the climb up to the Cricket Fields on the Colts Neck loop trail is a grade of 12% (you know...where you cross the stream...navigate the ruts of mud...finagle the parallel roots, while setting yourself up for the perpendicular root...around the bend...and mash up to the cricket fields). While not a particularly long climb it is fairly steep and the ease at which you climb is a good indicator of your overall fitness for the day.

The bottom line is that I will no longer look at my GPS as simply a mapping tool. Instead it will also be a tool to help me compare and contrast my rides across all of my favorite trails. Now I can't wait to measure the grade of the red loop climb at Greenbrier and calculate the hill index for Fountainhead.

Although, I tend to be more of a right-brain type than left, I must say that the good doctor is sometimes correct. Data, while interesting, can sometimes be useful.

Bike or Die! Mobile Video Game

As a frequent business traveler and Palm Treo user/addict, I am always looking for some mind-numbing game to pass the time while waiting for the plane to board, standing in the airport security line, or shuckin' and jivin' in the 'people mover' at Dulles Airport (will they ever finish that monorail?). So when a friend of mine 'beamed' me a copy of Bike or Die (you can pick it up at Handango) I figured I'd give it a whirl and kill two birds with one stone...Solitaire and Monopoly are getting tired.

When I first saw the graphics, I thought "oh no, I'm wasting precious RAM on a game circa Odyssey2 (between Atari, but not quite Colecovision)." But despite, the cheesy stick figure graphics this game can be quite addicting.

The idea behind Bike or Die is deceptively simple, yet the game play most definitely is not. Simply maneuver your bike over all obstacles and capture the flags to move on to the next level. But maneuvering over the obstacles isn't as easy as it looks. When I first tried the game I though that it was mountain biking so I attempted to move quickly through the level. This just caused me to crash into and off of nearly all of the obstacles. Once I realized that this was about trials riding and not mountain biking I eased off the gas a bit and began to use a little finesse. Ahhh...success at last.

Now, to be sure, some of the moves defy the laws of physics, but there is a tutorial that walks you through the gameplay. Most of the moves can be conducted with the rocking switch on your Palm or Treo device, but you will need your other hand to press the buttons to change directions. The game also comes with a freely downloadable module that allows you to design your own levels. Evidently there is quite a cult following developing around the game as there is even an online hall of fame where you can compete with other players and post recordings of your best runs through the various levels.

So if your like me and need a diversion from the frustrations of business travel or you finish your copy of Dirt Rag in just two or three visits to the bathroom, Bike or Die may be just the game for you.

Digg Sports vs. Crankk

So I'm sitting in my Denver hotel room - two Fat Tire's down - writing my third post of the day...can you say bored on a business trip on a Saturday night?

A couple of weeks ago, Digg, the social news aggregation site, expanded beyond it's core technology focus to include additional categories. Most recently a sports category was added. In reviewing the subcategories, I found that most of the major American sports are covered, but there's no cycling subcategory. Nope...it appears that this most excellent sport/activity will be relegated to second tier status in the "Other Sports" subcategory. Unless of course, the story is about freeriding or downhilling, then perhaps one could argue for the "Extreme" subcategory. Let's just declare right here that even if the story is "extreme," if it's about cycling that it goes in "Other Sports." Ok? Otherwise, the stories will be splintered across the site and it will be difficult for Digg to evaluate the need for a subcategory for cycling. And guess what sport the first story in the "Other Sports" subcategory was about. Yup. Cycling! It was Bobby Julich's write up on Floyd Landis' amazing comeback in Stage 17.

See Digg...the Sport's section is barely a few days old and there is already evidence that cycling needs it's own subcategory.

So where does this leave Crankk, the upstart Digg clone that's focused on cycling? With categories like "MTB," "Fixed Gear," and "Training," clearly bicycle blogosphere stories fit nicely on Crankk. Do the benefits of being a focused niche player outweigh the potential audience size of Digg? One things for sure, Crankk will need to grow its audience quickly if it is to flourish. To grow it will need to provide some widgets for bloggers to integrate Crankk's "Crankk It" buttons and links into their platforms.

There are benefits to the more generic aggregation of Digg, however. For example, the possibility exists that more people will become interested in cycling as stories rise to the top of the "Sports" category or even to the "Top Stories" section.

So what do you think? Can Crankk grow fast enough? Will cycling stories make it to Digg? I'd be interested in the views of bloggers and how they may or may not differ from those that do not maintain a blog. 

Talking iPods for cycling

In it's quest to keep it's lead in the digital music space, Apple is teaching the iPod to talk. Yes, Apple has filed for a patent to bring speech to the iPod which will be able to announce the songs over the earphones. This should minimize the need to look at the device and will make the device safer and easier to use while driving, cycling, or in badly-lit locations, according to this article in the Scotsman.

This will be a nice development particularly from a usability perspective. I'm not so sure about the safety issue. Sure it will be safer from the perspective that you will not need to take your eyes off the road/trail as frequently to look at the device, however, you will remain disengaged from your surroundings.

I have an iPod. I do not use it when I ride. Safety is part of it, but really it's because I want to be aware of my surroundings. I don't much care if cyclists want to listen to an iPod while riding as long as you don't get in my way. Runners too. It's not so much a problem on the trail as it is on the bike path. I can't stand when I'm trying to overtake a runner or slower cyclist on the path and they are wearing iPods. They always jump wildly when you pass them even though you shouted a warning and rang your bell three times.

Don't make your problem, my problem...I always say.

Check out the iPedal design on items from CafePress. I have nothing to do with this design just found it while doing a search on the web.

YouTube Bike Videos and a Palm TdF Toy

I noticed several blogs report on Carlton Reid's (of BikeBiz) new YouTube group for bike videos so I decided to sign up. Of course I'm familiar with YouTube, but only as a consumer of videos and not a provider. So I went digging through the GC archives and found two mildly amusing videos I shot of mountain bikers falling into the creek. Long time readers may remember, but for those of you that are new around these parts you can find the stories and videos here and here.

Anyway, I checked around...there are few other bike groups out there in YouTube land, but Carlton's is as good as any so join up and submit some content.

I also upgraded my mobile phone to a Palm Treo 650. Yes I know the Treo 700P just came out, but when it comes to phones I prefer to be a close follower and not an early adopter. The price is just too high. Anyway, I was out there on TreoCentral and found this handy little app. to track the Tour de France. There's speculation it will be upgraded for 2006 so I'll keep an eye out for the new version for those that are interested.

The application is simply a map of all of the stages, some statistics on the stage, the teams, and riders. I'd like to see the software upgraded for mobile use to download the latest race statistics in real or near real-time. Does anyone know of any other Palm or Mobile applications to track the Tour?

Google Maps for Mountain Bikers

Things are heating up on the Google Maps mashup front. The last time I reported on this topic, most of the applications were aimed at runners or road riding. Now we have two new applications using Google Maps built specifically for mountain bikers.